Is the Trust deemed to be a landlord?
I hope you may be able to shed some light onto the following situation please.
A family Discretionary Trust owns a house among its assets. There are three Trustees and one of them lives in the house as their Principal Private Residence, rent free, and is also a Beneficiary of the Trust. As that person is a part owner of the property via the Trust, there is no Tenancy Agreement.
Therefore, is that person a Tenant and if so, is the Trust deemed to be a Landlord? This is important for the legal liability of the Trust.
If that person had been a third party paying rent with a Tenancy Agreement, then the position is clear.
I really appreciate any comments you may have.
Thank you.
Brian
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Member Since February 2011 - Comments: 3463 - Articles: 286
9:00 AM, 4th May 2018, About 8 years ago
Hi Brian,
To clarify the issue as we were not 100% sure we asked our partner barrister Ross Burrows and he responded:
“• The Trustee (who is also the beneficiary) we assume is residing at the property as agreed with and by the other trustees
• We assume that this agreement is a silent agreement and there is no formal documentation in place
• Therefore whether there is a formal agreement or not:
This does not make the beneficiary a tenant
This does not make the trust the landlord
• The Trustees only are wholly responsible for the TRUST and the ASSET within the trust and therefore its up keep”