My Tenant who’s a single mum wants her partner to move in with her

My Tenant who’s a single mum wants her partner to move in with her

17:00 PM, 11th May 2015, About 10 years ago 20

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Hi,

I have a Tenant who’s only been in my property for about 2 months and now wants her partner to move in with her, but not to add him on the Tenancy.

She has been good and up to date with rent, however she has suggested that she keeps the tenancy agreement in her name as she wants to take full responsibility.

Shall I let her partner to move in with her without doing anything and just let them get on with it, if there’re any issues then I would deal with her or shall I add him as a lodger? My Tenant who's a single mum wants her partner to move in with her

Thank you in advance for your help.

Mohamed


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7:38 AM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

Please remove your blinkers.

This 'single mum' used her single mum status and your AST to get a HB claim going.

She then waited 2 months for the dust to settle or any council visit to happen.

Then the partner (who was there all along) magically appears and wants to move in (but under the radar please as I don't want the LA to know). You say yes and even write saying you agree.

.........

One way this could pan out is......

LA get wind of it and suspend benefit. Tenant and partner stop paying and then, a while later, flit if you are lucky or take you all the way to bailiffs if you are not.

You then get a demand for LHA recovery as the LA allege you knowingly allowed them to contrive a situation. You then have to defend against that while accepting your arrears are a lost cause and the house probably needs money spent too. Council will say you must have known she was on HB as she rocked up to you as a supposedly non working single mum....etc etc.

This MIGHT not be the case but please do a lot of due diligence quickly......

Mohamed Amin

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8:11 AM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

Hi All,

Thank you very much for your feedback. there's a mix of responses and advice here. The tenant is in full time work and I think gets housing benefit as a top up as she has two kids under the age of 18.

She claimed that her partner lives on the other side of the town and it would be convenient for them to move in together. When I got reference from her previous Land Lord there was no mention of a partner or anything so I'm assuming its a new boy friend and she wants to move in with him but like you say want to keep her benefit.

I'm thinking of sending her a letter that I got from one of the topics from this website, Can you please let me know if this is enough to cover me legally if anything went wrong?

Dear
Re: YOUR TENANCY OF
I understand that xxxx is now residing with you at the above address.
Whereas the Landlord has no objections in principle to this arrangement I must point out that xxxxx is not party to your current tenancy, rather has become a licensee of yours i.e. the relationship is between yourself and and has no rights nor exclusive possession to the property or any room therein.
occupancy of the property is not recognised either formally or informally as being any form of tenancy.
Any monies received from in respect of the tenancy shall be deemed to be a payment for you as your agent and shall not under any circumstances give rise to any rights to occupy the property.
Would you please sign and date the enclosed copy letter and return same to me in the envelope provided.
Yours sincerely
I/we acknowledge the statements contained above and agree and understand that is residing with me/us at the above property solely as a licensee of mine and any resultant relationship is between myself and the licensee alone. I confirm the licensee has no rights for exclusive possession to the property or to any room therein and that any payment made by in respect of the tenancy shall be deemed to be a payment on my behalf as my agent.
(All of joint tenants to sign) (Date)
Letter to be sent to unauthorised occupier on discovering a possible licensee situation where the unauthorised occupiers are to be allowed to remain
Dear
Re: YOUR RESIDING AT
I understand that you are now temporarily residing with at the above address.
Whereas the Landlord has no objections in principle to this arrangement I must point out that you are not party to any tenancy that currently has relating to this property, the only authorised tenant of the property is .
You are regarded as a licensee of i.e. the relationship is between yourself and , you have no rights nor exclusive possession to the property or any room therein, your occupancy of the property is not recognised either formally or informally as being any form of tenancy.
Any payments made by you in accordance with the terms of the tenancy as between the landlord and shall be deemed to be payments made as agent of and shall not under any circumstances give rise to any rights for interest in the tenancy in your favour.
Would you please sign and date the enclosed copy letter and return same to me in the envelope provided.
Yours sincerely
I/we acknowledge the statements above and further agree that my residing with at the above property is solely as a licensee of and that my formal relationship is therefore between and me alone. I also understand I have no rights of exclusive possession to the property or to any room therein and that any payment made by me in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the landlord and shall be deemed to be payments made by me as the agent of
(All licensees to sign) (Date)
(All licensees to sign) (Date)

Many Thanks,
Mohamed

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8:50 AM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

My point is that the top up HB may well stop if partner moves in and they admit that to the LA or the LA find out. Then the LA will seek to recover the overpayment back to the date they allege he moved in.

Just be aware of that, that's all. It may have no impact on her ability or willingness to pay your rent but equally, it might.

It might simply be that the relationship IS new and she wants to be able to get shot of him if he doesn't pan out.

Either way, the HB rules on live in partners still apply....

Mandy Thomson

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13:18 PM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

If the partner moves in, the couple's neighbours will notice, and someone may well inform the Local Authority Housing Benefit compliance team - this sometimes happens even if a partner doesn't live there full time but just stays over and even just visits a lot, so they appear to be living in the property.

If the compliance team do get a tip off from a neighbour, or maybe even a jealous ex or someone else who bears a grudge, I know from my experience of working at a job centre that they will almost certainly follow it up. What I'm saying is the couple will not be able to keep their live in relationship below the radar and you therefore need assurance that they can and will pay the rent WITHOUT the girlfriend's LHA top up.

Mohamed Amin

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20:04 PM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "11/05/2015 - 17:04":

Mark can you explaing what an RGI policy is?

Thanks

Jay James

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20:13 PM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

Rent Gaurantee Insurance

Jay James

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20:14 PM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

It's been (usefully) mentioned / discussed previously on this site.

For example:
http://www.property118.com/tenant-referencing-rent-guarantee-insurancergi/26857/

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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23:42 PM, 13th May 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mohamed Amin" at "13/05/2015 - 20:04":

Hi Mohammed

Sorry to take so long to get back to you regarding your RGI question.

I have been asked this particular question so many times that yours has finally inspired me to write a page on this topic.

Please see the link below 😀
.

Neil Robb

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18:36 PM, 16th May 2015, About 10 years ago

I would bet the tenant is already claiming benefits for the property and if you allow him to move in and they don't report the change to the housing benefit. Housing will claim back all rent paid from the point he moved in. And you will have to pay it all back yourself.

Plus if they are caught the tenant will quickly show the text or email requesting him to move in. So you will automatically be apart of the fraud.

Barbara Thorning

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13:51 PM, 18th May 2015, About 10 years ago

Another angle I've known about is a couple who only have one name on the AST, then if / when they default on their rent and disappear, they go for another property using the other name, which won't have any records on Landlord Referencing et al or CCJs.
This could happen in the future, or you are already the next stage and it was his name on the previous AST. Sounds very mistrustful, I know, but it has happened and some tenants know tricks that haven't been invented yet.

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