HELP - Renting room in my property ?

stylus360

Hi

In these hard times i have decided to take on a lodger and i will be the private landlord. He would have one bedroom with bathroom, kitchen etc all shared.

I know the guy quite well and he said i should expect about £80 a week. When filling in forms i put down the charge to be £95.

My lodger does not work, has no savings and claims jobs seekers.

I have just had the first payment made to me for only £46.15 ???

How can this be ? They did ring me and ask if i supply meals, i said i supply some so she classed it as no.

In this case it is a waste of my time as i would lose my 25% council tax benefit !!!!

I do not want to mess my tenant around and feel awkward as how to proceed ?

As he assured me that the payment would be around the £80 mark.....

Any help


Cheers

heathcote123

Who made the payment to you , the tenant or the housing people?

Defintily tell them no meals - it's not their job to provide food, so they'll deduct that value from the rent as an additional service.

theartfullodger

I'm so sorry we the taxpayers have not given what you expected: Sincere apologies.

So you both cooked the scheme so you'd both benefit at our expense??

If you don't like the deal evict the lodger.

Don't forget to declare the income you get from lodgers @ £95/wk as that'll be over the £4250 rent-a-room limit..

Cheers!

Artful

catieeb06

Have you checked the LHA allowance? Pretty sure the DWP would class it as shared housing.

Try https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx and see what that gives you.

Just done a quick calculation for my area and it's £58.50 pw for Shared Accommodation

rexmedorum

who is paying the rent? It sounds like you have agreed to receive somebodys housing benefi directly, without even knowing how much it was?

The_Palmist

stylus360 wrote: »

I know the guy quite well and he said i should expect about £80 a week. When filling in forms i put down the charge to be £95.

If the guy said you should expect £80 a week why would you put the charge down as £95 a week ?

Have you not agreed upon a rent ?

BitterAndTwisted

As LHA is paid in arrears do you know whether that payment was for a part-week?

What you should have done was to check on your Local Authority's website to see what their maximum rates were. Just because you choose to charge your lodger £95 a week does not mean that your LA will pay that amount. How old is your lodger?

G_M

If the agreement you signed with your lodger (no, he's NOT a tenant) was for £95 then he should pay you £95.

How he pays (from housing benefit, savings, borrowing whatever) is his problem, not yours.

As said above, remember to declare the £95 per week as taxable income (that's £4940 pa - over the rent-a-room scheme limit.

If he does not pay the agreed rent, evict him - as said above he's a lodger with few rights so you just tell him to leave.

stylus360

I have been on my local council site, i put down £95 a week as that's what i want. But i received the first cheque in my name and it's for £46.15 a week.

But it also states £90 for 2 bedrooms, £100 for 3 bedrooms.

My house is a 3 bedroom, and my lodger has one room and access to rest of the house ?

Is this correct ??

I think his last accommodation was classed as 1 bedroom self contained where as we know share bathroom and this is where the decrepency is.

If he can make the difference up then all is fine, but i doubt he will be able to.

Just trying to ease the burden temporarily and looks like a will have to find a fully employed lodger.

I read up here - http://www.powys.gov.uk/index.php?id=10277&L=0

Cheers guys.

Gleeful

stylus360 wrote: »

I have been on my local council site, i put down £95 a week as that's what i want. But i received the first cheque in my name and it's for £46.15 a week.

But it also states £90 for 2 bedrooms, £100 for 3 bedrooms.

My house is a 3 bedroom, and my lodger has one room and access to rest of the house ?

Oh dear, you're not the brightest crayon in the box are you?! The rates won't take into account the overall size of your house, just what the lodger is renting, i.e. the one room. The council aren't going to pay your lodger housing benefit for your whole house! I don't understand why you would think they will...

Sounds like your moneymaking scheme fell flat on its behind! Finding a fully employed lodger might be difficult. Anyone with half a brain or a little common sense would steer cleer of a landlord as clueless as you. (I hope!)

BitterAndTwisted

If your pal is under 25 years of age they will only be entitled to the flat/house-sharing room-rate regardless of the size of your own property. If your pal is over 25 then they would be entitled to claim for a one-bed place if that's what they are renting, but he's not. Looking at that website it appears that your pal is only entitled to claim the "one bedroom with shared facilities" rate which is correct. Doesn't matter what the actual rent is, that's all that he's entitled to receive from the tax-payer. Any shortfall would have to made from JSA or savings.