Thinking about a granny flat

burrenbunny

I'm looking at renting a granny flat. It has a bedroom, a shower room, a kitchen, and a living room (which used to be a garage). There's a connecting door to the rest of the house. The landlord says that I would have access to the common areas of the rest of the house and a key to my own door (to the granny flat) and a key to the main front door too. He says I would be a licensee, not a tenant, but he's happy to accept payment by bank transfer and give me a rental agreement and a rent book. What are your thoughts on this? In your opinion, is it a tenancy?

C3PO

I’m a bit bemused OP! The landlord wants to rent his space on a licensee basis and has gone to pains to explain this. You are not living there and now have a choice - I am prepared to be a licensee or I’m not! Don’t rent it if you want to be a proper registered tenant.

dennyk

The connecting door to the rest of the house could mean this unit arguably isn't "self-contained". Does it also have a separate outside entrance? If not, then it might not be considered self-contained by the RTB, if you have to pass through the main house to access it. The fact that the landlord is also giving you use of the common areas in the main house might tip the balance in favour of "not self-contained".

Either way, the landlord is clearly going to be treating this as a license agreement. Agreeing with them that it is a license agreement with the plan to later claim that it's actually a tenancy is probably a road that's just going to lead to hassle and strife.

SupaCat95

Been there! The landlord wants to charge you studio prices but give you Lisensee rights and space. He doesnt want to pay the higher tax for a studio apartment but wants the conditions of room rental.