Preparedness for when

Nargleblast

Tis hissing down again in the Land of Nargle. However, the days are gradually getting longer, Spring will be here in a few weeks. In the meantime - pyjamas, fireside, ginger wine and interwebby surfing with a puddy cat curled up next to me.....heaven on earth!

calicocat

Ooooo......

Any ideas on house rules or thought appreciated. I 'm hoping it will be less troublesome than a woman which I had lodge before...no using my make-up/clothes/ etc.

He says he is very tidy (more than me maybe), can cook, and keeps things clean, so those areas should be ok I think.

He has a girlfriend.....but will be saying it is one person lodging not two.

And he's happy to feed cat etc if i'm not there. .....although he hasn't met Asbo yet, so time will tell how that will pan out. asslong as he doesn't touch any of the 372 zones on her body humans are not allowed to touch he'll be fine..... lol.

Nargleblast

Keep the place clean and tidy, clear up after himself, let you know if he is not going to be there at mealtimes so you don't go and cook for him and he doesn't turn up.....he must seem a civilised sort otherwise you would not have made the offer, so I am sure you will be able to work things out with him.

Who knows, if it works out you could open up a B & B???

GreyQueen

Hi calicocat, I've been a lodger and it can be difficult if you're trying to keep out of your landlady's way and she has unpredicatable habits.

F'rinstance, my landlady might decide to cook her evening meal at any point in a 3 hour window. If she'd've had a predicable time, I could have sorted myself for food before/ after. As it was, I was always bit stressed by trying to keep out of her way so she could cook when she wanted to, and guessing when that might be.

And you need to think about laundry - will be be allowed to use your facilities or expected to go to a laundrette? And a dedicated shelf etc in the fridge/ freezer and a space to keep his foodstuffs.

elaine241

Hello All
It been "persisting" down all day here with a strong wind, chickens hardly came out of their hut and only my ducks looked happy with the situation!
I too have cut drastically down on the wine as it definately creeps up on you. I found myself needing a glass or two most evenings after a busy day in the office or at home sorting paperwork etc. I do suffer from anxiety and found self medicating along with my normal medication helped but in my heart I knew I shouldnt do it. I didnt drink a huge amount maybe 2-21/2 bottles a week but after Christmas one of my resolutions was to cut down to a glass or two a week. I managed to replace the wine with healthy cranberry/blackberry/blackcurrant based drinks with no added sugar some of which were slightly sparkling. I can not drink any fizzy drinks or those with lots of colours/chemicals in, hence wine! Apart from a screaming hangover on 2nd Jan after a very raucous party at a friends I have only drunk about 3 glasses of wine at home since then. Socially I went to a ball and definately did drink but also made sure I had plenty of water. I feel better for it as I feel more in control of my life and feelings and less likely to take the "easy" option of a glass or two to relax me! I would like to loose a bit of weight but it is not my priority, I am a size 12/14 and due to horse riding have muscles! Today I tried on a size 14 top and the arms were too tight due to my horse stopping biceps!
Preps wise I am decluttering the house as the kids "carp" seems to have bred and taken over the house. I am sorting clothes , toys etc to clear some clutter, recycle what I can and take the good stuff to the local CS. I have attacked the paperwork and decluttered or achived what I dont need to hand. I feel quite pleased with myself as I managed to do the accounts for the ltd company in time for the accountant, sort spreadsheets for the buy to lets and farm so that both private tax returns were done on time, got the VAT return in early and completed the annual sheep and goat census for the Welsh Assembly government!! all without the wine! LOL I have a list of jobs I am steadily working through but not getting anxious or stressed that they are taking time to do. On my list I have to re do my get home bag, its been languishing in my boot for ages and I havent even checked it, chocs are bound to be well mouldy eeewhh! I do carry water, blankets, tyre inflator/weld, fire extinguisher etc but I have been v lazy on getting my get home bag repacked and sorted. The mild weather hasnt helped as I mainly keep it for snow/ice situations where I need to hoof it back to the farm either over the fields or along the roads.
I need to sort all my seeds for the veg garden as many of them got ruined last year when a pane in my greenhouse got smashed and the rain soaked the box all my seeds were stored in :-(. I had to plant every runner and climbing french bean I had as they all sprouted, plenty in the freezer now!
Although I dont post v often I am still here lurking and keeping up with the thread, stay dry and warm everyone xx

calicocat

GreyQueen wrote: »

Hi calicocat, I've been a lodger and it can be difficult if you're trying to keep out of your landlady's way and she has unpredicatable habits.

F'rinstance, my landlady might decide to cook her evening meal at any point in a 3 hour window. If she'd've had a predicable time, I could have sorted myself for food before/ after. As it was, I was always bit stressed by trying to keep out of her way so she could cook when she wanted to, and guessing when that might be.

