Questions to resident landlords with a weekday lodger

Fire_Fox

At the end of the day your lodger is likely to remain with you longer if it is a nice life: you can make them feel like an intruder or you can make them feel like a welcome guest. Providing towels and bedding might save them a lot of hassle humping things from A to B all the time and the risk of them forgetting to do so. It's also a case of picking your battles: providing toilet roll seems like a no brainer as you don't want to be left with none on a Friday! Build the costs of these things into the rent so you are not out of pocket.

sharon_w139

I have already emptied out all the cupboards and draws, left extra towels in the room for them to use if they so choose, and bought some new bedding during the sales!

I have also made some cupboard space in the kitchen for them along with space in the freezer as well as the fridge.

Other than "no smoking in the house" and cleaning up after themselves, I don't have a whole lot of other house rules. I simply want a lodger who will treat the house as they would treat their own home.

Oh and cooking meals for the lodger is not on offer, and not something I particularly want to do. The kitchen is there for them to help themselves.

One final question, it's regarding the key to the front door. Does the Lodger keep the key all the time (ie for duration of the agreement ie one year in this case), or do I collect the key back off a Weekday lodger on the Friday before they leave to go back home?... what is expected here?

Kind regards

Sharon

Jowo_2

In my opinion, the lodger should retain the key for as long as they are resident in the property. If you get hit by a bus at the weekend, they'd be homeless...

In terms of simple house rules, landlords can sometimes have one that relates to guests (no overnight guests or overnight guests occasionally) and whether or not they have access to the landline telephone (of course, this isn't a problem for emergencies).

ali-t

I currently have a tenant who is pretty much monday to friday as he works lots of shifts but when he has weekends off he goes home to visit his family. He is treated the same as a 7 day a week lodger and is expected to do his own cooking, cleaning and washing although I clean the house but he is expected to keep his rooms clean.

I don't charge him less so he is free to come and go as he pleases and I certainly wouldn't take the key off him. Do you have a licence agreement? If you PM me your e-mail address I can e-mail you the one I use. It could be changed to meet your needs if you don't have one.

richardc1983

I am also looking for a Tennant and will charge £350 for a M-F lodger.

I will offer clean bedding weekly and plentiful supply of clean towels.

This would suit me really well especially as I work nights and would be nice to have the place to myself at weekends.

emilygilmore

Does anyone know where I can find a monday to friday rental agreement online please? I used to have full-time lodgers and that contract was pretty easy to google. M-F is not as common. Or can I use the full-time one and modify it somehow? Don't want to mess up the legal language though..
thanks

theartfullodger

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/pdf/Lodger%20Application.pdf

emilygilmore

That's an application form but thanks anyway

tbs624

Have a look at Tessa Shepperson's LodgerLaw web pages - she is a solicitor who specialises in LL &T law.

Vet your lodger properly and don't dabble with agreements yourself.

emilygilmore

Interesting site, thanks!

Doh, I thought just using really long words makes it automatically legal Better delete those clauses I added then...