Student shared house; sharing room with partner

tkc

As I understand it, the rule against a tenant sharing occupation of their room is pretty standard in a student assured shorthold tenancy. In any case it's plainly stated in my contract "Not...part with or share possession or occupation of the property". However, I'm planning on moving my partner in as he's managed to transfer his job down to my university town.

As I assume there are fair few landlords on here, could you give me an idea of the grievances a landlord might have with this? I assume more rent will be in order, but the house should already be HMO, so as far as I can see it shouldn't be a bother...

Thanks.

robpw2

the best thing will be talk to the landlord, I rent my room with my partner in a hmo and we had to pay an extra £20 a week and we have a contract etc

tkc

Will be talking to the landlord, but I want to address any grievances right off the bat. Supposedly the couple let another 50 properties in my area so it's not gonna be a swift exchange.

BitterAndTwisted

Apart from the landlord not wanting yet another person squeezed in there causing additional wear-and-tear your house-mates might not necessarily welcome someone else not of their choosing using utilities that they're not contributing towards.

If you're a couple you'd probably be better off renting somewhere else more suitable.

lynzpower

Should imagine the LL would just want to know who is there. If you are sharing a bed/life as "man and wife" then youll be classed as a single household in any event. the only issue might be if the Local authority has specified on the HMO licence how many people ( not households )may occupy

Niv

One issue that comes to mind is council tax. A house full of students does not need to pay it but if one person in the house is not a student, it has to be paid. Not sure who would be responsible for that though (when I rented a room as a student the LL sorted all bills so I paid a flat rate so council tax was sorted by him on the houses he had that had non-students in them).

Niv

CIS

If its an HMO for council tax purposes then the L/L would be liable otherwise it would be the OP's partner.

Snazzy

What do your housemates think? I'd be pretty dischuffed about someone moving their partner in as student houses tend to be pretty crowded already.

lynzpower

It completely depends on the type of HMO, It could be one of flats/ bedsits/ it could be where they dont know each other but they are all students. It could be that there is no lounge or communal areas. It could be the students all signed separate tenancies.

tkc

Just had a look at the local authority website and apparently the property isn't HMO licensed anyway. It doesn't meet the standards required for the 6 tenants it contains either...nevermind. The letting agent told me it was all "proper HMO'd" :undecided. It's a shared house with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities for 6 tenants over 3 storeys, so from what I've read it should be licensed.

One of the tenants isn't a student and has been paying council tax thusfar; that would imply it isn't classed as an HMO for council tax purposes. He would lose his single occupier rate reduction but we'll cover his loss if necessary. The household have known each other since we were 11 years old, so there shouldn't be a problem discussing it with them.

lynzpower

Yep definitely should be licensed

Are you aware of rent repayment order?

I suggest you let your local authority know and they will undertake licensing asap.

Its great that you know everyone in there