How much would you charge?

Iamdave

We have renters who are working contractors in our 3 bed 2nd house, they pay weekly for their room at present and expected to be in place for about 6 months.

The money we receive is roughly double what we would get a month if we rented the house out on the normal market.

Their rent is effectively paid for by their company, however roughly every 8 weeks they get a week off and can go home (their rent money isn't paid during this period by the company)

Normally these guys would rent a room in contractor lodgings in a B&B leave for their week off and resume their rent when they get back.

They obv don't want to pay for lodgings in the house when they are not there as it comes out of their own pocket then but are happy to pay a retainer as the house is preferable to a single room b&b.

We as the owners can understand this and as we are much better off with them rather than say a family renting off us want them to remain too. If we tried to charge them a full week rent out of their own pocket they would simple go back to b&b lodgings.

The average of the weekly rent is roughly £300 so what would be reasonable to charge as a retainer? opinions?

Bart1

I would give them one week in 8 for free as you are getting double rent for the other 7

enjoyyourshoes

You could take it on the chin and charge them nothing if you get tacit agreement that they will stay the 6 months and only get 1 week off in every 9. Income generated from this arrangement would be circa £6.9 K whereas income from normal let would be £3.9 K. Seems everyone wins if the situation can be formalised. Caveat that they keep the place spick and span and some sort of dilapidations/bond if they mess up ?

Iamdave

I'll add they may not all leave together, 1 may be away for between 4-14 days then be back then another goes one issue being though is that they don't know when they're going till the day before roughly.

highly unlikely there to be any damage etc as I know their type and they are as good as gold. As skilled tradesmen it has popped into my head that they could be responsible for any maintenance on the house rather than us dealing with it along with a nominal retainer (they have already fixed something themselves to be fair to them)

seems a win win, our job as landlord is basically to collect rent then and not worry about house maintenance to much (not really my forte anyway)

obv if it was a big maintenance issue that would be a different story and we would sort it.

many thanks for replies guys

Cheeky_Monkey

They're not lodgers if you don't live in the same house!

Iamdave

Cheeky_Monkey wrote: »

They're not lodgers if you don't live in the same house!

edited for your satisfaction

somethingcorporate

They are tenants one would assume, you have a contract in place, gas safety, deposit protected, permission from your mortgage provider (or a B2L mortgage), you're delcaring the income to HMRC etc. etc.

I think this is what Cheeky_Monkey was angling at.

audigex

I think giving them 1 week in 8/9 free is fair enough, if you're getting double market rate anyway....

Perhaps a token £50 retainer if they're happy to provide one, but I think I'd just let them have it and go count my extra piles of cash.

somethingcorporate

i agree with the above, giving it to them for gratis.

Would you really want to risk killing the goose laying the golden egg for a week when the house will be empty?

Count yourself lucky and try and keep these guys happy.