Tenancy law and co-optation law in student housing

Questioner

Can a landlord decide who will live in the house in a situation where 1 room is available and 4 other residents live together with a shared kitchen, bathroom, etc.? We live in a student house and would like to choose the 5th tenant ourselves. The landlord claims that he is the only one who has the right to decide who will live there. What rights can we, as tenants, rely on?

Lawyer

The lease agreement should state your joint right to decide on the new tenant. This right can also result from consistent behavior in the past or from reasonableness and fairness. There are also known rulings by judges that order the landlord to grant the co-optation right, as it is called, to tenants.

Questioner

Thanks for the response. Joint rights are not included in the lease agreement. Let me rephrase my question: In the event that the tenants share the entire house and they only have their own bedroom without a lock, as is the case in many student houses, does the landlord have the right to add a completely unknown person to the house?

Lawyer

No, I gave three reasons why that could not be the case: 1) it is stated in the lease, 2) in the past the parties (tenants and landlord) have also decided together and 3) it follows from the reasonableness and fairness of the law that the tenants have a say in a new housemate, that is called co-optation right and is described in case law. So my answer is yes there is a good chance that all housemates should have a say.