Question on (informal) sublet

[andrewi]

We're reletting a property as an AST, and the prospective tenant has asked that we contract with her father as he will be paying (although not living there).

I wanted to check what the implications are of this from our perspective.

Option 1 - we provide a written agreement that he can sublet to her. Do we need to see the agreement between the two of them, or can we ensure that in the agreement to sublet we provide all terms of the master lease are passed on.

Option 2 - there is no further agreement, either between them or from us to sublet. Would she have any rights as an occupier of the property in this event, i.e. does this create any risks for us as landlord

Given it's an agreement within family, I suspect Option 2 is what they're envisaging. However, we want to make sure that we're not agreeing to something that will cause problems for us down the road.

Many thanks,

[tom999]

Assuming property is in England or Wales, and relevant checks have been made on prospective tenant (T) and father (F), the simplest option would be to issue a new AST to T for 6 months, and F could act as guarantor. This would provide less risk for you as landlord. T would have rights as stated in AST.

[Paul_f]

However you try and dress it up, the permanent occupant will be the AS tenant no matter who pays the rent; the father as guarantor will be living elsewhere presumably so could not have an AST if he were to be the "tenant".

[westminster]

As Paul_f says, T must be resident for it to be an AST. See

http://www.letlink.co.uk/letting-factsheets/factsheets/factsheet-19-assured-shorthold-tenancy-agreements.html

So the daughter should be the tenant, with father paying the rent on her behalf. Father should also sign a guarantor agreement for the rent (assuming his financial position makes him a viable guarantor and he can afford the rent - if not, find another tenant).

[P.Pilcher]

Presumably the resident will be over 18 and thus legally entitled to sign a lease.

P.P.