Hidden in the recent budget under a section ‘Support for the sharing economy’ was a statement to make it easier for individuals to sub-let a room through its intention to legislate to prevent the use of clauses in private fixed-term residential tenancy agreements that expressly rule out sub-letting or otherwise sharing space on a short-term basis, and consider extending this prohibition to statutory periodic tenancies. It may therefore become illegal for a clause to be inserted in the tenancy agreement forbidding the right to sub-let.
However, the Budget also states that it will still be a requirement of the tenant to request the permission of the Landlord before a sub-let takes place and goes on to say: “The government will look to clarify and strengthen private residential landlords’ legal responsibilities when considering requests from tenants to sub-let, and will look to extend these responsibilities to requests from tenants on the sharing of space more generally”.
We have no further details on the proposals, but when further information comes to light we will update this article.
