Overnight Visitor in rented accommodation.

astorsa

I have recently moved into a shared house and my tenancy agreement States That "The tenant shall not without the written consent of the landlord allow any other persons to remain overnight in the Demised Premises".

Does this mean That I need written permission from the landlord to have my boyfriend stay over for one night?! I feel a bit embarrassed to ask him and it seems rather unreasonable.

Pixie5740

Do you share the house with your landlord or is it shared with other people?

moneyistooshorttomention

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Do you share the house with your landlord or is it shared with other people?

That's the nub of it summed up in one:T

It boils down to "Would other person/people be inconvenienced by your boyfriend staying overnight?".

When I had lodgers in my own home earlier in life, then it was up to ME (and not the lodger concerned) as to whether it was acceptable or no to have anyone else staying overnight (boyfriend or otherwise) because it was MY house.

In a shared house (ie everyone is on a totally equal basis = being a tenant themselves) then I would guess that a clause like that is in there as a Fallback Position to be quoted in case A.N. Other Tenant is unreasonable (eg regularly has someone/anyone staying overnight and therefore causing the house to be housing more people than it was designed for/the landlord is being paid for). In that sort of circumstance...its one thing to have someone else staying overnight once every couple of months for instance, but quite another if a tenant imports their boyfriend every weekend for instance. The one night every couple of months could be turned a blind eye to, but the "every weekend" scenario is rather more "major" and could be unfair to other tenants (eg because 5 people, rather than 4, were living there a substantial portion of the time and expecting "space" eg bathroom availability).

astorsa

The landlord does not live here and it would be like one night a month at the most and we would be very quiet unlike the other tenants banging doors at 3am.

I just do not want to get evicted.

G_M

1) if you are a lodger (share with landlord) he can impose whatever rules he wants and you either agree or leave.

2) if you are a tenant, with 'exclusive use' of either the whole property, or a room in the property, you are entitled to 'quiet enjoyment' of the property/room. That has nothing to do with noise! It is a legal term for your right to occupy your home without interference.

So the clause you quote would be unenforcible.

the only issue would be if your partner made the place his.her primary residence and moved in with you.

but an intermittant guest? No problem.

Alias_Omega

Does anyone else have people stay over?

I think what they are saying is that your boyfriend cannot move into the property...just don't make too much noise..

jjlandlord

Far from convinced that quiet enjoyment has anything to do with the issue or that it implies anything re. the validity of that clause.

In any case, should OP breach the clause, what would be the landlord's loss?
If might be nothing, or it might be something depending on how long the guest stays, and whether utilities are included.

In addition, the property might be an HMO with a limit on the number of resident. Even if not, there are overcrowding rules and the landlord may be liable if they are breached.

G_M

jjlandlord wrote: »

Far from convinced that quiet enjoyment has anything to do with the issue or that it implies anything re. the validity of that clause.

Right to live a normal home life without undue interference.

Prohibiting an overnight guest would breach that right.

Doubtless given the time and inclination, we could each produce case law relating to QE to support/contradict the claim, but as you say, not much a LL could do to enforce (other than a S21 subject to normal rules).

jjlandlord

G_M wrote: »

Right to live a normal home life without undue interference.

Prohibiting an overnight guest would breach that right.

Is that even quiet enjoyment?

Again, quiet enjoyment is not an absolute right to disregard the terms of the lease and consideration must be given to the clauses.
E.g. no pets, no smoking, etc. clauses.

Audrey_Wright

I think it not really about the legal here. Might not have the right to have him over, but lets get real. If your landlord doesn't live with you, he wont really catch you in the act unless somebody tells.
That being said, have a talk with the other tenants in the property and get their verbal permission. If they're okay with you having your boyfriend over, than you sort of have a green light.

V_Chic_Chick

OFT (p.64) has it down as an unreasonable prohibition http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf (incidentally, they say that a blanket ban on pets is also unfair)

Shelter (p.2) reckons it's a form of harassment under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 http://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/23382/Harassment20and20antisocial20behaviour20EW2202D20harassment20and20illegal20eviction.pdf

So I think you're pretty safe unless you manage to annoy the other tenants

In addition, the property might be an HMO with a limit on the number of resident. Even if not, there are overcrowding rules and the landlord may be liable if they are breached.

AFAIK anyone who's living together as man and wife counts as one household for HMO purposes, so effectively one person. In any case, having an HMO licence doesn't prevent guests.