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

bundly

Thank you Sea for your response. Yes, I agree that it was indeed my choice to hold the room for him till 1st May, so that period is out of the equation.

My financial loss is only from 1st May, @ £10.71 per day plus the cost of re-advertising.

I justify this by considering what my financial position would have been had he kept his side of the agreement: I would be earning £10.71 a day, plus no need to re-advertise.

So maybe I should email him today and say that I am deducting rent day by day from his £200, and will continue to do so until 15th May, when there will be £40 left. He must then give me on 16th £260 to make up the deposit to £300, plus £300 rent to cover the first month. Lastly I should emphasise that under no circumstances will I allow any rent arrears in the future. Should his rent not be paid in full within 7 days of the due date, I will give him 2 weeks notice to leave.

If however he no longer wishes to take the room, I will continue to deduct £10.71 a day until the room is re-let, plus I will deduct £15 a week advertising costs, beginnning next Tuesday (the newspaper's deadline to get the advert published on Thursday).

How does that sound to you?

I have to act TODAY and hope he responds today because the young man who viewed on Tuesday is going to tell me tomorrow if he wants to take the room. I need to have a definite, clear "yes or no" answer for him, because I don't want to lose him by being indecisive. Thinking on my feet here, if he says he wants it, then I could take his deposit that evening or Saturday morning, fix a moving in date a week or two in the future, then tell man No1 that he cannot move in after all. But how can I do that after I have told him I am keeping the room open and charging him rent for it till 16th? It's all beginning to sound messy and I want to do the Right Thing by everybody and not mess anyone around (including myself!)

PS If the young man wants the room I won't be re-advertising and so, of course, won't charge the first man for advertising.

bundly

Judith_W wrote: »

Considering the sums involved, I would say charge the daily rate for 2 weeks is a clear way of justifying the keeping the majority of the deposit. This way, if for some crazy reason he decided to take you to court, you will be seen as non-greedy.

I would suggest next time, if they want to move in from a lengthy future date request 1/4 or 1/2 of the weekly rate to keep the room open and if they are not happy with this, keep looking. Or take a deposit and make them agree that this will be kept if they choose not to proceed based on the weekly charge plus advertising costs.

Thank you Judith. Yes, I shall DEFINITELY learn something from this experience and do things quite differently in the future.

I think that the root of the problem is, when someone is viewing, is enthusiastic and hands over wads of cash, at that moment my mind isn't on Red Alert, pessimistically planning what I might do if they break the agreement. At the moment there is more accomm than lodgers about, so to attract a lodger I'm trying to come across as friendly and obliging, not stern and suspicious. I already have a House Rules list that runs to three pages, and I am scared that will put people off as it makes me appear to be the stereotype Dragon Landlady. To issue all kinds of threats on their deposit receipt might make me appear even more dragonly!

However, I really MUST draw up a document along the lines you suggest, stating clearly that the deposit will be forfeit if they fail to start paying rent on the date agreed. Nobody has ever done this to me before, so I've never thought to include it in the deposit receipt.

So presumably you think my proposal above a fair one?

HappyMJ

bundly wrote: »

Thank you Sea for your response. Yes, I agree that it was indeed my choice to hold the room for him till 1st May, so that period is out of the equation.

My financial loss is only from 1st May, @ £10.71 per day plus the cost of re-advertising.

I justify this by considering what my financial position would have been had he kept his side of the agreement: I would be earning £10.71 a day, plus no need to advertise.

So maybe I should email him today and say that I am deducting rent day by day from his £200, and will continue to do so until 15th May, when there will be £40 left. He must then give me on 16th £260 to make up the deposit to £300, plus £300 rent to cover the first month. Lastly I should emphasise that under no circumstances will I allow any rent arrears in the future. Should his rent not be paid in full within 7 days of the due date, I will give him 2 weeks notice to leave.

How does that sound to you?

2 weeks is far too generous. No rent paid on due date. Immediate forfeiture of said lodgings. Don't muck around. Be firm with lodgers. I was one once and I would expect to pay on the due date or be homeless. You could be without rent for 3 weeks or more.

HappyMJ

bundly wrote: »

I already have a House Rules list that runs to three pages, and already I am scared that will put people off as it makes me appear to be the stereotype Dragon Landlady LOL.

You need to cut that down....a lot. Too many rules means the important ones will be ignored. Just put the really very important ones down. Clean bathroom and kitchen thoroughly every week. Pay bills on time. Nothing loud after 11pm, 1am friday/saturday. That's about it.

bundly

HappyMJ wrote: »

You need to cut that down....a lot. Too many rules means the important ones will be ignored. Just put the really very important ones down. Clean bathroom and kitchen thoroughly every week. Pay bills on time. Nothing loud after 11pm, 1am friday/saturday. That's about it.

Going off topic a bit to explain why three pages of rules...

