Here is a question to the blog clinic from Cristina who is a lodger:
I am a lodger and my live-in landlord moved city for a few months. Should he change the contract for a tenancy one during this time?
Answer
No. You will either remain a lodger or become a tenant.
A lodger has fewer rights than a tenant because they are living in the landlords own home and sharing living accommodation with him. If the landlord moves out permanently then this is no longer the case and the lodger will acquire a tenancy.
However, if the landlord’s move was only ever temporarily and he then moves back again, you will remain a lodger.
Things to consider will be:
- Did the landlord initially intend to move permanently and then changed his mind or was it always going to be a temporary stay?
- What was the reason for the move?
- Did the landlord remain on the electoral register?
- Did he come back to the property at all during that time?
- Did he keep personal possessions at the property?
- Did he consider it to be his permanent home?
What is not possible though is for you to acquire a tenancy while your landlord is away and then change back again to a lodger status when he returns.
If you acquire a tenancy then that will be permanent. And will include the right (if and only if, you acquire a tenancy) to refuse to let him back in again.
Yes, good call here. I have found instances where a landlord went on holiday for an extended period and a lodger tried to claim a tenancy. The corollary is that if a tenant went away for months even if the rent was paid then the tenancy was void for abandonment!
A bit of a tricky question.
I think that a correct analysis of any situation has to involve two steps. The first is to consider what the arrangement was at the outset applying the Street v Mountford principles. That is not necessarily an easy task since it is perfectly possible for an arrangement under which someone occupies a room in a house sharing facilities with the live-in owner to be a tenancy – as the Housing Act 1988 recognises.
If it is concluded that the arrangement is a licence then the second step is to consider is whether there any significant changes other than the owner ceasing to live at the property. If it is “as you were” then the fact that the owner no longer lives at the property is not sufficient to change the status of the arrangement as an owner residing in a property is not a requirement for an arrangement to be a licence.