Student tenancy agreement - change of tenant

silvercar

greatcrested said:

silvercar said:

greatcrested said:

until you establish your son's tenancy agreement it is difficult to advise. He has either

1) a TA in his sole name (ie for his room + shared use of communal areas in a HMO), or

2) a 'joint and several' TA in the names of all 6 tenants (ie for the entire property)

If 1) above, any change is between him and the LL - the other 5 are not party to his contract so do not need to be consulted.

If 2) above, any change requires the agreement of all 6 tenants, plus landlord (plus of course the replacement tenant).

There are two ways to amend the arrangement:

3) surrender the existing tenancy (whether 1) or 2) above) and create a brand new one to replace it. Any deposit already paid/protected would be returned and a new deposit for the new tenancy taken/protected

4) maintain the existing tenancy, but assign the replacement tenant in the place of the outgoing tenant (via a 'Deed of Assignment).

Re fees, read

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tenant-fees-act-2019-guidance

Deed of assignment is what was used when my offspring were students, though that document linked by @greatcrested is interesting in that it doesn't require the guarantors to sign. Page 4 mentions that the guarantors should "....have been informed of the changes to the Tenancy and been given the opportunity to approve them in writing in order to preserve their obligations. " I don't know where the written approval would be. A shame for the guarantors if Student reliable was replaced by someone less reliable.

Good point silvercar.

I've not seen a free Deed available on the web that includes guarantor signitures, but obviously that would be best. If you or anyone knows of a suitable resource I'd be interested for future reference as this issue comes up fairly regularly.

Sorry I don’t. When my son had a change of housemates the letting agent even allowed the new tenant to take over without the signature of the existing tenants and also allowed the new tenant to pay a reduced deposit and returned the old tenant’s full deposit!