If a room in shared accommodation is not privatized, certain formalities must be observed. The most important thing to do to sublet such a flat is to obtain the written consent of the landlord, i.e. the local self-government authority – the housing committee. After drawing up the sublease agreement, you must obtain the consent of all neighbours who live in the shared flat to move in.
This consent is required if the flat is rented under a social tenancy agreement. Even a single room in London or a shared flat has some special features. You will have to spend a lot more time on it, comply with several rules and take into account the interests of your roommates.
As far as the details are concerned, you need to check whether the room you want to rent belongs to you or whether it is not a private room. Consider both options. It is owned by the municipality.
This step can be quite difficult when renting a room, as not all neighbours are willing to go halfway and share a flat with strangers temporarily occupying your room. Reasons for refusal can vary: Neighbours fear that the tenant will disturb their night’s rest or bring noisy guests
Table of Contents
Guide to Renting Out a Room in Your House Legally
- It should also be taken into account that there must be a certain amount of living space for each potential tenant on the premises, not less than the standard 12 metres per person. People with serious chronic diseases, such as tuberculosis, are also not allowed to move in under a tenancy agreement.
- In most cases, according to experts, such subletting is rare; transactions to rent non-private space in flats that have become communal after the separation of property between spouses in a divorce are much more common. If the room belongs to the community, it is much better to privatise it, as it is then much easier to rent it out.
- If the room is owned, the consent of the community and the neighbours of the shared flat is not required when renting. In this case, the tenancy agreement should be given to all adult tenants registered in the room and they should sign it.
- However, practice shows that even if your room is privatised and the neighbours’ consent to a tenant moving in is not required by law, their informal consent, whether verbal or written, cannot hurt. After all, the tenant has to deal with his neighbours every day, and the growing discontent between them can lead to collective bullying, so the tenant terminates the tenancy. To avoid a guerrilla war in the future, it is, therefore, best to have the neighbours’ consent to the tenancy agreement itself confirmed in writing or to make a supplementary agreement.
- Don’t forget such an important point as visiting a public place – MOP. These places in a shared apartment include the toilets, the bathroom, the kitchen and the hallway, and they must be used with respect for the rights and interests of all residents of the shared apartment. It is necessary to specify the conditions for the use of the MOP in the tenancy agreement in advance and as much detail as possible, e.g. at what time a tenant may receive guests or return home, for example. The more specific these conditions are, the less likely it is that there will be disagreements with neighbours.
What Are the Legal Obligations as a Private Landlord
- A landlord who rents a property is obliged to
- Ensure the living conditions of the rented accommodation;
- Ensure that the use of the building in which the accommodation is rented is legal;
- Participate in the maintenance of the common property of the residential building;
- Respect in all respects the agreement made with the tenant;
- Provide the tenant with utilities and other benefits for a fee.
- The tenancy agreement can be terminated unilaterally by a court decision for the following reasons:
- The accommodation is unfit for habitation;
- The building in which the rented accommodation is located is dilapidated;
- In combination with other nuances established by the relevant law.
- The tenant is obliged to use the rented accommodation exclusively for its intended purpose. If this is not the case, the landlord has the right to demand the removal of the disturbance or to terminate the contract. If the contract is terminated, the tenant and the persons living with him must be evicted from the flat.
Documents required
- The Residential Tenancies Act sets out the following required documents, which must be provided by the owner or landlord
- Identity of the landlord and tenant.
- Documents proving that you are the owner of the rented accommodation.
- Statements from the National Register of Subdivisions
- Technical passport for the home.
- Proof of punctual payment of utility bills.
- Document showing you have a power of attorney from the landlord (if you cannot act on behalf of the landlord for some reason).
- Written consent of all landlords (notarised)
- If the owner is under 18, parental or guardian consent is required.
- The documents a tenant must provide depend on whether he or she is an individual, a legal entity or a self-employed person.
If the employer is a legal person, he or she must :
- A power of attorney authorising the representative to conclude contracts on behalf of the company.
- Proof of identity of the representative
- Notarised copy of the company’s Articles of Association.
- TIN and other details of the company.
Taxation
- When renting out a dwelling, the owner (a natural person) is obliged to pay 13% of the payments received from the tenant (personal income tax). By 30 April of the following year, this individual must submit a declaration (on form 3-NDFL) to the relevant tax authorities, giving details of the annual rental income for the dwelling.
- If the dwelling is provided to a legal entity, the legal entity is the tax agent. When paying the rent, the legal entity is entitled to withhold 13% of income tax itself and pay it to the tax authorities. If this condition is met, the owner does not have to file a tax return.
- If the landlord is registered as an unincorporated sole proprietor, the rent tax is levied at a lower percentage. In this case, the Rental Act offers the following options:
- The landlord applies for the simplified tax system (STS) – in this case, the tax payments are 6% of the tenant’s payments;
- The landlord joins the patent system of taxation (PSN) by acquiring the relevant patent – in this case, a fixed amount is deducted as tax, which is determined in each region of the RF. The ratio of the actual profit from renting residential premises is irrelevant when applying for the tax patent.
- Unidentified tenants, subletting and children
- One of the main fears of landlords is that people other than those with whom they have signed a tenancy agreement may be living in the flat. You may be renting to a couple on a long-term basis, but then a bunch of relatives move in, or you may be subletting the property to set up an illegal office or casino.
Tip: Check – visit the rented flat once a month, ask your neighbours to keep you informed if it is quiet if there are too many intruders. By law, a flat can only be sublet with the written permission of the owner. And even if the prohibition of this activity is not documented, the tenant has no legal reason to do so. In case of violation, you have the right to unilaterally terminate the contract, to evict everyone and, in case of damage to the property, to demand compensation through the courts.
Many landlords are afraid to accept people with small children as tenants because they think that if something goes wrong, the contract cannot be terminated. However, this only applies to social rental housing. A commercial lease can be terminated if the tenant does not fulfil the obligations he or she has entered into – whether or not he or she lives with minor children.
Rooms come in all shapes and sizes
We invite you to take a look at the different categories of rooms to highlight the particularities of their location:
Rooms in private flats;
Rooms in non-private flats;
Privatised rooms in shared flats;
Non-private rooms in shared flats.
Non-private rooms in shared accommodation
Let’s start with the room that requires the most permission to be rented.
The owner of a non-private room maybe someone else: the prefecture, the municipality or another institution. The answer to the question of who is the owner can be found in the rental agreement under which you live in your room.
Room in a non-private flat
The landlord does not need the consent of the neighbours if you rent a room in a non-private flat because the neighbours are not present.
However, as with other non-private flats, the landlord’s consent is required. The procedure for obtaining consent is the same: you must submit a written request with the consent of the family members who live with you.
A room in a privatised flat
Let’s move on to the simplest case (in terms of the agreement). If you are the sole owner of the flat in which you want to rent a room, no one else’s consent is needed to conclude a rental agreement.
However, if there are other owners in addition to you, their consent is required. This consent can be obtained in the following ways:
Make a power of attorney on behalf of one of the landlords stating that the other landlords trust him or her to enter into a tenancy agreement, with one of the landlords acting as the landlord in the agreement;
List all owners as lessors in the agreement.
We have already talked about neighbours in shared flats. We would like to remind you that when you rent a room in a private flat, you are neighbours with the tenants. We, therefore, advise you to determine in advance the order of use of the rooms that you do not rent directly to the tenant, but that he or she will share: Entrance hall, corridor, bathroom and others.
If you responsibly agree on these points, you will avoid many disagreements during the tenant’s stay in your flat.
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