Lodgers' rights to have guests

[Deleted User]

Maybe if you say nothing that would not be any wiser. That is why you don't rent from old people LOL.

I had a lodger that was just upstairs and we had a small child, they were in and out at 2am and having sex at 5 am!. Yes and that was about enough but we allowed them the agreed time period!. :T

[Deleted User]

Forgot to mention they had 10 peope in!.

Badger_Lady

assj wrote: »

they were in and out at 2am and having sex at 5 am!

assj wrote: »

Forgot to mention they had 10 peope in!.

Orgy-tastic!

CFC

zurpher wrote: »

Our 'rent' is only slightly below market. It seems to me that it is not worth it to give up your rights as a tenant (which are already fairly limited in England).......



They have mentioned no parties but we understood it as a proper party and not merely having three or more friends over.



.

Which part of the 'no parties' bit did you not understand?

If you want a flat, go get one - especially as you appear to think that the lodgings are overpriced.

Annisele

As others have said, your rights depend on whether you're tenants or lodgers. From what you've posted, I suspect that you can't be 100% sure which you are unless either you or your LLs take this to court - which would be a pretty strong reaction to a dinner party!

Ultimately, it doesn't sound as though the relationship you have is working out - regardless of whether you're tenants or lodgers. Would it be easy for you to find somewhere else? Would your LL be happy to let you go? (They might be happy even if the contract is supposed to last for longer, but get any changes in writing).

Errata

Tenants get a council tax bill addressed to them at the address they occupy, lodgers don't.

Mojisola

zurpher wrote: »

Our landlords have a complete house for themselves as we live in a separate extension. They can stay in their house and do whatever they enjoy doing.

We have a separate entrance. We have a bedroom, living room, dining room and bathroom to ourselves. We also have a kitchen that is mainly for our use but they use storage in that room and therefore come in more regularly. When we first viewed it, it felt like a proper flat.

It doesn't sound as if you are lodgers. This is definition from this site, describing who can be considered a lodger for the Rent-a-Room scheme -
https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804

"A lodger is someone who pays to live in your home, sometimes with meals provided, and who often shares the family rooms.
A lodger can occupy a single room or an entire floor of your home. However, the scheme does not apply if your home is converted into separate flats that you rent out. In this case you will need to declare your rental income to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and pay tax in the normal way. Nor does the scheme apply if you let unfurnished accommodation in your home."

Annisele

Mojisola wrote: »

It doesn't sound as if you are lodgers. This is definition from this site, describing who can be considered a lodger for the Rent-a-Room scheme -
https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804

I think you're probably right; the OP doesn't sound like a lodger to me either. However, direct.gov does suffer a bit from being potted law - it tries to fit an enormous bundle of legislation and case law into half a paragraph, with the result that it's hard to rely on it in unusual cases.

In the OP's shoes, if I could move easily I'd do that rather than trying to argue a tenancy.

alisoncar

Technically speaking the OP is not a lodger because from the description given their "flat" is self-contained and they have (almost) exclusive use of it.

From tax perspective the couple that is letting this self-contained flat should be declaring the rent as a rent and not use the rent-a-room scheme allowance which I presume they are using at the moment so that their tax on this income is either zero or very low.

Quick Google search has returned more info about the above here
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/lodgers_rent-a-room.htm


"2. The lodger must not have exclusive possession of a self-contained part of your property - cooking facilities and bathroom etc., need to be shared with you! You lodger agreement should give you the power to enter and clean the lodger's room, so that exclusive possession of any part of the property is avoided."

The above is with regards to the tax perspective. From the legal point of view this might be a bit more unclear but given the above I would presume that whatever the "contract" says the OP are in fact tenants and not lodgers.

I would imagine that legal course of action would need to be taken to determine the legal stance. Given the costs and time involved I would not go ahead and if I was not happy to comply with my landlords' wishes then I would move out and got a proper flat.

If the scenario was different and the OP did share the house with the landlords as opposed to having a self-contained flat then I would find the request for a dinner party unreasonable and would not be very happy about having a group of friends around either.

As all the others have suggested; if you are not happy just move out.

ali-t

G_M wrote: »

Did I want my cake (rent) and eat it (privacy)? Yes!

So now, no lodgers.

I hear ya! I had some fab lodgers over the years but the last one was a total PITA and has put me off for life.

I had one who was a fantastic lodger and when he got together with his current partner he stayed with her 6 nights a week and only stayed one night with me to retain his independence. Another one who used the house as a place to sleep around his shifts as a doctor and went home (a long drive/short flight) away any time he had 48+hours off in a row.

With both of them, it would be fair to say that I had my cake, ate it and kept a bit of icing for later!