Permitted Occupier – are backgound checks permitted?

Permitted Occupier – are backgound checks permitted?

0:02 AM, 24th November 2023, About 12 months ago 11

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Hello, I have had a request from a tenant who wants to move her boyfriend in. She has been there less than a year. She moved here for work from a fair distance away, professional and very nice. No issue at all with tenant/rent payments access or anything. Model tenant actually.

I know I have to right to rent check anyone if I grant them Permitted Occupier (PO) status, but can I also ask them for a previous landlord reference/other type character reference to get some idea of what he is like before I give PO consent?

Can I refuse consent to his formal occupier status if something untoward is discovered in the process? Do I approach this with him/her or them both?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Mark


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Michael Crofts

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15:23 PM, 27th November 2023, About 12 months ago

Intreresting to see the different ideas. I would not agree to the permitted occupier route. This appears to be a new relationship so neither you nor your tenant really know enough about the new partner to deal with the situation in that way. If I was the landlord I would say that my standard AST provides for guests and she is free to invite him as her guest up to the stated time limits. If she wants him to live there permanently I would enter an agreement with her for surrender of the existing tenancy and grant of a new joint tenancy contingent on the new joint tenant (her partner) passing the usual checks. And I know what you mean by background checks, I do those myself, I never let anyone else get involved.I have avoided some disasters by doing background checks. I have only had one bad tenant - a female who walked out on her male joint tenant leaving him to pay all the rent - I agreed a surrender with him. My background checks are based on dealing with tenancy applications just like recruitment for a job where security is important. I get a CV from the prospective tenant/s, sit down with them face-to-face and go through it, then I check every detail. I take nothing on trust, nothing at all. The lies I've been told over the years beggar belief but I have always found them out before it is too late.

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