Letting a Room in your house
A Room Let Agreement is often used when a landlord wants to rent a room in a furnished home where the landlord lives and shares common parts of the property example: a bathroom, toilet, kitchen, and a sitting room with the tenant.
Where an Assured shorthold tenancy is applicable, you must not use a License agreement.
It is the situation on the ground and not the heading text to an agreement that determines whether an occupier of a residential property is a tenant or a licensee.
There is no requirement for a landlord to provide a rent book to any licensee, although in some instances it is helpful and wise to do so.
The latest room let agreement template for 2021 is now available for download. If you are a BLA member and require free advice on any agreement template, please use the free member advice helpline number.
All members can download most documents free of charge from the document page.
The amendments to our room let template are due to the recent new legislation. When creating the template, our lawyers have taken into consideration the Deregulation Act 2015 and also incorporated the Tenant Fees Act 2019 clauses.
What is an Assured shorthold tenancy?
It is a legal contract between a landlord and their tenants, which sets out the legal terms and conditions of the agreement.
Most tenancies will automatically be an assured shorthold tenancy. They will likely be this type of tenancy if:
- The tenant is a private tenant.
- The tenancy began on or after the 15th of January 1989 (provided tenancy was in writing, and a section 20 notice was served).
- Or the tenancy started after the 28th of February 1997.
- The property is your tenant’s primary residence.
- You don’t live on the property.
A rental agreement cannot be an AST if:
- It started before the 15th of January 1989.
- The rent is more than £100,000 a year.
- The rent is lower than £250 a year.
- The building you are renting is a commercial building.
- It is a holiday let.
Why do I need a tenancy?
Even if you don’t have a written contract with your tenant, an agreement will still be in place. Under s54(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925, a tenancy will exist as soon as a tenant starts paying rent.
A written agreement allows you to add specific conditions, such as how and when you will review the rent. You can also add further specific clauses, under which circumstances you may withhold all or part of your tenant’s deposit.
Without a written agreement, you may not be able to prove easily, how much rent the tenant owes you. This may cause you problems.
The law in England, Wales & Scotland varies you should seek legal advice if you are unsure on any element of the Room let agreement template.
What to include in a room let agreement template?
There are some things that you can edit, in the room let agreement:
- The names of the tenants.
- How much the rent will be.
- How often the rent will be paid.
- How much the deposit will be.
- Reasons you may withhold all or part of the deposit.
- The address of the property
- The start date and length of the tenancy
- The tenants’ responsibilities, such as paying council tax and maintaining the property.
Other covenants and requirements you may want to consider:
- Whether the property can be sublet.
- Whether the tenancy can be ended early and how this can be done.
- If the rent is paid in advance. Nearly all landlords charge rent in advance.
Other covenants and requirements you may want to consider:
- Whether the property can be sublet.
- Whether the tenancy can be ended early and how this can be done.
- What contents are included in the tenancy
- Rent increases.
- Address of serving notices if the tenant disappears.
- Terms of any repairs
What is the difference between a lodger and a tenant?
Simple Explanation: the main difference between a tenant and a lodger is that a lodger will live in a property with the owner (landlord) where generally the owner pays the utility bills and the lodger shares facilities with the owner like the kitchen and bathroom.
A tenant usually will have exclusive occupation of the let property.
Members can obtain free legal advice from our Landlord helpline on 01293 855700.
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Author: Marc Attwater
Date: 4th of March 2022
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