The tenancy trail

A bit more about Assured Tenancies

There are two  main versions:

• An assured tenancy of a whole house or flat.  Where, if there are two or more tenants, they all sign the same tenancy agreement on a ‘joint and several’ basis
• An assured tenancy of a room in a shared house.  Where the tenant has ‘exclusive occupation’ of their own room (normally just their bedroom but it could be two or more rooms) and shared use of the ‘common parts.  Normally this will be the kitchen, bathroom and maybe a sitting rooms / lounge.

We have tenancy agreements for both types on Landlord Law.

Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

An HMO is not really a tenancy type in the same way as an assured tenancy is.  It refers to a  property where there are three or more people who form two or more ‘households’.

So you can have an HMO which is an assured or a common law tenancy or a license.  An HMO can also be a house where a landlord has two or more lodgers.

The type of tenancy agreement you have also does not matter.  So a house with three or more tenants on a ‘joint and several’ tenancy agreement will be an HMO if they form two or more households.  It is not true that you only get an HMO where the tenants in a property have separate tenancy agreements.

We have a lot more on HMOs for members on Landlord Law which you will mostly find in  this section.

Sub-letting

An assured tenancy can only exist if the tenant lives in the property as their ‘only or principal home’.  So if the property is sublet to other tenants or licensees, it will no longer be an assured tenancy.  It can’t be, as the tenant will no longer be living there.  In fact, it (ie the tenancy between the top landlord and the middle person) won’t be a residential tenancy at all.

This is often the situation with ‘rent to rent’ arrangements, which are often misunderstood.  Landlord Law members should (if they are tempted by ‘rent to rent’) watch the video here, which explains the main problems and dangers inherent in this arrangement.  These have only got worse after the coming into force of the Renters Rights Act 2025.

And finally

I hope you have enjoyed this Tenancy Trail and that it has been useful for you.  If you are not already a member of Landlord Law, you can join here.