Hi,
I had a family (husband, wife and a child) and a lady (their family friend) renting my property. Tenancy was created using Open Rent. It is more than one year old now. So, I believe it is in rolling contract.
A few months ago the lady who used to live with them - their friend who is also in the tenancy moved out. She has not given me the landlord any written notice about vacating. She rang me said over the phone about it. So, should I create a new tenancy with the remaining two tenants (husband and wife) or can I leave it as it is?
I heard one of their parents are coming to stay with them for a few months and they need a letter from the landlord to submit to the Home Office to apply for the visa saying that landlord has no objection for the parents to live with them. I hope if they submit the tenancy agreement with my letter it should be fine even though the other tenant’s name is still on the tenancy.
Thanks,
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Firstly, you may or may not be aware that this tenancy made the property an HMO. If the Council have introduced Additional Licensing in this area, you may have breached the licensing conditions. You should check this.
I would not recommend changing the tenancy. The lady moving out does not end her tenancy so she still remains liable for the rent. This may be useful if the family get into arrears.
In your shoes I would do nothing. Dont tell the lady you release her, because you cant. If you give the family a new tenancy it will prevent you serving notice on them for at least another 4 months and that is a risky period now that theyve lost a rent payer. Besides which, you cant give a new tenancy until this one ends.
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Thanks @David122
The total number of people living in the property as per the tenancy is only 4 (husband, wife, child and a friend). So, it does not make the property HMO. I checked it with local authority.
In fact, the friend is not living any more in the property. So, there is only a family of 3 people living in the property.
The current tenancy is more than one year old now, so it is in rolling tenancy. I will leave as it is.
If the tenants need a letter from me to submit for their parents visa application then I will provide one saying I have No Objection for their parents to live with them.
Thanks
An HMO is 3 or more people in 2 or more households, so it was an HMO. Not all HMOs are licensable and unless the Council has an Additional Licensing scheme in place, yours won’t be caught as its not mandatory licensable. You did the right thing by checking with the Council. However, even non-licensable HMOs have to comply with the HMO Management Regulations and these are not dissimilar to the licensing conditions.
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