Lodger Agreement/Lease

lvm

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could help?

I've been looking at renting out my spare room and as such, need to think about getting some sort of lease (Lodger Agreement?).

I can always find nice free Tenancy Agreements online but everyone wants to charge an arm and a leg for Lodger Agreements.

Could any direct me to where I could find a free one?

Just to make things difficult, I live in Scotland - I know tenancy agreements in Scotland/England are different but wasn't sure about taking in a lodger.

HELP!

McKneff

Just make a list of rules yourself, get the lodger to sign it. Give him a copy.

I dont see any thing wrong with that.

spirit

you'll find one on the landlordzone website for free OP. Other than that, WH Smith have paper versions for England and Scotland which are not very expensive.

BitterAndTwisted

I think you can download a draft lodger agreement from the LandlordZone site. Unless the laws are different in Scotland, and they often are where property is concerned, in England & Wales a lodger has no security of tenure and they only have the right to share your home as long as you agree to it and continue to live there yourself, so DO NOT use any form of tenancy agreement.

Before you rush out and find someone have a really long think about the way you like to live at home and how someone else might have to adapt to that. Stuff like having friends round or to stay, how a share of the bills might be worked out, making kitchen-cupboard space for them. How shared stuff like milk, cleaning materials and lav paper is paid for. Maybe you might both want to run a kitty and put a fiver each a week in. That sort of thing. I've had a long string of lodgers in the past and some of them weren't willing to put their hands in their pockets for a box of tea-bags if they thought they could get away with it.

Jowo_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

...I've had a long string of lodgers in the past and some of them weren't willing to put their hands in their pockets for a box of tea-bags if they thought they could get away with it.

heh,heh,heh, you're not kidding.

I know someone who took in lodgers who were so tight that if the place ran out of washing up liquid when the landlord was away found one simply ran their dirty pans and dishes under the hot tap (hence returned to cabinets full of greasy kitchenware) and on another occasion, found they'd used handsoap from the bathroom!

Apparently all of her lodgers were very personable sorted young ladies, well groomed, but just absolutely filthy, no cleaning or household skills whatsoever - one apparently dressed immaculately but never launded her sheets in the many months she lived there, eeuggh.

paddyz

I just make my own agreement and im in scotland, i dont have a fixed term agreement just rolling one with a months notice from each party

Inc rent and deposit info, Lodgers responsibilitys and also the landlords, and if you do any extra services you can add in those

and also put in a referance to the inventory (put in the condition of items) and both sign all parts

hope you enjoy having your lodgers, ive had a few and its been great

Tom_Smith_3

The forms that you can buy at Rymans and WH Smith are produced by a company called LawPack and can be bought online as easily as on the high street.

You need a license agreement, not a tenancy agreement. If you do decide to create your own, be careful that you don't create a tenancy by accident. Its not just a case of printing "License" on the front of the document to create a license agreement, its about what you allow the tenant to do and not do: substance of the agreement over form. If you accidentally create a tenancy agreement, you'll have certain obligations as a landlord (especially with ending the contract) and you'll give the tenant certain rights. Of course, your tenant probably won't realise he has these rights in normal day to day occupation, but if something does go wrong and your contract is tested by a judge you might be worse off.

For example, you'll want to make sure that you put in your contract that you can access your lodger's room without his/her permission. If you don't, you might grant exclusive occupation to the space.

I know this is all very esoteric, but in short, creating your own is not a wise idea when you can buy an agreement online for £8 or so.

DVardysShadow

Scotland? Laws surrounding lodgers are different and IIRC, it is all too easy to end up creating a tenancy by default.