student house, new tenant not student

ludmilla

my daughter signed a tenancy agreement to rent a shared house as a student. Each student signed an agreement and parents were guarantors. This was for September this year until end of June next. At the end of her academic year some 2 months after signing tenancy she decided to change studies and uni. She has found students to take her place, but her fellow tenants don't like them. I grudgingly understood, she has now found a girl who works at the uni who is looking for a room, but the landlord doesn't want to rent to someone who isn't a student. Muttering HMO regulations and council tax. I am not an expert but can't see how either of those things come into play.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks,

Ludmilla

onlyroz

ludmilla wrote: »

my daughter signed a tenancy agreement to rent a shared house as a student. Each student signed an agreement and parents were guarantors. This was for September this year until end of June next. At the end of her academic year some 2 months after signing tenancy she decided to change studies and uni. She has found students to take her place, but her fellow tenants don't like them. I grudgingly understood, she has now found a girl who works at the uni who is looking for a room, but the landlord doesn't want to rent to someone who isn't a student. Muttering HMO regulations and council tax. I am not an expert but can't see how either of those things come into play.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks,

Ludmilla

Students are exempt from council tax as long as the entire household are students. If there is a single non-student then the household is eligible for the single-person discount. If there is more than one non-student then the full council tax is liable.

oddjobong

shouldn't really be an issue. Like onlyroz states, if there is a non-student in a student house, they are eligible for discount, and the landlord shouldn't need to interfere with Council tax payments.

HMO is means Multiple Occupation NOT "student" occupation. It really shouldn't play a big deal to the landlord in a legal sense either.

More importantly, I don't see why the other students in the house have such a big say. Depending on the contract, then either they're liable to pay for your daughter if she drops out of the agreement unless another agreement has been made.

Or, its done via individual tenancy of a room, so for her to have found someone else is surely acceptable and within the rules. Tough S**t if her housemates don't like this person.

Like i said, it depends on what kind of agreement you had in the first place, and it looks like either a showdown with the landlord or the other tenants.

G_M

This is an HMO since each occupant has signed a separate agreement and therefor they each constitute a separate 'household (as opposed to them all signing a single contract with joint responsibility for each other).

In an HMO, the landlord is legally responsible for paying Council Tax. However, since all the occupants are currently students, there is no CT to pay (students are exempt).

Introducing a non-student will mean there is a CT liability, which the LL will have to pay (as it is an HMO).

oddjobong

but then surely there shouldn't be an issue of having these replacements students occupying the room, admittedly at the dismay of the current tenants?

G_M

oddjobong wrote: »

but then surely there shouldn't be an issue of having these replacements students occupying the room, admittedly at the dismay of the current tenants?

I assume you mean the landlord could grant them a tenancy even if the other occupants did not like them?

Yes. If he wished. Legally he could. He could grant an Early Surrender of the OP's daughter's tenancy, and sign a new tenancy with whoever he wished.

However, as a landlord I would not wish to upset my existing tenants! Creating discord is bound, over the year, to result in further problems. Far better to have people living together who get on (as best as one can ever anticipate).

The LL has no obligation to agree to an Early Surrender of the existing tenancy, and is only likely to agree if he is happy with the new arrangement being proposed.

Thus he is wise to take the other occupants' feelings into account, AND wise to avoid any new Council Tax liability.

oddjobong

But would the value of a more stable income stream from a new tenant versus a risky rental revenue from a tenant who no longer lives there play in the mind of the LL.

Surely then, it narrows down to what the bigger headache is for the LL?

Whether he can be reimbursed for the Council tax liability, or a potentially unhappy household?

ludmilla

Thank you as always, will mull all this over, so good to get such advice.

G_M

oddjobong wrote: »

But would the value of a more stable income stream from a new tenant versus a risky rental revenue from a tenant who no longer lives there play in the mind of the LL.

Surely then, it narrows down to what the bigger headache is for the LL?

Whether he can be reimbursed for the Council tax liability, or a potentially unhappy household?

Of course.

These are decisions for the LL.

But the OP stated

She has found students to take her place, but her fellow tenants don't like them. ...., she has now found a girl who works at the uni ... but the landlord doesn't want to rent to someone who isn't a student. Muttering HMO regulations and council tax. I am not an expert
but can't see how either of those things come into play.

I have simply explained how both those things might come into play!

BitterAndTwisted

The problem fro the non-student prosepective tenant is that the landlord will likely increase their rent to cover the Council Tax liability which would probably make the monthly rent far in excess of what they could pay elsewhere. No landlord would want to swallow nearly a grand a year, maybe more