Taking lodgers - mortgage company said no

Lisa_Loon

PasturesNew wrote: »

Don't forget - you will need to check your insurance. I had a lodger - had to change my insurance policy. Then I got a 2nd one - had to change insurance again.

Some will allow no lodgers. Some are OK with only 1. Make sure your house is still insured by doing the right thing.

Thanks, I managed to get through to the insurers before the mortgage company - and they said that nothing will change, I don't even have to put their names on the policy. I will call back and clarify that nearer to their move-in date though.

Lisa_Loon

harryhound wrote: »

There has been a new law since 1985. The number of floors off the ground come into it these days. Scotland is now an independent country and has very prescriptive rules (More than two unrelated, if I remember correctly). But as long as you don't propose to put your tenants in a 2nd floor (that's counting the English way 0,1, 2, ..)attic, where they could burn to death or kill themselves jumping out of the window, I don't see any problem.
Both my children have been claiming "rent a room" for years, trouble free.
Daughters insurance is with Frizzle if I remember correctly.

It's second floor as we live in a 3 storey house, but it's not an attic - will that affect us? We do have a ground floor room but its a bit cold down there.

harryhound

A quick google unearthed this

HMOs must be licensed if they have three or more
storeys and are occupied by five or more persons
forming two or more households; this is mandatory
licensing.

The full text is here:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/322463

The law is relatively new and some of it is yet to be tested in the courts.
The reality is that local councils have different priorities, so they will take years to catch up with the landlords that the legislation is aimed at.

Lisa_Loon

It won't make our house a HMO because we aren't letting to 3 or more tenants.

harryhound

and we don't live in a local authority housing action area nor do we live in Scotland.

[Obviously you do have a duty of care to your lodgers, so if the place burns down it would be advisable to show that you at least had working smoke alarms and perhaps door closers on the doors leading onto the corridor and stairs, that need to be used by someone on the second floor; in a HMO you would have to have fire doors (with little wired glass windows in them), intumescent strips round the doors, fire resistant stair wells and an escape route that did not pass through other rooms such as the lounge].

All this is one of the reasons why a member of my family is no longer a student landlord.

Lisa_Loon

harryhound wrote: »

and we don't live in a local authority housing action area nor do we live in Scotland.

[Obviously you do have a duty of care to your lodgers, so if the place burns down it would be advisable to show that you at least had working smoke alarms and perhaps door closers on the doors leading onto the corridor and stairs, that need to be used by someone on the second floor; in a HMO you would have to have fire doors (with little wired glass windows in them), intumescent strips round the doors, fire resistant stair wells and an escape route that did not pass through other rooms such as the lounge].

All this is one of the reasons why a member of my family is no longer a student landlord.

Yep we have 2 smoke alarms, and the doors have like spring things by the hinges that close the doors. They aren't the closers at the top of the door though, but they do shut on their own - we have to wedge them all open at the moment.

red40

Technically Lisa it would be classed as a HMO under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 (not that it makes much difference), but because you are a resident landlord it would be classed a very very low risk property.

In fact I would be surprised if the council were even interested :beer:

harryhound

red40 wrote: »

Technically Lisa it would be classed as a HMO under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 (not that it makes much difference), but because you are a resident landlord it would be classed a very very low risk property.

In fact I would be surprised if the council were even interested :beer:

I've never been quite sure if the new law is AND or OR
Is it <6 persons OR stories for multiple occupation
(ie Jones on ground floor, Smith on floor1 and Robinson on floor2 = HIMO ?
or even Mr & Mrs Jones (only they forgot to get married) on floor 1 with lodger Robinson in the attic = HIMO?)
The government leaflet I've quoted above, certainly does not make it clear. ( I have a funny feeling that in these days of "fluid" relationships, there may well be endless households, lots of them council owned, that are technically breaking the law, after you have counted up the kids and the live in lover.)

roses

harryhound wrote: »

and we don't live in a local authority housing action area nor do we live in Scotland.

[Obviously you do have a duty of care to your lodgers, so if the place burns down it would be advisable to show that you at least had working smoke alarms and perhaps door closers on the doors leading onto the corridor and stairs, that need to be used by someone on the second floor; in a HMO you would have to have fire doors (with little wired glass windows in them), intumescent strips round the doors, fire resistant stair wells and an escape route that did not pass through other rooms such as the lounge].

All this is one of the reasons why a member of my family is no longer a student landlord.

Sounds like an attractive looking house :rolleyes:

What door doesn't open onto the hallway? All the rooms in my house are along the hallway!

harryhound

It is the guy in the attic that they are really worried about - if he jumps out of the window, he will at least be in hospital and could be dead. He should be able to run down the stairs passed doors that are automatically closed, without having to pass through a common living room. In reality houses that comply with the regulations feel like prisons, have had their original doors ripped out, and probably an attractive staircase boxed in with two layers of plaster board. What have the tenants done? Propped the prison doors open with the regulatory fire extinguishers to get a bit of light and air into the place!

I'm visualising a Victorian house on three floors where the two bedrooms on 1st floor and the attic room came down trendy stairs, from one side of the house to the other, screwed to the wall of the lounge. The lounge had been made larger by taking out the corridor that used to go the the front door and by making it open plan to the kitchen. Leave a chip pan on the cooker and go to bed. Smell smoke. Bundle down the stairs and what do you find?

There is a logic to the HIMO and Fire Regulations.

Harry

That said the house was built in 1870 and as far as I know, nobody had died in it of unnatural causes so far.