advice on renting spare room in my flat

katejo

Talc1234 wrote: »

1. Don't understand the logic of 'charging slightly below market rate' If you give your lodger some autonomy i.e. respect their privacy, make them feel welcome, allow them to use shared areas / equipment without standing over them fretting, then there is no disadvantage compared to a house / flat share. Use spare room dot com to benchmark prices.

2. Charge all inclusive as it is easier for you to charge and them to pay than you giving them lots of bills. If they take the mick with the heating etc ok 2 weeks notice But micromanaging their usage will generate bad feelings. Communal kitty?? What for? Add it to the rent

3. References easy to fake. Bad people fake references. Not worth bothering with. Call employer to ascertain that the lodger works there but that is all you need to do. Instead have a long chat with them to find out what sort of person they are, don't necessarily take the first person who views

4. Lodger will at the very least expect unlimited use of Broadband Internet. I use fibre optic so we can both stream movies use skype with no interference. Some people may say that is risky but you will have a copy of their ID, previous address right? Besides if you don't offer Internet then you won't get any lodgers. If possible give them a TV for their room so they can watch what they want without being intimidated by what you want (I also give my lodger unrestricted use of living room but there again I don't want someone who solely sits in their room).

I advertise on spare room and ask those interested to email me rather than ring. This gives me time to read their profiles and decide who might be suitable.
I include gas/electricity but avoid anyone likely to spend long periods at home Mon-Fri and so need the heating on all day! I made that mistake with one previous lodger.
Yes all lodgers expect internet access. I don't give access to my laptop but I provide wireless access.
I don't provide a TV in their room. Think that would give the impression that I didn't want them to watch mine at all.

asoe209

do you guys think gum tree is an ok place to post adds.

BitterAndTwisted

Why not? People search lots of different sites to find accommodation and Gumtree is one of them.

What matters is being able to sort the wheat from the chaff. Make it clear in your ad that you will require references, and be sure to take them up.

There was a poster on here who had an application form for prospective lodgers to fill in (Badger_Lady, I think) so finding hers might be useful to you.

asoe209

Another thing I need to ask was do you take in a months money up front? and when they leave does this go back to them?

asoe209

this is the add i posted does it sound alright?

I have a room that will be available for rent form mid February.

This is located in a ground floor 2 bedroom flat, I will also being living here in the other room. As it stands this is a short term rent at around 6-8 Months, but there is the possibility for this to be extended. This will be discussed well in advance so not to leave any one with out a place to stay.

The flat is located in Northumberland Heath DA8, about a 10 Min walk from Barnhurst Train Station which Links to London Bridge and Charring Cross. Main bus routes are about a 2 min walk.

There is a local high street with various shops including a Co-Op supermarket and Tesco Local.

Tenant will share Kitchen, Bathroom and Living room with me, but is able to use all appliances with in the home.

At present the room is not furnished, but will be furnished if a tenant requires it to be. with Bed and wardrobe.

The rent is £450 a month, but this is all bill included.

if any one is interested please send me an email and I can provide more details and take things from there.

Talc1234

asoe209 wrote: »

this is the add i posted does it sound alright?

I have a room that will be available for rent form mid February.

This is located in a ground floor 2 bedroom flat, I will also being living here in the other room. As it stands this is a short term rent at around 6-8 Months, but there is the possibility for this to be extended. This will be discussed well in advance so not to leave any one with out a place to stay.

The flat is located in Northumberland Heath DA8, about a 10 Min walk from Barnhurst Train Station which Links to London Bridge and Charring Cross. Main bus routes are about a 2 min walk.

There is a local high street with various shops including a Co-Op supermarket and Tesco Local.

Tenant will share Kitchen, Bathroom and Living room with me, but is able to use all appliances with in the home.

At present the room is not furnished, but will be furnished if a tenant requires it to be. with Bed and wardrobe.

The rent is £450 a month, but this is all bill included.

if any one is interested please send me an email and I can provide more details and take things from there.

Short-term let off putting. How about rephrasing it 'Room to let for an initial 6/9 months with the possibility to extend'

Describe the accommodation first not the area
Describe the room and shared accommodation i.e do you have off-road parking, washing machine, dishwasher, cable / satellite / freeview TV, and WiFi
Describe yourself
'Tenant will share Kitchen, Bathroom and Living room with me' sounds a little creepy. I would just write 'shared kitchen, bathroom, living room'
Add some photos

asoe209

Many thanks for that. Sounds creepy really made me lol.

OK ill take that on board and rewrite it.

Here are a few pictures, what £450 gets you.. The bedroom still has few off the exs bits init should be gone in a few days now.

katejo

Talc1234 wrote: »

Short-term let off putting. How about rephrasing it 'Room to let for an initial 6/9 months with the possibility to extend'

Describe the accommodation first not the area
Describe the room and shared accommodation i.e do you have off-road parking, washing machine, dishwasher, cable / satellite / freeview TV, and WiFi
Describe yourself
'Tenant will share Kitchen, Bathroom and Living room with me' sounds a little creepy. I would just write 'shared kitchen, bathroom, living room'
Add some photos

I agree with the comments above. Perhaps the use of the word tenant should be avoided altogether as this person would have lodger status not tenant's rights. Have you tried browsing ads on a website like Spare Room to see what other landlords have included in their ads? I am looking at these at the moment as i am also looking for a new lodger.

00ec25

asoe209 wrote: »

Many thanks for that. Sounds creepy really made me lol.

OK ill take that on board and rewrite it.

OP has already listed it on spareroom
http://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=3133758&search_id=155297592&city_id=&flatshare_type=offered&search_results=%2Fflatshare%2F%3Fsearch_id%3D155297592%26&

at £450pcm I'd prefer the other 2 in the same area, although obviously they may well have gone by February. This one at £400 and the other at £450, both look much nicer

getmore4less

get rid of "potential" it looks like you are still unsure and may end up wasting time.

also erith staion is marked as 5mins but the add says the other one is closer at 10mins.