6mth AST with a standard OpenRent sublet clause:
“Not to grant any licensees, take in any lodger, paying guest or person staying on either a permanent or semi-permanent basis”
what is the view of permanent and semi-permanent?
Suspect that there may be a partner living in the flat, or maybe just visiting at weekends?
Is there a level of staying above which they may have rights? I have no inherent problem with them staying but want to ensure that I’m not compromised since they are not named on the agreement , credit checked etc
I would be really interested in a reply to this. I have a lovely tenant who asked me if her boyfriend could move in. I said yes (no problem for me), but now I’ve been told that although I could evict her if I wanted to (I don’t), it would be difficult to evict him as I don’t have a contract with him. Any views would be really helpful.
I am not legally trained and this seems to be quite a grey area. An AST is a relationship between the landlord and a tenant, and both parties have legal rights and obligations that are inevitably going to get muddied if a third party is allowed to reside and enjoy some of those rights on a non-defined basis.
The Housing Act 1988 is clear that ASTs apply where the property in question is a tenant’s “only or principal home”. So this may have some bearing on your situation.
We always recommend that all adults who are residing in the property are included on the tenancy agreement so that things are clear. I am not personally aware of an amount of time someone can reside in a tenancy beyond which they are vested with the rights of a tenant. I will update you if I hear of anything concrete in this regard.
@Ten_Cubed_Ltd, if you don’t have a written tenancy agreement, then you will be in a very difficult situation if you wanted to evict either tenant. I would personally ask the two people living at your property to sign a written agreement asap.