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Original poster

DS houseshare row-was he in the right?

28 replies

CurlewKate · 07/05/2024 18:21

DS is in a house share with 3 friends. One of them is his girlfriend. They divide rent and bills equally. One of the housemates wants his girlfriend to move in. DS said that he needed to talk to the letting agent about it-he was worried that they might be evicted if they broke the terms of their lease. He did, and the letting agent said no, and the friend is now furious with DS. Was DS right? For background, the letting agents do unannounced inspections, and the house is in a small close with neighbours who know the house owners. Any thoughts?

OP posts:

CeffylCoch · 07/05/2024 18:22

Of course he is right. He sounds very sensible

Longdueachange · 07/05/2024 18:22

Yes, of course he was right.

Original poster

CurlewKate · 07/05/2024 18:30

Thank you! I thought he was right to, but he's upset and doubting himself, so I started doubting myself too. The friend is saying that nobody would ever have known and he's a bad friend.The other two agree with DS, but he was the one who spoke up....

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Property

TTPD · 07/05/2024 18:54

He was right.

Plus a partner moving in makes things messy with regards to sharing bills - would she pay half her boyfriend's rent for the room, and then as a couple they pay 2/5 of the bills? Definitely has the potential to cause more arguments.

ageratum1 · 07/05/2024 19:13

I don't think unannounced inspections are legal ( misses point)

Original poster

CurlewKate · 07/05/2024 19:18

@ageratum1 "I don't think unannounced inspections are legal ( misses point)"

Aren't they? I may not tell him that just yet- it's part of their argument for not being able to get away with secretly moving an extra person in!

OP posts:

ImCamembertTheBigCheese · 07/05/2024 19:19

He was right. Usually in these cases the room mate tries to move their boyfriend / girlfriend in and not get them to pay for themselves.

Greywitch2 · 07/05/2024 19:21

Yes, he was right. If there are 4 of them sharing and splitting the rent, then one of the others doesn't get to move a partner in for free. What if the other one wanted to as well?

Suddenly you've got 6 people sharing a house that 4 of them are paying for - and the other two are freeloading. Even if you split the rent/bills 6 ways it isn't what people signed up for.

WarningOfGails · 07/05/2024 19:22

Landlord has to give 24hrs notice of a visit.

but DS was reasonable!

Precipice · 07/05/2024 19:23

the letting agents do unannounced inspections, This isn't legal. The tenants have a right to quiet enjoyment of the property. How much notice needs to be given will depend on the tenancy type and where they live, but it'll be something like 24/48 hours. Absolutely unacceptable for the agents to just drop in unannounced.

Beautiful3 · 07/05/2024 22:05

He was right. Having an extra person would have pushed up the bills. Kinda rude not to do it properly by paying her way.

TheSnowyOwl · 07/05/2024 22:08

CurlewKate · 07/05/2024 19:18

@ageratum1 "I don't think unannounced inspections are legal ( misses point)"

Aren't they? I may not tell him that just yet- it's part of their argument for not being able to get away with secretly moving an extra person in!

Definitely not legal.

Halfemptyhalfling · 07/05/2024 22:13

They could have divided the bills to account for extra use rather than informing the landlord. Lots of young people have partners over a lot and it would be unlikely to be enough inspections to determine she was there full time

AfraidToRun · 07/05/2024 22:18

He did right. "No one would know," is a pretty shit defence. Presumably all her stuff would be there...

Will she pay the deposit? Will she pay rent even though she's not a party to the contract?

redhotandsweaty · 07/05/2024 22:24

Your son was right. An extra person would change the HMO (house in multiple occupation) status of the property which would put the landlord at risk of falling foul of the HMO requirements. And there are insurance implications as well.

Kalevala · 07/05/2024 22:25

TTPD · 07/05/2024 18:54

He was right.

Should be more for rent as they are also using shared spaces, I'd say people sharing a room should pay 1.5 shares of rent and two shares of bills between them (if all rooms were equal).

Potnoodlesarentantisocial · 07/05/2024 22:26

Tenants have to be given at least 24 hour notice prior to inspections.

Who's doing all these unannounced inspections? LAs or landlords?

Cherryon · 07/05/2024 22:27

Your DS was right. Only listed tenants or pre approved occupiers can live in a let property. Most ASTs limit guests, paying or not, to two weeks. Subletting is also prohibited (no AirBnB).

Yellowshirt · 07/05/2024 22:28

I'm in a houseshare. Our tenacy agreement states overnight visits are kept to a minimum . One night a week is considered acceptable.
My landlord keeps a close eye on electricity usage as well and any dramatic change he will contact all tenants immediately to make sure no one is using an electric heater.
The landlord would find out quite quickly and wouldn't be able to ignore it as it will void his insurance on the property if its overcrowded.
I do get notice if a room inspection is due as I have the right to be there basically if they are entering my room.

crumbpet · 08/05/2024 06:30

Yeah your son is right. The Landlord should know who is living in the property.

Original poster

CurlewKate · 08/05/2024 06:36

Thank you. They've had a couple of unannounced visits from the letting agent in the past year-I'll let them know this isn't allowed-but I think they were quite glad to be able to use it as another reason she couldn't just move in. She's been staying quite a lot and not contributing, so I think they were sceptical about her paying her way. DS felt guilty because his girlfriend lives there-but she is a named tenant in her own right, so that's obviously different.

OP posts:

PaminaMozart · 08/05/2024 06:47

Personally I feel sorry for the two housemates without live-in girlfriends. I hope they all have a Plan B ..... as this could get messy.

Original poster

CurlewKate · 08/05/2024 07:07

@PaminaMozart "Personally I feel sorry for the two housemates without live-in girlfriends. I hope they all have a Plan B ..... as this could get messy"

I don't think you need worry. The initial 4 have been living happily together for a year-and chose each other as housemates. I suspect the one who was hoping his girlfriend will move in will be looking for somewhere with her when their lease expires. But they are of an age when that's likely to happen anyway.

OP posts:

sashh · 08/05/2024 07:19

Son is right.

I am not allowed to have more than 4 people living in my property.

NotJohnMajor · 08/05/2024 07:26

Your son is in the right.

Leaving aside the issues with the landlord, it's not ideal for the others to turn a four person share into five people - that's an extra person taking their time in the bathroom and kitchen, an extra person's stuff having to be stored, an extra person taking up seating space in any communal areas, an extra person potentially to be messy or untidy or have other irritating traits (especially since they don't know her and haven't chosen her as a housemate).

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