Can I sublet to a family member without having to get a Buy to Let mortgage

accidental_landlord_2

I believe you can rent a room/charge board to your sibling/parent and potentially gain a tax free rental allowance of up to £7500 per year from his partners share of the lets call it 'board' whilst maintaining the place as a main residence for yourself. How you verbally agree the deal with your immediate family is up to you.

Millions of immediate family members live in this manner without mortgage complications... The fact you are on a yatch in the Caribbean and do not care how they use the rooms in the house while you are away should be irrelevant .

The only thing that would actually prevent you from doing this would be having a buy to let mortgage.

00ec25

accidental_landlord wrote: »

I believe you can rent a room/charge board to your sibling/parent and potentially gain a tax free rental allowance of up to £7500 per year from his partners share of the lets call it 'board' whilst maintaining the place as a main residence for yourself. How you verbally agree the deal with your immediate family is up to you.

Millions of immediate family members live in this manner without mortgage complications... The fact you are on a yatch in the Caribbean and do not care how they use the rooms in the house while you are away should be irrelevant .

The only thing that would actually prevent you from doing this would be having a buy to let mortgage.

as a self confessed "accidental LL" and based on your own thread it might be wise if you learn the basics first before giving tax advice

OP has not yet answered what their tax residency will be so you cannot state they can claim the rent a room allowance when it is not yet confirmed they will physically occupy the property themselves - a crucial pre cursor to it being their main residence.

If they are then "away" on the boat for most of the year it could potentially cease to be their residence depending on the exact circumstances

accidental_landlord_2

00ec25 wrote: »

as a self confessed "accidental LL" and based on your own thread it might be wise if you learn the basics first before giving tax advice

OP has not yet answered what their tax residency will be so you cannot state they can claim the rent a room allowance when it is not yet confirmed they will physically occupy the property themselves - a crucial pre cursor to it being their main residence.

If they are then "away" on the boat for most of the year it could potentially cease to be their residence depending on the exact circumstances

Both used the word potentially buddy :beer: but yes, I did register today to ask a question around a topic i know little about, that doesn't instantly make me an idiot on all fronts. I think on this one it's fair assume given it's on a UK forum and as the OP has mentioned he's maintaining his UK address there is no need to be a such drama queen....

theartfullodger

accidental_landlord wrote: »

I believe you can rent a room/charge board to your sibling/parent and potentially gain a tax free rental allowance of up to £7500 per year from his partners share of the lets call it 'board' whilst maintaining the place as a main residence for yourself. How you verbally agree the deal with your immediate family is up to you.

Millions of immediate family members live in this manner without mortgage complications... The fact you are on a yatch in the Caribbean and do not care how they use the rooms in the house while you are away should be irrelevant .

The only thing that would actually prevent you from doing this would be having a buy to let mortgage.

Well there's morality, then those British fundamentals of decency & fair play. And what you are proposing seems like fraud to me, a criminal offence.

Shame on you sir! (Madam?)

csgohan4

Don't even think of being a guarantor either for renting for your brother, Money and family should never mix

00ec25

accidental_landlord wrote: »

I think on this one it's fair assume given it's on a UK forum and as the OP has mentioned he's maintaining his UK address there is no need to be a such drama queen....

sorry but that is a perfect example of the dangers of open forums. People offer advice before they know the full facts of the case.

you apparently have no understanding of tax residency laws, so I shall remain "dramatic" as it is not as simple as a UK address, given the apparent implication that the OP could well be earning a living outside of the UK, and therefore whether he spends the relevant number of days per year in the UK is rather important.

and BTW, we have Americans post on here occasionally - they see a .com address and a board written in English so instead of thinking is this a relevant place, they ask questions that are thus unanswerable for many respondents on here.

accidental_landlord_2

00ec25 wrote: »

sorry but that is a perfect example of the dangers of open forums. People offer advice before they know the full facts of the case.

you apparently have no understanding of tax residency laws, so I shall remain "dramatic" as it is not as simple as a UK address, given the apparent implication that the OP could well be earning a living outside of the UK, and therefore whether he spends the relevant number of days per year in the UK is rather important.

and BTW, we have Americans post on here occasionally - they see a .com address and a board written in English so instead of thinking is this a relevant place, they ask questions that are thus unanswerable for many respondents on here.

Surely that's true for everything anyone posts on a forum, yourself included - ie it may be absolute b0laks... I think MSE even has a disclaimer about this!

accidental_landlord_2

theartfullodger wrote: »

Well there's morality, then those British fundamentals of decency & fair play. And what you are proposing seems like fraud to me, a criminal offence.

Shame on you sir! (Madam?)

Millions of families (grandma, granddad,dad,mum,brother,sister etc) live under one roof fairly and within the law. What was suggested re rent a room was caviated with 'potentially'' ie if legally eligible!! calling me a fraudster because you're too simple to notice that?:rotfl:.

Why are people so shocked by the fact two siblings could 'share' a house without huge complications.... The crap getting spouted is akin to as soon as a kid turns 18 and starts paying board the mortgage has to be changed to a non existent regulated but to let.

GrumpyDil

The problem is the tax status of such an arrangement as well. The rent a room scheme only applies to cases where the owner is resident in the uk. You are quite correct that odds are they would not be caught out but the best advice is to make sure you keep all arrangements within the legal framework.

Particular in this type of scenario where despite whatever one writes on paper the odds are fairly likely that in any sort of legal dispute the arrangement would be viewed as a tenancy.

Oh and really would suggest following the advice about not mixing business with family and friends. Been there and not going there again.

00ec25

accidental_landlord wrote: »

Why are people so shocked by the fact two siblings could 'share' a house without huge complications.... The crap getting spouted is akin to as soon as a kid turns 18 and starts paying board the mortgage has to be changed to a non existent regulated but to let.

because you are totally missing the point that the OP needs a mortgage to buy the property.

unless the sibling is a co owner and therefore party to the mortgage there will are 2 options:
- the sibling contributes nothing towards the mortgage at all and signs a declaration to that effect as required by the lender as happens with your 18 year old kid example (whether the sibling then contributes to other household expenses as part of a shared household is a different matter but not one that impacts the mortgage/ownership)
or
- the sibling pays rent which includes an element of mortgage contribution, in which case a regulated BTL mortgage is required since it is not a shared household and the LL/tenant relationship exists.

since OP has never been back to answer we can only go on the contents of the OP wherein it is stated he expects the sibling to contribute to the mortgage