Updating post from Reddit.
To keep it short, our landlady lives in the same house as we do. She's a bit older and is usually in a wheelchair. The stairs up to our flat have cameras, which is fair enough!
Recently, we had a friend staying over for 4 nights and when I met her on my way out she asked me who that "extra person" is who is "living with us". She said that it's "a very safe house" and basically that she would like to know who's staying over. In all fairness, one time we gave him one of our keys to let himself in so that might be why. Is she allowed to have us email her about every overnight guest we have?
Another weird thing is that one time I overheard her talking to a mailman delivering parcels and asking "are these flats?" to which she replied "no, it's a house!". But it is flats, there's a couple of them in the house. Is this odd?
Third thing is that we rented our flat through a letting agency but our tenancy agreement was a private looking one. No headed paper. Only struck me as weird when trying to use it as proof of address and it being rejected because it's a private agreement. I even tried to go into the letting company and ask for the agreement on headed paper so I can use it as proof of address but our agent only sent me an email saying something like "this email serves as confirmation that OP lives at the address" followed by the company banner, which obviously is not sufficient proof.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it but that's why I'm asking! Thanks a lot in advance
If your Landlord lives with you in the same property you're classed as a lodger. As a lodger you do not have anywhere near the same rights and protections.
The landlord can make up pretty much any rule they want and if you don't obey it they can give you reasonable notice to leave. This is typically a month but could be a week depending on the circumstances.
I do sympathise with you but I also sympathise with the landlord with regards to the guests and keys situation. I'm sure she must feel vulnerable if people she has never met have keys to the property and come and go when they please without you there.
As for proof of address, a signed rental agreement should be ok for proof of address, your letting agency sound a bit crap if they can't provide a headed pdf of this, but ultimately it's not their responsibility to provide this for you.
Sounds like OP may live in a different flat in the same building, which is wholly owned by the landlord amd treated as a single address for council tax purposes(?)
If so they would at a minimum be a lodger with enhanced protections, but I believe the Courts have previously taken the view that just because the landlord lives in the same building or block, if you're renting a flat it's still an AST.
Yes, I was suspecting that she might be feeling vulnerable. She is elderly, mostly tied to a wheelchair and she seems to be watching these cameras every time someone is coming up and down the stairs. We don't seem to be lodgers as we have our own flat and I have read the tenancy contract and nowhere it said anything about lodging or these rules!