Taking in a student as a lodger - advice please!

Hiya,

I have a really good mate who is a student... i need someone to help me with the rent and it seems ideal for him to move in as we get on really well and have done for 6 years weve known each other and he needs somewhere to live.. now my questions are as follows:

1/ I know hed be exempt from paying council tax.. SO would i still get my 25% discount for being the only council tax paying person in the house?

2/Does £265 PCM sound fair for:

Medium sized bedroom - a double supposedly
Use of kitchen/bathroom/2 living rooms (im going to convert my dining room into 2nd sitting room when i get a lodger)
Gas
Electric
Water rates
dial up internet
Basic cable tv
Use of landline phone

Also have a takeaway and off licence on the bottom of the road.. aswell as a bus stop for a main bus route into the city centre and incidently the same bus he needs to get to go to his mums house! :p

(Just a side note ... my rent alone is £425 a month for a 2 bed terrace house....because i live in liverpool and rent here is high because of the capital of culture 2008 thing! Including council tax i pay out £640 on basic bills alone each month so it isnt even half my outgoings)

3/ Is there anything else financially i have to consider about taking in a lodger? Especially a student? (only ask cos of the whole council tax situation)
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Comments

  • You could try talking to the lettings office at the Uni, they should have a good idea of what the going rate is for rent. If you're on BT you could check how much the lodgers calls have cost through setting up a BT online account which will give itemised billing. He may be good about not phoning Oz without letting you know, but his friends may not be. Definitely check out the council tax position with the council, and if you decide to go ahead with a lodger get the council tax position in writing. An easy way of doing this is to write saying "I understand the council position is ........... Please write to me by return if this is incorrect".
    Even though your lodger might be a friend, get a rent book.
    Hope this helps
  • Not sure about the council tax but what you suggest seems reasonable else how do students get an exemption?
    You should advise the council you are taking in a lodger under the "rent a room" scheme - that will qualify for income tax relief on rent received up to an annual limit of approx £4300pa - check on HMRC website for exact details.
    You MUST advise your landlord as it may affect your tenancy agreement.
    Similarly advise your insurance company as it may alter the terms of their cover.
    Cheers
    GoG
    K eep
    I t
    S imple
    S tupid!!
  • Bossyboots
    Bossyboots Posts: 6,746
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    You will get the 25% discount if your lodger is a student. My son has lived in two different places as a student and both times his co-tenant received the discount.

    You need to check that you are allowed to take in a lodger under your tenancy agreement.
  • johanne
    johanne Posts: 1,830
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    Yeah i am getting written permission off my landlord...l and will be contacting the council too about the council tax to. Wasnt sure of the "rent-a-room" thing.. so thanks grumpyoldgit! :)

    Thanks for the note about phone calls also . im on telewest though but i do get itemised calls for anything over 20p... and i mainly use 1899 for my calls or free minutes on my mobile so this should definetely help to keep a track on his calls.
  • johanne wrote:
    Yeah i am getting written permission off my landlord...l and will be contacting the council too about the council tax to. Wasnt sure of the "rent-a-room" thing.. so thanks grumpyoldgit! :)

    Thanks for the note about phone calls also . im on telewest though but i do get itemised calls for anything over 20p... and i mainly use 1899 for my calls or free minutes on my mobile so this should definetely help to keep a track on his calls.

    The student will need to get a council tax exemption form from his/her uni (usually the central admin office) and then you'll get the 25% off.
  • gizmoleeds
    gizmoleeds Posts: 2,232
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    Students leave stuff lying everwhere, drink milk out of the carton and live on cheese on toast and pasta.....
  • the council tax discount is teh same, youll keep on paying the 75% as a single person if one working person lives with a student.

    i wouldnt let a stranger use my landline phone!

    id split teh bills 50/50

    when i was at uni in alsager a good rate was £50 per week excluding bills

    make up a strong contract and take a security deposit, get a soilictor to look at teh contract

    make sure ground rules are outlined in teh contract e.g. when friends are allowed over, how loud music is at certain times of teh day/night

    i say this coz im a student and i know how some of my fellow ones can be! (thats why i live alone!)
    :T The best things in life are FREE! :T
  • I've shared my house with lots of students and never bothered with a contract - things have always been fine. I wouldn't even worry about the phone nowadays as bills are itemised (although I would probably make sure I had an 'all in' deal so that all landline calls are 'free' and get the lodger to contribute towards that and pay for any non-landline calls)

    Only thing I can think of that hasn't been mentioned above is that if the University gets involved, they may ask you to produce a certificate from your gas maintenance people to verify that you have your gas boiler serviced annually (if applicable). Westminister Uni will find lodgers for local houseowners free of charge, but they insist on seeing this cert. - a good idea to avoid any risk of CO2 poisoning.
    I was a board guide here for many years, but have now resigned. Amicably, but I think it reflects very poorly on MSE that I have not even received an acknowledgement of my resignation! Poor show, MSE.

    This signature was changed on 6.4.22. This is an experiment to see if anyone from MSE picks up on this comment.
  • the thing is you might get that messy, anti-social one who runs off without paying and without a contract youd not have a leg to stand on, remember you dont know them!
    :T The best things in life are FREE! :T
  • tr3mor
    tr3mor Posts: 2,325 Forumite
    Did you say the student was already a friend of yours? If so I wouldn't worry too much about all the contract type stuff. £265 seems pretty reasonable for what you're offering too.
    gizmoleeds wrote:
    Students leave stuff lying everwhere, drink milk out of the carton and live on cheese on toast and pasta.....

    Lies. I'm a student, live with my girlfriend and we eat proper home cooked meals, drink out of glasses and are generally pretty houseproud!
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