Which Tenancy Agreement?
Answer:
The way you deal with this will depend on how much control you want over the identity of the occupiers.
If you want total control
Then, you will need to give all the individual occupiers their own contract for their room and shared use of the common parts of the property.
There will be more administration and paperwork involved in running the property, but landlords are sometimes able to achieve a higher overall rent where the property is let on a room-by-room basis.
The other disadvantage is that if a contract holder leaves, you cannot hold the other occupiers liable for their share of the rent as you can with a joint and several contract. But this may be a small price to pay if you require more control over who is living in your property.
If you are willing to allow the contract holders decide who they share with
You may want to consider using a joint and several periodic occupation contract.
These are a lot more flexible than English tenancy agreements, as individual contract holders can end their own contract without affecting the other contract holders. Contracts will run on indefinitely, so you will not have the problems that can arise with Welsh fixed-term contracts when they come to an end, if they have not been drafted properly.
As there is only one agreement for all the occupiers, it will reduce your paperwork – and if one of the occupiers serves notice and leaves, the other contract holders’ position will not be affected save that they will collectively be liable for the outgoing contract holder’s share of the rent. This will give them an incentive to find a replacement – note that there are strict rules about granting consent to a request to add a new contract holder and time limits which need to be complied with.
The disadvantage is that landlords cannot pass the cost of finding and referencing a new contract holder under the Welsh fees legislation.
The landlord has the right to end an individual joint contract holder’s contract if either
- they have moved out, or
- they are behaving in an anti-social manner.
Although with anti-social behaviour, if the contract holder fails to vacate after being served notice, the landlord will have to take them to court.
Landlord Law has both fixed-term contracts for a room in a shared house and fixed term and periodic contract which can be used for joint and several contracts, all of which have been adapted from the government’s model contract, to protect your position. Landlord Law members will find them on the Occupation Forms page.
Click the next button below now to find out more about Welsh occupation contracts.
