Single AST tenant + lodger
Tenancy Types and Management

jonnieboy
jonnieboy
1 Thanks
4 Posts
10 years ago
1
I am currently renting an unfurnished house to two people on a joint AST.

One of them is going to move out and the remaining tenant would like to stay. To help pay the rent they would like to get a lodger for a room that they have furnished (along with the rest of the house).

While a joint AST would normally be my preferred choice, they are a good tenant and I'd like to keep them if a suitable agreement can be drawn up.

A lodger arrangement is currently looking like a better option than allowing them to sub-let (too strong a contract) or me offering room-only ASTs (hard to deal with the new tenant using the current tenant's furniture + I become liable for council tax + more work for me finding tenants).

The risks that concern me so far are:

a) I no longer have direct control over who is living in the house.
b) I am (contractually) reliant on one person to pay all the rent.

Are there any other risks I should be aware of?

To mitigate a), the tenant is happy to have clauses added to the AST, and to mitigate b), they are happy to double the deposit.

For a), could I add this to the AST addendum?

"Clause C8 remains except for the case of a single lodger, vetted and approved by the
landlords and lodging under an agreement reviewed and approved by the landlords.
If requested by the landlord(s), the tenant(s) must serve notice on the lodger to leave the
property within the early termination period specified in the lodger agreement. This
request will not be made by the landlord(s) without reasonable cause."

Does all this hang together? Anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance!

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