Category: Tenants

1. Rent

2. Tenancy Deposit – maximum five weeks’ rent where the annual rent in respect of the tenancy immediately after its grant, renewal or continuance is less than £50,000, or six weeks’ rent, where the annual rent in respect of the tenancy immediately after its grant, renewal or continuance is £50,000 or more.

3. Holding Deposit – maximum one week’s rent.

4. Payment in the event of a default – for the loss of a key to, or other security device giving access to, the housing to which the tenancy relates pay the costs which are reasonably incurred by the Landlord or his Agent as a result of the default. {my understanding from this is that ‘security device giving access’ is a fob or card – sometimes called proximity devices}

5. Payment in the event of a default – for the failure to make a payment of rent in full before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the date (“the due date”) on which the payment is required to be made in accordance with the tenancy agreement pay the aggregate of the amounts found by applying, in relation to each day after the due date for which the rent remains unpaid, an annual percentage rate of 3% above the Bank of England base rate to the amount of rent that remains unpaid at the end of that day.

6. Payment of damages for breach of a tenancy agreement or an agreement between a letting agent and a relevant person

7. On variation, assignment or novation of a tenancy at the tenant’s request pay the greatest of £50 and the reasonable costs of the person to whom the payment is to be made in respect of the variation, assignment or novation of the tenancy.

8. On termination of a tenancy at the tenant’s request in the case of a fixed term tenancy, before the end of the term, or in the case of a periodic tenancy, without the tenant giving the period of notice required under the tenancy agreement or by virtue of any rule of law pay the Landlord the loss suffered by the Landlord and pay his Agent the reasonable costs of the Agent for arranging the termination of a tenancy.

9. Payment in respect of council tax

10. Payment in respect of utilities

11. Payment in respect of a television licence

12. Payment in respect of communication services

A Landlord or Agent taking any other payments from a Tenant on or after 1st June 2019 in consideration of the grant, renewal, continuance, variation, assignment, novation or termination of a tenancy are prohibited.

Due

Rent becomes due on the morning of the day specified for payment in the tenancy agreement. This day is commonly referred to as the ‘rent day’ and is a core term of the tenancy.

Payable

Rent may lawfully be made payable on any day including a Sunday.

Rent due upon a bank-holiday will not be payable until the following day.

If a term of the tenancy is to pay rent by Standing Order, this will restrict the days the rent will be received by the landlord as the bank may not process Standing Orders on weekends and although the bank may deduct the rent from tenant’s available balance it may not be credited to the landlord until the next working day.

Overdue

If rent is not paid by midnight on rent day then it is held to be in arrears.

References

Re Aspinall v Aspinall (1961)

Dibble v Bowater (1853)

Child v Edwards (1909)

s.1 Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971

What is a bedroom?

A bedroom is a room that is available as sleeping accommodation if it is of a type normally used in the locality either as a living room or as a bedroom. {Housing Act 1985, Chapter 68, Part X}

The answer to the topic question is dependent on a number of factors including:

* Number of occupiers using the bedroom
* Age of occupiers using the bedroom
* Whether the property is a licensed HMO
* Type of occupant

Number and age of occupants
One of the criteria for assessing overcrowding under the Housing Act 1985 is the floor space based on the number and age of occupants.

For a child aged under 1 there is no minimum space standard.

For a child aged 1 or over but under 10 the floor are of the room must be at least 50 sq. ft. (4.65 sq. metres).

For two children aged 1 or over but under 10 sharing a bedroom or 1 person aged 10 or over the floor area of the room must be at least 70 sq. ft. (6.51 sq. metres).

For two adults living together as a couple the floor area of the room must be at least 110 sq. ft. (10.22 sq. metres).

{Housing Act 1985}

HMO

In 2018 the government announced that it will proceed with introducing a national minimum room size for bedrooms in licensed HMOs:

Rooms used for sleeping by 1 person over 10 will have to be no smaller than 6.51 square metres, and those slept in by 2 people over 10 will have to be no smaller than 10.22 square metres. Rooms slept in by children of 10 years and younger will have to be no smaller than 4.64 square metres


Type of occupant

The type of occupant has also been shown to be relevant in room size cases. This was illustrated in the case of Nottingham City Council v Dominic Parr and Trevor Parr Associates Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 188 which was heard last year in the Court of Appeal. The Council’s guidance suggested that 8 sq. metres was an acceptable bedroom size and the licences issued prohibited the use of two attic rooms until the usable floor space had been increased. The First-Tier Tribunal had deleted the condition and imposed an alternative condition that the rooms could be used by full-time student who resided in the room for a maximum of 10 months of the year. This was upheld by the Upper Tribunal and the Court of Appeal concluded that there was nothing unlawful about a HMO licence restricting occupation of a bedroom to students only. The Supreme Court has granted permission to Nottingham City Council to appeal the decision.

Further Reading

Shelter – Overcrowding
HMO National Minimum Room Size and Suitability {Anthony Gold blog}
Housing Act 1985, Chapter 68, Part X
When is a bedroom not a bedroom {Jungle Property blog}