Lodger didn't move in on date agreed - tricky Q - can anyone help?

bundly

I've let rooms for a while but nothing like this has ever happened before. I'm asking on here to get a range of different opinions as to what I should do...

On 17th March a man viewed and agreed to rent a room from me @£75pw. The room was vacant and I wanted someone ASAP, but his current tenancy requires him to give a month's notice. However, he seemed a good prospect as a lodger as he is well paid, so I agreed to hold the room for him until 1st May, the date he said he would be moving in.

We agreed a deposit/bond of £300 (my standard rate, 4 weeks rent). He gave me £100 that day and would pay the balance before moving in. On the deposit receipt I wrote that his first rent to me would be due on 1st May. On 24th March he gave me another £100. In mid April I emailed him to remind him that I was waiting for the remainder of the deposit. We exchanged a few pleasant emails about his attempts to sell items of furniture. In none of them did he mention changing the date he would be moving in here.

When the agreed day arrived, I waited in all day for him. At 9pm he emailed me to say that he had decided to stay on at his flat till 16th May! This must have been agreed with his current landlord some time prior to this, certainly not that day, yet he did not ask me if it was OK with me. I have already lost 6 weeks rent holding the room for him until 1st May. I am not prepared to lose another 16 days on top of that.

He is pleading poverty as his reason for not moving, yet he is paying his current landlord an extra 16 days, so it's not as though he does not have the funds -- he's simply choosing to pay the rent to someone else, in breach of our agreement.

In his email he said he intends to move here on 16th, and will not start to pay rent until the 16th. PLUS he said he will only pay £200 deposit instead of the £300 we agreed.

I replied immediately saying that (a) I do not agree to change the date, his rent is due on 1st May, and (b) I require the entire £300 deposit. That was Sunday evening and he has not replied.

Yesterday I showed the room to another man, who'd going to let me know on Friday. So I have two days to make a decision as to what to do.

Can he insist on moving in on 16th and only paying rent from that date rather than the date we agreed?

Are there rules/laws covering this, or should I invite him to sue me and let a judge sort it all out?

Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice.

DVardysShadow

Give him his notice now, to expire on 16th May. Take £150 from his deposit. No doubt he won't like it, but the contract was from 1st May.

The other potential lodger is largely irrelevant. The candidate you are writing about sounds like more trouble than he is worth.

bundly

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Give him his notice now, to expire on 16th May. Take £150 from his deposit. No doubt he won't like it, but the contract was from 1st May.

The other potential lodger is largely irrelevant. The candidate you are writing about sounds like more trouble than he is worth.

Thank you for replying. I appreciate your time and effort.

Can you give someone notice to quit if they haven't moved in? How did you reach the figure of £150?

HappyMJ

Already pleading poverty. What about when the rent is due? I'll pay you next week. Naaahhh. Don't accept anything further. The £100 paid so far use that for the rent and tell him forget it. Lodgers have no rights so you don't need to give him any notice.

DVardysShadow

bundly wrote: »

Thank you for replying. I appreciate your time and effort.

Can you give someone notice to quit if they haven't moved in? How did you reach the figure of £150?

£150? Carelessly.

I was coming back to edit after reflection. £75 for a week's rent is probably more reasonable.

bundly

HappyMJ wrote: »

Already pleading poverty. What about when the rent is due? I'll pay you next week. Naaahhh. Don't accept anything further. The £100 paid so far use that for the rent and tell him forget it. Lodgers have no rights so you don't need to give him any notice.

Thanks Happy and Vardy. He's actually paid me £200. Yes indeed, my boyfriend said the identical thing. If I let him think that pleading poverty gets round me, he may well use it every month to delay paying rent, fall into arrears, and I only hold £200 deposit instead of £300.... recipe for disaster.

So, I have decided that I don't want him to move in. It's just a matter of deciding what to do with the £200. I feel morally entitled to it, because he's messed me about, caused me to lose many weeks rent, and broken our agreement.

What I could do is tell him I am keeping it for these reasons, but give it back if he argues and threatens to take me to court? Would that be OK?

ffacoffipawb

bundly wrote: »

Yesterday I showed the room to another man, who'd going to let me know on Friday. So I have two days to make a decision as to what to do about the "Welsher".

Kindly remove this racist comment.

bundly

DVardysShadow wrote: »

£150? Carelessly.

I was coming back to edit after reflection. £75 for a week's rent is probably more reasonable.

I agreed to wait for him till 1st May, so I am only losing rent from 1st May until the day he (or someone else) moves in. So maybe I should deduct £10.71 a day (i.e. £75 divided by 7 days) until someone else moves in, or until the £200 runs out.

Would that make logical sense? Would that be legal?

bundly

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

Kindly remove this racist comment.

World English Dictionary

welsh or welch

1. to fail to pay a gambling debt
2. to fail to fulfil an obligation

[C19: of unknown origin]

That is my only reply. Other than this, I don't feed trolls.

DVardysShadow

bundly wrote: »

I agreed to wait for him till 1st May, so I am only losing rent from 1st May until the day he (or someone else) moves in. So maybe I should deduct £10.71 a day (i.e. £75 divided by 7 days) until someone else moves in, or until the £200 runs out.

Would that make logical sense? Would that be legal?

It would be underhand. You can reasonably charge him £75/week while you hold the place open for him. But once you form the intention to have someone else in, then it is underhand to continue charging rent. Give him his notice, charge £75 and be done with it.

bundly

DVardysShadow wrote: »

It would be underhand. You can reasonably charge him £75/week while you hold the place open for him. But once you form the intention to have someone else in, then it is underhand to continue charging rent. Give him his notice, charge £75 and be done with it.

I might be reading you wrongly, but that appears to be a contradiction, because if I give him his notice (by which I assume you mean notice to quit on 16th May) then I am not holding the place open for him, so it would be wrong for me to charge him rent. I hope you understand what I mean :-)