New tenant but company paying the bills – Reader requests help

New tenant but company paying the bills – Reader requests help

9:25 AM, 15th July 2013, About 12 years ago 18

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How should I document the arrival of new tenant?

I let a 3 bedroom property to 3 professionals last year on a one year AST. Although all 3 were named as tenants on the AST it transpired that their company paid for all their bills including their rent.

The AST term expired earlier this month and I was asked just before then if I would mind going onto a month-to-month arrangement as the company were reviewing the project and the resource status, but they would stay in the property until least the end of August. They have been model tenants and the rent has been paid on time so no cause for concern from me and I agreed to the monthly arrangement.

I recently received an email from the employer informing me that one of the named tenants was leaving the project and would be replaced by another employee in the property.

Given that the tenants have gone from an AST to Statutory Periodic and one of the named tenants has left and been replaced by someone else, how do I capture and document this change of tenant?

Even though it may only be for a couple of months can anybody advise what the right admin process is to recognise the new tenant in the context of what is now a Statutory Periodic tenancy? The other two tenants on the original AST are still in residence.

Many thanks in advance.

ClaudioNew Tenant


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Andy white

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7:25 AM, 16th July 2013, About 12 years ago

A separate question is this not a HMO , I thought if you had 3 people who were not related it was a HMO?

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13:16 PM, 16th July 2013, About 12 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Bender" at "15/07/2013 - 16:20":

I have used a Deed of Assignment to change tenants on an agreement. It is a way to keep the existing document and just change out a name. It is however just as hard as a new agreement as you still have to get everyone to sign it.

I find the best way overall to have everyone sign individual agreements. There is more work initially but changes are much simpler and provide the opportunity of getting an increased rent from each new tenant. 🙂

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15:32 PM, 16th July 2013, About 12 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Andy white" at "16/07/2013 - 07:25":

That is a good point which is why I have 2 tenants and then a lodger which the council never finds out about.
I thin a question to the council on a generic basis is appropriate as then you know how to work the system.
I think the council in my area said my purpose built flat would be an HMO if 3 people unrelated were tenants and I would need FA system, extra alarms etc.
So I had ascertained what I needed to do to beat their silly system.
Who ever heard of a 3 bed flat having to be an HMO with all the attendant regs................ridiculous which is why they are ignored.
the flats round my development are all 2 bed and they all have 3 Ryanair cabin crew............so all HMO's!!?
Everybody ignores the council when it ids purpose built flats with 2 bathrooms.

Eleanor White

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12:08 PM, 25th July 2013, About 12 years ago

Wouldn't it be simpler just to issue a 1 month AST that then moves in to a statutory periodic?

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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12:15 PM, 25th July 2013, About 12 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Eleanor White" at "25/07/2013 - 12:08":

There is no such thing as a one month AST.

As soon as you give a private tenant the keys to your property to live in as their home, no matter what the tenancy agreement says, or even if there is no written agreement, they are entitled to stay there for at least six months plus however long it takes you to get a Court Order for possession. The ONLY exceptions to this are for live in landlords and university halls of residence.

Eleanor White

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14:20 PM, 25th July 2013, About 12 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/07/2013 - 12:15":

Hmmm, My understanding is slightly different, but maybe we are looking at the same thing from two different view points??

My understanding is that you can have an AST for less than 6 months and all of the t's and c's that go with it, but you cannot evict your tenants for the first 6 months.

http://www.landlordlaw.co.uk/content/short-lets-can-assured-shorthold-tenancy-be-less-six-months

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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14:49 PM, 25th July 2013, About 12 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Eleanor White" at "25/07/2013 - 14:20":

Yes I agree that we were probably saying the same thing from two different view points. I have read Tessa's article which you kindly liked to and I see where you are coming from now and I agree now that this could be a solution to Cladio's particular dilemma. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat and I do still think an assignment is the way to go in this instance, far less of an admin headache, especially in terms of Deposit Protection, unless of course it is the lead tenant who is the one vacating.

Eleanor White

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15:02 PM, 25th July 2013, About 12 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/07/2013 - 14:49":

I agree Mark. Assignment would be a good straightforward option. Just put forward the 1 mth contract as an option, as it seemed no one had thought of it yet!

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