Questions to resident landlords with a weekday lodger

sharon_w139

Hi there,

Next week I have a weekday (Monday to Friday) lodger moving into my spare room and I need some advice from any resident landlords out there who have done weekday letting.

Below are my questions:

1) As my lodger will only be staying from Monday to Friday should I provide things like the toilet paper, washing up liquid, pots and pans for cooking, cutlery etc?

2) My weekday lodger plans to arrive Monday morning and leave Friday morning, so will sleep over only 4 nights, consequently I thought I'd provide clean bedding every 2 weeks... does that sound ok?

3) Should I provide clean towels as well?

4) The room has a lot of warddrobe and draw space, much more than what is required for a weekday lodger. Currently I have cloths and other stuff in the warddrobe and draws. Should I clear everything out or can I leave stuff in the warddrobes and draws and leave just enough space to hang/store a weeks worth of clothes?

5) If the lodger wishes to stay over a weekend I was thinking of charging £20 per day, so basically £40 for the weekend... is this reasonable? I got the £20 per day by searching on the internet and finding out what other people were charging in and around the London area.

Basically I'm asking the above questions as I'm aware that a weekday lodger needs to be treated differently to a normal lodger.

Your advice is much appreciated.

Kind regards

Sharon

sharon_w139

Oh yes and please let me know if there is anything else you can think of that a weekday lodger may need.

Thanks

S

PasturesNew

I've been a weekday lodger. It's probably "expected" that you'd provide clean sheets/pillow slips etc ... and towels would be hoped for/usual.

Most wouldn't mind your stuff still being in the room, but they would want to know where they could unpack their stuff to, so not having to feel bad about moving/jiggling your stuff out of the way.

I'd expect loo rolls, washing up liquid, everything to be part of the deal.

Mon-Fri people can't be fannying about with sheets/towels/loo rolls/kitchen equipment. Being one is more like staying with a friend who owns a B&B ... so you just turn up with your basic clothes for the week and the rest is just there/included.

How much you charge if they stay the weekend is hard to evaluate as we've no idea what the Mon-Fri rates would be, or the full-time rate.

Jowo_2

I don't have any expeience of this but In your lodgers shoes, I wonder if I'd be ambivalant about having other people's belongings in the room. Sure, I'd only be there on part-time basis but I'd still like it to feel like 'my' room with 'my' things in it.

Out of curiosity, does the daily charge for extra weekend stays work out at the same daily rate that each weekday works out at? What I mean is, does it work out dearer?

What are your plans or attitude about the weekday lodger wanting to use the washing machine - would you let them have access or be happy to do their laundry if they were happy for you to do it?

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sharon_w139 wrote: »

Hi there,

Next week I have a weekday (Monday to Friday) lodger moving into my spare room and I need some advice from any resident landlords out there who have done weekday letting.

Below are my questions:

1) As my lodger will only be staying from Monday to Friday should I provide things like the toilet paper, washing up liquid, pots and pans for cooking, cutlery etc? I would expect to use what there was in the property. If not enough, then buy some more. No need for two sets. Yes, I would expect toilet paper and washing up liquid, access to laundry etc.

2) My weekday lodger plans to arrive Monday morning and leave Friday morning, so will sleep over only 4 nights, consequently I thought I'd provide clean bedding every 2 weeks... does that sound ok? Every 2 weeks ? No, I'd want it every week at a maximum, fresh for when I arrived. I'd also want options to change it mid week. So more than one set required.

3) Should I provide clean towels as well? Yes and replacements available as well.

4) The room has a lot of warddrobe and draw space, much more than what is required for a weekday lodger. Currently I have cloths and other stuff in the warddrobe and draws. Should I clear everything out or can I leave stuff in the warddrobes and draws and leave just enough space to hang/store a weeks worth of clothes? Clear it all out. I'd expect a clean and empty room, not your things in the cupboards.

5) If the lodger wishes to stay over a weekend I was thinking of charging £20 per day, so basically £40 for the weekend... is this reasonable? I got the £20 per day by searching on the internet and finding out what other people were charging in and around the London area. What are you charging for the week ? If you are charging around £100 a week, then maybe £20 each day for the weekend. I might not bother about it though as a one off if my weekly rent was high. If providing breakfasts each day or similar then yes, a charge for sure.

Basically I'm asking the above questions as I'm aware that a weekday lodger needs to be treated differently to a normal lodger. I'd think of it as what you would expect from a guest house with communal facilities. Presumably you need the money so I would think that keeping a good lodger happy was more important than squeezing every last penny out of him.

Your advice is much appreciated.

Kind regards

Sharon

I think it is great that you have thought about it. If it helps, the extra cost to your bills, unless providing food, is only likely to be a few pounds a week. Nearly all you get will be profit. How easy would it be to get a good replacement ?

Pitlanepiglet

I am a weekday lodger, my thoughts below....

sharon_w139 wrote: »

Hi there,

Next week I have a weekday (Monday to Friday) lodger moving into my spare room and I need some advice from any resident landlords out there who have done weekday letting.

