Whether to tell landlord about absence

toxi

Hi guys

Just after a bit of advice really. I live on my own in a rental property and am away quite a lot with work - although usually for less than a month at a time.

I have a friend who lives abroad but works from an office based in the same area as I live. She needs to attend the office a few days a month and so stays with me on these occasions. She does not pay anything for these visits. Sometimes she stays in the house while I'm away, so it benefits me in the sense of having someone in the house when it would otherwise be empty.

I'm due to go away soon for just over a month. During this time, another friend of mine has asked if I would let one of their friends stay as they are visiting from abroad. I would not be charging this person any rent at all - is purely a favour.

So my query is really whether to let my landlord know that I'll be away for a month? I know that in the terms of my lease, it says I have to inform them when the house will be empty for more than a month, but in this case it won't be empty.

To be clear, I do not accept any form of money or anything else in return for having my friend stay, nor will I for having my other friend's friend stay. I have no reason to think that my landlord would object, however I don't want them thinking that I am subletting or anything like that.

My main worry is that something will happen to the house while I'm away which will necessitate the landlord visiting and then it would look worse that I didn't inform them. However I would assume that I am entitled to have friends stay whenever I like and for as long as I like?

Just wondering if anyone has any opinions on whether I should mention anything? Any landlords who would view the arrangement as being against the terms of the lease for example?

Thanks in advance.
T

G_M

The reason your tenancy has a clause saying you must tell the LL if you are away for more than a month is that his insurance policy has a clause saying the property must not be unoccupied for more than a month!

If the property IS unoccupied, his insurance will be invalid and he will not be able to calim if anything goes wrong.

This is because empty property are more at risk, so insurers put a maximum oeriod in their policies. Sometimes 30 days, or a month, or 45 days, whatever.

However if you have friends staying, the property is not 'unoccupied', so you are OK. But please - if the property genuinely will be unooccupied, do tell the LL. It's is for a very good reason and only fair to him.

toxi

Thanks for your reply. I would have absolutely no hesitation to let the landlord know if the property was going to be unoccupied for a period of time as I know it affects his insurance.

The place was empty for a couple of weeks previously (literally only 2 weeks) and I did let him know out of curtesy.

In this instance, the place is unlikely to be empty for more than 4 or 5 days at most and I just don't want him to think I am doing anything dodgy like subletting - which I am definitely not.

I am also on very good terms with my neighbours and they have all the details of the landlord, friend who has spare key etc in case anything looks amiss.

Thanks again for reply.
T

G_M

You're fine. Your personal life is not the LL's business. You are allowed to go on holiday, visit your relatives, travel for work etc! None of his business unless it affects the lease, insurance etc.

But depending on your relationship with the LL you can choose to tell him out of politeness.

Annabee

OP doesn't need 'permission' as the 'random people' are his/her guests and he/she will be reponsible for them.

tyllwyd

Annabee wrote: »

OP doesn't need 'permission' as the 'random people' are his/her guests and he/she will be reponsible for them.

Hmm - so if the friend of a friend (who the OP has never met) decides to run up huge electricity bills, leaves the bath running and floods the place, throws parties for random strangers, deals drugs from the premises, the OP will be left to pick up the pieces? Personally, I don't think I'd take the risk.

Werdnal

tyllwyd wrote: »

Hmm - so if the friend of a friend (who the OP has never met) decides to run up huge electricity bills, leaves the bath running and floods the place, throws parties for random strangers, deals drugs from the premises, the OP will be left to pick up the pieces? Personally, I don't think I'd take the risk.

I agree.

Having random guests to stay is fine, but having random guests staying in the property whilst tenant is away is different.

TBH I would speak to LL and explain the situation; you need to be away for work, so rather than leave the place empty, vulnerable and possibly void the LL's insurance, you have arranged for a friend to "housesit".

toxi

Thanks again for all your replies.

I can see your point regarding leaving a stranger in the house. This person is a close personal friend of one of my friends (who lives around the corner) and is coming over to visit her (grown up) grandchildren for the summer and so would prefer to self cater rather than using a hotel.

This is an annual visit and she has frequently used other people's homes (other friends of my friend) when here as there is generally someone who is away during the same period. I feel quite comfortable that the house will be well looked after in my absence.

I was just concerned that a) if I alert the landlord, they will think I'm subletting and b) if I don't tell landlord, something will happen and they'll need access to house and then they'll think I was subletting anyway but even worse, hiding it from them!

Writing it all down made it a lot more clear and this morning I've been in touch with the landlord to advise them of the situation. They are happy that the house will not be unoccupied for the whole period and have all the contact details they could ever need. My housesitter will also have all the relevant contact details left with them.

Thanks again for those who replied - much appreciated.
T

PasturesNew

I think you're all missing the point here... EAs need to wise up to renters having friends, a life, overnight guests.... and charge £200 credit checking for anybody in the house more than 10 hours.



The LL does not need to know, as was said in #2, the "one month" thing is because of the insurance policy; most/many insurance policies have an identical clause in them about a property being empty for more than 30 days in a row.

Jenniefour

I was a renter up until recently - with periods of time away. I had a trusted friend house sit for me - and let the LL know about this, and her name just in case anything happened that needed attending to. You need to be certain that whoever stays there in your absence is not going to take advantage in some way that may cause future difficulties for you with your landlord, or for yourself. When you have guests while you're there you have some control over what goes on - when you're away you have very little/none so take care about who exactly is in your home while you're not there.

tbs624

The key thing is to protect yourself as the T. As an earlier poster said, you are responsible for the behaviour of guests in your rented property. Yes, you have exclusive occupancy, and can have people to stay, but how out of pocket could you be if the "friend of a friend" decides to,say, host a Facebook advertised party in the property, in your absence?

In the OP's case, s/he seems happy about who the "houseguests" would be and s/he has found a solution that works for her and the LL.

I get PasturesNew'' point, however, and if it wasn't for the fact that many LLs do see themselves as having "authority" over the whole of their T's lives the majority of Ts probably would give the LL a " heads up" in such circumstances, even if only in an attempt to cover their own behinds.