Resident Landlords

In law, a resident landlord letting is one where the landlord and the person he or she lets to live in the same building. This includes conversions where they live in different parts of the same property (however long ago it was converted).

There are many different arrangements, ranging from simply letting a room to a lodger to letting a converted flat in a house.

There are two main issues where the rights of landlord and tenant differ for resident landlord lets compared with these other types of tenancy: rent and security of tenure. Broadly, someone who lets from a resident landlord does not have a right to challenge the level of rent that he or she has agreed to pay, can be given less notice to leave if the landlord wants to end the letting, and in some situations can technically be evicted by the landlord at the end of the notice if he or she refuses to leave.

Resident landlords have this greater freedom to end an arrangement because it is acknowledged that, should the relationship between the landlord and the person he or she lets to breaks down, the landlord is more vulnerable in his or her own home.

Examples of the most common arrangements are as follows:

• Non-excluded tenancy : house divided into self contained flats, occupier lives in one and landlord in another
• Non-excluded licence (unusual) : landlord has right to choose new sharer for occupier’s self-contained flat; or has unrestricted access to it for cleaning
• Excluded tenancy : ‘houseshare’ arrangement, where landlord lets room(s) in his or her home and shares lounge etc with the occupier; bedsit arrangements where landlord is not servicing rooms
• Excluded licence : ‘lodgers’, where the arrangement includes cleaning the room; stay by a friend on a casual basis; room is let as a ‘roomshare’ with existing occupant

This list only gives an indication of how different arrangements might be viewed: it is not definitive, and the important factor for any particular case is how the arrangement works in practice. Only a court can say with any certainty whether a letting is a tenancy or a licence to occupy; and the fact that a landlord may say that what is being offered or has been granted is a licence rather than a tenancy (or the written agreement is headed “licence”), does not necessarily mean that this is what it will be considered to be. If there is a dispute or other issue where the nature of the let could be important, it is advisable to get legal advice.

Much more information is available in a government Leaflet, titled:
Letting rooms in your home: A guide for resident landlords

A copy can be found in the Additional Resources section at the end of this Subject and will answer questions such as:

• Does the let have to be for a set period or can it run indefinitely?
• Does there have to be an agreement in writing?
• Are there any rules about the amount of rent I can charge?
• Who is responsible for Council Tax?
• Who is responsible for repairs and maintenance?
• How can a let be ended?
• and many more.