lodging at a housing association owned house.

tzzt123

Hello everybody !

I was wondering if anyone has experience with the following:

My partner and I have been renting a room from a private landlord.
Up until a month and a half ago we assumed the house was privately owned as the landlord suggested several times since we moved in. Since the house is large: 5 bedrooms and a large garden, we had no reason to suspect it was different. The landlord lives with us and takes care of it and the garden as well.

About a month and a half ago after a lady from the housing association came and knocked on the door, we discovered it wasn't privately owned. A few days later, the same lady handed us a letter asking the landlord to pay the rent. So what we discovered is not only that the landlord was not paying on time, but since its a counsel house, the rent we are paying for the room is higher than the rent the landlord pays for the house - and we are not the only lodgers.

Is this legal? I mean the government pays for the house (because the landlord cannot pay) while in reality the landlord has turned it into a hotel with a profit margn of 200%, in addition to the fact she works.

There are more detailst but any opinions are welcome.

Mojisola

tzzt123 wrote: »

I mean the government pays for the house (because the landlord cannot pay) while in reality the landlord has turned it into a hotel with a profit margn of 200%, in addition to the fact she works.

The LL obviously can pay! She must be lying on the claim forms and is committing fraud.

theartfullodger

Please let the housing association know all the details of the crook & cheat who is charging you all this money - their name, address, 'phone number, email ID etc etc etc place of work - anything.

AlexMac

Dunno about 'legal' in that I suspect breaching the terms of her tenancy agreement with the Housing Association probably isn't a criminal or even cilvil offence, but it's certainly illicit in that something the HA don't want to happen, and I bet her tenancy agreement say 'no sub-letting'. Its also immoral in that social housing is for people and families who can't afford to buy or pay market rents, so it begs the Q- why is the HA letting big houses to people who 'under-occupy'? If she was on Housing benefit, she'd be whacked with the bedroom tax, but you imply that's not the case, as she works? So you have a dillemma; do you protest and rock the boat, or even grass her up to the landlords, or live with it on the grounds that if you walk away someone else will fill your place. And now you know, you have to live with the uncertainty and fact that you have poor security of tenure (but so do all renters).

On the other hand, you could argue that she's fulfilling a social service (in broad terms) by ensuring that an otherwise half empty house is effectively utilised?

I'm a pragmatist, and I condemn recent governments (of all colours) by disgracefully failing to deliver adequate numbers of low-cost houses for rent, so I'm happy to live with a bit of illicit sub-letting. My early years were spent in a succession of caravans, crappy bed-sits and hostels, so guerilla activity must be better than that! And currently, I know people who have been forced to take in illicit lodgers because they've been whacked by the bedroom tax, so good luck to them. It's your call. Good luck

terryw

Do I need permission to take in a lodger?
As a tenant of a social landlord (either a council or a housing association) if you hold
a secure tenancy you have the right to take in a lodger, but your landlord needs to
provide you with their consent. If you are an assured tenant it is highly likely you
have the right to take in a lodger but you will require the housing associations
consent.
In both instances it is a good idea to let your landlord know that you are thinking
about taking in a lodger, as they might be able to offer you help and advice

from: https://www.wlga.gov.uk/download.php?id=5305&l=1‎

zzzLazyDaisy

First, having lodgers in a council house is not normally a breach of the tenancy agreement. On the contrary, with the 'bedroom tax' people are being encouraged to have a lodger (subletting is different from having a lodger).

Second - the government will only be paying if the your landlord is entitled to housing benefit - in which case they will also be incurring a large reduction (in bedroom tax) as they are only entitled to HB for one bedroom and they are living in a 5 bedroomed house, and so would be encouraged by many to take a lodger! But since she works, it is highly unlikely that she is entitled to HB.

Also how did the lady handing you a letter for your landlord result in you learning that the landlord is in arrears with the rent and that you pay more for the room than she pays for the whole house? Did you open the letter? (Even that doesn't make any sense as those letters are normally computer generated and posted to the tenant.

From your own point of view, lodgers have no security of tenure so if you make life difficult for your landlord, you would be asked to leave (probably on short notice).

I guess it is up to you.

datlex

I rent from a housing association. My tenancy states that I can permit two people to live here - myself and another. This is because it is a 1 bed flat. If I were to live in a larger property, my tenancy would state I could have more people living with me.

The landlord can charge rent of £4250 (rate in 2012) without incurring tax.

Unfortunately, I doubt you have many rights. I personally would register with the housing association. Sharing a home with people you are not related to puts you in a higher band.

Yorkie1

One thing that concerns me, OP, is that you say you are not the only lodgers. I am not sure of the answer, but if the LL lives on the premises, as do you and your OH, and other people / another person, has this now become a House in Multiple Occupation and thus subject to additional rules about registration, licensing, fire safety etc? Hopefully others can comment.

tzzt123

Hello everybody and thank you for all this quick response !!

Let me share some more details.there are 2 more lodgers in the house, and yes LL works from home.

I have never seen the LLs contract with the housing association so I don't really know if she has to go through house improvements or even!have lodgers in the house.

the reason why we know about the situation is because that letter was handed to me we were quite worried once the lady came and asked questions so.. I know its rude but I we opened the letter and found out that our rent - for one room is more expensive than the house rent.

Like I said the LL said she would sort it out and about a weeklater we found an eviction notice on the door.when we asked her she said that the company that owns the house thought she rented the house out and lived somewhere else and that she was going to fight back since this was not the case.

Someone from the company came once later on to look around About a week after she told us that this might be a bit of a problem and verbally told us we all might have to leave the house by the end of the month.

We then contacted the housing association and told them what happened reminding them they are evicting people they're going to have to help again for no good reason hoping it would help the situation too.

They haven't found a place for us yet the LL has spoken to us several times and it looks like she keeping the houseand better than that, walking around the house with paint bookletsyet she is still asking us to leave.

I guess our rent is going to pay for the house repainted!

zzzLazyDaisy

If you were my lodger and you opened my mail, I would have evicted you too. Lodgers are bare licencees with no right of occupation. So I would suggest that you start looking for somewhere else to live, as a matter of urgency.

Yorkie1

If you have been asked to leave by the LL (must admit I hadn't picked that fact up in all the other information you gave), then the rest of the information about permission to have lodgers is irrelevant and you need to leave in accordance with the terms of your notice.