Changing tenants - shared tenancy

[davtherav]

Hi,

I have been renting a 2 bedroom flat with a friend on a shared tenancy for a over 2 years. Initially on a 12 month AST which has lapsed into a periodic tenancy. My friend now wants to move out and I have found someone else who would like to take their room.

I raised this with the landlord who initially proposed a £50 rent increase and that we sign another 12 month tenancy agreement, then subject to referencing the other person can move in - I said that should probably be just fine. Later on the the landlord messages me saying it’s too much hassle and expense for them to change the tenancy agreement, not worth their time and things must remain as they are.

None of this makes sense to me? Can they actually do this?

[davtherav]

I just had a look through our tenancy agreement and found the following clause which may or may not be relevant:

Not Assign or Sublet

i. Not to assign this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Landlord which will not be unreasonably
withheld or delayed. Where the Landlord grants consent this may be subject to reasonable conditions and the
Tenant will be liable for the reasonable fees and expenses incurred by the Landlord in granting such consent or
arranging such assignment.

The part that interest me here is "unreasonably withheld or delayed" ? I take this to me that the outgoing tenant should be able to assign the tenancy to someone else and the landlord is only able to refuse on reasonable grounds - not just because they can't be bothered with it.

I have also read that most AST agreements contain no such clause? Am I onto anything here?

[atticus]

I think that what you need to do is get a written acknowledgement from your landlord that the incoming tenant has replaced the outgoing tenant, and that otherwise the tenancy continues on the same terms.

One thing that may need to be sorted out is any deposit paid by your original fellow tenant. What has happened here?

I don't think the clause you mention in post #2 particularly helps. This is for the reason that I don't think this is an assignment, and it certainly is not a subletting.

I hope this helps. Do come back if you need more information.

[davtherav]

Hi thank you for your reply.

The issue here is that the landlord refuses to budge. They will not agree to swap tenants, essentially because they simply can't be bothered to do the paperwork. We even provisionally agreed to a rent increase and a new 12 month tenancy agreement but the landlord isn't interested. Initially the landlord was asking us to pay £400 in fees to change tenants but obviously fees were banned in 2019 and when he realised he would have to pay them he changed his mind.

This has left us in a predicament whereby my housemate can't be released from the tenancy agreement without making me homeless.

Can you explain why you believe this is not an assignment? In previous shared houses I have lived in when a tenant wants to leave the landlord has completed a "deed of assignment" transferring the tenancy to an incoming tenant. Is that not the same thing?

Any further advice or clarification would be much appreciated thank you.

[atticus]

In simple terms, I expect that in the AST the "tenant" is described as you and your housemate, so the both of you together are the "tenant". I suppose that you and he could try to assign the AST to you and new housemate.

[davtherav]

Indeed, the landlord won't negotiate so this seems to be only avenue available, besides moving out, which really isn't an option due to the fact there there simply aren't any affordable rental properties available for miles in any direction.

I guess what I'm asking is how to go about assigning the tenancy, is there a template letter or something we could use? (Bearing in mind that the incoming tenant would be subject to the same financial checks and referencing processes as the current tenants). I don't know where to start with that?

[davtherav]

This is the only relevant information I have found on the subject of assigning an AST - https://england.shelter.org.uk/profe...hold_tenancies