How much to charge my friend as a lodger?

tawnylor

Hello everyone,

I have a friend who is in need of somewhere to stay as all his other options have run out. He has a full time job now and we are just being a stop gap until he can find somewhere else to live more permanently, although that could be a few months. We have a fairly large double bedroom which is furnished and all bills will be included. I am letting him pay in arrears so he can move in before his first paycheck. I asked for £300 a month and he looked a bit shocked by it, although he agreed to pay it. It is the least rooms go for in our area. Am I being greedy/a bad friend by not giving him a bigger mates rates discount?

I'd appreciate anyone's opinions/experience on this!

RAS

What are your costs?

What is included in the £300 - utilties, CT, rent etc?

BigAunty

There's no right rent. You either go for market rates, because that's what the room warrants, or you go for mates rates, because you don't want to be a commercial landlord.

The problem you may have is that you are mixing business with friendship, and therefore any tenancy related issues can cause the end of the relationship. Some debate here on a blog.

http://blog.spareroom.co.uk/tag/lodgers/

The best lodgers, according to the advice I've read, are sorted, solvent individuals, not people down on their luck. Perhaps your friend thinks you should treat him as somehow vulnerable...

"Don't be tempted to take pity on down and outs or people going through martial break-ups or other sob stories: the best lodgers are people who have their lives together; students and hard working motivated people with a purpose in life."

Some handy info here about checking your insurance is still valid, etc.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/lodgers_rent-a-room.htm

lee111s

I could rent my room for 300-350 a month bills included.

My mate has just sold the house he shares with his sister and due to him being young and dafe a few years ago he's got a CCJ and a few defaults so wants somewhere to stay while he builds his credit rating up over the next 12 months.

I'm renting the room to him for £250 a month (£270 if he wants Sky HD in his room). Both of us benefit, I'm getting someone I know and trust and he's getting cheap rent. We know we'll both have someone we get on with in the house. I know he's not going to do off and not pay rent (he'll have 60k in the bank!!) and is working full time at a place he's been at for over a year.

kBHX

Beware! I had a friend stay with me for a few months whilst they were sorting themselves out. Worse mistake ever. Not only were they reluctant to pay rent on time. They randomly left after 3 months. They had borrowed nearly £3000 from me previously. Took 2 years and a solicitor to get the money back. This was someone I known for years... important lesson learnt.

giddypenguin

We've had 2 different friends lodge with us until they've got themselves sorted. Rooms in the area (found on rent a room.com)are about £350, so the first friend we did mates rates of £100 (or £150 - I don't remember) a month. However, the increase in our bills didn't leave us much left over out of this - and he was a bit more difficult to live with than we'd guessed.

When another friend moved in, we charged him £300 - still less than anything similar in the area (although we offered £275 and he rounded it up to £300). This was much better, covered all our costs and left us extra to overpay each month. We also had monthly meetings to bring up any issues any of us were having. Much better.

I would suggest advising them to set up a SO so you get your money each month.

tawnylor

BigAunty wrote: »

There's no right rent. You either go for market rates, because that's what the room warrants, or you go for mates rates, because you don't want to be a commercial landlord.

The problem you may have is that you are mixing business with friendship, and therefore any tenancy related issues can cause the end of the relationship. Some debate here on a blog.



The best lodgers, according to the advice I've read, are sorted, solvent individuals, not people down on their luck. Perhaps your friend thinks you should treat him as somehow vulnerable...

"Don't be tempted to take pity on down and outs or people going through martial break-ups or other sob stories: the best lodgers are people who have their lives together; students and hard working motivated people with a purpose in life."

Some handy info here about checking your insurance is still valid, etc.

Thanks for all the quick replies!

I totally get what you're saying about taking people who have their lives together, but if that was the case I wouldn't need to offer!

Thanks for the tip about insurance, I'll definitely look that up

19lottie82

I think you did the right thing.

I'd ask for the lower end of the going rate too, friend or not.

RAS

Remember that the rent a room scheme applies as long as ALL charges come to less than the limit (about £370 per month). That includes shares of phone bills etc.

tawnylor

lee111s wrote: »

I could rent my room for 300-350 a month bills included.

My mate has just sold the house he shares with his sister and due to him being young and dafe a few years ago he's got a CCJ and a few defaults so wants somewhere to stay while he builds his credit rating up over the next 12 months.

I'm renting the room to him for £250 a month (£270 if he wants Sky HD in his room). Both of us benefit, I'm getting someone I know and trust and he's getting cheap rent. We know we'll both have someone we get on with in the house. I know he's not going to do off and not pay rent (he'll have 60k in the bank!!) and is working full time at a place he's been at for over a year.

This is a good way of looking at it, I do trust him to pay, and I am doing this as a favour, so as long as it doesn't cost me to keep him there then I think I would be happy. Taking that £50 off might make all the difference.

BigAunty

tawnylor wrote: »

...

I totally get what you're saying about taking people who have their lives together, but if that was the case I wouldn't need to offer!

I get what you mean and I hope that it will work out fine despite your friend's shock at paying the lower end of rent for the area and your rescuing him from homelessness.

Like a previous poster, I've had my fingers burned helping out an (ex) friend who I took pity on because she said she faced repossession of her property as her savings were running out.

I was rewarded for my generosity by witnessing her take a 3 week holiday in Asia at the height of her self-induced financial crisis.

When I challenged her about that, I was told she 'deserved it' and she wasn't going to speak to me anymore because I had been rude to her.

In particular, she resented my observations that part of her debt problem was that she was maintaining a middle class lifestyle of travel, extensive socialising and running an unused car while being long-term unemployed on £65 Job Seekers Allowance per week and failing to get a lodger months after her friends decorated and furnished her spare room out of their own money after a sob story that its poor state meant she couldn't find a lodger for it.

Some people have bad luck and are grateful for assistance from their friends and others make bad decisions and feel entitled to unlimited, non-reciprocated, assistance.