Room for rent

Big_Tone_2

16C????

Can YOU be my lodger please? I could save a packet! (Oh, yeah. You got a husband thing going on there I see)

Moggy heater :rotfl: You would like my ex, who ripped my heart out and would rather give her kidney to save a cat then me. (I just bet you can relate to that).

Ahem... I have to say something now though, which you won't like me for, but I have to tell you the commonly oft-quoted figure for "room temerature" is 21C.

Back me up here guys...;) I'm a newbie here :sad:


(Gotta try the newbie card while I still can )


In fact if you look an a decent engineers steel rule it will state as much. Personally, I see nothing wrong with 5C, but then I'm also a biker and therefore imune to cold.

I'm like a Polar Bear, only not as big & hairy and smell nicer.:)

ThriftyFelicity wrote: »

Hmm, 21C "very miserly"... no, no, Big Tone, in MSE world that is in fact positively tropical. In winter, if any part of our house is heated above 18C, it is a miracle; the usual temp is 16C and I've been known to keep it closer to 14C when hubby has gone to work and I've got a nice hot mug of something in my hands and a moggy heater on my lap!



No wonder you keep the heat turned up to 21C!

Big_Tone_2

Isn't that a bit like having an affair with someone at work? (Something I have some experience of)

So when you have had a major fight about the bog seat being up or down, work felicity becomes a nightmare.

(BIG COUGH!)

If only that was the only problem...

(EVEN BIGGER COUGH!!!)

lesalanos wrote: »

place an ad at work and you night get somebody you know renting from you.

Someone at work also used the spareroom website

lesalanos

place an ad at work to see if anybody that yo know might want it

BLT_2

Big_Tone wrote: »

You’ve just hit on one of the the very things I was bothered about nicknacknoo.

I am very miserly with heating and things; I have to be living on my own. So I tend to live in one room throughout the winter, (the lounge), which I will heat up to ~21C.

Not being sexist now but if it’s a woman she will want it up around the melting point of lead in every room.;) To be safe from pervy allegations I’d probably prefer to go for a man, so to speak. That said, I’d prefer a woman in many ways because I think they are tidier and usually smell nice.:)

Now if the lodger is anything like a friend I have, they will want every room heated. I personally can’t see the point of having a whole house heated when I may go up to the toilet and back twice an evening, so why heat everywhere for the sake of 10 minutes outside the lounge?


I can’t sleep in a heated bedroom either so I never have that heated and I don’t feel the cold much because I keep myself quite fit.

Therefore I can imagine the possible £400 per month being closer to £300, maybe less, once I have taken everything into account. So then I’m getting into the territory where I wonder if the extra income is worth the invasion of my privacy, space and concern about what they might be up to.

Hmmm... I’m beginning to wonder if it’s all worth it. I won’t be able to do naked Tuesdays anymore either.

At least not without having a sick bag available for your female lodger.

BLT_2

scotsbob wrote: »

1. Get references and make sure they are not from family and friends.
2. No partners staying overnight, before you know it two people will be living there for the price of one.
3. No parties.
4. Take a deposit
4. No Scottish, they will always be drunk.

If you follow scotsbobs advice you will be restricted to Nuns and Monks. If you say no small boys visting you will also end up having to bar catholic priests as well :rotfl:

ali-t

There are lots of threads on this topic if you use the search function including people outlining their good and bad experiences of having lodgers. If you have a spare day or two search for badger ladys thread about the big badger house - hilarious and will convince you one way or the other whether having a lodger is for you.

I have had 4 so far and I have the house set up so the lodger has a bedroom and seperate living room with only the bathroom and kitchen being shared. As a female I have found that I prefer to share with males (have had 3 males so far and currently have a female tenant but don't think I would have a female again).

Ideally I want someone who is quiet, is away a lot, rarely has people round the house, doesn't bring one night stands or partners round and pays their rent on time. Sounds impossible but I have had this every time! I have had a Dr who had family living elsewhere so only stayed at mine when he was working at the hospital and spent every other moment with his family, one who met a girl with a baby so stayed most nights at hers, one who stayed in his room a lot and the current one is a medical student so out a lot and studies a lot.

One flaw I see in your way of thinking is when you said that the £400 won't be what you get in your hand. I now have the mindset that as the person is paying me £350pcm to stay in my house they can have the temperature in their rooms at whatever they feel comfortable. It has almost killed me watching the tumble drier going on when the sun is splitting the pavements but I am taking her money every month and she should not feel curtailed by me being a miser!

