Following on from this morning’s blog post on licenses, I have recieved the following blog clinc post from Robert:
Hi. I’ve read with interest (and thanks) Tessa’s blogs on “leave versus licence” and have a (perhaps obvious) follow on question:
If I own an HMO with, say, 5 rooms let to separate individuals, can I really give each one of them an AST that gives them use of (quiet enjoyment of) the house? I guess not. I suppose I must state in the AST that they are renting a specific room; and if this is the case then can I give them the right to use the communal ears by mentioning such in a Schedule … or could I give them use of the communal areas under a licence?
Many thanks, Robert
How you do it Robert, is to give an AST for the tenants room and shared use of the rest of the property. It is quite a normal arrangement and you can get special tenancy agreements for this situation (the normal ASTs will not be suitable).
For example on Landlord Law I have several tenancy agreements that can be used in this situation, including one where the landlord pays the bills, and one with a guarantee included.
So when letting to several people you have a choice – do you let to them all together as ‘joint tenants’ where they all sign the same agreement. Or do you let out individual rooms to them on separate ASTs.
Have a look at this page on tenancy agreements (you need to scroll down a bit) where I set out some of the pros and cons for each.
How can you give “quiet enjoyment” to one tenant when the law gives you no effective way to control the noise that other tenants make?
Hi Ian, quiet enjoyment is not necessarily giving a noise free environment. It is allowing the tenant to remain in the property without disturbance from you, the landlord.
However a landlord cannot be held responsible for something done by another tenant or neighbour.
I talk a bit about quiet enjoyment here https://landlordlawblog.co.uk/2011/06/14/the-six-most-important-elements-of-a-tenancy-or-lease/