renting a room from a resident landlord Advice for students living in accommodation shared with their landlord. 1
When you share part of your accommodation with your Landlord, your rights will depend on whether, you are regarded as a tenant or a licensee A Tenant is someone who has a legally binding interest in a property, which involves both a right to occupy that property and a right to exclude others from it. A Licensee is someone who has the permission of the owner to be in the property. It is important to work out whether you are a tenant or a licensee as this has an effect on your legal rights. The key question to establish whether you are a tenant or a licensee is whether you have exclusive possession of your living space? This means is do you have control over your living space, and the right to keep others out of it? If the answer is yes, then you are almost certainly a tenant. It can be difficult to be sure whether you have exclusive possession, but the following can help: If you have a lockable separate door to your accommodation, and your landlord does not control who you let in and out of your accommodation, chances are that you do have exclusive possession of that accommodation. It does not matter that you share the entrance to the property, the corridors, or even the bathroom/kitchen/sitting room. The important test is whether you have exclusive possession of the part that your landlord lets you live in. You could, for example, be a tenant of just the bedroom. If the landlord provides you with services which require him or her (or people who work for him or her) to have unrestricted access to your part of the property e.g. if he or she comes in and cleans your room regularly and launders your bedding that would suggest that you do not have exclusive possession. You could be a tenant even though the written agreement states that you are just a licensee. How your landlord describes your housing status is not decisive. If the answer to these questions suggests that you are a tenant you will have additional statutory protection, as an Assured Shorthold Tenant. If you think this applies to you, visit the Advice Service for more information and advice. Being a Licensee your rights If you are a licensee in your landlord s home, then you need to be aware of your rights. If you share living accommodation with your landlord or his/her family as a licensee, then you are legally an Excluded Licensee and you do not benefit from the full protection of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. This means that the landlord does 2
not have to go to court to get you evicted. However, he/she is not entitled to use force to remove you from the property. If you do not have a clear agreement setting out how long you can live in the landlord s home, or how much notice he/she should give you if he/she wants you to leave, your landlord can ask you to leave at any time and only has to give you a reasonable period to move your belongings out of the property and find a new place to live. If you have a written agreement detailing the duration of your stay, and you pay rent, then you should be able to enforce the agreement. Written Agreements We strongly recommend that you and the landlord draw up a written agreement before you move in anywhere. It is particularly important to do this when you are a licensee, as a written agreement, provided that you pay rent under it, gives you some basic contractual rights and helps to avoid unwanted confusion later. The written agreement is not a tenancy, but a licence document and should be signed by both parties. The essential things that this should contain are: 1. How long the agreement will last If you are planning to stay for more than a few days it is wise to have a written record of how long the landlord has agreed to let you have the accommodation for. The advantages of a written agreement are that: you won t have to look for alternative accommodation at short notice if the landlord asks you to leave; the landlord won t expect you to stay longer than you plan to it can reduce the risk of the Landlord keeping all or part of your deposit to recover unpaid rent 2. How much the rent is and how often it should be paid The advantage of a written agreement about this is that it can help to avoid unwanted rent increases and extra charges. Make sure you get a written explanation of what the rent includes - e.g. are bills or cleaning expenses included? 3. How much notice is required to end the agreement If you have a written agreement which sets out how much notice is required then this both parties must abide by the agreement. If you give notice but leave the property before the notice expires, you should continue to pay rent until the notice has expired. If the landlord wants you to leave without giving you the agreed notice period, you may have a claim against him/her for damages, and could apply to court for an injunction to stop the landlord evicting you. 3
If you do not make any agreement about notice periods, and you want to leave, you should give the landlord reasonable notice. What is reasonable notice depends on all the circumstances. It will usually be at least as much notice as the period until the next rent payment is due. The same applies if the landlord wants you to leave. However, note that a landlord does not need to give any reason to ask a licensee to leave. 4. What is included in the rent It is important for both parties to be clear on what exactly the rent covers to avoid you being charged unexpected extras. Sometimes cleaning will be charged on top of your rent. Other additional costs could include household bills, broadband charges and phone calls. Check whether you are being charged a reasonable amount for any extra charges, and make sure that you get a receipt for each payment of rent. 5. How much deposit is payable Make sure you get written details of how much deposit you are expected to pay and what it covers. Get, and keep safe, a written receipt as proof that the deposit has been paid. The written agreement should also contain details of when the deposit will be returned to you at the end of your stay and what deductions the landlord can make. The deposit should be returned to you at the time when you move out or within a reasonable period afterwards. Provided you have followed the terms of the written agreement and not caused any damage, then you can expect the deposit to be returned in full. Unlike a tenancy, there is no legal obligation on the Landlord to protect any damage deposit you pay in an approved scheme. Repairs As a licensee you do not have any specific legal rights which entitle you to insist that the landlord carries out repairs. Because you are sharing the accommodation with the landlord, the chances are that any repair that needs doing will affect him/her too, and so it is likely that it will be done. If a landlord refuses to carry out repairs, there is little you can do to force the landlord to do work. Eviction As an excluded licensee (whether or not you have a written agreement) your landlord can evict you without going to court first. The landlord should, however, give you reasonable notice, although this does not have to be in writing to be valid. It is a criminal offence for a landlord to use force to remove you from the property if you originally occupied it with the owner s agreement. If you are threatened with eviction, it is essential that you seek advice immediately. The Union Advice Service are experienced in giving housing advice. Drop in, email or phone for an appointment. 4
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