Renting to Sharers - Joint and Several

If a property is rented to more than one person it usually follows that all occupants sign the tenancy agreement. This means that all of the Tenants have joint and several liabilities - acting as though one? (This clause must be included in the Tenancy Agreement that you use such as clause 1.2 in the PIMS Tenancy Agreement )

Considerations

If you are renting to three or more you need to read about planning permission
Compare renting rooms and renting a house shares
A frequent question we are asked "What happens when one of the Tenants want to leave and the other(s) stay?" see surrender in part

In the case that only one of the Tenants sign the agreement then that person is solely responsible for all expenses incurred through damage to the property or items supplied within the tenancy and of course, the all of the rent.

If one tenant refuses to sign the agreement, then the rest of the occupiers are responsible for all of the rent and expenses. It is in the best interests of the Tenants that they make sure the other people sharing the Joint Tenancy are responsible people, because they may have to face bills through no fault of their own!