help- lodger and bills

marmalade555

Hi me and my partner got a lodger a couple of months ago to support us while i trained to become a teacher. All is going well I really like her. The only thing is she keeps putting the heating on when its not cold, taking lots of showers and doing excessive amounts of washing.

We charge her £350 a month all in - we have just had out water bill which is double the usual amount. I was expecting it to go up about a third more. We are on a water meter but thinking about going back to the standard rate of £46 per month. Used to pay 21 per month when it was the two of us but last will was £45. It makes sense to go back to the standard rate. Should I just go back on the standard rate or say something about her usage?

The washing and heating is a problem - im really dreading the gas bill, and I feel myself getting really fustrated whenever she puts the heating on. We do not get another bill for a few months so im not sure exactly what the damage is yet. i dont know whether to wait until we get the bill to say something or just to say something now.


i must admit I am a real worrier and I not sure if I did say something how she would take it, and I don;t know how to put it - any ideas?????

posted_2

Read the meter, then you will be able to work out the usage. Summer is coming, so heating should be negligible over the next 6 mths. Are all the previous bills based on readings or estimates, and are you comparing cost or usage?

Rikki

You need to say something to her, better than letting it fester.

You can only go back on to the rateable water charges within the first twelve months of having the meter fitted if you requested the change to a meter. Check with your water supplier.

horsechestnut

The cost of the extra water is £24 and will the heating cost another £50 extra? That still leaves you £284 profit.
But I do know what you mean. If you are normally frugal by nature then another person's habits can come as a bit of a shock!!!
You could have a word with her and explain that you will have to increase her rent to cover the fuel costs. Or as the other poster said it's coming up to summer so the heating costs should go down anyway.

MonkeyNut_2

Hi marmalade.

I'm a first time poster, long time reader and DFW (SoA to follow shortly on a seperate thread), but as I've been in this situation myself in the past, I thought I might be able to help.

The first thing to do is talk to your lodger about you concerns. There's nothing worse than that irritated feeling that you get when someone is doing things that annoy you in your own home.

Do remember though, it is your home, your lodger is renting a room under the rent a room scheme (I assume).

Do you have a signed room for rent/tenancy agreement? If so, and talking to you lodger gets you nowhere, you could append (oficcially in writing of course) a "fair usage" policy in which you could state that anything over 1/3 extra to the average of your previous 12 months bills would be chargaeable "at cost".

If you don't have an agreement, I would strongly suggest using one. I still have my old template that you can use if you need it.

I hope this is of some use to you.

MonkeyNut

marmalade555

hi all thank you so much for your responses.

what horsechestnut said
"The cost of the extra water is £24 and will the heating cost another £50 extra? That still leaves you £284 profit."

this is a good point, I need to keep that in mind and have a reality check now and then. I guess its because my parents always bought me up to be very conservative when it come to heating/ water etc.... maybe a little too conservative - and I cant expect everyone to be like that.

Hi Monkeynut - welcome.
Thanks for your advice, I think what I am going to do is read the meter over the next few months and see how bad it is. If it is bad I think I will add a fair usage policy to the contract (great idea)

i dont want to annoy my lodger because I really like her, and I would prefer her to use more energy than to play loud music, be rude etc - she seems really nice. But at the same time i need to be happy in my own home....

Thanks for your help

StuartGMC

You could try the "environmental" angle as the reason for reviewing your bills etc and then "find" the correlation with her arrival; would she be open to that as a consideration for this autumn to keep heating thermostat down and wear an extra layer in the house?

It would also seem sensible to let her know this is an ongoing review you are doing not a special one with her arrival perhaps sparked by threads on MSE; if she has observed your conservative nature that shouldn't come as a shock I guess?

If you start recording usage it will also help in consideration of switching suppliers as you need to have the consumption data to do this accurately not the direct debit costs. So this in and of itself will be useful anyway.

I read our meters every two weeks and submit online, it helps to ensure that the direct debit is aligned with true spend not an estimation so you are never behind overall to any major degree but likewise not excessively ahead when that money is better working for you.

...just noted it's 1 May, need to read the meters :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Best wishes with the above, but also the teaching and MF plans.