Cheap efficient way to monitor housemates

fluffpot

I don't agree with you, but it's your home, so of course you are entitled to do what you want. My advise is that putting a lock just on your door sends out the wrong sort of message to your lodgers ie I'm the landlord I don't trust you to stay out of my room, but I can go into yours. The best way to tackle it I think it to put locks on ALL doors at the same time so that your lodgers feel they are not being singled out....
HTH

Also what happens if there is a fire or someone injured? Maybe there needs to be some sort of emergency over ride??

Yorkie1

Putting a lock on the lodger's door risks turning it from a lodger relationship to a formal tenant, with all associated rights for the tenant.

Jaynne

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Putting a lock on the lodger's door risks turning it from a lodger relationship to a formal tenant, with all associated rights for the tenant.

I really don't follow that at all - the house I grew up in had locks fitted to all the doors from before we moved in. Locks have nothing to do with your own piece of mind.

The house we lived in as students had locks on the doors and it wasn't a problem. We wouldn't normally lock it except when we were were away for more than a couple of days - reason being we kept most of our alcohol in their and it could ahem disappear sometimes Everyone is entitled to keep their room locked to protect their stuff - CCTV is a bit OTT I think but the OP wouldn't be the first person to catch a tea leaf with such a system.

Yorkie1

Jaynne, the two situations you describe are legally different from the situation the OP is asking about.

If a family live in a house there is no rental relationship between them and so those types of laws do not apply.

As students, I assume your LL didn't live in the property too? If that is correct, then everyone is already a tenant and therefore their legal status is well defined.

A lodger, which is what OP is asking about, shares the LL's house with them and pays rent for the privilege. This makes them an excluded occupier, who has very few rights when it comes to security of tenure.

However, if the OP grants them exclusive possession of part of the house - i.e. by allowing them a lock on the door to which OP has no right of access for as long as the individual lives there - then OP runs the risk of having granted them a formal tenancy. This means they can only be evicted in certain circumstances and after a certain period of time.

I am not saying that this would definitely be the case in OP's situation; just that he should get this aspect checked out before blithely proceeding without legal reassurance.