Below are my questions:

1) As my lodger will only be staying from Monday to Friday should I provide things like the toilet paper, washing up liquid, pots and pans for cooking, cutlery etc? Yes, it is nice to have a shelf or cupboard space in the kitchen though to keep food etc. I provide loo roll but I have a separate bath room.

2) My weekday lodger plans to arrive Monday morning and leave Friday morning, so will sleep over only 4 nights, consequently I thought I'd provide clean bedding every 2 weeks... does that sound ok? I provide my own bedding and I thought this was pretty standard? If you were providing it I'd want it changed every week.

3) Should I provide clean towels as well? As 2

4) The room has a lot of warddrobe and draw space, much more than what is required for a weekday lodger. Currently I have cloths and other stuff in the warddrobe and draws. Should I clear everything out or can I leave stuff in the warddrobes and draws and leave just enough space to hang/store a weeks worth of clothes? I'd want it cleared out, I might only be M-F but this is my room and I don't want you wandering in to find a clean top.

5) If the lodger wishes to stay over a weekend I was thinking of charging £20 per day, so basically £40 for the weekend... is this reasonable? I got the £20 per day by searching on the internet and finding out what other people were charging in and around the London area. I don't pay extra for the odd weekend days that I am here (my husband & I stay about 12 Sunday nights over the year). I think it depends on how much you are charging for the rest of the week, if it's quite high you might want to chuck the odd weekend in as a bit of goodwill (good lodgers are worth keeping etc.). Otherwise, depending where you are I think £20 per night is a bit high, perhaps £15?

Basically I'm asking the above questions as I'm aware that a weekday lodger needs to be treated differently to a normal lodger.

Your advice is much appreciated.

Kind regards

Sharon

sharon_w139

Thank you to all for your replies, which I have found very helpfull. In fact your comments are in line with what I have found on the net whilst Googling. A weekday lodger really needs to be treated a bit like some one staying in a B&B. I live in an area of London where the weekday monthly rate for a double room is around £400 per month. My son is off now to University and I now live on my own. The room was redecorated last year to a high standard but has been sitting empty so I thought about using it to earn a little extra money. The house is very well kept and homely too. Fortunately I have managed to attract quite a nice professional lady who is on a one year contract in London, so I want to make sure that they are perfectly comfortable so they do stay!

Thanks again, and do let me know if there is anything else I should need to consider.

Kind regards

Sharon

goldengirl28

I'm glad you asked that question Sharon, because i'm hoping to move soon and joked last year that a chap from work could be my lodger (too much vino ) and funnily enought he rang me up yesterday to see if we had moved and was the offer was still there, he stays in a hotel currently.

The only question i have in addition to yours is what do you do about food?

Cook extra for him or let him do his own?

gld73

I had Mon-Fri lodgers a couple of times, and they were great - reliable professionals who had their own houses to go to at weekends and so treated mine well as they knew what it was like to be a homeowner.

In terms of bedding & towels, with one I provided it all, but the other wanted to use his own, so you can ask your lodger what they'd prefer to do. I didn't provide meals, but I had a full time job myself and travelled quite a bit, so I didn't have time to be cooking meals at set times. Again, my lodgers were happy with this, they just wanted to do their own thing anyway. Sometimes they worked late or went to the gym or whatever, so didn't want to be worrying about having to fit in with me providing meals.

Regarding weekends, I let them stay for no extra charge if they wanted - it wasn't a regular thing, but sometimes they had social events related to their work, and so rather than go home they needed to stay in the area over the weekend. They were good tenants who paid their rent on time and never gave me any real problems, so it was just a gesture of goodwill.

I only had 1 tenant at a time, so was able to give them a cupboard in the kitchen to store their food (as well as space in the fridge and freezer). they were allowed to use anything in the house really (e.g kitchen utensils, washing machine, garage for storage of bike/motorbike, broadband, TV etc).

I found it ideal really - I had the house to myself most weekends, but extra money to help with the bills. You just have to remember not to get too wound up if they do stuff like take extra long showers or turn the heating right up so they can sit in a t-shirt rather than stick a jumper on ...! (but that's no worse than an all-week lodger!)

ET1976

I have had 2 weekday lodgers in different houses (neither in London) and have not heard of treating them as if they were guests in a B&B - but perhaps it's different in London.

Mine behaved and were treated as if they were in a standard house share, i.e. provided their own bedding and towels, cooked their own food and kept it in the kitchen (kitchen utensils were mine), and used the 'communal' washing up liquid, toilet roll etc, which was mainly bought by me but there was an informal agreement that they would buy something if needed.

Their room was also solely theirs - definitely none of my stuff in it!

I didn't charge for weekends (never crossed my mind), but they were pretty much never there. I suppose I would have wanted some more money if staying weekends had become a more regular occurrence.

In your situation I would most definitely clear your stuff out of the room, and for the other things, have a chat with the lodger and come to a mutual agreement.

Pitlanepiglet

What occurred to me when I was thinking about this today was that when I was looking for a room I found loads of ads where it was blindingly obvious that the LL didn't really want a lodger but wanted money to make ends meet.

Lots of requirements in an ad about what a lodger must/mustn't do that was quite off putting.

Although OP given that you've recently had a teenage son at home, I imagine a M-F lodger will be a walk in the park!