Renting a 2 bed house to a family with 3 kids

[Beetle76]

I’ve got my hard hat on! I am renting out my two bed house while I have been seconded to a job in a different area for a year.
While it’s a small house, it’s in a good area so I received a number of offers for the full asking rent after the first viewing day. I decided to go with the person who stated they had two cats (I know what it’s like to rent with pets so I thought I’d help them out.)
The provisional paperwork listed a single tenant with their cats and I agreed to proceed on that basis. The full lease has arrived for me to sign and now it’s the tenant, plus cats, plus 3 kids.
My view is it’s a two bed house, one living room, small eat in kitchen and is thus not really suitable for a large family.
I didn’t base my decision on no kids, I just wanted to help out another cat person, and they happened to be the only applicant without kids.
I was expecting to have a kid or two in the house, it’s a great area for kids, but I think 3 is too many for the space. I don’t see where they would go - 3 kids beds would not fit in either bedroom, they are just not big enough. Maybe a sleeper couch in the living room? I suppose a kid could live under the stairs Harry Potter style 😂
But I fiercely dislike dishonesty and I feel they have been dishonest by not saying who would be living in the house from the outset. AIBU if I decide to pull the plug on this based that it’s not what I agreed to in the first place?
YANBU = it’s ok to pull the plug
YABU = it’s none of your business how many people are shoehorned into a rental property

@Jaxhog or in other words make it unaffordable - how much deposit are you charging already OP? 6 weeks is pretty standard, how much would you add on top Jaxhog?

It ll be far more wear and tear on a small house with 3 kids. It's very sly of them to not mention this till the paperwork arrives. I d wonder if your agent has been complicit in this. I d suggest putting it back on the market, maybe with a different agent, and try not to be too sentimental about the cats

I can’t just add on any amount to the deposit as I see fit. Deposits are capped, aren’t they?

I won’t be leading anyone on. If I decide not to let it to this person, I’ll let them know promptly as soon as I’ve seen their references and credit check. I haven’t had those yet so this is all something to weigh up while I’m waiting for those to come through.

I think you need to make a decision instead of 'weighing it up' while waiting for the checks to come through - he'll also be waiting to hear about whether he and his children have a home to move in to, your deciding on 'cats v children', regardless of the outcome of the references?

If its yes to the cats, no to the children, then you need to let them know.

It's your property, your decision on terms, decide?

You can add to the deposit as long as it's for a valid reason

Oh your update might change things a fair bit. TBH I don't know why you would be surprised that posters assume a single person with children is female! - totally logical, it's probably the case that over 90% of separated families have the children living with the mother?!

But, single dad? Ok just to put this out there - my very first thought was honestly that you might want to consider that he is trying to register the children as living with him when they actually don't for financial purposes OR as part of some residency dispute. That's something I would not want to get involved in at all.

I am also nodding furiously at this slightly different but related point above:

The more I think on this, the more it reminds me of something an old friend pulled to make herself more eligible for social housing. It ended with a court case to get her out as that's the only way she'd be rehoused & years of non payment of rent. Choosing a too small property gave her more points too.

Yes.

It seems more likely that he will only have the kids part time. He probably didn't mention them initially because they'd only be there at the weekends.
Probably a friend more used to renting, said he should cover himself by mentioning them, so he did, but later.

OP I'm not surprised by your update, that is why I asked if he was the NRP. Before my daughter was born, when it was just my step son and we were going through the rental process, it was always hard to know how/when to mention him because the forms were never set up for people that only live there part time. There was no deliberate deception involved, it was just that the questions were one size fits all and the situation wasn't.

It sounds to me like he is a NRP which is why he didn't mention the kids initially and tbh that is a pretty good reason. This also means that the kids are only going to be there part-time probably but I would still check it all out before I made my final decision.

Can I just point out any agency I’ve ever used as a renter has charged me for credit checks and gathering references, even when moving to another property with the same agent.

I’d be pissed off if you let me fork out for those and then decided against letting to me based on any other reason than the information provided from credit checks/references.

My ex has a two up two down cottage, which is absolutely tiny. We have three kids. They live 90% with me, but all share a room when they're with him (12, 7 and 5, all same gender).

He says it works absolutely fine for the weekends/nights he has them, but full time would be horrendous as there's no where for them to escape each other.

