DD and locked room in rented house share

[gameofscrabble]

DD and four friends moving into second year uni house. When they went to view the house the landlord mentioned that he also offered the house to rent as a five bedroom if they were interested, as there is one box room with a single bed that he accepts much less rent on. DD and co said no because there was only four of them so accepted the house as a four bed arrangement. They didn’t see inside the room at the viewing as LL said they didn’t need to if they weren’t a group of 5.

Fast forward to moving in and the spare room door is still locked. LL reiterated what he’d said previously - that the girls had no need to see in there as they were a group of 4. I can completely understand this is probably because he doesn’t want them letting mates stay in the room all the time. But DD and friends have said they feel weird having no idea what’s in the room and they’d like to at least see inside.

Is the LL allowed to keep the door locked? 100% ready to be told that he is well within his rights to do so, we’re clueless when it comes to renting rules etc

How is it weird? They could have had 5 people but didn't so are paying rent for 4 he's locked the door as they could have people staying over and using it all the time...or he's using it as storage up to him he's losing rent as he could have rented it to 5 sharers...tell them to keep their beaks out and get on with life.

If he keeps a locked room can he say he lives in the house and therefore get away with paying less tax on the rental income, or not have to pay capital gains tax in future if he sells ?

tendredthings If he keeps a locked room can he say he lives in the house and therefore get away with paying less tax on the rental income, or not have to pay capital gains tax in future if he sells ?

Is there any suggestion whatsoever that any of this has happened?

He advertised it as a five bedroom, but the current tenants only wanted a four bedroom as there are four of them. So they have four bedrooms.

They can check their own council tax but considering they will be students and exempt, it makes no sense for him to be on the council tax in order to pay less rental income. Which wouldn't be possible anyway as it is only for renting one room in your own home. As for capital gains tax, if its ever been a main residence, you can pay less, but theres no evidence that it has or that he wants to, or that it may be in the future.

Theres speculation, and then theres fantasy which is probably going a bit too far in this particular instance and verging on being rather odd. Do you have some strange agenda against landlords perhaps?

My daughter had this too fifth bedroom locked as not paid for. Thought it was mean as could have been for guests to stay

Quick check
I'm not saying that this is what this landlord is doing. It sounds like it's not the case as he was originally offering the 5 rooms. The thread is full of speculation, so I just thought I'd throw this into the mix ! When I was a student I visited house shares where a room was kept locked exactly for this reason. I am in no way accusing this particular landlord of doing this !

The Rent a Room Scheme lets you earn up to a threshold of £7,500 per year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation in your home. This is halved if you share the income with your partner or someone else. You can let out as much of your home as you want.
www.gov.uk › the-rent-a-roo...
Rent a room in your home: The Rent a Room Scheme - GOV.UK

If he keeps a locked room can he say he lives in the house and therefore get away with paying less tax on the rental income, or not have to pay capital gains tax in future if he sells ? No he can't. He would have to prove it is his prime residence and then that would make the tenants lodgers... no AST and far less protection for them and all sorts of other issue for the landlord - especially as 4 tenants would be able to prove it is not with very little difficulty . It will NOT be the reason that the room in OP is locked.

I am NOT speculating, this is my job.

But if anyone does think that gheir student landlrod is pulling any kind of fast one, your first port of call is your Uni Housing Officer - even if you didn't find the house via them, they are the first people you need to speak to!

The room is probably just a small, shitty, average bedroom.

I've seen this - a friend rented a 2bed apt with 1 bedroom locked. Insisted on seeing inside the 2nd room as it felt suspicious. Turns out it was used as a storage room for some of the LL's stuff - spare appliances etc.

Hopefully the same in your DD's case. Or, as others have said, the LL doesn't want the room being used as a 5th bedroom

They should be entitled to ask to see inside though, put their minds at ease

I don't think they have any right to see the room or know what's in it.

It's none of their business. They're responsible for their individual room rent... and it's quite possible that if he left it open one if them cough end up using it with a friend sleeping over or to store their stuff.

Keeping it locked, avoids any problems.

What does she think is in there?

I'm sure it's not his dungeon, as he previously wanted to rent it out.

I would have just said a 5th person is interested so can they view the room please? End of mystery.

It is a bit Bluebeard! I'd tell them not to worry unless/until there's a nasty smell and/or something sinister starts to trickle under the door...