And you need to think about laundry - will be be allowed to use your facilities or expected to go to a laundrette? And a dedicated shelf etc in the fridge/ freezer and a space to keep his foodstuffs.

Hi GQ,

One of the reasons I have said yes to it is that he will be working days and me nights. I don't think the cooking will really be a problem as I often have something bubbling in the slow cooker, which we can both use. If needs be. And I think by the sounds of things he'll be tidier than me!.

I wouldn't expect him to go to a laundrette, again that shouldnt be a problem I don't think really...but you never know until you are in it do you.

He has a girlfriend, so would appreciate peeps thoughts on that, as I am renting a room to One person not two, but don't want to be mean.

greenbee

Given that you are working opposite shifts you need some ground rules around consideration for each other's sleeping hours - no loud music/parties/hoovering/DIY etc.

Re. The girlfriend, a.you are renting to one person and b. you don't want to feel outnumbered in your own home. So maybe some guidelines on how often he can have guests over generally and on girlfriend visits. And that both of you need to ensure the other knows when you are having guests/going to be away (maybe a calendar you can both keep updated). You may want to say that rules on visitors/girlfriend are relaxed while you are away, but it may also be worth thinking about a surcharge for overnight stays (I know some friends who have had this as part of their lodger agreement - not much, but enough to remind the lodger that they are only paying for one person).

Probably best to sit down and say that before you both sign anything, these are the the things you want to discuss, and ask what he wants to think. Also have a look on the house buying/renting board and ask for guidance. They can point you at resources for lodger agreements so you don't give the lodger more rights than are legally required and also help with those ground rules.

calicocat

Thanks GBee,


All food for thought. He'll be trotting over next week I think to finalise details.

I have downloaded contracts and all sorts of stuff off the internet, just thought I would grab some personal thoughts and experiences from you good folks.

moneyistooshorttomention

I've had lodgers before now Calico - I had to do so for some years when I bought my first house in order to cover all the extra costs I then had.

There are two things here that I think need covering:

1. As pointed out by others - making sure you don't find you get "two for the price of one" (ie the girlfriend seems to be staying over rather frequently - or maybe even moves in surreptitiously). So taking whatever precautions are necessary to make it quite plain that its only him that is moving in.

I must admit to being a bit confused here about you referring to his girlfriend - as I had read your posts that he is/was your boyfriend. Guess I got that wrong? If he was your boyfriend previously - then I would just have to forbid the girlfriend staying full stop in your position (as I couldn't handle that sort of set-up). But I'm someone who isn't "easy" at dealing with subsequent girlfriends of any ex of mine anyway LOL - so just have one friendship with someone that is with an ex of mine (and that's because she was my friend before she started going out with him and there was a LONG gap afterwards before she started dating him/now engaged to him).

2. With the risk of your job vanishing at some point - then it needs to be quite clear (ie from the DWP viewpoint) that he is a lodger and not a boyfriend iyswim. Don't want to find you might be on benefits and the DWP telling you he was to financially support you (because they had defined you as a couple).

************

Lodgers don't have any legal rights basically - thankfully from the home-owners viewpoint. Out of the ones I had - one did have to be literally chucked out on his ear (long story of his bad behaviour and he came back to find his stuff had been packed and was waiting outside for him to collect - after he'd been given 24 hours to show evidence of "behaving, ie paying the rent agreed" or else). That was that = no problem = he was gone.

What I did do was provide them with a rent book - which I dated and signed every time they paid me rent. They had proof they had paid the rent and I had proof they were a lodger (ie not a personal relationship).

Re phonecalls - don't know if you've got a landline phone still? You need to make sure your bill is fully itemised and then you can instantly identify and separate out his phonecalls. Latterly - I was glad when that system came in and I would just pick up my monthly phonebill and mark the calls that weren't mine and tell them "That was £x worth that was yours" and they would hand me the money for their own calls. Things are different these days - ie of all-inclusive monthly direct debits for phone and internet combined. But I still find odd phonecalls going on top of the basic amount (in my case - any calls to mobile phones don't get included on my all-in tariff).

GreyQueen

I think the girlfriend issue is probably the key one here. You don't expect him to live like a monk, but you are renting a room to him and not to him and his +1, so it's best to get some ground-rules established before you embark on any arrangement. On the positive side, he may spend some of his time at her home............:rotfl:

The normal convention is that if you no longer want your lodger, you give them the same amount of notice to leave as the frequency with which they pay their rent; weekly, fortnightly, monthly. And if your lodger won't leave after giving them notice and having their notice expire, changing the locks and packing up their belongings, and retaining them for one month with facility for them to collect them by appointment is considered acceptable.

You also need to think about the council tax. If you are a sole adult now and he moves in, and isn't in an exempt category, your council tax hikes up from 75% to 100% of the liability. Are you factoring this into the fee you're charging him for the room rent/ extra utilities used or are you going to ask for that to be handed over separately?