Lease Enquiry

Antithermal1723

Hello! 

Sorry, I am a huge over thinker and am stressed a little bit haha. 

I’ve just received a copy of the lease for a leasehold property I will be purchasing. I am a bit unsure of the statement that I have attached with this post. Does the clause state that I’m not permitted to have a lodger despite it being a single dwelling unit? I was told by the mortgage adviser that I was ok to have a lodger as long as I won’t be lodging more than 3 people as this would become a HMO which I definitely don’t want it to be. 

I was planning to only let a room out to my friend that I’ve been living with for many years. Is there typically an option for me to enquire / ask for the lease clause to change or is it permanently stating that I’m not allowed to have a lodger. I don’t want to break any clauses and incur any wrath from the freeholder. I am also exploring the idea of asking the freeholder for consent for one lodger. 

Thank you for reading

gm0

The intent of this clause appears to be - this is a private residence.  So the lease prohibits running a business other than WFH".  And also prohibits setting up as or renting to someone else to use as a "lodging house" (BnB/HMO/to era and taste).  It probably would be argued that it bans AirBnB as a primary use of the unit which many people would applaud.  This is all good so far as it goes.

It is not really aimed at "how big is your family" as leaseholder.  Or rent a room. Or the single lodger with a resident leaseholder also there.  Nobody knows.  Family or a friend is staying in your flat.  A friend contributing to bills.  A lodging agreement with a new friend.  All these fall well short of "running a lodging house"/HMO/Airbnb unit which is what the clause is aimed at.

They REALLY aren't interested in changing this lease for you.  There are N leases and they are all the same (per the number of units) largely should remain so. AND your request is illfounded.  So a waste of everyone's time.  And unlikely to get a positive response.

Yes - lease obligations are enforced by freeholder or managing agent "writing to you" saying we have had complaints you are breaking the obligations of the lease causing a harm to others that provoked a complaint.  
And you need to stop doing the thing which offends.  Not paying. Parking. Running a noisy business.  Whatever it is.  The consequence is a slightly rude letter.

Examples provoking complaint in your example would be a lodger being casual about abusing others parking spaces.  Or bouncing in high or drunk at 4am shouting every friday.  Behaviour you can influence by either terminating the agreement (dead easy with a lodger), or making it clear it is not tolerated ongoing and that will happen if it repeats.  In either case this process is trivial.  The process for lease covenants to be enforced is not.

In very persistent cases of breaching lease conditions - the freeholder can attempt to go to court to revoke a lease - to take the property back.   This is rarely done and hard to do. And not done for trivial reasons like those you describe.   And there are almost no intermediate sanctions between these two - the stiff letter. And going expensively to court for foreclosure - with a GOOD reason to do so

You are overthinking it.  And your desire to customise for greater clarity will likely be disappointed.

user1977

In practical terms, nobody's going to be spying on you and then kicking in your door because they suspect you're harbouring a lodger...

I would interpret it as referring to the primary use of the property turning into boarding or lodging i.e. something more akin to an HMO.

Asking for consent is more likely to cause confusion than anything else.

Albermarle

On a slightly separate note, make sure you know the rules about what constitutes a lodger, rather than a tenant, and the type of agreement to draw up. 
If you search this forum for 'lodger' there will be a few threads about it. 

youth_leader

I'm glad your lodger will be your trusted friend.  If you do search this forum for lodger you will find several threads and it was a warning to me to do my due diligence if I open my home to someone.