I think it's probably similar to holiday rentals where there's usually a cupboard or box room that's locked. In those cases it usually contains cleaning stuff or spare linen for a quick change over.

In this case I would guess the landlord has been stung before with people staying over or rooms being sub let so he's being extra careful. I don't see why he won't actually show them the room though. After all, if they see if they may be able to 'sell it' to another student - lovely room, very cosy, nice furniture, that sort of thing. But each to their own I guess.

As someone said they could always get a mate to say they might be interested so they can have a little nose about...

I had that in my student house. The Landlord used to rent the house out in the summer and used the room to store stuff for the summer guests.

Dame as others. I lived in a shared house years ago as a student. We didnt rent it "together" rather as individual rooms. When someone moved out the landlady used their room for storage and kept it locked. I did see in it once when she was there and it was just full of old furniture and junk.

Maybe it's better not too know it might be disappointing and boring but if they don't know they can always think "wonder what was in the locked room. 😁😁

I used to live in a large-ish HMO and our landlord always kept the door locked to any vacant room. Fairly standard in a HMO IME.

The LL could've at least let them see in the room then locked it up afterwards

It's a bit Bluebeard's wife of her, isn't it? How is it any of her affair what he keeps in a room (which she in not renting) in his house? Why ought he have to allow them to see what is there? If anything. I'd be tempted to tell her to wind her neck in.

Hi all just thought I’d give you an update. One of the other girl’s has a relative who works in this sector who has apparently looked over their tenancy agreement. They are renting the whole house as a group on the same tenancy agreement rather than renting rooms individually iyswim and there is nothing in the tenancy agreement regarding the other room. So the relative has apparently said that LL isn’t allowed to keep a locked room and the girls should be allowed to use it for whatever they please.
@Lockheart You worked this out from the beginning and it seems you are correct!

That being said DD said she doesn’t think they’ll say anything as he’s been a really nice guy in all other respects etc. They’d only been using the room to store their suitcases and their clothes airers anyway so I don’t think she wanted to kick up a fuss. Whether she does or not is up to her and not really anything to do with me anyway I suppose! I only posted on here to see if anybody had an answer for her, the rest is up to her

Does she have a friend with a drone to fly up and peep through the window? Or a long ladder?

YABU. He's probably storing his own things in there, and it's sensible to lock it because otherwise 5 people could live there, or they could often have visitors in there, causing more wear and tear on the house. It's normal procedure.

My neighbour rents a house like this also. Helsplit the kitchen in 2 so its tiny and tells the tenants he has it for storage. That isn't true as he has a surveillance room in there and there are cameras everywhere, he also comes and sits in the room most day. Obviously he is barking!

Its not as simple as that OP. It sounds like the house is an HMO and the license this year may only be for 4 people. The risk to a landlord of 5 people living in a 4 person HMO, or 5 people in a house which has a 4 person lease is jail and a massive fine, so the landlord is caught between a rock and a hard place. tbh if I was him, I'd rather be sued by the tenants for the right to use an additional room that go to jail or be fined.

And no-one has pointed out that the fifth room is a boxroom. It shouldn't really be used as a bedroom anyway as the fire escape will be inadequate. Locking it for H&S reasons versus again the unlikely event of being sued under the lease - again, the landlord would be sensible to choose the former. I'm puzzled that it was ever put up as being for let in the first place, as a box room. That also means that it shouldn't be used as a guest room either, as a guest could also be caught in a fire.

We had to mains operated smoke alarms and self closing doors in the cupboards in my HMO but if it were kept locked these were not required - the strictness of rules do vary.

I’m not sure if the rules differ for a HMO property but generally when you rent out a property under an Assured Short Term Tenancy you may stipulate in the tenancy agreement area’s excluded from the tenancy which may be a locked shed, bedroom or attic (generally used for storage purposes by the landlord). As long as it’s documented correctly it’s not that unusual. I can understand to a group of late teens with no experience it may seem a bit mysterious - probably more so because it’s a locked bedroom rather than a cupboard. I’m not sure what the legalities might be of seeing inside just to check there is nothing for them to be concerned about but i’m sure any professional landlord if asked would show them inside if they ask in the right way. They could even say it would be great to see the room in case they ever come across another student in need of accommodation who would like to pay to rent the room.