Asking your landlord to take in a lodger or sub-let under the Renters' Rights Act: the tenant consent request walkthrough (RRA Day 9, May 2026)
A spare room earns nothing while it sits empty. A friend needs somewhere for three months. A second income would take pressure off a tight budget. Each of these is a reason a tenant might want to take in a lodger or arrange a short sub-let - and each requires, in most cases, the landlord's consent. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 has tightened the consent regime in some places (pets, most visibly) and left the lodger / sub-let rules broadly unchanged - but the escalation routes if a landlord behaves unreasonably are now significantly stronger. This walkthrough covers the two scenarios precisely, the clean consent-request letters (lodger and sub-let), what counts as reasonable refusal under the established framework, and the four-step escalation path to the Property Redress Scheme.
Joint tenancy break clause walkthrough under the Renters' Rights Act periodic-by-default regime: the tenant playbook (RRA Day 9, May 2026)
Joint tenancies are the trickiest corner of the new Renters' Rights Act regime. One housemate can serve a notice to quit and end the tenancy for everyone under the long-standing Hammersmith and Fulham LBC v Monk rule. Break clauses still appear in pre-1-May-2026 agreements but landlords can no longer use them. This walkthrough is the tenant playbook: the headline rules from 1 May 2026, the four common scenarios (all leaving together, one leaving with the rest staying, all leaving with shorter notice, pre-RRA tenant break clause cases), and the four templates - one per scenario - that handle each properly.
Disrepair to rent reduction: the tenant maths walkthrough under the Renters' Rights Act + Decent Homes Standard (RRA Day 9, May 2026)
Damp in the bedroom, heating off through January, mould the landlord keeps promising to look at - documented disrepair has a price tag, and under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 with the Decent Homes Standard now extended to the private rented sector, the maths are tidier than they have ever been. This walkthrough covers the two parallel routes (tribunal market-rent reduction under section 14 and a civil abatement claim under section 11), the percentage-band methodology used in practice (5-15% minor, 15-30% material, 30-50% major, 50-100% uninhabitable), three worked examples with real numbers, and the section 11 notice template that starts the clock.