Letting an inherited house?
16 Oct 2018
Dear LPG,
I am not sure that this will affect all your readers, but I have quite a few friends that have found themselves with a house left to them in their later years. When that happens there are usually two choices; you either have to sell it or let it.
When it happened to me I found it quite hard to give up the house that I grew up in and so I decided to become a landlord and have been letting this 2nd property out for a few years now. I have let the bedrooms out separately which has worked out well. The house pays for itself and keeping up to date with arranging for repairs and permits and the other duties of a vigilant landlord have given me something to focus on during my retirement years.
But now there is the new HMO directive to take into consideration and a licence that needs to be paid. For your house to qualify it used to need to have more than 5 people renting separately and be at least 3 stories high but that was reduced to two floors after October 2018.
I have asked and have been told that a member of your family who lives there rent free would not be counted as a tenant, but a friend would, and another interesting fact is that a room used purely for storage purposes would also not count when figuring out if a property is eligible. There are also rules about how many consecutive nights someone can stay at a property before they become a tenant, which I have yet to work out.
It is a bit complicated and each borough is responsible for their own licencing arrangements. The consequences of not paying are quite severe and an inspection of your property in order to make sure it is up to the necessary standards is also a requirement. Many councils have suggested that random checking will be used.
I have to say that I can understand the need to make sure that homes are up to standard although I found it interesting that the minimum £2500 fee, which will cover the property for five years, will not be subject to a refund if you sell or give up letting during those five years.
It is all quite complicated but a telephone call to 0208 314 6420 can be helpful
YJ, Catford
LPG found some information
