Renting out a room to a friend with a child

[Deleted User]

First of all the OP is buying a HOUSE not a flat.

You need to look carefully at why this friend can't rent a place independently and look at how these reasons will affect you.

Living without central heating isn't ideal.., but lol..,the human race has been doing without it for a couple of thousand years, its only the last three decades its become 'normal'. Like a lot of people, I can't afford to run ours even when its cold as much as I'd like, so we just dress warmly.

Its not ideal to have a nine year old sharing a room with mum, but these days, unfortunately, it does happen more than we think.

If I was in your position, I'd be spending time with this friend where she is living now to see how she lives and deals with her child to help decide if you three would work well together. It can work, but it can also be a complete disaster. Is she likely to be able to take the child out if he needs to let off steam?

When I first moved to Kent, I had to live in my ex's bedsit with TWO children (both boys, one 5, one 15). It did work,I made sure they didn't upset anyone but it was a bit stressful for me personally! I had social work involvement but they certainly didn't seem to find anything unusual in the situation, or have any concerns. I had a large park next door where I could take them out to let off steam and both kids went to school, so there was only three hours a day I had to keep them entertained. I managed this for about three months. But the LL seemed to expect me to find somewhere to live instantaneously.., and threw us out in spite of the other tenants saying they hardly noticed we were there. I knew the situation was hardly ideal (after all I was living it) but finding something like a house or flat was very difficult. I had to go into emergency accommodation in the end.

So it can work, and my situation showed that it can be very difficult to get into a property unless you've got deposit, month's rent in advance, references, job, bank account etc etc as far as LA's and LL's are concerned. As I was on benefits, it was difficult to find somewhere in spite of having a deposit etc. Its even worse now. So families can find themselves in this situation. But you do need to make sure it will work for you. Bills are an important factor as already mentioned.

If the other person just wants a roof over their head, and has an attitude to living in this situation that's amenable to yours, it can work. But make very sure this is true before she moves in.

katejo

kinger101 wrote: »

Of course, we could get clarification of what was meant by "licensable place" from the BBC. Except, they've decided that they cannot tell as their actual policy, and have therefore redacted this document on the rather spurious assertion that if we knew what they actual meant, we may attempt to evade the licence fee.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/ss/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=content-type&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1370006220552&ssbinary=true

So for now, we have to guess what is meant by the "separate legal arrangements" term stated within the T&C of the licence.

It is far too vague. Had a quick look at your document. My lodger has always had shared use of the whole house (other than my bedroom of course!). I have always lived on the premises. I can't see any reason why the lodger should need a separate licence other than the wording about family member/au-pair which I have already given.
Still think that it needs a test case in court.

hazyjo

Let them stay with you for one week - or one month - then and only then discuss whether it could be for longer.


Nine year old children can be a nightmare at times (actually, they can at any age lol). No way could I have a nine year old in my house on a permanent/semi-perm basis! Maybe if I adopted or fostered, but not someone else's child with them there too. You'll be biting your tongue a lot, I expect...


Jx