Bought with a friend. Could be in a mess. Need advice...

pinkshoes

I was in the same situation with my ex when we owned a flat 50/50, but split up.

We agreed he would stay living there and "rent" the flat at below market rental price (as no letting fees etc...), then we would get half the rent each, then still paid half he mortgage each. The half of the rent Ingot near enough covered my half of the mortgage.

He then took on a lodger to help him cover he rent. That was his business who he wanted to share with.

peachyprice

Wow, you sound so much more positive than you did at 8.30 this morning! :T
Hope it all works out for you.

Brighton_belle

ShortStacked wrote: »

If going for a lodger option, my gut feeling is that this should be done with contracts/legal agreements in place. What are people's thoughts on this? Has anyone gone down the more informal arrangement route?

Spareroom.com. Great site.(With lots of advice too) I've been letting a room for over 10 years and personally have never had any contracts (I'm not advising this is right for you). As a resident landlord, you can get someone out within a month is necessary.
I've had 10 years of fabulous lodgers. The secret is to
interview properly, with very very clear boundaries on what is up for sharing and what isn't -we never share our sitting room, therefore, anyone who moves in only moves in knowing that is the set up they want too. We do an all inclusive rent, so no arguing over bills. Rules are clearly laid out over friends coming over/partners not moving in/cleaning. All friendly, but assertive and clear so no blurry lines.

JohnX_2

My take on this in general terms

1)Never ever do business with a good friend

2)Or lend money to a good friend

Unless you want to see one or both become strained or collapse!

ibizafan_2

Just to let you know that this situation can work out well. My eldest son and his best friend from Uni bought a two bed roomed flat in Clapham in 2008. It was a struggle at first to pay the mortgage etc but they felt it was better than renting. The inevitable happened and my son's friend moved out a couple of years to live with his girlfriend. They did consider both moving out, as the high rent achievable would have more than covered the mortgage, but instead, my son invited another university friend to lodge with him. It's all been fine. After an initial struggle to pay the mortgage, the flat has now more than doubled in value (London situation) and his salary has also more than doubled, so they have more options with regard to the future. I know that they both want to keep the property as an investment whether they are living in it or not. I don't know whether they have any legal agreement in place or whether they just trust each other, but they both seem to be on the same page where the property is concerned.

BitterAndTwisted

Another thing I suggest you consider is discussing with your friend that you get more than a half-share of any increase in equity, to compensate your having to live with a stranger in order for both of you to hold onto the property. It goes without saying that you'll be getting the lodger's rent paid into your own bank-account, so anything being paid over and above his share of the mortgage-payment is yours to cover repairs and maintenance, wear-and-tear on your possessions.

You probably don't need to be told how much of a percentage increase London properties have seen over the last year....

BigAunty

I have had 3 lodgers before, all very messy and untidy to an astonishing degree but who were very personable. You'd never really know from chatting with them or their appearance that they had absolutely no basic cleaning or housekeeping skills whatsoever. I tolerated the mess because I was at my partner's house most of the time, was planning to sell up so I knew it was just a temporary thing and because I'm not that assertive.

We are talking about shaving legs in the shower but not rinsing afterwards, skiddies in the loo, leaving dirty crockery in the room for days, rarely laundering their bedding, breaking kitchenware and simply slinging it in the bin rather than telling me or replacing the item, using the tumble drier on a warm day and in preference to ironing items, putting saucepans of cooked food in the fridge.

One time I was away on a long holiday and clearly the washing up liquid ran out and the bin needed emptying. The lodger had simply rinsed their dirty crockery in water and piled the rubbish along the worksurfaces and along the bottom of the bin rather than pay 50p for replacement liquid or take the bin out.

BigAunty

The OP must undertake proper lodger screening. There are services providers on the Landlordzone website that will do an ID, credit and previous landlord reference check for a small fee.

Yes, its a much simpler, quicker and easier process to evict a lodger (non-excluded occupier) than a tenant but simply by putting screening in place, you may very well deter a 'pro' seeking a novice landlord to exploit.

One of my lodgers did a moonlight flit without handing back the key when she owed rent - she spent her rent money on Christmas.

I then got a stream of debt collecting letters for her and court summons for an attachment of earning hearings as she'd taken out a loan from a Cash Converter type place and reneged on it. I suspect that she flitted from property to property, job to job, in order to shake off her debts and the attachment of earnings process for county court judgements.

I suspected her of tampering with my mail and applying for credit in false names at the property as I kept receiving letters of this type during and after her stay.

I take responsibility for ending up with a nightmare lodger because I did not take up previous landlord references or insist on performing a credit check.

She gave me a half completed lodger application form with what I suspected was a made up NI number. She came up with a sob story to explain why she couldn't give me her landlord's details, claiming she'd experienced bullying from her last flat mate causing her to flee but I suspect she had just done another flit.

Her boss called me to explain there was a payroll error which meant a delay to her pay and asked me to grant her the tenancy without paying the deposit. It may have been her boss but then again, I wouldn't have put it past her to persuade a friend to pose.

You'd have thought after skipping out owing rent and not handing back the key, she may have been nervous of encountering me but no, she emailed me saying she'd pop back at her own convenience to collect her stuff (which consisted of a few coat hangars and some baking ingredients...). I expect she did to try and wind me up about the security of the house. I had the locks changed the day she left, so no issue there.

She claimed she had to return home suddenly because of bereavement but I actually found a list of properties she'd circled to view, called the first one and the lady confirmed she'd taken her on as a tenant....

It is a total no no for a landlord to hand over a key without all the proper paperwork and finances in place so it's my own fault but I think she's what is known as a 'pro tenant' and just knows how to hone in on inexperienced landlords.

I googled the lodger and it seems she is a Walter Mitty type. I knew her as a debt ridden person working in a low paid junior position in retail. On social media, she was a designer/model earning 35k a year, working on her new collection.

Tigsteroonie

BigAunty wrote: »

She claimed she had to return home suddenly because of bereavement but I actually found a list of properties she'd circled to view, called the first one and the lady confirmed she'd taken her on as a tenant....

Did you let the new landlady know what kind of tenant she had taken? :rotfl:

BigAunty

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

Did you let the new landlady know what kind of tenant she had taken? :rotfl:

Actually, she was very angry that I contacted her in order to speak to my fleeing lodger - fair enough for her not to want to be an intermediary. I figured she'd find out soon enough.

Looks like her lodger didn't stay there very long as per her modus operandi as she popped up on Linkd In for another job in a different part of the country.

Naturally enough the mobile phone number that my lodger gave on her lodgers application and on social media didn't work.

This happened years ago so I am way over the annoyance.

I now just think it's a dreadful life not being able to put down roots because you can't live within your means and all the wasted energy required to seek out jobs and accommodation when you have a poor CV and a history of flitting.

Ok, I was a month or so down on rent but it could have been a lot worse. Far better she flits out rather than stays in place and causes further aggro.