Contents
- Who is considered a resident landlord?
- Your tenancy rights if you live with your landlord
- Subletting a room
Who is considered a resident landlord?
When your landlord lives in the same property as you, we refer to them as a ‘resident landlord’. While it should be quite obvious if your landlord lives with you, some living situations can make things a little unclear.
To be considered a resident landlord, your landlord must:
- Use the property as their only home, or their main home – if your landlord only stays at the property occasionally, they might not be considered a resident landlord;
- Live in the property when you move in;
- Be able to access your part of the property from theirs – usually, this will mean that your room and their room are connected by communal areas such as a shared hallway. If your landlord lives in a separate flat within the same building they won’t be considered a resident landlord.
Establishing if you have a resident landlord is important because this will affect what type of tenancy agreement you have and your rights as a tenant at the property.
Your tenancy rights if you live with your landlord
If you have a resident landlord, in most cases you will have a common law tenancy. This means that your rights will be determined by the contract you have with your landlord, rather than by rules created through housing legislation. The contract you sign will be your tenancy agreement – it may also be referred to as a lodger agreement.
Your tenancy agreement/lodger agreement
Your tenancy agreement should include:
- How much rent you’ll pay and when it’s due;
- The length of your tenancy;
- How much notice you’ll have to give when you want to move out;
- Other rules about the property, e.g. if you can have guests or pets.
You should have a written copy of your tenancy agreement, but you’ll still have rights even if you don’t have a written contract.
You can see an example of a tenancy/lodger agreement here.
The length of your agreement
Your tenancy agreement should say if you have a fixed term, e.g. for 6 months. At the end of a fixed term, if neither you nor your landlord end the tenancy it will renew automatically for the same period of time.
Your deposit
Your landlord cannot ask for more than 2 months rent as a deposit.
Unlike with a Private Rented Tenancy Agreement, your landlord doesn’t need to protect your deposit in a deposit protection scheme.
When you want to move out
Your tenancy agreement should set out the notice you are required to give to end your agreement. If it doesn’t, you must give your landlord 28 days' notice. If your fixed term is for 1 year, you’ll need to give 40 days' notice.
If your landlord wants you to leave
Again, your tenancy agreement should outline how much notice your landlord needs to give you. If it doesn’t your landlord can only evict you at the end of your fixed term, or if you’ve broken the terms of your tenancy agreement.
They will need to give you 40 days' notice (if your fixed term is 4 months or longer) or 28 days' (if your fixed term is less than 4 months or if you’ve broken the terms of your tenancy agreement).
Subletting a room
If your landlord rents the property from another landlord (who will typically be the owner of the property), then rents a room in the property to you, this is known as subletting. Your landlord will need to get permission from their landlord to sublet a room in the property. If they don’t, you could both be at risk of eviction.
If your landlord lives in the property, they are considered a resident landlord and you will have a common law tenancy at detailed above.