Landlords…
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I recently met a tenant who told me he was having a difficult time with his landlord who had made him sign a document titled ‘Lodger Agreement’. As the conversation progressed, I quickly realised that the tenant was exactly that – a ‘tenant’ and despite what this piece of paper had said, he was NOT a ‘lodger’. Landlords buying documents from WH Smiths hoping they can circumnavigate the law is a dangerous pastime.
What is a lodger?
‘Lodger’ is not a legal term. In legal language, if someone rents a property he will be either a ‘tenant’ or a ‘licensee’. There is a big difference between the two. Tenancies (where the tenant in effect owns the property for a period of time) carry with them a number of important legal rights and obligations which, if they are not written into a tenancy agreement, will be implied into it by law. However, this is not the case with a licence. A licence is simply permission to occupy property so that the person occupying is not a trespasser.
The legal status of a person’s occupation will normally depend on what actually happens. So if someone occupies a whole house or flat ( with the landlord living elsewhere) and pays rent for it, this will normally be a tenancy and the fact that the occupier has signed an agreement saying it is a licence agreement will not change this. If you are renting out a room in your house, you will not want to create a tenancy, so you would make sure that the person you are renting to only has a licence.
Important elements
When considering taking in lodgers, landlords need to ask themselves the following 5 questions:
1. Are you letting a room (or two) in your own home?
2. Will you make it clear to the person paying you rent that you have the right to enter the rented room from time to time (while respecting their privacy)?
3. Will you ensure the rented room never has a lock or anything fitted that would prevent you from accessing the room?
4. Will the person paying you rent share some living space with you? – This will generally be one or more of the kitchen, bathroom or living room.
5. Will you provide some services for the person paying you rent? E.g. clean sheets, clean towels, cleaning services or meals.
If you can answer Yes to all 5 questions, the person paying you rent will be a ‘lodger’ otherwise they will be a ‘tenant’ and that is a whole different ball-game with different legal and tax implications.
Have you got people in your property you thought were lodgers? Are you aware of the legal rights and obligations you have to lodgers and tenants and the difference between them?
A blanket ban on pets seems to be quite common amongst landlord and letting agents here in Mid-Somerset. One local ‘kitchen table’ agent proudly advertises a ‘No pets’ clause in all his Tenancy Agreements as one of his unique selling points!
Well I have some bad news. The Office of Fair Trading considers a blanket ban on keeping pets in a property to be unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Therefore landlords should not include a “No Pets” clause in their standard tenancy agreement. The Office of Fair Trading believes that a fair clause would require the tenant to get the landlord’s consent before they bring pets into the property but the landlord should not unreasonably withhold their consent. Attempting to ban people having a pet in their home probably raises some human rights issues.
Aside from the legalities, it is estimated that 43% (1) of the population currently own a pet and almost 5 million people live in privately rented accommodation in the UK (2). Do we really want to alienate so many people?
Is it the guy with the stick insect in a terranium you want to ban or the guy with the pack of hunting dogs? or both?
OK let’s suppose you manage to grill the prospective tenant and they sign the unfair contract promising never to have a pet, how are you going to stop the tenant getting a pet in the future? And what will you do if you find out the tenant has got a pet?
What are the benefits to landlords of allowing tenants to have pets? By accepting tenants with pets you can:
I believe landlords and letting agents need to take a more pragmatic approach to pets rather than blanket bans. There are many things that can be done to mitigate any perceived risk.
What are your thoughts on allowing pets in tented property?
1 Pet Food Manufacturers Association Annual Report 2008 www.pfma.org.uk
2 Figure based on data taken from www.arla.co.uk and the Office for National Statistics