Lodger help please!!!

sez1512

G_M wrote: »

As I said, and contrary to others' opinions, this is clear demonstration of an offer by the lodger to surrender the agreement.

Which the LL can and probobly has accepted.

Contract ended.

Interesting- so how do I tell her this?

Something like.....
following your decision to leave last night with no prior notice I am taking this as an offer to surrender the lodger agreement. As such the contract has now ended.
I will refund rent for unused days and you can contact me to arrange to collect the remainder of your belongings.

What do you think?

RAS

You need to agree an early surrender as you have a contract that requires one month's notice.

You might want to agree

a) that you accept that she wants to leave
b) that you will only charge rent until such time as she removes her furniture and returns her keys.

That gives her an incentive to move stuff out quickly.

nidO

You could always send her that letter with her unused days' refund as a cheque and state that depositing the cheque constitutes acknowledgement that the contract has ceased (and ensure you keep a copy of the letter) - You could also add a note to this effect to the back of the cheque itself as well, no way to argue with that one.

That gives you some double security that as soon as the cheque gets paid even if she doesn't explicitly contact you any further, she's out of your hair.

pmlindyloo

G_M wrote: »

As I said, and contrary to others' opinions, this is clear demonstration of an offer by the lodger to surrender the agreement.

Which the LL can and probobly has accepted.

Contract ended.

I absolutely agree with this.

The lodger has surrendered her agreement and the landlord has by entering her room, cleaning it etc etc appeared to accepted that the lodger has gone.

Therefore the lodger has no need to give notice.

The lodger has paid up to the 13 August (is that correct)

If you wish to use the room then return part of her rent money from the date she left to the 13 Aug.

You cannot retain any of the money for the alleged damage to the desk without her agreement as you have no proof of the condition at the beginning of the agreement.

Move on, give her back part of the rent and put it all down to a learning experience.

And as part of the learning experience start with putting everything in writing detailing what has happened. eg you surrendered the .......................

phill99

I had a lodger once. I gave her 24 hours notice and out all her belongings in the garden. Never heard from her again.

Stop fannying around and change the locks and tell her she has 24 hours to move her stuff or it goes to the tip.

This namby pamby rubbish about 'having rights' and 'you can be sued' is exactly that- rubbish.

Man up.

Mojisola

sez1512 wrote: »

It has been up and down and she has 'moved out' twice previously but has never given written notice and continued to pay rent for the time she had left.

pmlindyloo wrote: »

And as part of the learning experience start with putting everything in writing detailing what has happened. eg you surrendered the .......................

And, in future, don't wait for an awkward lodger to give notice - do it yourself.

sez1512

Mojisola wrote: »

And, in future, don't wait for an awkward lodger to give notice - do it yourself.

I had actually planned to yesterday but it turns out i didn't need to. I had hoped it could be resolved much more calmly than this though.

sez1512

phill99 wrote: »

I had a lodger once. I gave her 24 hours notice and out all her belongings in the garden. Never heard from her again.

Stop fannying around and change the locks and tell her she has 24 hours to move her stuff or it goes to the tip.

This namby pamby rubbish about 'having rights' and 'you can be sued' is exactly that- rubbish.

Man up.

Haha, Thanks!

I have spoken to The South West Landlord Association who are in agreement with many of the posters on here. I am within my rights to change the locks.

Confusedandneedhelp

phill99 wrote: »

I had a lodger once. I gave her 24 hours notice and out all her belongings in the garden. Never heard from her again.

Stop fannying around and change the locks and tell her she has 24 hours to move her stuff or it goes to the tip.

This namby pamby rubbish about 'having rights' and 'you can be sued' is exactly that- rubbish.

Man up.

Im sorry but thats just not correct.

You have a contract, if you breach that contract, which clearly you would if you gave 24 hrs notice, when the contract says a month.

The other party would be able to sue you for their losses, including damage to their property.

Just because your lodger didnt do that, doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

You're very lucky, and slightly silly, advising this.

RAS

A lodger is entitled to reasonable notice. In some situations that might be a few hours in others a week BUT in this case the OP had a written contract stating that one month's notice is required.

Therefore she cannot just turf the lodger out without risk of legal action.

And I would be very careful about changing the locks whilst the lodger still has property there; the next activity may be a police man wanting a statement re theft. Given the freak-out over the rubbish, I would be very careful.

OP - if you can get the lodger to agree that they will surrender the tenancy (which they seem to want) and agree what happens re-collecting their furniture, then alert them to the lock change and ask them to contact you to arrange collection of the furniture and the bag of rubbish (just say "the other stuff in your room").