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Advice on Letting out Rooms.

shaz77_2
Posts: 1,881 Forumite
I am close to purchasing a 3 bedroomed house and I plan to let out two of the rooms.
I am going to have buildings insurance in place as well as smoke detectors and the electricity will work on a card based system e.g. pay as you use.
What else do I need to put in place?
Thanks in advance.
I am going to have buildings insurance in place as well as smoke detectors and the electricity will work on a card based system e.g. pay as you use.
What else do I need to put in place?
Thanks in advance.
0
Comments
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Register with this
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/tmarent-a-room-scheme.shtml
Gas safety certificate, inform your buildings and contents insurance providers and possibly your lender. How are you going to force each member of the household to pay their share of the electricity?? It's usual for lodgers to have utility bills included.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
Are you planning to live in that property as your primary residence? If so, I can't understand why you will have a card based energy payment system which is extremely uneconomical and deeply unpopular.
Have a look at the Landlordzone website which has a section on the rent a room scheme and FAQs.
You don't just have to consider the legislation you must comply with but how to market the property and screen lodgers to ensure that you don't end up with a nightmare one. The landlordzone site will provide info on how to do this - lodger application form, credit/ID check, lodger agreement, room inventory/schedule of condition and so forth.
As per Firefox, many lodgers expect or landlords prefer, to have bills inclusive, though some have contracts set up to exclude certain bills to get the lodgers to pay a share towards them, such as energy, in the hope that the lodgers will try not to squander it.0 -
Interesting that two posts are against my electricity system - I simply thought this was the norm with rented property and it certainly was with any property that I rented in the past.
I was thinking of charging £45 per week for each room non inclusive of utility costs. Is there a better option available? I want to take into account electricity and oil and obviously I will cover the the rates bills.0 -
Interesting that two posts are against my electricity system - I simply thought this was the norm with rented property and it certainly was with any property that I rented in the past.
I was thinking of charging £45 per week for each room non inclusive of utility costs. Is there a better option available? I want to take into account electricity and oil and obviously I will cover the the rates bills.
Responsibility for the utility bills is the norm for those in self-contained accommmodation - shared houses or flats - when you are a tenant not a lodger. I would personally charge monthly, as most people get paid monthly and you won't have to harrass your tenants every single week. Expecting money the week before payday is going to get you a lot of excuses and a lot of resentment. What do other lodgings cost in the area - all inclusive or otherwise? £200 a month plus bills sounds a lot for one room, but I live in the north ...Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
Interesting that two posts are against my electricity system - I simply thought this was the norm with rented property and it certainly was with any property that I rented in the past.
I was thinking of charging £45 per week for each room non inclusive of utility costs. Is there a better option available? I want to take into account electricity and oil and obviously I will cover the the rates bills.
I have been a lodger with a live-in landlady in 5 different lodgings and all bills (except telephone calls) have always been inclusive.
I imagine this is done just to simplify things by factoring in bills into the rent, to cut down on admin in having to administer additional bills to everyone every month.
I can see why you may want to make the lodgers responsible for energy bills - it will certainly cut down on wastage if the lodgers know they will pay an additional sum.
My friend found his lodgers tended to turn the heating on 24/7 when he went away on holiday or had weekends away, routinely leave the appliances on standby, use the tumbledrier/washing machine/dishwasher far more than he would, etc, but still didn't have much appetite to fiddle about with separate bills because of the admin/disputes this might lead to.
But if you are living there, why would you want to whack up the price of the electricity by having a power card?0 -
Thanks for the feedback thus far.
While I intended to charge weekly for the rent, I intended to pick it up only once a month - namely the first Friday of each month.
Secondly I will opt out of the electricity card based system for now, I am still worried about ensuring that I have the cost of oil and electricity included within my rent.0 -
Thanks for the feedback thus far.
While I intended to charge weekly for the rent, I intended to pick it up only once a month - namely the first Friday of each month.
Secondly I will opt out of the electricity card based system for now, I am still worried about ensuring that I have the cost of oil and electricity included within my rent.
So some months the tenant has to find more money yet receives the same salary? Cue you not getting the full rent in either January or February every year ...Why a Friday, people tend to go out straight from work? Why make it so complicated for your tenants to budget? They won't be able to pay by standing order, will you mind waiting until Monday for your money if they go away for the weekend?
Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
Make the rent per calander month, paid on a specific date ie the 1st of every month or whatever. Much easier to administrate. Also probably best if they pay by standing order, that way you don't have to chase them up in any way for the money (unless they cancel it for some reason!). Make sure these terms are in a proper tenancy agreement, and always do an inventory signed by both parties, preferrably with photographic evidence.
I used to rent out a room in my flat exclusive of bills, but later on changed to inclusive once I had an idea of how much it worked out at (did this when a new lodger moved in tho). Depends on whether your comfortable trusting them to hand over the money in a timely fashion I suppose!
And of course remember to register and handle deposits properly0 -
Will you be living there? Will these be lodgers?
It sounds like you will be renting out self-contained bedsit rooms, with their own meters and locks ... and expecting to go round weekly to collect the rent. Most landlords don't collect the rent these days, that's really old fashioned and could lead to a lot of trouble and time spent.0 -
I was told that it was old fashioned to ask lodgers to pay monthly rather than weekly as it results in 4 weeks rent being lost per calendar year.0
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