I also now have a cleaner which is factored into the rent and what I charge is inclusive of all bills. Cleaning other peoples pubic hair off the bathroom floor gives me the heave so this task is devolved to the cleaner.

I would suggest looking at some of the websites around like match.com but for lodgers e.g. easyroomate, flatmateclick etc to see the quality and prices on offer in your area.

The final thing I should have learnt but haven't yet is that the rental income should either be put away and saved or used to pay off debt rather than viewed as part of my salary. Over the years I have adjusted my life to suit the extra cash each month and would be stuck without it now. I should have used it to pay off credit cards or overpay the mortgage so I wouldn't be reliant on it.

Big_Tone_2

BLT wrote: »

At least not without having a sick bag available for your female lodger.

I was quite a hotty when I was younger I'll have you know Still not bad for my age, so I'm told :cool:

Big_Tone_2

Thanks very much ali-t; sage advice. I did start by doing a search but couldn’t find anything specific to the Rooms for Rent Scheme, but I’ll check-out those threads ta.:)

I need it to clear some debt. I bought this house some 18 months ago and whilst I knew, and expected, the first couple of years or so to be hard I didn’t expect to get into so much debt. What happened was I had a nice place but eventually the urge to drag it into the 21st century overwhelmed me. It was owned by a couple of 80 year old folk who had it from new back in 1963. So although it was all functional I’ve DIY’d it complete with new kitchen, furniture and decor etc. No more small, medium and large ducks on the living room wall.

I think you’re so right that when you have an extra income you tend to live to those means and going back is not an easy option. I hope that doesn’t happen to me but I can see how it might. I have been looking on sites for a lodger but they are a bit useless, or so I have found so far. I click on the ‘match’ only to find they don’t want a landlord older than 30 for instance or some other criteria I don’t meet. Either that or they just come across as weird. (I know, who am I to talk )

What has also made it difficult is my location, which is nice but public transport is a bit sparse. The train station is about a 20 minute walk and the closest bus stop is about a 7 minute walk. So if he/she wanted to go into town, (Birmingham), it’s at least a good hour or more. If it’s a student, chances are they won’t have their own transport so this is what they will be faced with.

In fact I did enquire at the one college where they get foreign students who pay £600 per month! The representative for international students came around and said my place is lovely and perfect in itself but the journey into town is too much. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear but she was right; I wouldn’t fancy doing that every day of the working week either. But there's hope for me...

There’s a new £66 million flagship college being built near my house, Bournville College, which will be complete next year. That would be a simple walk from mine so maybe I just have to ride this famine out and hope for a feast in 2012.

Thanks again. Bread and water for a while longer

DKLS

Student doctors are the best lodgers to have, simply advertise at your local hospital notice boards.
They are rarely at home, long hours at the hospital. The Malaysian consultant was brilliant, he taught em some amazing recipes, became a good friend and 2 years later lent me his villa in malaysia for a holiday.

ThriftyFelicity

Big_Tone wrote: »

16C????

Can YOU be my lodger please? I could save a packet! (Oh, yeah. You got a husband thing going on there I see)

Moggy heater :rotfl: You would like my ex, who ripped my heart out and would rather give her kidney to save a cat then me. (I just bet you can relate to that).

Well first off, you've got me totally wrong, I would in fact be just as likely to give my hubby a kidney as one of my four cats Secondly I would make a most unsuitable lodger even if unattached as I would insist that your dining room be turned into the brewing room, with all manner of homemade wine and cider in various stages of fermentation happily bubbling away, thus forcing you to have all your meals on a tray in your lap in front of the telly or alternatively to eat whilst standing in front of the kitchen sink

Big_Tone wrote: »

Ahem... I have to say something now though, which you won't like me for, but I have to tell you the commonly oft-quoted figure for "room temerature" is 21C.

Back me up here guys...;) I'm a newbie here :sad:


(Gotta try the newbie card while I still can )


In fact if you look an a decent engineers steel rule it will state as much. Personally, I see nothing wrong with 5C, but then I'm also a biker and therefore imune to cold.

I'm like a Polar Bear, only not as big & hairy and smell nicer.:)

Hmmm, engineers steel rule... biker... naked Tuesdays... Polar Bear... you are painting quite the image of yourself, Big Tone... I am picturing a somewhat hairy biker with a pocket protector who does DIY naked in the winter with all the windows open and makes sure everything is measured to the nearest 10th of a mm... :rotfl: