Change of rental contract name

[Aston Traveller]

I know quite a few of you rent out property and wondered if you had any thoughts on this.

I rent a property - house- which has the mother (elderly) and the daughter on the rental agreement. The daughter’s son who also lives there has now reached the age of 18 so is not now considered as a dependent. The elderly mother has quite a good income via hers and her deceased husband’s pension. Due to the income level of the mother the daughter cannot now claim universal credit. If the elderly parents name is taken off the rental agreement she will be able to claim universal credit for at least (she says) 50% if not more. She is not working now as she cares for her quite frail mum.

Questions are

1. Can you just remove a name from a rental agreement or does it have to be a totally new agreement with just the daughter’s name. At the moment it is on a 6 month rolling contract.

2. Would there be any disadvantages in a new contract? Not sure if I have read recently re the term length of a new contract has changed. I have read that the new government is looking to increase security for tenants.

By way of background they have been in the property for about 10 years and have never missed any rental payments. Also never asked for a reduction during Covid. Apart from letting her son in law store some cars in the rear of the grounds of the property near the garage which I keep for storage. The property and detached garage is situated between two streets the house has the address on one street and the garage (separate electric etc) on the other street - if that is clear?

I have tried to figure it out myself but not being expert in tenancy agreements or how universal credit works.

I do have a letting agent - his office is just round the corner from the property (FYI he parks and blocks the garage entrance in the morning till he can park by his office after 9am by my agreement . )
I will be contacting him also re the tenants request on Monday.

However if anyone has words of wisdom then they would be welcome.

Thanks

[V8 Bob]

If you do take the mother off the rental agreement I would have her act as a guarantor for the daughter to ensure you keep getting paid.

[Jeremy-75qq8]

This !

I would personally decline as in essence the household has enough money but she wants to claim benefits. I would say this is fraud and have no part in it.

[Aston Traveller]

Jeremy-75qq8 said:

This !

I would personally decline as in essence the household has enough money but she wants to claim benefits. I would say this is fraud and have no part in it.

I see your point of view. I am not sure that it would be classed as fraud though as nothing illegal is being done just rearranging the way the household finances as many people do to get the best outcome.

[blue_haddock]

it may not be fraud but they are basically doing it specfically to get the full rent paid by us the tax payer when evidently the household as a whole has more than enough cash to pay it.

its the whole tax evasion/avoidance scenario but comes down to them keeping their money in their pocket and getting more from the state.

[Yellow Lizud]

blue_haddock said:

it may not be fraud but they are basically doing it specfically to get the full rent paid by us the tax payer when evidently the household as a whole has more than enough cash to pay it.

its the whole tax evasion/avoidance scenario but comes down to them keeping their money in their pocket and getting more from the state.

Exactly this, they can afford the rent, so why should I pay for their accommodation .
Don't help them.

Whilst it may be borderline legal, if it all goes tits up it could come back to bite you.

[PV7998]

FWIW I'm also of the opinion that I'd decline to rearrange the rental agreement just to enable the daughter to claim benefits, and in any case, wouldn't that leave mum living in the house without any sort of rental agreement?

On a side note .... can the daughter claim Carers Allowance as she's looking after mum?

[superlightr]

PV7998 said:

FWIW I'm also of the opinion that I'd decline to rearrange the rental agreement just to enable the daughter to claim benefits, and in any case, wouldn't that leave mum living in the house without any sort of rental agreement?

On a side note .... can the daughter claim Carers Allowance as she's looking after mum?

as an ex letting agent business owner - above is along the right lines.

1st You must have all over 18s on the TA. as and when they turn 18 add them on or a licence.
What you are proposing with the mother is to knowingly allow an over 18 to live in your property who has already done so for 10 years and remover her from the TA on the pretence she isnt a tenant but she is. perhaps also making a statutory tenancy. which is very bad.

2nd They must all be checked for right to rent and you must or the agent keep records of their proof.
3rd Deposit who paid it and how do doing this alter the deposit records.
4th You are assisting in fraud.

So ill leave the answer to you.

[Sir Bagalot]

You have long standing tenants, want to keep them and are trying to help them. I get it.

My observations if you do this

- Whilst not actively committing, you are assisting a fraudulent UC claim
- Essential you get the Mother to act as a guarantor

Your tenant is merely playing the UK Benefits game. I can almost say for certain that she is also registered as the full time carer of her Mum.

[r3g]

Sir Bagalot said:

You have long standing tenants, want to keep them and are trying to help them. I get it.

My observations if you do this

- Whilst not actively committing, you are assisting a fraudulent UC claim
- Essential you get the Mother to act as a guarantor

Your tenant is merely playing the UK Benefits game. I can almost say for certain that she is also registered as the full time carer of her Mum.

10 years of history, rent paid on time and presumably the place kept in good order vs. likely losing them if he doesn't agree, void periods, lottery of replacement tenants being good or a complete liability ?

I know what I'd be doing and I wouldn't even give it a second thought, but the mother would have to formally agree to be guarantor. And I don't care what anyone else has to say about it - none of your damned business!

[Yellow Lizud]

r3g said:

10 years of history, rent paid on time and presumably the place kept in good order vs. likely losing them if he doesn't agree, void periods, lottery of replacement tenants being good or a complete liability ?

I know what I'd be doing and I wouldn't even give it a second thought, but the mother would have to formally agree to be guarantor. And I don't care what anyone else has to say about it - [b]none of your damned business![/b

It is very much my business - I don't want my taxes going to people who are too stupid or too lazy or too scummy to pay for their own accommodation and then expect the landlord to help them claim benefits.
If you think it is OK to fiddle the system then obviously you have much lower morals than most people.

[r3g]

Yellow Lizud said:

It is very much my business - I don't want my taxes going to people who are too stupid or too lazy or too scummy to pay for their own accommodation and then expect the landlord to help them claim benefits.
If you think it is OK to fiddle the system then obviously you have much lower morals than most people.

Oh do be quiet. Start with the government politicians themselves if you want to talk about scamming and defrauding the system. They are masters at it and it's absolutey fine for them with no fines, punishment or consequences, but you plebs are not allowed and must do what we say. You either learn how to play the game or get played. It's clear which category you fall into. "But muh taxes!"

[Aston Traveller]

Thanks a lot guys. It has given me different perspectives and information. Will be considering the options.

[Mad Maximus]

blue_haddock said:

it may not be fraud but they are basically doing it specfically to get the full rent paid by us the tax payer when evidently the household as a whole has more than enough cash to pay it.

its the whole tax evasion/avoidance scenario but comes down to them keeping their money in their pocket and getting more from the state.

We can hardly knock some middle income people for finding a good way to play the system and look down on them when the wealthy pay and go out of there way to avoid all tax and at all cost.

People with money don’t need schemes to have enough so if people who can plan better to get some handouts good on them.

Let’s chastise the rich not these poor buggers.

[Mad Maximus]

Yellow Lizud said:

r3g said:

10 years of history, rent paid on time and presumably the place kept in good order vs. likely losing them if he doesn't agree, void periods, lottery of replacement tenants being good or a complete liability ?

I know what I'd be doing and I wouldn't even give it a second thought, but the mother would have to formally agree to be guarantor. And I don't care what anyone else has to say about it - [b]none of your damned business![/b

It is very much my business - I don't want my taxes going to people who are too stupid or too lazy or too scummy to pay for their own accommodation and then expect the landlord to help them claim benefits.
If you think it is OK to fiddle the system then obviously you have much lower morals than most people.

Please make it your business to go after the wealthy and or tax avoiders to pay there fair share instead of hoarding wealth. They are the real scum.

[superlightr]

Mad Maximus said:

Please make it your business to go after the wealthy and or tax avoiders to pay there fair share instead of hoarding wealth. They are the real scum.

what do you call "rich"? why are they "scum" ? why do you have this hatred to those that have worked hard and done well? No one likes tax avoiders at any level but you appear angry at "the rich" for little more then they have are richer then you.

So what do you call rich? who should we throw rotten tomatoes at and call them rude names?

[MustangGT]

r3g said:

10 years of history, rent paid on time and presumably the place kept in good order vs. likely losing them if he doesn't agree, void periods, lottery of replacement tenants being good or a complete liability ?

I know what I'd be doing and I wouldn't even give it a second thought, but the mother would have to formally agree to be guarantor. And I don't care what anyone else has to say about it - none of your damned business!

What would you say when HMRC come knocking at the door?

It is very much HMRC's business.

[Chrisgr31]

It is possible to add and remove people from the document and I believe there is a fee that can be charged to do it. The fee is set £50 springs to mind.

However it’s worth being aware that you need to be careful to avoid creating a statutory tenancy for anyone not named on the lease/licence.

It’s also pointing out that many councils have access to all manners of software to identify who lives where and what connections they have with a property. So the legality of this may be wise checking.

[Aston Traveller]

Thanks for that info

[lovethenhs]

superlightr said:

what do you call "rich"? why are they "scum" ? why do you have this hatred to those that have worked hard and done well? No one likes tax avoiders at any level but you appear angry at "the rich" for little more then they have are richer then you.

So what do you call rich? who should we throw rotten tomatoes at and call them rude names?

I don't have a dog in this fight but this naive misconception that wealthy people have "worked hard" and "done well" is a joke.

Everyone financially successful I know come from family money and have been gifted assets or benefitted from nepotism. In no way have they either "worked hard" or "done well" from their own efforts.