I had two lovely tennants who had a joint assured tennancy, they held this for ome year. Last Febuary 2023 one of them moved out, she actioned her deposit from the deposit scheme and both were given their deposits back. One tennant wanted to stay, so she repaid her deposit and stayed on as a lodger, we didnt draw up a new contract, another person moved in whom I found and they were an overseas student who only wanted to stay for 6 months, so they both shared the apartment. She has now left. I found another overseas student who is currently staying for another 6 months - ends in March. I would now like to move back into my property,there is room for me to keep my original tennant as a lodger… Where do I stand on this legally. I think the original agreement ended but am not sure and want to make sure everything is legal and proper for all concerned.
The original tenancy agreement would have ended. If you have allowed the remaining tenant to stay there and taken rent from her then you would have a tenancy agreement with her, a TA doesn’t have to be in writing but clearly it is better to be. She would be considered a tenant, not a lodger, she would only be a lodger if you lived there.
It is best to speak to her and suggest what you want. If she is happy then put the agreement in writing. If not then she can refuse to let you move in, you could serve notice on her but this is likely to be harder with an undocumented tenancy.
I agree that its likely, (but not certain) that the original tenancy has ended. The uncertainty stems from there appearing not to be any notice or formal surrender used and so you’d be relying on implied surrender. This might depend on what was said and whether there is anything written to back it up. Its certainly a mess. If the original tenancy ended and one of the tenants was allowed to remain then I can’t see how they would be a lodger. As you didn’t give any new paperwork, they will likely have a new undocumented AST, which is problematic. In the absence of anything written their tenancy will be for the whole property on whatever rent you accepted. You would have had no right to move another tenant in, but if they were accepted then its hard to know what their status would be. A judge may have to decide, but it could be either the tenants lodger or a second tenant of yours. That’s not clear. Either way, the short answer to your question is no. You have no legal right to move in to the property and even if the tenant allowed you to, doing so wouldn’t make them your lodger. If, as I suspect, they have a tenancy, then that won’t change unless they want it to.
You should probably try to persuade them to sign a new joint tenancy agreement with you if you want to move back in, but if they refuse, you will be stuck as it may now be very difficult to evict them.
Thank you, they are happy to sign a new agreement, if a new one is needed, so I think I will go that way.