Lodger or Tenant Rights

worriedmum321

My son (who is 30) rents a room in a shared house.  He's lived there for 5 years and been an excellent tenant.  When he moved in the landlord didn't originally live in but about a year after, the landlord moved in and now lives there full time, there are also two other tenants.  Everything was great until my son told his landlord that he's been laid off because of the Corona-virus and doesn't know if and when he'll get paid so was worried about the rent.  His landlord said that my son had to get out unless he could pay and that he had no rights because he was only a lodger and didn't qualify for the extended 3 months notice period.  His original agreement states that he's an 'indefinite tenant'. It's all got a bit nasty and my son is really worried.  Can anyone help?

oldbikebloke

depends what his original agreement was for, you say "shared house" but as a tenant he could be one of only 2 things:
a) tenancy agreement relates to a single room in the property with right of access to the common parts
or
b) joint tenancy of whole house shared between all occupants 
if it was b) it cannot have survived the LL moving back in. If it was a) the LL moving in does not automatically negate the status of tenant, rather than lodger, if there has been a continuation of the tenancy under the original terms - ie it is perfectly possible to have an ongoing tenancy of a single room with a resident LL 
the difficulty will be proving ongoing status if he has not retained any paperwork showing what it was originally

PS there is no such things as "indefinite tenant" - if such wording has been used on paper then the LL is an idiot and probably is equally as unsure of housing law as your son is. I'd get any written agreement checked over by a housing lawyer in that case for other "creations" that have no standing 

worriedmum321

Thank you very much.  He falls into category 'a' and he does have the original paperwork.  I'll let him know.  And Yes, the LL is an idiot!  

greatcrested

I imagine the reference to 'indefinate tenant' implies

a) he's a tenant not a lodger and

b) there was no initial fixed term, so no end date - the tenancy was a Contractual Periodic Tenancy from day 1.

Did the agreement say anything about notice?

worriedmum321

Yes, I thin the notice period was the same as an AST.  Thank you for your help.

theartfullodger

Indeed, a tenant not a lodger.  Stupid ignorant/lying landlord your son has! Because originally he was a tenant the landlord moving in later does not change that status.

Anything further happens son/you should 'phone Shelter help-line (assuming they are still operating...)

https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help/helpline

Artful: Landlord since 2000.

worriedmum321

Thank you.

[Deleted User]

Can your son get one of these temp jobs the supermarkets are supposed to be offering to tide him over?

greatcrested

worriedmum321 said:

Yes, I thin the notice period was the same as an AST.  Thank you for your help.

If as I suspect it was a Contractual Periodic AST, then the notie is whatever was specified in the contract. You need to get it out and read it.....