Can my son be the landlord?

SuzieSue

pennypincher61 wrote: »

the council haven't even asked what type of contracts.
all they say is that since August last year all homes in particular postcodes in the area with 3 or more unrelated people living in them have the register.
The only reference to tenancies is in their website where it says that if they have individual tenancies the landlord is liable.
if they have joint tenancy they can continue to pay it.
but joint tenancies look really messy to me.

I'm not too worried about the council tax aspect its the principle of having to pay the late fee and only get 4 years licence.
I would happily pay the standard rate and get the full 5 years but they reckon I'm a year late registering.
for something they didn't tell.me about !

Are you sure that the fire safety requirements aren't also more onerous if they are on individual contracts rather than a joint contract?

jamie11

mrginge wrote: »

Rent the whole place to your son.
He has the other two as lodgers.

Yep! That's what I do with my son, he has 4 lodgers and as long as their combined rent equals his rent for the whole property then I'm happy, he has to make up any shortfall. I do pay the utilities for the whole house though and the CT.

booksurr

pennypincher61 wrote: »

but joint tenancies look really messy to me

your objective is to:
a) retain an income stream for yourself
b) avoid HMO fees,
c) avoid son having to pay income tax unnecessarily, and
c) possibly avoid your exposure to council tax?

the only solution is to switch to a joint tenancy between all 3 people. that way you remain the LL, they pay only one lot of rent direct to you, only one lot of income tax is paid but the downside is they will be liable for CT not you so their costs will rise (or you reduce the rent by the corresponding amount since you won't be paying CT any more)

as joint tenants the only messy bit is when one person wants to leave then you have to start against from scratch with a new tenancy agreement for the new threesome

pennypincher61

I'm not too worried about council tax, if it falls on me then I would just have to increase rents accordingly, swings and roundabouts unless one leaves and I have a gap for any length of time.
Even with a joint tenancy it will still have to be HMO registered.

What makes me mad is my daughter is living in an absolute tip with no safety features in London sharing with 3 others and obviously no regulation there.
Should be same rules across the board and Local authorities should ensure they let people know of new rules.
Their argument is they had it in all the local papers and message boards, not much use to me in Turkey!

I've written to the council again, if they will give me 5 year licence at standard rate I will do whatever is required but I'm not being punished for their lack of communication and will do whatever to get round it.
I heard about it from a tourist in conversation, and wrote to the council to see if I needed to register as already did C4 licence- it took them a month to write back.
One rule for one and all that!