Sharing your Home with Others
Your Tenancy agreement explains your rights and responsibilties about other people living in your home.
- Overcrowding
- What if I want to have lodgers?
- Can I sublet?
- Can I pass my tenancy on to anyone else?
- Will my family be able to stay in my home if I die?
By law, you must not allow too many people to live in your home. Your agreement will give you the 'permitted' or maximum number. The Trust has the right to take legal action if your home is overcrowded. However, if you remain within the permitted number, you have the ight to take lodgers or to sublet part of your home, without any increase to your rent.
What if I want to have lodgers?
A lodger is someone who shares your home with you and who may also have meals with you. If you decide to take in a lodger you must:
- tell us the name/sex/age of your lodger before they move in. The will need to comply with any specific criteria for the scheme where you are living
- take responsibility for their behaviour during their time with you and when you want them to leave it will be up to you to remove them legally
- tell the housing benefit or council tax departments if you are receiving benefits that you have a lodger. They may reduce the amount of benefit you receive.
You only have the right to sublet part of your home and not all of it. Someone subletting is likely to have sole access to a part of your home and do their own cooking. The conditions for subletting are the same as a lodger with the additional requirements:
- you must not grant an Assured Tenancy to your sub-tenant
Can I pass my tenancy on to someone else?
You cannot pass your tenancy on to anyone else, except in exceptional circumstances, for example:
- when exchanging your home
- divorce/separation - where a judge grants a tenancy to one party
- passing onto someone who would be allowed to succeed to the tenancy after your death
If you think you might need to pass on your home, you must contact your local Manager to discuss the circumstances and get approval.
Will my family be able to stay in my home if I die?
A tenancy can be passed on to a relative if the tenant dies. This can only take place once. The person who succeeds to the tenancy cannot pass on the tenancy again.
- if a married tenant dies, the tenant's spouse has the right to take over the tenancy automatically, if they were living with the tenant at the time of death
- if two people of whatever sex are living together as partners, the tenant's partner has the right to take over the tenancy automatically at the time of death
- if two people are joint tenants and one of them dies, the other person succeeds to the tenancy. This person cannot pass the tenancy on to anyone else.
- if a sole tenant dies, other family members have the right to take over the tenancy, if they have been living there for at least a year before the death. If there is a dispute about who can take over the property the Trust will be able to advise and decide. We might ask someone in this position to move to a property of a more suitable size if, for example, they are under-occupying the property.
