House Rules Example

Introduction

Sharing your house with others in an HMO can be difficult; especially if you are coming from a vulnerable housing situation where you have not had control over your space. In this situation we have found we get the best results from asking tenants to sign up to House Rules as part of their tenancy agreement; this allows you to maintain the property to a good standard and enforce any breaches to the commitment.

Examples

Bolton

The occupant agrees to the following house rules:-

1. Occupants will abide by ‘3 Strike System’

2. Occupants shall not keep, allow to be kept, or use any alcohol or illegal drug in the building.

3. Occupants shall refrain from any form of violent or aggressive behaviour, whether physical or verbal towards other Occupants or staff of the house;

4. Occupants shall not enter another tenant’s room without the express permission of that Tenant and a member of staff of the house;

5. Occupants shall not engage in any form of unlawful discrimination towards another Tenant or member of staff of the house;

6. Occupants or their visitors shall not bring genuine or replica firearms, knives, martial art or combat weapons or any other kind of offensive weapon into the building;

7. Occupants shall not allow the volume of televisions, radios, CD players, machinery and other forms of electronic equipment to be such as to cause disturbance to other Occupants and staff in the house;

8. Occupants shall abide by fire safety and health and safety rules which are displayed in the house;

9. Occupants must not remove the belongings of other Occupants, visitors or staff without the permission of the owner.  This also applies to fixtures and fittings which belong to the landlord;

10. Occupants must not store or use petrol, paraffin or any other inflammable liquid or material in any part of the building;

11. Occupants must not change light fittings or electrical circuits;

12. Occupants must not smoke in the house or its curtilage;

13. Visitors are not permitted to stay overnight in the rooms of Occupants or in the communal areas;

14. Occupants are responsible for their visitors at all times whilst at the house;

15. Occupants must not leave visitors unattended in the house;

16. Occupants must abide by the cleaning rota and inform Bolton staff if there are any issues in doing so;

17. Occupants must respect other Occupants, Visitors and neighbors, therefore noise must kept at a moderate level.  

Dartford

1. Occupant must respect other tenants, visitors and neighbors, therefore noise must kept at a moderate level;

2. Music must not be played through speakers on the premises between the times of 10pm and 8am;

3. Visitors are not permitted to stay overnight in the rooms of tenants or in the communal areas;

4. Occupants must not smoke in the common corridors and stairways;

5. If a tenant smokes in the back yard they must dispose of their extinguished cigarette butt in the bin;

6. Occupants must attend the bimonthly 41 & 43 Lowfield street residents meeting;

7. Occupants must not store their belongings in the common corridors and stairways;

8. No pets/animals are allowed to be kept on the premises besides guide dogs;

9. No pets or animals of visitors or friends are allowed on the property;

10. All rubbish must be placed in the bins outside the building on a weekly basis and this area must be kept tidy;

11. Rubbish must not be dumped in the back garden or over the back fence;

12. Occupants shall not keep, allow to be kept, or use any illegal drug in the building;

13. Occupants shall refrain from any form of violent or aggressive behaviour, whether physical or verbal towards other tenants;

14. Occupants shall not engage in any form of unlawful discrimination towards another tenant in the building ;

15. Occupants or their visitors shall not bring genuine or replica firearms, knives, martial art or combat weapons or any other kind of offensive weapon into the building;

16. Occupants shall not allow the volume of televisions, radios, CD players, machinery and other forms of electronic equipment to be such as to cause disturbance to other tenants in the building;

17. Occupants shall abide by fire safety and health and safety rules;

18. Occupants must not store or use petrol, paraffin or any other inflammable liquid or material in any part of the building;

19. Occupants must not change light fittings or electrical circuits;

20. Occupants are responsible for their visitors at all times;

21. Occupants must not leave any visitors unattended on the premises;

22. Occupants are responsible for the repair, plumbing or replacement of all white goods (washing machine, fridges and freezers)

Rockmount Road

1. Tenants must respect other Tenants, Visitors and neighbors, therefore noise must kept at a moderate level.

2. Music must not be played through speakers on the premises between the times of 10pm and 8am.

3. Smoking is not permitted in Rockmount House. Smoking is permitted in the back or front garden. If smoking in the back or front garden tenants must put smoke buts in the bin.

4. Tenants shall not keep, allow to be kept, or use any illegal drug in the building.

5. Tenants shall refrain from any form of violent or aggressive behaviour, whether physical or verbal towards other tenants of Rockmount House

6. Tenants shall not engage in any form of unlawful discrimination towards another Tenant of Rockmount House;

7. Tenants or their visitors shall not bring genuine or replica firearms, knives, martial art or combat weapons or any other kind of offensive weapon into the building;

8. Tenants shall not allow the volume of televisions, radios, CD players, machinery and other forms of electronic equipment to be such as to cause disturbance to other Tenants in Rockmount House;

9. Tenants shall abide by fire safety and health and safety rules in Rockmount House

10. Tenants must not store or use petrol, paraffin or any other inflammable liquid or material in any part of the building;

