A ‘permitted occupier’ is someone who is allowed to live in a rented property but is not legally responsible for the tenancy. This means they have the landlord’s permission to stay, but they are not bound by the tenancy agreement.
We recommend that all adults (over the age of 18 years old) that are going to be living in the property as their main UK residence are named as tenants on the tenancy agreement. This is so each person that is living in the property has a joint and several liability to uphold the conditions of the tenancy agreement, such as paying the rent and maintaining the condition of the property. If a permitted occupier is added to the tenancy agreement then they will not have any responsibility for paying the rent or for maintaining the property.
Complications may also arise if the tenant leaves the property but the permitted occupier stays on. In this situation you will still need to make a possession application if the permitted occupier refuses to leave. Rent guarantee insurance will not cover rent arrears or damage to the property where the permitted occupier stays on as they were not the named tenant on the tenancy agreement.
We understand however that in certain circumstances it may be preferable to name someone as a permitted occupier rather than a tenant. In such circumstances you may wish to name the permitted occupiers in a custom clause to the tenancy agreement. You must make sure that you undertake Right to Rent checks on all permitted occupiers for tenancies in England .You must also be careful not to inadvertently create a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) as permitted occupiers will count towards the number of people living in the property.