Need some advice on renting from a friend...

Sid_Wolf

Ok so my boss has a lease on his chip shop, and also leases the flat above. However his girlfriends wants to move closer into town (where she works) and so he is thinking of renting out his flat, and may knock the rent down for us.

We may end up getting a 4 bed flat for £400pcm!

This is well within our budget, and he has gave us details of how much his utilities are, we have around £200 left a month after everything.

But one problem, he's never rented it out before, is there some legal stuff to go through so he can rent it. I know the property can be rented, as the previous leaseholder did it before him.

Will he have to pay to rent it out? Or can we just move in??

BitterAndTwisted

If his lease allows for subletting then all he has to do is draw up a tenancy agreement

Sid_Wolf

he wont have to pay any costs?? or get a solicitor??

BitterAndTwisted

Well, he could draw up a tenancy agreement without a solicitor but that could be very foolish. For him, rather than you, I reckon. By occupying the property and him receiving rent from you means there is a contract it's just the terms and conditions which aren't proven.

If he wanted to be sensible he should join a landlord's association and get a decent rental-agreement template that way.

A word of caution: it could prove difficult in the future if your relationship breaks down to have both your job and your home dependent on it.

Jowo_2

He can rent it directly to you but if he's not familiar with letting property, he should get a book on being a landlord, join a national landlord's association and read up on his responsibilities on the Landlordzone website.

This forum sees loads of postings from tenants encountering difficulties with novice landlords who are ignorant about their responsibilities and their tenants rights so don't undertake repairs, don't give sufficient notice, breach the tenant's quiet enjoyment of the property and so on.

A business or personal relationship also compounds issues since if there is a simple tenant/landlord dispute, it can wreck a job or relationship. This forum also sees a lot of posts where relationships have been spoiled by accommodation 'favours' as trust is not sufficient to manage it, nor overcome ignorance about rights/responsibilities. There's much greater likelihood of the tenancy/personal relationship breaking down if it's done on an informal favour basis and the landlord and tenant are inexperienced.

Your landlord can issue you with a tenancy agreement, draw up the inventory/schedule of condition, produce a standing order for the payment and place your deposit in a tenancy deposit scheme within 14 days. He needs to provide a gas certificate is issued if there are any gas appliances/boiler in place. A solicitor or letting agent is not required - he can do everything directly.

But there are a huge host of safety regulations and housing law is complex. This is where he could trip up if he doesn't know anything to do with letting a property. For example, you ring up and say 'There's no hot water or heating, the boiler is broken' and he says 'that's not my problem, the rent is cheap, fix it yourself' , etc.

Sid_Wolf

ok i joined up to landlordzone and downloaded the relevent PDFs and saved them.

Have to pay for a tenancy agreement via that site tho, is this always the case??? Or can you find them for free??

Trollfever

Chip shops have been known to catch fire and I would want to ensure that adequate fire precautions and insurance are in place.

Brb

He should also have an EPC done.

You'll regret living above a chip shop I'd be size of house if I lived on same street as one haha!

Creamlampshade

Avoid. It is next to impossible for people to think of you in the same way when you are a tenant reporting necessary repairs. Besides, he leases the flat already? I'd be careful!

Sid_Wolf

I wont just be living above the shop, I work there too!!! :rotfl:

He understands how it could affect our work relationship and friendship, and we may write a clause into any agreement that he cant fire me because of disputes over accomodation

I have experience of a chip shop fire, the one I use to work in caught fire, thankfully it wasnt bad WASNT ME!!!!! I was on holiday at the time

Its still not definate that he will rent it to us tho, as he does know he can charge more for it, so its not decided yet, but I wanted to ask that to help him whether or not its us he rents it to