11. Tenants must not change light fittings or electrical circuits;

12. Tenants must not smoke in the common corridors and stairways of Rockmount House;

13. Tenants are responsible for cleaning the landing outside their flat.

14. Visitors are not permitted to stay overnight in the rooms of Tenants or in the communal areas. (Permission must be sought from NEWTRAC or HACTRAC for the occasional visit);

15. Tenants are responsible for their visitors at all times whilst at Rockmount House;

16. Tenants must not leave visitors unattended in Rockmount House;

17. No pets/animals are allowed to be kept on the premises besides guide dogs

18. No pets or animals of visitors or friends are allowed on the property.

19. All rubbish must be placed in the bins outside the building on a weekly basis and this area must be kept tidy.

20. Rubbish must not be dumped in the back garden or over the back fence.

21. Bicycle sheds must be used exclusively for non motorized cylces and for tenants only.

Restore York’s Three Strike policy, detail:

Three Strike Warning System

Any tenant behaving in an antisocial manner inclusive of the following behaviour:  

1. Aggressive Verbal Behaviour To Volunteers/Staff

2. Aggressive Verbal Behaviour To Other Tenants

3. Violent Behaviour To Volunteers/Staff

4. Violent Behaviour To Other Volunteers/Staff

5. Drunk And Disorderly Behaviour In Any Form

6. Damage To Property – In Own Unit Of Dwelling

7. Damage To Property – In Common Areas

8. Damage To Property – Externally

9. Drinking Alcohol At The Front Of The Building

10. Use or Possession of any illegal drugs

11. Misusing Toilet And Shower Facilities – (Eg. Putting Large Objects In Toilet And Causing Blockage To The Drains.)

12. Non-payment of Top-Up this is a condition of Tenancy.

A Chart will be kept with a list of all tenants. If anyone exhibits any of the above a strike will be put against their name. If three strikes are marked against any name a Notice of Eviction will be placed on that person and they will lose their home.

At Boaz Trust they do things slightly differently:

You must do the following:

1. Pay rent on the days and in the way we have agreed.

2. Keep the inside of the property (including shared areas) in at least as good a condition as it was when the tenancy started (fair wear and tear excepted). Also at the end of the tenancy you must leave all furniture and fixtures in the rooms or places they were in at the beginning of the tenancy.

3. Inform us of any damage that you have done deliberately, or that was caused by the neglect or carelessness of you or anyone else living in the property. If you are unable to repair the damage yourselves, we will enter the property and carry out the work. You may have to pay us for this work.

4. Pay for all electricity and gas charges (water, television license and council tax charges are included in the cost of rent).

5. Whenever you leave the property unattended, you must lock all doors and windows and put the burglar alarm on (if any). You should tell us if you are going to be away from the property for more than seven days in a row.

6. If you give us notice that you are going to leave the property before this agreement has ended, you must pay the rent until a new tenant moves in.

7. Allow us to come into the property at all reasonable hours of the day to inspect the condition of the property, to carry out repairs or to do other work which we must carry out by law. You must let us enter the property immediately if there is an emergency.

8. Tell us about any repairs or faults that we are responsible for in the inside or outside of the property.

9. Pay the reasonable costs for replacing locks if you fail to return any key.

10. Pay any reasonable cost for getting replacement keys.

11. Allow possible new tenants to look at the property on at least 24 hours’ written notice during the last month of the tenancy.

12. Be jointly and individually responsible for paying all the rent you have to pay under this agreement and keep to all the terms of this agreement.

13. Defrost the fridge when necessary. You will be responsible for the reasonable cost of making good any damage that is caused because you have not done this

14. Be responsible for looking after the garden, or the back yard, and front garden or front yard as appropriate. It must be kept tidy and cultivated with any grass cut regularly. You do not have to improve the garden.

15. At the end of the tenancy, leave the property and our fixtures and fittings in as good a condition as at the start of the tenancy (fair wear and tear excepted) and free from rubbish.

You must not do the following:

1. Alter or add anything to the outside or structure of the property, or the furniture, fixtures and household belongings that are on the list that you and we signed. You must not bring into the property any furniture, fixtures or household belongings which do not meet the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations. You can get information about these regulations from your local Trading Standards Office.

2. Anything which may be a nuisance or annoy neighbours. You must not play any radio, CD, record player, television or musical instrument in a way that will cause a nuisance, annoy the neighbours, or ne heard outside your home between 11p.m. and 7.30a.m.

3. Bring bicycles and motorcycles into the property without our permission.

4. Bring any furniture into the house without our permission.

5. Tamper with any fire precautions.

6. Hang pictures or posters on the walls without our permission.

7. Use Blu-Tack, sellotape or any similar type of adhesive on the walls.

8. Sublet the property or any part of it, or give up any part of the property to someone else.

9. Transfer the tenancy to someone else.

10. Carry on any trade, profession or business in the property.

11. Display any permanent notice on the property.

12. Use the property as anything other than a home.

13. Block, or allow guests to obstruct, any of the shared areas.

14. Dry washing inside the property, except in a ventilated room.

15. Use any paraffin or portable gas heater.

If you have any questions about what should be included in your tenancy agreement feel free to give us a call.