I started off with no house rules. That continued for two years. Then people started doing weird stuff I never expected. So I drew up a few rules. Every rule that has been added since has been purely as a response to some crazy and unpredicted thing that someone has done. For example, I discovered one lodger was using a deep fat fryer and electric wok on his bedroom floor, spattering fat over the carpet and walls. Another left a ground floor window open all night three times (not only for burglars but nullifying my contents insurance) another accumulated 20 black bags of food waste in his bedroom, stuffing them into every wardrobe and drawer while keeping all his clothes on the floor. Another slept for two years without a sheet, making the bed so grubby I had to buy a new one, Another kept a loose hamster in his room and it chewed the carpet and through cables. Another burned the paint on her window frame by having a candle too close, and over 100 drips of candlewax were found stuck to the carpet after she moved out. One went into a vacant room and swapped some of the furniture with the pieces in his own room. One made copies of the house keys to give her mates so she would not have to come down two flights of stairs to let them in. Another agreed to the no smoking rule then smoked in her room as often as she liked, and smoked on the roof terrace and flicked her butts onto the plastic conservatory roof, causing burn holes all over it. Another told his friends they could use our address to apply for a credit card and bank account. Another poured cooking fat down the toilet and the resulting blockage cost me £300 to clear. One took other people's food. Another had a fan heater going all day to dry his dripping wet laundry and simultaneously kept the windows wide open because he was too warm.

And so, to cover myself against these things happening again, I now have 16 house rules. Do you think it would be better to delete the 14 that aren't about rent and notice to quit periods? I don't want to put prospective lodgers off, but at the same time I do want people to understand that I expect them to live like normal civilised people and not make my beautiful home look like a "student squat".

(PS - they don't clean the bathroom or kitchen weekly - I employ a cleaner).

DVardysShadow

bundly wrote: »

....
So maybe I should email him today and say that I am deducting rent day by day from his £200, and will continue to do so until 15th May, when there will be £40 left. He must then give me on 16th £260 to make up the deposit to £300, plus £300 rent to cover the first month. Lastly I should emphasise that under no circumstances will I allow any rent arrears in the future. Should his rent not be paid in full within 7 days of the due date, I will give him 2 weeks notice to leave.

If however he no longer wishes to take the room, I will continue to deduct £10.71 a day until the room is re-let, plus I will deduct £15 a week advertising costs, beginnning next Tuesday (the newspaper's deadline to get the advert published on Thursday).

How does that sound to you?

You are making an indecisive meal of this. Your indecision will cost you the new prospective lodger you do have. Give notice now, charge for a week, return the surplus, take the new prospective lodger and be done with it

bundly

HappyMJ wrote: »

2 weeks is far too generous. No rent paid on due date. Immediate forfeiture of said lodgings.

I think that humanely you have to give someone two weeks notice to move out. If someone loses their job and cannot pay their rent, you can't just put them out on the street the next day.

My method is, I hold the equivalent of four weeks rent as a deposit. If their rent becomes two weeks overdue, I give them two weeks notice to quit, and advertise the room that day, giving myself two weeks to replace them. Maybe I can cut that back to if their rent becomes one week overdue, I give them two weeks notice to quit.

One of my current lodgers pays me late every month, and always in dribs and drabs. He's Eastern European, doing casual or seasonal work at minimum wage. But he always pays me the whole lot before the next rent is due, so I tolerate it.

HappyMJ

bundly wrote: »

I think that humanely you have to give someone two weeks notice to move out. If someone loses their job and cannot pay their rent, you can't just put them out on the street the next day.

And why not? If someone does lose their job they will get a final pay cheque. They can pay the rent with that whilst putting in a claim for JSA and Housing Benefit. When that comes through the next rent payment should be due and they can use that to pay the rent. I don't have time for anyone who says "pay you next week" which then turns into a few more weeks then they have no more deposit as protection against late payment.

Putting them on the street is actually the best way to do it so that can then get emergency housing from the council much sooner than otherwise and you don't lose rent.

If you tolerate late payment then that's up to you. I'd understand once or twice if explained to me but if a tenant paid late every single month then I'd be issuing a Section 21 (to tenancies) or kicking them out (I would in reality give them a few days though).

HappyMJ

bundly wrote: »

And so, to cover myself against these things happening again, I now have 16 house rules. Do you think it would be better to delete the 14 that aren't about rent and notice to quit periods?

These things happened because you didn't pick the right lodgers. If they annoy you in any way then show them the door. You need to be hard with lodgers who take the pee. If they damaged something keep the deposit. Do keep the "No Smoking" rule if that's important to you. "No pets" is another popular one.

bundly

DVardysShadow wrote: »

You are making an indecisive meal of this. Your indecision will cost you the new prospective lodger you do have. Give notice now, charge for a week, return the surplus, take the new prospective lodger and be done with it

You are correct: I DO suffer from indecision (all the time). This is because I want to do the Right Thing by everyone concerned, including ME.

But I promise you I will not lose the new prospective lodger. If he says tomorrow that he wants the room I will ask him to come that evening with his deposit.