Q. We rent a property to four tenants under a joint and several tenancy agreement. It is a HMO but does not require a license. One of our tenants has vacated after serving a notice to quit but the remaining tenants want to stay. They need another person to help with the rent and have asked if they could have someone living there as a lodger rather than have a new tenancy agreement with a new tenant. Is this an option?

A. It is an option but you do need to be careful about this. First you need to make sure it is not going to breach the terms of your mortgage or the terms of your insurance policy. Otherwise, you may find that you have issues with your mortgage company and will be unable to bring a claim under your insurance as you have not complied with the terms.

You may be able to resolve these issues though. For example, your insurers may be agreeable to amending your policy or you could move to another insurance company.

Normally the main problem with allowing a lodger is that it will make the property an HMO, but this is not a problem here as it is already an HMO, and you are merely replacing one HMO tenant with another.

I can understand why your tenants would prefer the lodger solution. If the replacement person is unpopular, it will be easy to evict them if they are a lodger but could be very difficult if they are a co-tenant. So, in this respect, a trial period as a lodger would be a good idea.

If you are able to agree to the lodger, then you should require them to carry out proper checks first, carry out a right to rent check and ensure that they sign a proper form of lodger agreement.

My free Lodger Landlord website https://www.lodgerlandlord.co.uk/ has guidance on this and links to where you can purchase all the necessary forms.


Q. I live in Wales. I am thinking of taking in a lodger but I read somewhere that licensees are treated the same as tenants under the new Welsh law. Would that apply to a lodger?