Subletting room in flat

akorn77

I'm planning to rent a 2 bed flat in central London and then sublet the spare room. I know that I will need the landlords permission to do so. 

My question is how prevalent is this in London? Is it common or uncommon? 

greatcrested

Common.

Post 10: Lodgers: advice & links for landlords & lodgers

anselld

It is not subletting, it is having a lodger.
Fairly common but not all Landlords will be happy with it.  Not that they can do much about it once you are in but they may be reluctant if you declare it up-front.

akorn77

anselld said:

It is not subletting, it is having a lodger.
Fairly common but not all Landlords will be happy with it.  Not that they can do much about it once you are in but they may be reluctant if you declare it up-front.

So its easier not to declare it? If the landlord finds out, they can evict you though 

zagubov

It's extremely common, out of necessity. Be very careful to never talk about sub-letting, tenants,, sub-tenants or tenancy. That's a different type of contract with more rights for the subtenant and more responsibilities for you, the landlord.

akorn77

zagubov said:

It's extremely common, out of necessity. Be very careful to never talk about sub-letting, tenants,, sub-tenants or tenancy. That's a different type of contract with more rights for the subtenant and more responsibilities for you, the landlord.

Understood. So is it best to disclose that you intend on taking lodgers? Or don't say anything as most landlords wont mind? 

zagubov

akorn77 said:

zagubov said:

It's extremely common, out of necessity. Be very careful to never talk about sub-letting, tenants,, sub-tenants or tenancy. That's a different type of contract with more rights for the subtenant and more responsibilities for you, the landlord.

Understood. So is it best to disclose that you intend on taking lodgers? Or don't say anything as most landlords wont mind? 

Not sure; more experienced posters will be along with advice about that, and whether you need to inform your insurers.

My advice about talking about tenancies mainly relates to your exchanges with your lodger. Never use terms other than lodger or landlord, otherwise there may be a tax hit, your paperwork becomes mountainous, your duties expand, and if there's a dispute and you want them to leave you better have deep pockets and/or the patience of a saint.

[Deleted User]

I did this in zone 2 for many years.

Yes you should tell your landlord that you'll be taking a lodger.   Some won't be okay with that, but others won't mind if they see you can afford the whole rent yourself.

You'll probably have void periods e.g. August, so you should factor this into the rent you charge.   The lodger will pay you a monthly amount that includes all of the bills, so budget for them leaving the heating on.  

You'll pay more with this set-up than if you were joint tenants somewhere else.  Let's say the rent you pay for the flat is £1500 and bills are £300.  Lodger pays you £800 if you're lucky, averaging ten months of the year.   You may also have to meet the cost of furnishing the lodger's room. 

Lodgers often try to move out at short notice, but you can protect against that in the contract by saying they have to give "one calendar month (e.g. January, February, March), to end at the end of a notice period.". So whether they give notice on 14th or 30th March, they still have to pay till 30th April.  

You should take a deposit of 5 weeks rent to protect yourself against damage, theft, or unpaid rent.  You don't need to protect this with a deposit scheme, in fact it's impossible to. You'll have to make sure the lodger understands this.

Have a think about your attitude towards guests.  I soon realized I couldn't stomach any more drunken Tinder dates unfolding in my lounge.   So set ground rules. 

How much of an issue this is really depends on how much shared space you've got and how possessive you are of it.   

A couple of times I got lucky and had lodgers who paid the full rent, but in fact stayed at their partner's place or went abroad for work for three weeks out of the month!!

Be prepared for the possibility of a weird/fake dynamic between you and the lodger.   Since you won't quite be due the respect they'd give to the property owner, but you won't fully be friends either because  you'll have power over them.  

On the whole I think that these arrangements are unattractive from the perspective of the room-hunter.  They may find they get the worst of both worlds.  The flat probably won't be as nice as if they were lodging with an owner-occupier.  But they may miss the freedom and camaraderie of flatsharing as equals with their peers.  

You'll find takers, but the property, price and location had better be good.

akorn77

Poster_586329 said:

I did this in zone 2 for many years.

Yes you should tell your landlord that you'll be taking a lodger.   Some won't be okay with that, but others won't mind if they see you can afford the whole rent yourself.

You'll probably have void periods e.g. August, so you should factor this into the rent you charge.   The lodger will pay you a monthly amount that includes all of the bills, so budget for them leaving the heating on.  

You'll pay more with this set-up than if you were joint tenants somewhere else.  Let's say the rent you pay for the flat is £1500 and bills are £300.  Lodger pays you £800 if you're lucky, averaging ten months of the year.   You may also have to meet the cost of furnishing the lodger's room. 

Lodgers often try to move out at short notice, but you can protect against that in the contract by saying they have to give "one calendar month (e.g. January, February, March), to end at the end of a notice period.". So whether they give notice on 14th or 30th March, they still have to pay till 30th April.  

You should take a deposit of 5 weeks rent to protect yourself against damage, theft, or unpaid rent.  You don't need to protect this with a deposit scheme, in fact it's impossible to. You'll have to make sure the lodger understands this.

Have a think about your attitude towards guests.  I soon realized I couldn't stomach any more drunken Tinder dates unfolding in my lounge.   So set ground rules. 

How much of an issue this is really depends on how much shared space you've got and how possessive you are of it.   

A couple of times I got lucky and had lodgers who paid the full rent, but in fact stayed at their partner's place or went abroad for work for three weeks out of the month!!

Be prepared for the possibility of a weird/fake dynamic between you and the lodger.   Since you won't quite be due the respect they'd give to the property owner, but you won't fully be friends either because  you'll have power over them.  

On the whole I think that these arrangements are unattractive from the perspective of the room-hunter.  They may find they get the worst of both worlds.  The flat probably won't be as nice as if they were lodging with an owner-occupier.  But they may miss the freedom and camaraderie of flatsharing as equals with their peers.  

You'll find takers, but the property, price and location had better be good.

Thank you for the extremely informative post, much appreciated. I am generally leaning towards going for a 1 bed for peace of mind, I just want to explore the 2 bed idea to keep my options open. I've lived with flatmates before and it definitely has its challenges! If I take into account any void periods (say maybe 2-3 months per year), then renting a 1 bed will cost me around £3-4k pa more (based on the the types of flats im looking at). Obviously it's not small change, but for less stress and privacy it's not too bad I guess. 

[Deleted User]

Glad if I've been a help.  I wouldn't advise against trying it, I think I just got too old for it.   

Early on I enjoyed getting lodgers who were  professionals or postgrads around my age or slightly younger, who I'd get on well and socialize with.  Latterly I preferred international students and interns just arrived in the country and whose departure date was fixed.

I stopped because of Covid,  and also the lingering feeling it had stopped the flat from ever being somewhere I could truly relax and feel at home.  Nowadays I enjoy sitting in the lounge  listening to an album/4 hour DJ set, undisturbed!

With hindsight the flat where I found myself able to do this, in zone 2 south east London, wasn't in the ideal area (or condition) to find lodgers I'd have preferred.   But without a bigger budget or some private connection to a landlord, I doubt I'd have been able to get a property somewhere more popular.

Looking at what's currently on the market, these are well-located:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/103990580#/

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/103937549#/

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86418292#/

In convincing the landlord to let to you, you'd be competing with couples or two sharing friends who'd be able to provide two guarantors.

Good luck!