Ok, so my tenant wants to move his partner in. Now, I’m a very formal ticks and boxes type of landlord, that can be a good thing or a bad thing, but anyway I digress. Now, I want existing tenant and partner on new contract. I will arrange comprehensive vetting on new partner and make sure she has a right to rent. So, what’s the problem? Well, I see a lot of landlords going down the ‘permitted occupier’ route, but I struggle to see the benefit. Suppose the relationship breaks down, existing tenant storms off in a huff and partner (who has signed no legally binding contract) is now living rent free in your place? How do you get rid of them? In addition, I have RGI in place which will also apply to the new partner once they sign a new contract. So, For LL’s who advocate the permitted occupier route can you explain what the benefits are that I may not be currently seeing? The partner will be living their permanently.
What if they fail your vetting anyway?
I’ve used PO when the tenant was a long-term well-known entity but the partner wasn’t. The PO explicitly does not have the right to remain in the property after the named T leaves because it’s that T who is responsible for them. You must under no circumstances accept rent from a PO and if the T leaves the PO in residence, the T is legally required to continue paying rent as the property has not been left vacant.
A PO does need right to rent checks so make sure you do that at least.
So, to clarify. If tenant has left property and partner remains, partner cannot be pursued for rent under PO? So, tenant is still responsible for rent but if they refuse to pay, RGI kicks in and the insurance company pays outstanding rent to landlord while insurance company pursues legal avenue to recoup rent against original tenant. That’s the theory at least. In practice? Hmmm. However, we are still left with tenant’s partner living in property and refusing to leave. How do we get rid of them?
If tenant has left and tenancy has ended (mutually agreed surrender or tenant has given notice or abandoned and judge agrees tenancy has ended) then partner has no rights to stay as tenancy has ended and they are trespassing so can be made to leave based on that
If tenant has left but tenancy has not ended, rent continues to be due and they still have right to occupy the property and so does any named permitted occupiers under the tenancy agreement. You can pursue the usual legal routes to end the tenancy (such as the s8 grounds to do with them being in rent arrears, for example, once this is 3months arrears)
@David122 will correct me if I’ve got any of that wrong
In terms of benefits a partner might have CCJs so then you might find you cant get RGI for the 2 combined. You don’t have to redo affordability checks for either. And for some tenants they prefer one person on tenancy not for both to be financially responsible. A relationship might be relatively new. If you were happy with one before why not one after both are there. The risks of the extra person may be greater wear n tear or damage and benefits are largely for the tenants.
Good luck
Its the other way around Max6. If the partner is only a PO, (effectively a guest), they have no tenancy rights, so if the tenant ends the tenancy and leaves the partner there, you can simply exclude them by changing the locks. On the other hand, if you make the tenant sign a joint tenancy with the partner, you are forcing them into a financial entanglement where they are responsible for each others rent and costs and if the relationship ends, your tenant could lose their home.
The other reason is that some of the eviction grounds, if you ever have to use them have an initial 12 month protected period where a notice is ineffective. Therefore you may be stuck with them if things go wrong.
The same way you would get rid of any complete stranger who decided to stay in your property… change locks, call the police, etc
A permitted occupier has zero rights at all to the property once the T leaves. Your original strategy is to create a whole bunch of “very formal ticks and boxes” by making them a tenant with joint and several liability. That’s introducing a lot of risk into this tenancy.
Hopefully now you’re no longer struggling to see the benefit of the PO route. I did it with one T twice. Her first partner turned out to be dodgy and left after a year. The second partner was there for three years before they ended up buying a house together and leaving. No new tenancy messing around in either case. She stayed on the same AST for nearly 7 years. Simples.
ticks and boxes may come back to bite you . Follow the above advice
Ticks = Lyme disease
(Oh wrong sort of ticks. Sorry)