A couple’s attempt to rent a room in their family home – on the condition the prospective tenant babysits their children – has sparked a debate about Britain’s rental market.
The advert, posted on SpareRoom, offers a reduced monthly rent of £400 a month (for only five days a week) for a room in Clapham in return for part-time childcare duties.
Here, Telegraph Money explores what legal implications lay in wait for landlords opting to offer reduced rent in exchange for work.
Is it legal to charge for a room and ask for childcare in lieu of rent?
In short, yes. In this instance, the tenant and landlord are entering into a lodger tenancy agreement, said Sean Hooker, head of redress at The Property Redress Scheme, a rental complaints service. Unlike an assured shorthold tenancy, the lodger is living with the landlord and sharing communal spaces such as a kitchen, bathroom or living room.
Mr Hooker said: “It is a lodger’s arrangement and therefore the rules are as negotiated between the parties.
“If the landlord sets out the conditions and the lodger agrees to those conditions, there is nothing illegal about that. You have no additional rights as a lodger – all you are doing is renting a room out on whatever basis the parties agreed and they can do that.”
Al McClenahan, of Justice for Tenants, a campaign group, said these types of arrangements are not new.
He said: “If you think about the standard au pair arrangement, normally you get room and board for the entire time of your stay and for four or five days a week your job is to look after the children. It is exactly what is happening here except you don’t get to stay at the weekend and you still have to pay rent.”
Nick Hurley, a partner and head of employment at Charles Russell Speechlys, said it would not be illegal for the family to charge subsidised rent in exchange for childcare employment.
She says: “It wouldn’t be illegal. There are lots of arrangements where people get subsidised or free housing in return for their employment.
“It’s more unusual nowadays, but if you’re wealthy you might have domestic servants living in your property on subsidised terms.”
