Shared accommodation above a pub - landlord using one room as an office?

schnide

Hi All,

Once again, I turn to the expertise of the MSE forums.

I live in a shared six-bed property above a pub. Both the pub and rented rooms are owned/managed by the same joint enterprise - although this is a bit of a grey area. The pub landlord/manager may or may not also be one of the legal landlords of the rented accommodation, but he's been a defacto landlord to us in recent months regardless. And mostly a good one.

Five bedrooms above the pub are currently occupied and we are all on separate contracts rather than a joint tenancy. A sixth is free. The pub landlord has recently said that he's considering using the currently-free bedroom as an office.

I'm not comfortable with him having an office in the same property that we live in and I'm fairly sure that this would violate our right to quiet enjoyment.

Is anyone able to advise? I imagine there might be more detail you'd need, so am happy to give further circumstances.

Cheers as always!

martinsurrey

You have not rented a 6 bed house, (it sounds like) you have rented a room in a HMO.

The other rooms can be rented to anyone, not much you can do about it (if it is an HMO).

is it a HMO?

schnide

martinsurrey wrote: »

You have not rented a 6 bed house, (it sounds like) you have rented a room in a HMO.

The other rooms can be rented to anyone, not much you can do about it (if it is an HMO).

is it a HMO?

I don't think I said I rented a six bed house, did I? I think I said that I rented a room in the property.

We wouldn't (rightly) have any legal say who rented another bedroom in the property, were it to be lived in like the rest of us.

My issue is a) whether a room can be used for business purposes but b) more importantly by one of our own landlords. Surely their presence causes a conflict, here?

Are you saying that the fact I/we rent a room means that we only have the right to "quiet enjoyment" for the bedroom, and not the shared areas, bathrooms etc?

How can I tell if it's a HMO?

pmlindyloo

Is there accommodation for the landlord or owner of the pub in the building?

Jugers

The only potential problem I can see is that the landlord may need to declate to the local council the use of the room as it may impact council tax rates.

How do you think this will impact on your "quiet enjoyment"? As it's a shared property, there are no rules that dictate who can rent/use one of the rooms, even if it is the owner of the property.

The "quiet enjoyment" would only really be an issue relating to the room you are renting. As a joint tennant he would be able to hve access and a say about the communal areas.

schnide

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Is there accommodation for the landlord or owner of the pub in the building?

Thanks for the response - no, there isn't (currently at least). He has talked several times about moving his family into one, or indeed all, of the rooms but that hasn't ever happened. He/they live in neither an area of the pub nor any of the bedrooms in the rented accommodation.

If it helps to know:

The first two floors are the pub, the second two the accommodation. Both are accessed via the same door on the street. The pub is accessed by a secondary locked door immediately after it, whereas stairs lead directly up from the front door to the shared areas and (locked) bedrooms for the flats.

schnide

Jugers wrote: »

The only potential problem I can see is that the landlord may need to declate to the local council the use of the room as it may impact council tax rates.

How do you think this will impact on your "quiet enjoyment"? As it's a shared property, there are no rules that dictate who can rent/use one of the rooms, even if it is the owner of the property.

The "quiet enjoyment" would only really be an issue relating to the room you are renting. As a joint tennant he would be able to hve access and a say about the communal areas.

Thanks for the reply.

I am confident that all parties would say we are very respectful tenants and treat the property with care. However, is it not obvious how a landlord's presence in the same property we live in may alter the way we use it and feel comfortable there?

The communal areas are a big part of where we live. At present, if a fellow tenant objects to the way I live if it isn't the same way they do, none of them are able to ultimately end my contract and kick me out of my home!

Running_Horse

schnide wrote: »

My issue is a) whether a room can be used for business purposes but b) more importantly by one of our own landlords. Surely their presence causes a conflict, here?

What is the pub if not a business premise? Probably quieter than a random stranger renting the room.

My concern would be if he claimed to be living there, turning you into a lodger rather than a tenant. Many years ago I had a landlady who kept one room empty in each house for that purpose.

schnide

Running_Horse wrote: »

What is the pub if not a business premise?

But.. I don't live in the pub!

The pub on the bottom two floors is quite clearly a separate enterprise to the rented accommodation in the top two floors. So I don't expect beer barrels to be stored in our lounge anymore than the landlord should expect me to walk through the bar in a towel!

Obviously I'm being a little flippant here, but the same principle should extend to the landlord's office work too, as far as I can tell.

Pete9501

Since nothing has happened yet, why don't you wait and see rather than panic thinking that some noisy business is going to upset you.

He might be using it for an office to run his letting business along with the pub. How noisy is a computer and a phone?

agrinnall

If one of the other tenants decided to run a business from the room that they are paying for would you be complaining about that? I think you should keep quiet until there is actually something to be concerned about, if you start moaning now then I predict the rapid arrival of a S21.