Help to Buy - Lodger

turning101

I know this has been asked in numerous threads, however, I have received this letter from 'Homes England' which seems to be a warning and i'm curious about the wording..



My actual situation is that I have a friend using a room in my house (a lodger, not a tenant, right?). They have no contracts in place and the payments I'm receiving are under the tax free £7500 threshold.

I'm wondering if this is a blanket letter they send out or are they hinting at me that i can't in fact have a lodger?

Comms69

While a lodger does have a licence. I cant see anything more than a blanket reminder.
Literally they've sent you some free loo roll. 

turning101

Comms69 said:

While a lodger does have a licence. I cant see anything more than a blanket reminder.
Literally they've sent you some free loo roll. 

The letter was dated yesterday and sent first class signed for which is unusual if it was a blanket reminder to everyone

numbercruncher8

Sounds like someone has been a grass.
From the perspective of an outsider it's not going to be possible to tell whether someone is a lodger or a tenant.
Having said that I would have thought that by now it would be pretty clear cut whether HTB allows lodgers or not, I pretty much thought they did, so you could write back simply stating that you have a lodger. 

[Deleted User]

turning101 said:

I know this has been asked in numerous threads, however, I have received this letter from 'Homes England' which seems to be a warning and i'm curious about the wording..



My actual situation is that I have a friend using a room in my house (a lodger, not a tenant, right?). They have no contracts in place and the payments I'm receiving are under the tax free £7500 threshold.

I'm wondering if this is a blanket letter they send out or are they hinting at me that i can't in fact have a lodger?

Are you still living in the house yourself? 

turning101

Lover_of_Lycra said:

Are you still living in the house yourself? 

Yes

turning101

numbercruncher8 said:

Sounds like someone has been a grass.
From the perspective of an outsider it's not going to be possible to tell whether someone is a lodger or a tenant.
Having said that I would have thought that by now it would be pretty clear cut whether HTB allows lodgers or not, I pretty much thought they did, so you could write back simply stating that you have a lodger. 

i think you're probably right about the grass.
i've phone Homes England and they're passing me on to Target (who manage the finance side) - basically going in circles with nowhere to actually declare this.

oldbikebloke

the letter is a reminder of the terms and conditions you agreed to abide by when purchased the property. that is a simple statement of fact.

whether you have received it by virtue of being "grassed up", or it is simply a coincidence of timing as they they send them out as reminders at whatever frequency they do so, is irrelevant.

bottom line is, a lodger has a licence ("excluded occupier") and therefore you are in breach of the covenant requiring you to inform them you have one and ask their consent.
your moral stance in that case is a matter for your conscience: keep quite and "get away with" it, or sleep badly worrying you won, ask their consent and be unsurprised when it is given without a quibble. Your choice.

from their perspective I hugely doubt they refuse to give consent for a lodger ("licence"), but I would say patently they would refuse (and probably take action over) grant of a tenancy, since you got this property at "special rates" not intended to allow you to run a tenancy business using "their" property.

[Deleted User]

turning101 said:

Lover_of_Lycra said:

Are you still living in the house yourself? 

Yes

Just checking as some posters have odd ideas about what constitutes a lodger. 

turning101

oldbikebloke said:

bottom line is, a lodger has a licence ("excluded occupier") and therefore you are in breach of the covenant requiring you to inform them you have one and ask their consent.
your moral stance in that case is a matter for your conscience: keep quite and "get away with" it, or sleep badly worrying you won, ask their consent and be unsurprised when it is given without a quibble. Your choice.

interesting, i didn't know a lodger automatically gained this 'license'

Annisele

Have a look at Shelter's website (here if you're in England). If your friend is your lodger, they will have a "license to occupy" - if they were living in your house without one of those, they'd likely be either a tenant (if you'd given them exclusive use of some of the space) or a trespasser (if you hadn't given them permission to be in your house at all).