My wife and I are renting 1 bedroom flat with a living room. The tenancy agreement doesn’t accept any lodgers. How likely I’ll be able to negotiate another lodger (family member, couch surfer) and how to ask without spooking the landlord? What is considered overcrowding? Does square footage matter or is it only the number of rooms? Can lodger contribute to rent?
You can ask landlord if they will accept a permitted occupier. They have no tenancy rights but can still stay with written consent from LL.
They would need to pay you a rent share directly.
Given its only a one bed it may be difficult to get consent. You would fair better if offer increased rent.
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Is there a separate lounge or is it open plan to the kitchen? That might affect whether the Council would accept someone sleeping there.
How close a family member? Too far removed and it would become a House in Multiple Occupation and may require a licence.
Have you not read any of the posting about oppresive lodgers ?
Most lodgers are mildly annoying rather than actively oppressive!
But in any area with an additional HMO licensing scheme, it would not be legal for a property to contain a couple + an unrelated lodger, without the landlord having made a range of expensive adaptations and obtained an HMO license.
If the lodger is a family member of one half of the couple (I’m not sure how close, I think they might have to be a sibling, parent or child), then no HMO license is required.
However if the couple then broke up, and all three remained living in the property, a license would be needed!
Frankly it’s not worth the landlord’s time to permit it.
The couple in that scenario would be allowed up to 2 lodgers without it becoming an HMO.
Cousins, aunts, uncles etc are also considered family under the legislation and would all form one household.
David, perhaps you missed OP’s detail that the couple are themselves renting.
Homeowners are allowed two lodgers without an HMO license, but tenants are allowed only one!
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My apologies, youre right. I missed that detail.
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