If he was NRP then I'd ask for more information and why he didn't disclose it, but if he was resident parent then I can't see it working as there just isn't the space. It could be that there wasn't a box to tick for children on the form, just adults, or because they wont be there the majority of the time he didn't think they counted as "living" there, but then realised he should mention them.

I'd get into a dialogue with him before completely dismissing him, but err on the side of caution, as this is your house.

Does anyone even know if he is a benefit claimant? Do you know OP? You'd surely have stipulated whether you would be in acceptance of housing benefit? He might well be working FT, having his children at weekends, choosing a home in acceptance of his pets, needing a year to save for a deposit for his own home after a separation- Its a short term let!

If he is trying to play the council, he is knowingly entering in to a 1 year tenancy agreement, therefore there is a strong possibility that the council will class him as making himself 'intentionally homeless' at the end of term- not a guarantee for any sort of property placement.

I really do think you’d be a fool to accept him as a tenant, and you most likely will be homeless after the year because he won’t leave if he had to lie to get it in the first place.

If it’s a dad and he’s only having them EOW then they won’t be there much. So you might clarify contact.

But even so the agents at fault for not getting the full information.

If the dad actively withheld the info about the kids to the agent, you have good grounds to turn him down.

From a wear & tear perspective, in my book 1 adult with cats, is preferable to 2 adults with 1 child, which is preferable to 1 adult with 3 kids and 2 cats. Which is what my decision would have been if I’d had all the information from the outset.

Entirely depends where the cats pee. I’d take a couple with a child over cats any day. (And I’m a cat lover)

As you are only renting for 1 year, I wouldn't go ahead.

Your house will be trashed with 3 kids and 2 cats.

Pull out and tell agency you want a single person or couple only and no pets. I let a tenant have a cat once. Big mistake. The carpets stank of cat wee and had to be replaced.

@beetle76, @cornettoninja makes a very good point. The potential tenant has now paid out money for checks and references and you are now considering whether to let him rent the property or not. It's a little unfair as he will be out of pocket if you now decline.

FWIW he probably didn't think or see where to mention kids until it came to the paperwork. When we were looking to rent a new property one of the first things we mentioned were the cat and the children before we got as far as checks. So I suspect they really won't be there a lot of the time. Most landlords would have been ok with the cat before the children and told us their 3 double bedroom home wasn't suitable for a family of 6, evenly split male/female. Thankfully we found a lovely landlord who was happy to have the children but not the cat, who was happily re-homed with family.

The kindest thing to do while you wait for references etc to come back is to contact them and ask, in case you really aren't happy with the answer. It might be they need somewhere until another property becomes available and tbh, I don't know many people who are happy to take on such a short term tenancy. We looked at some lovely homes but the lack of long term let was a big downside. Many were only letting them out while the house was on the market.

Surely they will be overcrowded?
Technically there are bunk beds and triple bunks, and bunks with a double on the bottom and all the rest. But that’s a lot of bodies under a little roof. We were in a 3 bed with 3 kids and 3 cats for 6 months after our house sold and our purchase fell through and that was pushing it to be honest.
She needs a bigger place really.

The potential tenant has now paid out money for checks and references and you are now considering whether to let him rent the property or not. It's a little unfair as he will be out of pocket if you now decline.

If it was he who did not volunteer the info about his kids then it’s his own fault. If it was the agent at fault it’s on them.

Ah, okay. Somehow I missed it’s a dad, so probably non resident parent and won’t have them often?

The potential tenant has now paid out money for checks and references and you are now considering whether to let him rent the property or not. It's a little unfair as he will be out of pocket if you now decline

He should have considered that possibility before 🤷

Full time family with 3 kids - no. Kids cause more damage than cats!
Single parent with kids at weekends. Yes.

There were major changes to private rental agreements last year. You can add to the deposit as long as it's for a valid reason incorrect, no you can’t, it is capped by law. The potential tenant has now paid out money for checks and references and you are now considering whether to let him rent the property or not. It's a little unfair as he will be out of pocket if you now decline incorrect, landlords have to pay these costs. It’s very annoying to spend £40 on checks only to find out that prospective tenants have been very dishonest and have CCJs left, right and centre.

Potential tenants no longer pay for checks and references and if the agency has charged him they are in breach of the law

Ah, okay. Somehow I missed it’s a dad, so probably non resident parent and won’t have them often?

You didn't miss it, OP was very vague about it.