Renting out a spare room

jc808

phill99 wrote: »

With respect I think many lodgers would be put off living with 3 children. Plus you limit yourself by only wanting Monday to Friday. Then there is an issue of trust. I think many people would raise objections to asking for a CRB check. It seems like you want all the financial benefits of letting a room without the inconvenience if having someone live in your home.

yep ...........

Horseygirl123

anotherginger wrote: »

I don't see how this would work. As others have said, 3 kids would put most people off.!

On the other hand my sister did just this. When she divorced she really struggled to pay the bills. She had two young boys and decided to take a lodger. The suitable applicant was a man in his forties who worked long hours and went home to his wife and children at the weekends. His bedroom/bathroom were on the third floor and her children were told they were not to go up there.

There was never a problem with the children and the man quite liked the sound of children laughing and playing. He ended up staying for five years. She was probably just lucky but I'd like to think there were honest family loving people about who would rather live in a house than a hotel room.

Matt_Hutchinson

We have plenty of people taking in lodgers on SpareRoom and you'd be surprised at the range of people who live as lodgers. As the post above points out, some people (especially younger overseas students) may be more than happy to live with a family. Families with kids who take in lodgers do often end up with younger or older lodgers - the average 20/30 something young professional is more likely to want to live with other people of the same age.

Monday to Friday can work extremely well but there are usually more rooms offered on this basis than people who want them as it offers a great middle ground between having a full time lodger and not having one at all. It really boils down to whether you're in an area people are likely to need to commute to for work.

Good luck whichever option you choose. Remember, it's not a simple financial transaction like selling your car - take your time and meet as many potential lodgers as you can. It's important to pick the right person.

Matt

Mischa8

Just as an aside on this one.

My mum actually rented out 2 rooms (bedroom and other bedroom) to be used as bedroom/sitting room and kitchen (all was converted, eg cooker etc) - the bathroom was shared but separate front door. This was in a traditional Victorian terraced house. The main things that worked here though were:-

• separate kitchen
• separate front door
• separate living room area

she had about 2 tenants who stayed for a year each, both female and both very happy with the situation. At the time my step-father, mum and me and my brother (kids) also lived there.

Unless you specify that the bedroom is also a living room unless lodger was allowed to share living room I can't see how it would work.

Also another point. I know of someone who used to live in a shared house with 2 other people and a couple (who owned the house) - he moved out, so did others then he moved back to London and the couple rented a bedroom out again. But now they've had a 3 year old little girl. Although this is great he has said sometimes the crying, mess (toys etc) and *child minding* - eg when he reads stories to her, can be a bit much but he's there for now.

Hezzawithkids

Werdnal wrote: »

I don't think your Monday to Friday requirement would suit many, unless you can find someone who works in the area and goes home at weekends. Even then, they would probably want to stay on Sundays for work the next day.

It suits plenty of people. I rent a room near my work Monday to Friday then go home at weekends as do many of my fellow professionals because its cheaper and more convenient than hotels.

http://www.spareroom.co.uk/ has loads of lettings for just such a purpose.

But... I wouldn't want to share a house with small children, no.

Matt_Hutchinson

Hezzawithkids wrote: »

http://www.spareroom.co.uk/ has loads of lettings for just such a purpose.

We do indeed. There's a Mon to Fri Lets box at the bottom of the homepage. It takes you to a search page where you can type in your postcode and find out if people are looking for Mon-Fri rooms in your area (just check 'lodger' instead of 'room').

Should give you a sense of what demand is like specifically in your area

00ec25

Matt_Hutchinson wrote: »

We do indeed. There's a Mon to Fri Lets box at the bottom of the homepage. It takes you to a search page where you can type in your postcode and find out if people are looking for Mon-Fri rooms in your area (just check 'lodger' instead of 'room').

Should give you a sense of what demand is like specifically in your area

agreed - spareroom is a great resource for this purpose
But, speaking as one who has previously lived as a Mon - Fri lodger, I found the asking prices can be wildly greedy and I actually ended up in a normal (Mon - Sun) lodging paying less than a Mon - Fri place

Matt_Hutchinson

I think there are some people out there who see taking in a lodger Mon-Fri as the 'have your cake and eat it' equivalent of taking in a lodger (i.e. they still pay you a hefty amount but aren't there all the time so you get some privacy).

In reality it works well for the majority of people but there are a few who are, shall we say, a little over-zealous in their pricing

That's the joy of the lodger/room sector being online now - you can have a good look at who's looking and what asking prices are before you commit to anything.

It's amazing how big the lodger market in the UK has grown in recent years. It used to be that the majority of people using SpareRoom were groups of friends replacing a flatmate who was moving out. Now it's people taking in lodgers who are the biggest group.

Yorkie1

Horseygirl123 wrote: »

On the other hand my sister did just this. When she divorced she really struggled to pay the bills. She had two young boys and decided to take a lodger. The suitable applicant was a man in his forties who worked long hours and went home to his wife and children at the weekends. His bedroom/bathroom were on the third floor and her children were told they were not to go up there.

There was never a problem with the children and the man quite liked the sound of children laughing and playing. He ended up staying for five years. She was probably just lucky but I'd like to think there were honest family loving people about who would rather live in a house than a hotel room.

Sounds as though it worked fine.

However, those lodgings were in a separate part (floor) of the house and had their own bathroom.

OP is offering the use of one room only; it's on the ground floor so not separate from the family accommodation; and no separate bathroom. Also, sharing with a family of 5 is potentially quite intrusive volume-wise and when it comes to access to the bathroom or kitchen.

moromir

Joanne123 wrote:

We could actually offer exclusive use of one bathroom but cannot offer restricted entry as children do not understand no entry signs!

:eek::eek::eek:

Sorry but I don't know any adult that would be okay at the prospect of being barged in on in their own bathroom by unrelated children!!