Renting but not moving in

[MagersfonteinLugg]

My DB is splitting from his wife. Its ammicable . She is going to stay in their rented house and he has found somewhere else close by to rent. However, this property is completely unfurnished and needs some work doing on it decorating etc.
DB wants to rent it but not actually move in till he's got it straight re decor and furniture as he wants it to be nice before the DCs stay over.
His ex is okay with this I should add.
Can he do this or will the landlord expect him to actually be living there from the date he takes over the tenancy?

As long as he pays the money he can leave it vacant the whole tenacy if he wants.

His insurance might have an issue with it being empty, as might his landlords - My contents insurance allows me to leave it empty for up to 30 days, and the landlords up to 60 days, but we've got an agreement that if for any reason I was going to be away for 60 days, they'd come check the place was okay anyway.

Other than that, there'd be no issue. The landlord probably won't ask when he plans to move in.

Why are you concerned about what a landlord might expect of your db?

The landland will only be interested in having a good tenant who pays the rent on time, doesn't wreck the place, or cause any nuisance to the neighbours, and it'll be immaterial to them as to when the tenant commences living in the property full time.

It was mainly with regards to the insurance and the property being empty for a few weeks as he does work to it.

Providing he agrees whatever work/renovations he intends to carry out at the property with the landlord beforehand, I don't see why there should be any problem or why it should be any concern of yours.

However, the latter may be because you've chosen to post in Relationships and I'm wondering whether you disapprove of your db's plans and are looking for ways to scupper them?

As long as he pays the money he can leave it vacant the whole tenacy if he wants

That's actually not true.

Many landlords, myself included, have a clause in the tenancy regarding leaving the property empty. My lenders and insurers demand this.

How long are we talking?

As others have said, shouldn't be a problem although if he's moving into Social Housing I think the landlord would have concerns should the absence extend too long. If you don't actually move in, you don't need social housing (especially if you are paying the rent as well as paying other housing costs elsewhere) and therefore - landlord could argue you shouldn't have been allocated tenancy and move towards abandonment proceedings. I'd say it would have to be a significantly extended period and actually is very rare, but not completely unheard of.

Permission to carry out works is vital, even decoration in private rented can sometimes be an issue. He needs the permission in writing to cover himself in the future.

Hope that helps.

I have no desire to scupper DBs plans as you put it. He told me about the split and asked me if I knew if this was legal/ ethical etc.
I posted in relationships purely because it is busy and relates to a relationship split so someone else might have experience of this.
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Why is your brother decorating? Surely this should be down to the LL, unless he has made an arrangement that the LL is happy for him to decorate? Otherwise, he may find he has to undo all the decorating when he moves out.

If you are talking a few weeks empty then that won't be a problem - it will only be similar to him going on holiday surely?

He has already been told by the landlord that he can redecorate as long as its neutral decor.
It would be for a month only so not that long.

TBH it's probably easier if he stays there a few nights per week just from the insurance point of view! Really depends if it's going to be a couple of weeks or more like a month.

We had this same issue.

How did you resolve it Random?

We had workmen there every weekday and the teens had occasional sleepovers!!! I looked into the rules of the insurance carefully and ensured we complied.