One of three tenants is leaving a student HMO?

One of three tenants is leaving a student HMO?

0:01 AM, 24th January 2025, About 15 hours ago 5

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Hi Everyone, My daughter is at university and sharing a 3-bedroom HMO with two other tenants, and one is moving out.

The remaining two tenants are happy to take over the tenancy and replace the leaving tenant’s share of the deposit. However, they have been told there are rules around HMOs if fewer than three people occupy the tenancy address.

Can they leave the other tenant’s name on the tenancy if she leaves and just make up her share of rent bills as she is moving back into university halls?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Emma


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Tony Hodge

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10:07 AM, 24th January 2025, About 4 hours ago

As a student Landlord I believe this is a problem for her landlord to sort out, not your daughter.

Judith Wordsworth

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10:08 AM, 24th January 2025, About 4 hours ago

Have the remaining tenants spoken to their landlord? Is the landlord happy to serve a new AST?

The landlord may be very pleased that only 2 unrelated tenants will be in the property and which would/may relieve him/her of the burden of HMO licencing and regulations.

Neil P

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10:11 AM, 24th January 2025, About 4 hours ago

My experience is that the outgoing student finds a replacement that the other 2 are happy with. The new tenant pays the old for their share of the deposit and a new AST is signed. The landlord doesn’t have to agree to this but you’ve got to be pragmatic, even though it involves a little hassle/cost.

If the remaining two are willing to cover the rent and bills of the third then I’d say that’s extremely generous of them. Personally, I’d not let the third completely off the hook though, in case circumstances change (what if one of remaining 2 wants to leave?), I’d just leave the existing AST in place. That’s a risk for the leaver to weigh up.

On the HMO side I don’t see any issues under-occupying the property. My licenses have a maximum number of tenants, not a minimum.

Spock

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11:51 AM, 24th January 2025, About 3 hours ago

There is no issue at all as far as HMO is concerned so don’t worry about that. The normal procedure when someone wants to drop out is to find a replacement. The paperwork is easy and it is a very normal occurrence in the student world. The usual downside is that your daughter and her colleague will probably not know the replacement and that will be like living with a complete stranger. If your daughter and friend are happy to pay the rent and bills that would normally be the responsibility of the one moving out then that would be the best outcome.

Simon F

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13:56 PM, 24th January 2025, About 36 minutes ago

This scenario potentially presents two issues with the local authority for the landlord, especially if it were to persist. First of all, if there is an Article 4 direction in place, then the reduction from 3 to 2 takes the Planning Use Class from C4 to C3 and the landlord will lose the right to switch back to C4 HMO Use. The second issue is if there is an Additional Licencing Scheme running then the LA could cancel the HMO licence. I would say best leave the 3rd person on the tenancy agreement, and work out the financial arrangements privately.

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