My tenant’s grandson is moving in?

Paul

The tenant is not under any obligation to sign any new documents and it's unlilkely you could stop her moving a family member in to the property.

The key thing is to always deal with the grandmother as tenant; sometimes landlords slip into dealing with others ands that's when problems arise as there can be confusion about who the tenant is. One important thing is to only accept rent from the named tenant.

You're thinking about "Permitted Occupiers"; you could write to the tenant to say that her grandson is a permitted occupier, but there is no real legal status of that term.

I remember in the very dim and distant reading something about this in the County Court Practice but this was never part of my practice experience. Perhaps a note from our legal eagles may help? It seems a normal type family problem but 'the rules' may not be as helpful as you may wish?

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 13/12/2023 - 09:50
"One important thing is to only accept rent from the named tenant."

In this day and age, when most rents are paid by bank transfer, how do you stop someone paying into your account? And if you can't stop that, how do you send the money back?

With Barclays, I can't even see the account from which rent has been paid in order to immediately refund and have been told by Barclays they don't have the information.

If you have been sent rent and send it straight back is it already too late to stop an implied tenancy?

In a similar situation, when the adult child returned, I re-issued the lease with a specific section stating that he was a Permitted Occupier and that he had no legal rights to the tenancy etc..

It also made it clear that the rent was the sole responsibility of the tenant.

Reply to the comment left by Darren Peters at 13/12/2023 - 11:23
I respectfully suggest that Barclays are lazy.
Some months ago they cancelled a local farmer's account that had been opened in 1916 and which I was told had been trouble free since than. I am told (so this is not first hand) they cancelled all charity accounts in around October. Not sufficiently profitable from a purely commercial view.

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 13/12/2023 - 09:50Graham, if the tenancy stipulates that only the named tenant is to live there then the grandson can visit and stay for short periods of time.
If, however, he is moving in and the property is his main home (Paul does not say if the crisis is with the grandmother or grandson), that is likely to be a breach of the tenancy. Paul would then insist either that tenant and her grandson sign a new joint tenancy or that his occupation of the property as his main home ceases.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 13/12/2023 - 12:52
Thanks Ian.

You've just made me review our standard AST and I see that it permits the tenant to share with their immediate family; I believe this includes grandchildren. Obviously other agreements may have different restrictions so it all depends what the parties have signed up to.

Reply to the comment left by Darren Peters at 13/12/2023 - 11:23
I gather that the creation of an implied tenancy is now harder than it used to be and the onus is on the tenant to prove their case.

There are things a prudent landlord can do. Firstly, the tenancy parties must be clear. All documents (including letters) must be only to the named tenant - all too often we see colloquialisms in correspondence and this is where the landlords case starts to weaken.

If the landlord suspects that rent is being paid by the wrong person, then a letter to the tenant explaining there is no intention to vary the details of the parties to the tenancy should suffice.

would a sensible approach to be make an amendment to the AST stating the grandson is listed as a PO only from X date until further notice or upon expiry of the AST.

On the amendment sheet (which both LL and tenant sign) it is clearly stated that for the purposes of clarity this means that rent remains the full responsibility of the named tenant and is only accepted on this basis. Rent is neither demanded from the PO, nor shall it be accepted from the PO. As a result there is and will never be an ' implied tenancy'.

A question following on from this - would it be possible to raise the rent on the basis that now there are 2 persons occupying the property full time? More wear and tear - increased deposit too?

If this were a single person moving a boyfriend/girlfriend in then you would be in reality giving permission for another unknown person access to your property without any referencing having taken place.??

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments. The term I was looking for was "Permitted Occupier".

I have been told that the situation is temporary as the grandson has family issues and is awaiting the sale of his family home pending separation / divorce.