Tenant wants to add family to tenancy 2 days before moving in!

Landlord Discussion Legal
1

I have let to a tenant who stated he was a single man when he viewed and would have his children at weekends. He is due to move in at the weekend and has now said he wants his girlfriend and children to move in as well. Can I now say no to him for the tenancy even though we have both signed and the contract states maximum occupancy is 4 people as I feel he has misled me on this.

2

I always issue agreements stating occupation by tenant only and move on from there with second referencing if they want to add to the tenancy.
Suggest you go through the referencing procedure for the girlfriend you may !!! very well find something that does not meet your renting criteria i.e. if he left the property would her income support the rental payments

3

Sorry just a thought, suggest you explain to him he cannot move in at weekend until all referencing is complete, no one can fault you for this you want to know who is living in your property.

4

Landlords Advice Uk have told me I have to go ahead with it as my tenancy states 4 people can occupy even though this was not agreed in the beginning. A lesson learnt for the next time though and fingers crossed everything works out.

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5

You are allowed to reference all adults that wish to live in your property and being as the girlfriends name was never disclosed to you then you are fully entitled to carry out normal referencing, you are also entitled to time to do this, even if it does state maximum number of tenants is 4 you are still within your rights to carry out the reference.
Suggest you change the wording on your agreements to “For the occupation of the Tenant Only” and insist on all details of third parties who wish to move in.

6

I’m shocked they said you had to go ahead. Our standard tenancy agreement states who are the tenants and who are other permitted occupiers. If you aren’t either of these then you aren’t allowed to live in the property, no matter how many bedrooms it has. You need to use another agreement in future. In reality he could have done this without telling you and there would be little you could do except try to evict due to breach of the agreement. This guy has started off with a breach of trust. Never a good place to be. Hope it works out.

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