Lodger/Tenant Urgent if anyone can help?

[cleowasmycat]

Hi

My friend is currently renting through an agency and the owner of the house has sold it. The new owners want to privately rent to him but their mortgage is based on lodger status and they also want to include the Council Tax in the rent but pay it themselves. This means he won't be paying any council tax himself but living there as an individual. Won't the new owners have to declare they are living in the property?

This all seems a bit dodgy?

A lodger is a person who rents a room in someone else’s home, where the owners also occupy and they share facilities such as the kitchen.

A tenant is a person who has exclusive use of a flat, house or a set of rooms that may be for example an annex.

He is from what you say not a lodger at all, and has rights to a tenancy agreement.

The owners of the house would be committing fraud.

On purchase the new owners will be accepting the current tenancy agreement in all its terms. Your friend does not have to accept any different terms and should not do so. However if the new owner for whatever reason isn’t happy with that arrangement then they can serve Notice and as long as they go about it properly (which can take months) your friend will be evicted

The previous owner has already served notice so he was hoping he could stay with the new owners and a new tenancy agreement with same rights.
He was expecting an increase in rent but they want an additional £400 a month!!
Apparently their mortgage is based on a lodger? Is this a thing?

Has the sale actually completed?

It means they haven't got a BTL mortgage but a regular mortgage because anyone can have a lodger. The reason they want the council tax to be included is so outwardly it looks like they live there. Its a form of defrauding the mortgage company. I would probably decide its time to move on but only when the friend has found somewhere else.

If the current (soon to be ex) owner has served notice nothing changes unless and until an actual court order is made. Your friends tenancy agreement is still in force until then. If the current owner completes the possession process before the new owner completes in the purchase then that’s one thing. But as it stands unless he gets an Order they should keep paying the rent at sit tight. I’d also advise changing the locks which they are entitled to do as long as they keep the old locks to replace at the point if departure