Tenant not planning to live in house

liuhut

Hi
I really need some advise please
I have a couple who want to let a house from me, I was told that he works away during the week and would be there most weekends. I have reason to believe that they have now split up. I live locally and have not seen him for 2 months
They are due to move in tomorrow, nothing has yet been signed.
If they have a joint tenancy and he does not intend to live in the house where does it leave me legally, he is the main earner, she does not work at all????
I really need to get this sorted and will seek proper legal advise tomorrow but am so worried about it

kunekune

My angle would be this: if she doesn't pay, you have the normal recourse to remedies (ie, chuck her out). If she does, it is irrelevant whether she is still with her OH. Since you don't know which future scenario is true (or even if she is still with him, tbh) you cannot do anything. This is one of the hassles of being a landlord: you have to act on what people have done (ie, whether they pay) rather than on what they might not do (ie, pay in two months time).

jo1967

If they both sign a tenancy agreement then they are jointly and severally laible for all rent (and arrears).

However, if they have not signed anything yet and you think their circumstances have changed then maybe think again.

Do you want your house to sit empty for the majority of the time?

mlz1413

If you did the credit checks you can normally get insurance to cover the rental.

If you didn't get checks then maybe get them and get a guarnator.

Its pointless renting to her only if she has no income, if they can't both sign then look again for tenants. If they both sign the way originally discussed then their personal time living together and apart is not your problem.

socrates

liuhut wrote: »

Hi
I really need some advise please
I have a couple who want to let a house from me, I was told that he works away during the week and would be there most weekends. I have reason to believe that they have now split up. I live locally and have not seen him for 2 months
They are due to move in tomorrow, nothing has yet been signed.
If they have a joint tenancy and he does not intend to live in the house where does it leave me legally, he is the main earner, she does not work at all????
I really need to get this sorted and will seek proper legal advise tomorrow but am so worried about it

Had a similar situation with someone trying to do this and claim LHA without me knowing - Data Protection and all that.

I think this may be the same situation - most LL's do not accept people claiming benefits or at least given the choice they do not.

So this is one of the ways that claimants get around it - saying this your insurance as mentioned above will be null and void.

Simple answer if you are not comfortable and have a gut feeling then walk away.

speedtwin

The one thing that hasnt been mentioned is if it isnt his principle/ main home and he just comes down at weekends or when it suits him you cannot use a normal contract (ast).

Which means a common law tenancy agreement is needed, the deposit doesnt need to be protected and you wont be able to get them out via a section 21.

Wickedkitten

Shouldn't you actually know the situation without making assumptions before you decide what to do?

He might have just been seconded somewhere and thats why you haven't seen him for two months.

Robert_Sterling_3

Are your tenants in yet?

liuhut

no. not yet! They have delayed it and want to move in next weekend now. I need to look into the common law tenancy part, when I sought legal advice on Friday they did not mention it ???

speedtwin

Who gave the legal advice??

liuhut

The Rla.....