Real life MMD: Should we charge a new housemate more to reduce our rent?

oldtrout

Ask yourself ... would you be happy to be treated like that! Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

These moral dilemmas have become so pathetic they are so obviously not real ... come on MSE .. this is not the Jeremy Kyle show!

oldtrout

Why is the time wrong? My post was 1.30 am, not the time stated as 11.30 pm!

ronangel

arnoldrimmer wrote: »

I'd be more concerned with being a tenant with no lease or paperwork on my side. The landlord could throw you out on a whim with no notice, walk in and out whenever he wanted, double or triple your rent overnight, not do the gas safety checks legally required, go bankrupt and disappear and so on, before I thought about making more money from other tenants.
Why on earth would you not want the protection of a lease?

I do not agree this is an enviable situation. no lease means you are governed by the rent acts as long as you can prove that you have paid rent even a couple of times ( cheque, receipt ect) then he cant throw you out without a court order. The chances are that he has never declared the income to the revenue. He has also broken the law by not giving you a rent book. maybe not registered with the local council and many other things like his mortgage company and insurance company not knowing about the let. As long as you pay the rent and things are ok no problem. I presume the utility bills are in your own names and you are on the electoral roll. If he gets funny for some reason and says I want you all out by next week or something you just say ok take us to court pointing out the above. That is the last you will hear of it if he has any sense and might say I am giving you all 3 months notice which is reasonable. slightest threat and you say will go to police. This is a last resort only if he tries to make trouble through no fault of your own or get new tenants at greater rent.
Re new person: everybody pays equal then no long term problems and all happy.

VoucherMan

KxMx wrote: »

Remember this would be a housemate you're conning, someone that lives with you, now think of the type of revenge they could take out when [STRIKE] if [/STRIKE]they discovered this- on what is your home and the place/atmosphere you live. There would be no getting away from them unless one of you moved ,and you'd never know what you were coming home to/be able to relax for fear of prawns in the curtains or a surprise in the bathroom!

A more likely option

Marisco

I'm not very "up" on housesharing protocol as I've never done it, but wouldn't the rent be set by the landlord, not the tenants anyway? How can you tell the tenant what the rent will be, isn't that between the LL and tenant, not tenant and tenant? As others have said, I'd be more concerned about the lack of paperwork anyway, rather than trying to con someone out of money!

Helpme1982

Shallow Grave?? Lol

I wouldn't try this with someone you are going to be in close proximity to. Like another poster said, is it really worth it for £25 a month? Just imagine what they could do to your living space!

Kittendreich

I have charged new housemates different amount previously - but we needed two new housemates and there was a huge room and a very tiny room - the big one subsidised the little one (the rest of us in middle sized rooms paid the same). We were up front about this from the outset and it never caused any problems (our new housemates chose which room they wanted) - still in touch with both of them 16 years later... Doing it on the sly is asking for trouble - what if they become your new best friend / wife / husband...you then will sound really sneaky trying to make a fast buck out of them...

Kyris

I live in a house share, I would say that you would be really stupid to do this to another tenant without making them aware of it. However if all the rooms are equal then you have to wonder why they would be willing to pay more. Sharing a house is an intimate social relationship where you have to trust the people you live with.

Remember that the person your living with has: Access to ALL your possessions; Access to your mail and personal details; a legal right to be in the property when your not there; Is present when your asleep.

Imagine if this person found out about this situation and decided as revenge he would plant evidence against you. For example, Drugs in your room, or false evidence of infidelity to your significant other.

Or even if they took all your possessions whilst you are on holiday and sold them. He/She could always say they left the front door unlocked.

If this new tenant is particularly vicious they could steal your identity details and make you liable for massive debt, worse they could poison/kill you.

So unless you want to risk everything you own, and your life by ripping someone off then I would not do it.

Morality is irrelevant, the question is what would you do if someone was conning you?

At the end of the day, your house is about having somewhere safe, secure and comfortable, NOT about making money. If you purposely make your house unsafe, insecure and uncomfortable then your an idiot and deserve everything this person could do to you.

minerva_windsong

As others have said, unless there is a legitimate reason (ie a bigger room, although I don't necessarily think that's worth £100 extra a month) then I wouldn't do this - you have to live with these people after all, you don't want there to be a rift and you stuck in the middle or being accused of various things. Also - and I apologise if this is a stupid question - if the rent is on the whole property, as opposed to per person, surely the amount you pay will go down anyway?

HeadAboveWater

I would've figured it was up to the landlord, not the tenants.

I used to rent a room in a 4 bedroom house, but it didn't matter how many others were there, my rent stayed the same. It was the landlords responsibility, and in their own best interests, to have the house full to get the most money. There were 3 larger rooms and 1 smaller room, and the smaller room was less per month which makes sense.

Definitely split bills, ie. electric, gas and oil, evenly between everyone.

Take advantage of the new guest? Watch your back and keep your room locked is all I'll say