Renting with friends

dmoyes

A few friends and I are planning to rent somewhere between us.

It will be between 3 and 5 people depending on what property we can get. All aged between 24 and 28, all working, all saving for potential mortgages. The main reason is to move out of parents houses - as being 24+ is a bit embarrassing. We are all pretty tidy and want to experience living with each other before the potential of some buying together. We have the cash so deposit isn't much of an issue - just want something to cost approx £250-300 inc bills per person.

I tried one place and when I mentioned it would potentially be 3 professionals wanting to move in they suggested not going to see the property and didn't even try and suggest any others.

Is there any special way to get into this, I know estate agents can charge up to £150 for "reference" checking per person.

Can anyone suggest any way of making this process easier?
Putting tenancy all as one name?
Renting as a group?
Can we go to the council?

Please give any other suggestions/comments.

Regards

RAS

Which part of the country?

My area trying to find a shared flat/house at less than £250-300 person for rent would be hard, plus £30-50 for CT and a similiar amount for gas and electric. Add water rates, TV licence and any phone and TV internet package. £350- 400 might be doable.

dmoyes

We are in a town, in the middle of england, have seen places to rent 3 beds from 475 so all bills should be less than 375. So thats just inder 285 each.

orangeslimes

dmoyes wrote: »

We are in a town, in the middle of england, have seen places to rent 3 beds from 475 so all bills should be less than 375. So thats just inder 285 each.

Does it have an HMO licence? There are stricter rules for renting to unrelated people than families, and places with an HMO might be more expensive. Depending where you live there might also be a lack of those sort of properties. Is there a university in the town?

dmoyes

orangeslimes wrote: »

Does it have an HMO licence? There are stricter rules for renting to unrelated people than families, and places with an HMO might be more expensive. Depending where you live there might also be a lack of those sort of properties. Is there a university in the town?

Thanks, didn't know about HMOs, I think we will struggle a little its not a very big town so probably little demand for it.

G_M

Putting aside the cost issue (what is available at the rent you have depends on locality, as do overheads etc) one issue might be the number of sharers. Are any of you couples? 5 people? 3 bedromm property? LLs are unlikely to accept this, though if it's 2 couples and a single.....

If you live as a single 'family unit' ie sharing meals, facilities etc, and sign a single 'joint and several' tenancy agreement, then there's no HMO implication.

Try different lettin agents, and use the local paper, and Rightmove.

may_fair

dmoyes wrote: »

Can anyone suggest any way of making this process easier?
Putting tenancy all as one name?
Renting as a group?
Can we go to the council?

As has been mentioned, HMO (houses in multiple occupation) licencing may affect the choice of property available to you. Different councils have different rules, so it might be an idea to check the local requirements in order to pre-empt any objections by a LL (who might refuse you fearing that it would mean he had to apply for an HMO licence and/or install additional safety measures).

If you take a property on a joint tenancy, i.e. all of you named as 'the Tenant' on a single contract, then you should be aware that each of you would be jointly and individually liable for all of the rent, not just your 'share'. For example, if one of you suddenly decided they wanted out mid-fixed term, and moved out/stopped paying rent, everyone'd still be liable for the unpaid rent (including the one who moved out). So you need to be sure that everyone is reliable and trustworthy before proceeding with a joint tenancy, because you're basically taking on liability for everyone else's rent as well as your 'share'.

The alternative is to rent rooms on an individual basis in the same house - but this also has its drawbacks and if there's five of you it may be difficult finding a property with five rooms free simultaneously. Drawbacks include the possibility of one of you moving out and a complete stranger moving in, someone you might not get along with. And it may be more expensive than renting jointly, and you wouldn't have exclusive possession of the communal areas (so LL could access these areas).

may_fair

G_M wrote: »

If you live as a single 'family unit' ie sharing meals, facilities etc, and sign a single 'joint and several' tenancy agreement, then there's no HMO implication.

I don't think that that's the case. Tenants must be related as per s.258 HA2004 in order to form a 'single household'.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/34/part/7/crossheading/meaning-of-house-in-multiple-occupation

G_M

On a separate but related issue - have a serious discussion on, and agree, how you will manage bills.
*Utilities - which of you will put their name(s) on the account? that person is legally liable!
* Consumables - loo paper, washing up liquid, food (if you share), etc etc - who buys/pays?
* cleaning - a rota?

There are examples on this site periodically of tenant A being the acount holder for, say, the gas, and each month the others give him £X as their share towards gas. End of the year, A leaves a bit early, goes abroad - the others find no gas bill has ever been paid.....

A good idea is to have regular 'house meetings' (weekly? monthly? whatever) at which you review whose paid what, and who owes what to who. Also discuss the inevitable "Why is always me who cleans the toilet - no one else lifts a finger!" discussion. If you discuss these things you can sort them, otherwise they breed resentment and you end up hating your ex-friends!

DizzyDasher

In London is is very common to rent as 3 or 4 friends. Usually you have to sign up to a joint tenancy - so you are each individually liable for all the rent if the others do a runner, so you need to trust each other! In this instance it's not an HMO - it's a normal private rental contract, just with more tenants than usual. The only issue we ever had was with getting contents insurance (they seemed to want us all to have locks on our doors - so in the end we just didn't bother with the insurance as we didn't have anything that expensive anyway!)

I'd be surprised if it isn't the same in any reasonable sized town - though if you are looking at "family houses" you may just find some landlords have a preference for a family. You might also find that some need references or guarantors in addition to a deposit (as you will presumably have no previous landlord references).

Maybe you just need to try a few more places? I would try registering with lots of agencies and come back if you find that they won't even take you on. Once you've registered you are still going to have to phone them and keep an eye on their website (IME agents are generally lazy, so will show things to whoever makes it easy for them). But by registering you should be able to find out whether there is any problem in principle with your plan in your town.

jennifernil

It does vary a lot. Here in Glasgow you need an HMO licence for 3 or more unrelated people sharing.