I have a recently signed AST with my current tenant and her boyfriend is now going to move in. Should I put him on the agreement as well ? or should I just leave it in her name and ask her to keep all utilities etc. in her name ? They are willing to do either. Does anyone know what his status is legally with either option ?
Thanks
Best option for you and her is to leave everything as it is but give him verbal permission to be there for as long as she is living there.
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in my experience boyfriends come and go. ( I do not mean personal, personal experience !!)
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I do this either way. Depending upon what the tenant wants.
Just make sure you do a right to rent check on him.
Worst case scenarioā¦
If he is on the lease it covers you.
If there is one person on the lease there is 25% single occupancy on council tax. Both of them results in 100% council tax.
If he is not declared but registers on the electoral role you have a contract that does not acknowledge him and raises a red flag in the council tax department. If they leave do you want the council chasing you for tax. Their default is always to go after the landlord.
If he stays and she goes you have no paperwork for him to prove he was resident. Utility companies will want evidence of him if he defaults on utilities ( eg if she leaves and he stays and does not pay bills and then does not want to sign a contract)
If he wants to stay but she wants to go then what do you do?
I have done it both ways but sometimes itās best to be better safe than sorry. We are in strange times right now. Relationships may sour in the face of economic adversity.
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I have never had the council go after me for a tenants council tax Whether for a single occupier or a double occupier. IF one person is on the lease it is that persons obligation to tell the council of a change in circumstances
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In 2008, after the global economic crash, both our councils came after us for tax 7 years old. I wrote to them, having taken legal advice, reminding them of the 6 year statutory limit. I was called back with them telling me that they were clawing back money ( they lost Ā£21million in Iceland) if people did not know the law they would pay.
Last year they billed me and the tenant for council tax ( only found out because I was chatting to the tenant).
I put nothing past them, especially now amidst the pandemic.
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Strange. I only pay when the property is empty
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In HMO they bill the landlord unless it is a group contract not a room by room basis.
Yes i understand about HMO I meant about seperate flats and houses
We have had them bill a landlord because the house looked empty ( windows not washed). It was occupied and managed by an estate agent but both parties were billed. Bills , contract etc was demonstrated.
The councils will do anything to get money .They are led by, not quite, but almost scumbags with no heart
Thanks for the replies, much clearer about what to do.
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Red flag in the council? Apart from the socialists I donāt think theyād know what to do with it.
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Also look at your mortgage agreement. Most if not all of mine state that all residents 18 and over must be listed on the AST. Itās unlikely that this is ever going to be a problem that will be used against you, but in the topsy turvy world we now find ourselves in, its something you should consider before deciding to not put him on the AST. Lenders arenāt known for being charitable if you hit hard times. I wonāt give them a reason to cause me issues in situations Iāve yet to imagine. Just additional food for thought.
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Include him on the contract as a āpermitted occupantā so you cover off your responsibilities. However if he starts to try and call the shots you need to remind him of his status in the property regardless of whether he helps your tenant with the rent.
I had a tenant who asked to have his partner on the lease, saying two incomes would help pay the rent.
Unfortunately his partner failed referencing massively, with a CCJ and being currently unemployed.
Although personally I have no issue with him staying at the flat most of the time, especially during a pandemic, I gather there can be legal issues with him being deemed to be a fulltime occupant of the flat if he lives there for a while, then my tenant wants to move out. So I have had to make it clear that he is not to make it his main residence.
You may want to look into this aspect, and bear in mind that is possible that you knowing about his occupancy and not having said anything will mean you are seen in law to have accepted him becoming a tenant over time.
Iāve been told by my Rent Guarantee insurance company that I should get all adult occupants included on the AST, because, as @A_A pointed out, if she leaves and he stays in your property and subsequently stops paying the rent, he would not be considered to be your ātenantā, therefore getting the possession of the property back will be even more difficult.
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Itās better for both Tennant and the landlord that you just keep everything in her name. Iāve actually just recently renewed a contract by taking the long-term boyfriend out at both tenantās requests so that it simplifies matters for them. I was happy with it as were they. Didnāt want to dig further into the why.
Hi David, just one word of warning about this. In general it is seen as best practice for all adults living in the property to be named on the tenancy agreement. If not, then problems can arise.
One of the most problematic would be, in your case, if the girlfriend (the only named tenant) moved out and stopped paying rent, while the boyfriend continued to live in the property and did not pay rent. The boyfriend would not be a tenant, so it would be not be possible to follow the usual route to evict him.
Like many things with being a landlord, however, this is only a problem if your relationship with the tenants breaks down!
Sam
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Personally, I would amend the AST and have him added on and he to sign it as itās not an extra person liable for the rent and any damages. As a landlord, you need to be protected, and should anything ever go wrong, you have this additional person to chase.
Also, it does protect the tenant. Say if he was the cause of any damage or likewise and then they break up, the girlfriend is held responsible. Having said that, it would be the case even for a friend. However, for someone intending on being there full time during the tenancy, itās best heās on it too and everyoneās covered.