House share Landlord says room cannot be left empty

[carboy2017]

One of my friends does a house share with like minded professionals and is quite comfortable

Last month with the increase in rent the landlord has asked for a new tenancy agreement to be signed which is all well and good, but one of the clauses says that in even the room is going to left empty for more than 7 days the landlord has to be notified and in any case the room should not be left un-occupied for more than 28 days!

I find it really strange as if a tenant is paying rent why is the landlord bother that the room is empty or not, my friend does a bit of travelling and on some occasions he does stay away for more than 4 weeks s he is from another part of the world

Has anyone come across this scenario and also is this legal?

[LastPoster]

Possibly a condition of his buildings insurance

[tvrfan007]

The 28 days thing will be a condition about notifying insurance the property is standing empty (i.e. Nobody there to catch water leaks etc), but in a house share that seems like a misinterpretation. The 7 days seems odd.