HMO tenancy on open rent - all tenants allocated same room

Landlord Discussion
1

I am using OpenRent for the first time and request some advice.
3 bedrooms in HMO listed - I have found my own group of tenants who have tried to use the rent now scheme. Unfortunately, they have all been added and referenced as one group allocated to one room rather than 3 separate rooms. They are now unable to click on the 2 remaining rooms to allow holding deposit and contract generation, as OpenRent states that they are already allocated.

Is there any way of reallocating 2 of the tenants to the remaining rooms without having to delete them and then repeat the whole referencing process etc.?
I have asked for support from OpenRent but received what appeared to be a generic response which went no way to addressing any of my questions.

cheers
Matt

2

If you are giving them specific rooms then it isnt really a joint tenancy. They would all have individual room only tenancies with a licence to use the common parts. If you want a joint tenancy then theyre all renting the whole property and you should make clear that your allocation of rooms is only advisory, as its up to them.

3

Thanks but doesn’t really answer my query.

They will all be on separate AST’s as it’s an article 4 HMO.
I need to know how to reallocate them to be able to rent the rooms separately on the OpenRent portal/site rather than advice about tenancy types.

4

Why don’t you delete and just rent the house as a joint contract ?
Did you want rooms because of access to the communal areas without notice

Joint tenancies are a lot easier from a paperwork point of view and also from a rent point of view and liability is joint and several

5

If they have room only tenancies, then does OR expect you to advertise and progress tenancies on each room separately?

6

I’ve only ever rented one HMO room at a time, but have seen that you can list multiple rooms under the same advert.

Does this help on their help pages;

How do I advertise multiple rooms in my property?

You can list more than one room under the same advert as long as they’re in the same property. Generally landlords will do this by including all photos for all rooms on the listing, mentioning the separate rooms and their prices in the description and setting the price to the cheapest room.

Can I use Rent Now for setting up a joint tenancy for individual rooms?

If you are looking to create a joint tenancy for the rooms using Rent Now, the applicants will choose a lead tenant to place the holding deposit and the application will continue as normal with all applicants on the same tenancy agreement.

Can I use Rent Now to set up separate tenancies for separate rooms in the same property?

You can create new (free) OpenRent-only listings for each room and leave the original, paid advert live. You then ask tenants to press ‘Rent Now’ on each new listing. Once each tenant has pressed Rent Now you can then reference and sign an individual contract with each of them.

Once each application has completed on the free listing, £69 will be charged from your first month’s rent for the tenancy creation service.

7

Surely joint tenancies only work when everyone will be moving in/out at the same time - eg students. I cannot see how they work well for Young Professionals who will move in / out at different frequencies.

8

Some come in as a group

9

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