Is it legal for a resident to not be on the tenancy contract?

Prosequimur

Hey everyone,

Hopefully this should be a fairly quick answer! Basically, I live in a 3 bedroom house with 2 old friends. Recently, my girlfriend moved in too and we are sharing a room. This had all been explicitly agreed with both the letting agent and landlord beforehand.

We recently got the updated contracts, and they have omitted my girlfriends name from it. Is it illegal for her not to be on the contract if she lives here? If not, what benefit would there be for her to become named on it? Their referencing fee is £70 which we'd obviously prefer not to pay if it's not essential. Would it impact on future ability to rent if she didn't have a recent history that being on the contract might provide?

Thanks for any help!

Jowo_2

No, there is no requirement by law to provide a tenancy agreement to a resident of a rental property. A verbal agreement is fine. I believe it is possible for a landlord to inadvertently create a tenancy by accepting rent from a resident.

Does your girlfriend pay the landlord/letting agent directly? Did you actually ask her to be included on the new contract?

Quite often, a referencing fee is to check the tenants employment details, previous landlord references, credit/ID check as part of a condition in letting a person move in. If they performed this service, why would you not pay it? For example, did you and the other tenants pay an extra charge to cover the production of the contract(s), or just referencing fee at the outset of the tenancy?

Lots of regulations to do with renting are civil in nature - when they are breached it's a contractual dispute and not a criminal matter (i.e. illegal) anyway and get settled in the small claims court, not a criminal court.

Shelter has a tenancy checker that can confirm her status - perhaps as a permitted occupier.

Prosequimur

Thanks for your response! To answer your questions, none of us pay separately - I collect rent then send the total to the letting agent. Our contract only states the total monthly rent - it doesn't specify quantities per person or anything like that.

We didn't specifically ask for her to be included in the contract, no. As I mentioned, all the parties are aware and previously gave consent for her to move in. Though I and the other tenants paid the referencing fee when we moved in a couple of years ago, they didn't ask her to do so, so she didn't. I am almost certain that they didn't run any checks on her because she never filled out any paperwork. I believe they were willing to accept my good record and liability in lieu of a full check.

So ultimately then, is there any benefit to her getting her name on the contract and going through the referencing process which they would want to do so? I am happy to be liable for her part of the rent, and as I say the contract only states a total house rental amount.

BitterAndTwisted

I can't see any benefit at all. Should she have a separate rental agreement and your relationship end it would only serve to complicate matters if you and your two house-mates didn't want her to live there any longer. I'd leave things as they are.

Prosequimur

OK, that's great. Thanks very much for your help, appreciate it!

Fire_Fox

If any of you end up claiming benefits - unexpected pregnancy, illness, injury, redundancy - you may have problems. Certainly your girlfriend would struggle to claim housing benefit and the council could withhold payment for anyone else until the AST was amended. We have had cases on the boards before where this was a problem and the landlord did not want to amend the AST as he didn't want tenants claiming benefits. Might also be beneficial for her in terms of proof of address or getting a reference if the two of you later wish to move out alone. Perhaps you could ask for written confirmation that your GF is a permitted occupant?

tbs624

Jowo wrote: »

No, there is no requirement by law to provide a tenancy agreement to a resident of a rental property. A verbal agreement is fine. ..........

As part of the overhaul of the Private Rented Sector, it is likely that it will become a legal requirement for all Ts to have a written contract.

In the meantime , however, the law does require a LL to give written confirmation of basic terms under which a T has occupancy, within 28 days of the T formally requesting the info.

tbs624

You say "updated contracts", plural - and yet you pay one amount jointly to the LL? Are you 3 original tenants on a "joint and several liability" contract for the whole property, or do you each have your own individual contracts?

DireEmblem

Your house clearly has an HMO, and as the other occupants have signed the lease, you are covered by the terms of the agreement in that. Your girlfriend however has the option to leave at any time, given she is not named on the lease.

I would not inform them of it, as chances are they either would not care, or B wish to increase the rent due to another person residing in the property.

Prosequimur

Hey, we're all jointly liable - we're all named on the contract together. Thanks for all the responses here - from the sound of things it may be best to leave it (for now at least) unless it becomes a legal requirement. I did wonder if it would affect her ability to get a rental agreement in the future but I would imagine that shouldn't be too much of an issue?

Jowo_2

My understanding is that people tend to improve their position with credit checks if they are present on the electoral register. I assume future tenant screening could also include verifying her previous addresses.