Cheeky Lodger gave notice and now wants to stay and use deposit

mr.yoga

Hi. I have a big problem with lodgers. I have rented a house from my landlord, but because of high cost had to take lodgers into 3 rooms. They have agreed to pay fixed amount for room on a weekly basics, and to cover bills as they use it. I took 2 weeks deposit from them and issued them with a piece of paper where they can see if they have paid their rent for certain week. I also put there deposit amount. Now they are moving out so I have issued them with calculation for bills. There was a verbal agreement on rules about leaving, 2 weeks notice and deposit use.
Now they want to move so I have issued them with bills calculation. It has topped up to 1000 pounds within 3 months. They were in shock, but that is what they have used. They have told me that it is all lies and they couldn’t use so much of it (BTW they were heating up to 30 degrees!). That’s where argue has started. Now they have stopped to pay me for the rent. I told them if they don’t pay they have to move ( I was upset) so I told one guy that he has to pay till next day or I will kick him out day after. Next day he has gone to Council Housing Department and got a letter saying I am a landlord and he is a tenant and that I have got no right to move him or disturb him. He said that he will live on his deposit for another two weeks. But a week before that letter he send me a txt with 2 week notice where he has said that he is moving out after two weeks. Now he told me that he is staying for 2 weeks or more, to use his deposit for living. He thinks he is a tenant not lodger and that’s what is stated on that letter from council. My questions are:

• - Can this txt be used as a official notice and I can use it to evict him or do I have to give him a written notice
• - Has he got a right to use deposit to live although he hasn’t paid bills
• - Is there any way of getting my money back for that rent and bills in case he moves out without paying it
• - How can I make him to sign piece of paper that he owes me those money / sell his debt
• - How can I kick him out? If if take my wardrobe from his room (with his clothes in it) and put it outside house and all his lose stuff is that breaching some kind of law?
• - Has anyone got any idea how can I get rid of him in a quick and efficient way and still not to lose my money ?

Many thanks

dibblersan

First question, just to check, is it all one big house and do you live together, or is it bed sits where you all only really share, say, a bathroom?

Fire_Fox

Is it registered as a House in Multiple Occupation, does it need to be? Do you have consent from the landlord to sublet? Do they pay rent to you or the landlord? Do you have a dual signed lodger agreement which details the bill payments?

moneyistooshorttomention

I imagine that the house is still only in your name - as you are the official tenant (the only one as far as your landlord is concerned). If one of your lodgers did any damage to the landlords house/possessions then you would be the one that would have to compensate the landlord for this.

Hence the need for a deposit - ie in order to have money available that can be used to cover any damage the lodger does.

It is not uncommon for a lodger to try to get their deposit back from the home-owner (or, in your case, yourself as the tenant) by trying not to pay any rent for the appropriate number of weeks at the end (eg if the deposit is £160 for instance and the rent is £40 per week - then some lodgers will try not to pay the 4 weeks rent at the end to reclaim their deposit that way).

I am a home-owner who previously took in lodgers and a couple of them tried to pull that stunt with me. I refused and stated that they must pay rent as normal until the time they left and they would then be given the deposit back on the day they left (and after I had inspected their room for any damage - in case I needed to make a deduction from the deposit for it).

In my naivety at the time, I had assumed that a lodger would mention any damage they had done or that, at the least, it would be clearly visible at first glance. I was wrong. Lodgers sometimes do damage that they don't admit to and isnt visible without close inspection.

I have found before now that an electrical item in their room had been broken by them (but didnt realise until I came to use it myself) - as it still looked normal.

Another lodger wet the bed:eek: - and obviously more than once too - as both sides of the mattress had suffered from this. He got lucky - if I'd realised he was that sort of lout whilst he was living here he would have been given his notice. Again, I didnt realise in time to reclaim the cost of a new bed from his deposit, because the bed looked okay at first glance (I had a mattress cover on the mattress - so couldnt see the mattress itself. He had obviously washed the mattress cover and put it back on the bed to hide the fact that he had ruined it).

So - you do need to hang onto the deposit until the day they move out (rather than let them use it up as rent payment) and you need to conduct a careful examination of their room before they go (including using any electrical items there, examining both sides of the mattress, checking they havent torn curtain linings, etc). If any furniture has been moved - check to see if they have damaged the furniture by moving it or whether it has been moved to hide a stain they have created in the carpet.

krlyr

If he truly is a lodger ( http://www.lodgerlandlord.co.uk/2010/03/09/the-five-main-differences-between-a-lodger-and-a-tenant/ ) then he has very little rights. You've given a reasonable amount of notice so you'd be within your rights to change the locks on your house, and either allow him in to pack (preferably with police presence) or return his belongings to him.
http://www.lodgerlandlord.co.uk/2010/02/20/day-20-how-do-you-evict-a-lodger-who-wont-go/

You're not allowed to just get rid of or sell his belongings, even if he doesn't return for them, without going through the proper methods
http://www.lodgerlandlord.co.uk/2010/08/19/dealing-with-lodgers-possessions-that-they-leave-behind/

(just to say, I'm not related to the Lodger Landlord website at all, they just rank highly on Google and have a lot of indepth info!)

Not sure where you'd stand with using the deposit to cover the shortfall in bills - deposits for lodgers aren't protected like for tenants so you may be able to use it, I'm not sure. But in future, consider a bills-inclusive rate for your rooms and getting a month paid upfront so you're not put into that position again - much easier to have the money in your pocket before the bills are racked up than trying to recover it once the electricity/gas/etc. has been used and you're the one liable for it on paper.
When I lived in houseshares I always paid bills-inclusive, I probably paid for more than I used this way but a room was still way cheaper for me than living on my own and covering rent/bills myself.

RAS

England, Scotland Wales? The law is very different.

tbs624

mr.yoga wrote: »

Hi. I have a big problem with lodgers. I have rented a house from my landlord, but because of high cost had to take lodgers into 3 rooms. They have agreed to pay fixed amount for room on a weekly basics, and to cover bills as they use it.

..........he has gone to Council Housing Department and got a letter saying I am a landlord and he is a tenant and that I have got no right to move him or disturb him. ......

He thinks he is a tenant not lodger and that’s what is stated on that letter from council.

My bolding

Is the "head LL" ( ie the person to whom *you* pay rent) aware that you have been letting rooms out to other people? Has he given you written consent to do so? What does your own tenancy agreement say on the subject?

Have you checked the HMO rules local to you?

What figure does the rental income bring in to you? Declared to HMRC where necessary?

Be aware that if your "lodgers" have exclusive use of a specific room they may well be more correctly classified as sub-tenants and therefore have more rights than a lodger, as the Council Officer has indicated to you already. Did you formally retain the right to access their individual rooms, say for cleaning purposes?

You may want to seek some legal advice of your own. Most solicitors will offer a Fixed Fee appointment to go through the basics with you - make sure that you use a solicitor who has LL&T experience.

moneyistooshorttomention

Re exclusive use of a specific room - then clearly lodgers would have exclusive use of their bedroom, but they share kitchen/bathroom/any garden.

I've just got this idea running round in my head that my (former) lodgers had less rights because they didnt have ANYWHERE that was exclusive to them other than their bedroom.