Am I a lodger or a tenant ?

BitterAndTwisted

You are lodgers. You have few, if any rights.

If you are finding it difficult to get savings together to move you could withhold the last month's rent but you are in danger of returning home to find the locks on the front-door changed, so tread very, very carefully.

Jowo_2

KinkyMelinky wrote: »

Ok well this has been very helpful. Thing is, she put us down as tenants on the contract - like she used the word. Does this change things ? Although the contract has expired so maybe we're back to lodger status

I have seen posts from live in landlords worried that they've inadvertently given extra rights to their lodgers by getting them to sign an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement, meaning they've accidentally made them tenants.

And if I remember correctly, they've been reassured that housing law trumps the contract, therefore because of their shared living arrangements, the other occupier can only ever be considered as a lodger.

I have also seen posts from residents of properties who say they've signed a lodgers agreement but their landlord lives in a different property. Again, if my memory doesn't fail me, they've been assured again that housing law will always succeed over contracts, therefore they are tenants whatever the document says because they live in self-contained accommodation for their own exclusive use.

People sometimes conflate the terms 'lodger' and 'tenant' and I'm sure it is about the nature of their living arrangements that is the key driver when it comes to their legal rights.

tbs624

KinkyMelinky wrote: »

We have our own room, the landlady doesn't provide any bathroom towels, does not provide meals and does not provide bed linen. We have a lock on our door and the landlady never enters our room.

Bearing all of this in mind does this make us tenants or lodgers ?

My bolding.

The fact that the LL also lives in the property and shares a kitchen with you would indicate that you are lodgers, as other posters have said, but the lock on your door muddies the waters a tad as it would seem to afford you "exclusive occupation". Does the LL have a key to that lock?