If I buy a 25% share ownership of a 3 bedroom flat - Can I move in and rent out the other two rooms?
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at
2:01 pm
I am considering buying a quarter share in an Edinburgh (UK) flat. It has 3 bedrooms and I want to know if I can move into one and rent out the other two. This would help pay the mortgage and help me pay towards a bigger share in the property. I don’t know whether I should tell the housing association (who own the other 75%) about the tenants or should I just rent privately? Would they allow me to rent out rooms?
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Tagged with: Bedrooms • Rent • Share Ownership
Filed under: flat mortgage
The housing association usually has a set of guidelines or rules that govern among other things sublets. See if your association has any rules and if they deal with subletting. Suppose they do allow it, check with a local solicitor or legal help center to see if there are any local laws governing subletting. Generally, it’s best to tell the association what you are doing, and that, if it applies, you are aware they can’t forbid you to do so if they protest.
If anything they will want the rent for their 75%. I doubt it.
I have a 25% share of a flat. When I bought this there were rules included in my contracts etc that state that while the housing association have shares in your property you cannot sub-let it. Contracts also states that if anyone else moves in that you need to notify the housing association. This may mean that they increase your rent, or may only approve them to move in if they are family members / friends.
You need to make sure that you can afford to pay the current rent and mortgage with just your normal salary, otherwise they will not allow you to purchase the property. Though I can understand you wanting to be able to purchase further shares.
Best thing for you to do is contact the housing association and ask if them if there will be anything in your contract / lease to stop friends moving in with you. There should be an e-mail address available as well as a phone number on their website.
Hope this helps.
you’re usually forbidden from subletting under the terms of the shared ownership scheme, whether this covers people renting a room while you live there I don’t know.
Hayley is correct that you cannot sublet a Housing Association shared ownership property, but my understanding is that you are considering renting out two rooms whilst still residing in the property yourself and using the third room.
This is perfectly do-able. I am about to do this myself because I have found a 2-bed shared ownership property which would enable me to rent a room out for an amount which would cover two thirds of my expenditure on mortgage payments, rent, service charges and council tax. I have looked into all the legalities and it is fine, and you don’t need to inform them at all.
Bottom line is, you cannot move out and rent out the whole property. But you can live there and take in lodgers and charge them rent without any repercussions.