This month a landlord posted to the forum after a couple asked if they could live together in their rental property, with only one of their names on the AST. The landlord wanted to know whether this was legal and turned to our forum for help.
The situation
The tenant approached the landlord asking for the tenancy agreement to include only one of their names, explaining that the other had a poor credit history. The second, whose name they wanted to use, had a satisfactory credit history and would meet the affordability criteria.
The member wanted to know more about their legal position if the person named on the tenancy decided to leave, thereby leaving the person not named on the tenancy agreement living in the property.
The responses on our forum
A highly experienced forum user was the first person to respond to our landlord's question. They said it is possible to have only one tenant listed on the AST, with the other person living at the property listed as a permitted occupier. However, the ‘permitted occupier’ would have no right to remain the property when the sole named tenant on the AST left.
Another landlord was of a different opinion, and said their preference would be to ensure both tenants are mentioned on the AST, because then in the case of unpaid rent, there would be two people to approach.
An adviser from our expert landlord advice team then joined in on the thread.
They began by explaining that in this situation, landlords CAN have a sole tenancy with permission to grant the other as a permitted occupier.
This is common practice when one party is the 'breadwinner' and is the person who pays all the rent. This tenant is liable for the tenancy and permitted occupier has no rights under the tenancy other than to reside there.
They confirmed a right to rent check would need to be conducted on both parties and, should there be issues with regards to possession further down the line, for example if the permitted occupier did not leave the property - proceedings would have to be issued against the tenant named on the tenancy agreement.
As part of these proceedings the bailiffs would evict whoever was in the property, so the permitted occupier would have to move out.
Learn more
- Our members’ forum has recently moved, and can now be found under the advice tab on our website.
- To read the original forum post, click here.