Licence for Lodger to Occupy a Room in Tenant’s Property

This Licence for Lodger to Occupy a Room in Tenant’s Property should be used where an existing tenant wishes to take in a lodger under a licence agreement.  It is suitable for use in England.

Considerations Before Downloading This Template

Before using this template, the tenant must carefully review their own tenancy agreement. Many agreement:

• prohibit taking a lodger; or 
• require the landlords' prior written consent 

Failure to obtain consent may put the tenant in breach of the tenancy .

What This Licence Covers

The Licence grants the lodger:

•  the use of a bedroom;
• shared use of the common areas such as the kitchen, bathroom, corridors, staircase etc. 

The lodger is to pay a monthly Licence Fee which is stated to be inclusive of Council Tax.  The lodger must also pay a fair proportion of utility bills, details of which should be provided with a clear breakdown.

Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, Licensors must only charge ‘permitted payments’ or face financial penalties (and subsequent offences could result in a criminal offence). ‘Permitted Payments’ include rent/licence fee, tenancy deposit, council tax, utilities, tv licence and default fees (for late payment of rent and replacement of a lost key/security device, where required under a tenancy agreement).

The costs of cleaning the shared areas of the house can only be charged if these costs are included in the Licence Fee. If the lodger wishes to have their own Room cleaned this should be arranged and paid for separately.

Duration and Termination of the Licence

The licence will run for a fixed term (the Licence Period) but can be brought to an end early by either party giving notice as set out in clause 4.  The tenant might prefer to keep the Licence Period fairly short (e.g. a few months) and then renew the Licence if the arrangement is working well. The other option is to have a longer Licence Period and then terminate the Licence if circumstances change.

Deposits and Best Practice 

This Licence does not provide for the lodger to pay a deposit. However if a deposit is taken, it does not need to be protected in a tenancy deposit scheme as lodgers are not assured tenants. Despite this, some licensors may prefer to use a Tenancy Deposit Scheme as a matter of good practice. 

Optional phrases/clauses are enclosed in square brackets. These should be read carefully and selected so as to be compatible with one another. Unused options should be removed from the document.

This Licence for Lodger to Occupy a Room in Tenant’s Property is in open format.  Either enter the requisite details in the highlighted fields or adjust the wording to suit your purposes.

Once you have purchased access to the appropriate document folder click on the “Download Document” button below.  You will be asked what you want to do with the file. It is recommended that you save the document to a location of your choice prior to viewing.

Licence for Lodger to Occupy a Room in Tenant’s Property is part of Property. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Property for 1 year.