In This Guide
Administration
Being a landlord
Buy to let investment
Choosing the property
Finding tenants
Letting property
Lettings agents
Levels of service
Preparing the property
Problem tenants
Tenancy
1. Types of tenancy
2. Resident landlords
3. Duration and termination of the tenancy
4. Rent increases
5. Rent assessment committee
6. Tenancy agreements
7. What they contain
8. Example agreement
9. Other issues
Tenancy
Other issues
There are a number of other issues affecting the tenancy in your property:
If you explicitly do not wish your tenant to sublet the property,
you can prohibit it by adding a clause into your tenancy agreement.
If you do not have such an agreement, then the tenant may have
the right to sublet if he has paid what is known as a premium
as a deposit. It is considered that a tenant has paid a premium
if the deposit was for anything over two months' rent.
Of course, you are quite within your rights to allow the tenant to sublet if you wish, but you will have no control over who he sublets to, unless you specifically determine so in the agreement.
The tenant cannot move out before the end of a fixed term without
being liable for the full amount of rent up to the end of the
agreed fixed period, unless he has your consent, or unless there
is a break clause in the agreement that allows him to leave during
a 'window' of opportunity.
Sometimes your tenants die. Not a particularly pleasant thought,
but it happens. Where it happens under a joint tenancy, any remaining
tenants have the automatic right to stay on in the property and
the tenancy continues according to the initial agreement. The
rules governing sole tenancies are a little more complicated.
If a sole tenant dies during the fixed term of a tenancy, the executors of the deceased's will are able to pass the tenancy on to whoever was nominated in the will. With either a contractual or statutory periodic tenancy, only the husband, wife, or person who lived with the partner as husband or wife has the automatic right to succeed the tenancy. However, if the unfortunate circumstances occurred where the deceased tenant had themselves succeeded the tenancy through the death of a previous tenant (and since remarried whilst living in the property, for instance), then the husband or wife would not be able to succeed the tenancy.
Although some landlords prefer not to deal with tenants on housing
benefit, a great many do not mind at all. Some landlords even
prefer the fact that the local authority can arrange for housing
benefit to be paid directly to the landlord, so long as the tenant
consents.
The maximum amount of benefit paid by the local authority will primarily be determined by the income and savings of the tenant. In addition, you may have the rent that you are charging assessed by a rent officer, in order to compare it with the price charged by landlords of similar properties in your area.
If you want to find out the maximum amount of rent that will be met by the housing benefit, you can apply for a Pre-Tenancy Determination, which will be carried out by a rent officer from the Housing Benefit Department.
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