How Would You Go About Changing A Tenancy Like This?

[EMB]

Hello Landlordzoners, this is my first post and I would appreciate any advice.

I rent out a three bedroom flat which has three sharers, friends who moved in together 20 months ago. Two of the tenants are moving out but the third wants to stay. He has a friend to take one of the rooms and intends to advertise to find someone to take the other room.

The advantages are that I would not suffer a void period, rent has always been paid on time and the property kept in a reasonably good condition.

The disadvantage is that the tenant who will be found through an advert will not be a friend of the other two and I find that when people move in together as a group of friends they tend to look after a property better.

How would you recommend the change of tenancy is done? Of course the two tenants will have to have tenancy checks and a new inventory will need to be done and the current deposit will need to be released and another one taken and protected.

Normally, at the end of a tenancy, all tenants would move out and a check-out would be done to cross-check against the inventory and condition report done when they moved in. Of course, if one of the tenants is staying then his belongings would remain which would make the check-out more difficult to do.

How would other landlords here go about changing such a tenancy? Ideally the tenant would move out for at least a day but that seems an unreasonable request, don't you think? I am in a bit of a quandry on how to go about it. The property was professionally cleaned at the start of the tenancy and the garden mowed and in good condition and at the end of a tenancy you would expect to receive the property back in the same condition, but if one tenant remains then it is unlikely for this to be the case and then the new inventory/conditon report will be reporting the state of the property in a poorer state which will leave the new tenants able to leave the property in this poorer condition. Should I just accept this as a compromise for not having a void period? It would be interesting to hear how others feel about this.

Thanks in advance for any advice/comments.

[Snorkerz]

Is this a joint tenancy? If so, the notice given by the 2 ends that joint tenancy, so long as it was valid and the tenancy is now a 'statutory periodic tenancy'.

Nothing to stop you granting a new tenancy to the third person and 2 x ANOthers but that is your choice - they should all be credit checked, referenced etc and you should be happy to grant a tenancy to them.

Alternatively, if the remaining one is up to it financially, grant a tenancy to him alone and let him worry about his lodgers.

You are aware this is a HMO - does it comply with the requirements?

[EMB]

Thanks Snorkerz. Yes, it is a joint tenancy and is now periodic. In my area (as far as the council website states) there are no extra HMO requirements unless it is a 3 storey house with 5 or more bedrooms.

[EMB]

Alternatively, if the remaining one is up to it financially, grant a tenancy to him alone and let him worry about his lodgers.

Thanks for your advice Snorkerz. Just to let you know I talked to the remaining tenant about what you suggested and he decided that he and his friend would sign the tenancy agreement and then get a third person as a lodger.

Do they need to sign a tenancy agreement with the lodger and protect the deposit? From what I have read on here, the lodger's agreement is a licence and the deposit does not have to be protected. Is that still true?

I also read that the lodger must not be given exclusivity to his room and the best way round this was for my tenants to have access to the lodger's room to clean it (this is never going to happen of course and I'll be happy if they clean their own rooms, haha!). I guess the best way would be to have this written in the agreement/licence?

Anyone have any suggestions on where to get a lodger licence template? I have used Google but could not find one I thought was appropriate.
Thanks