Advice on what rent to charge a lodger

Calleja

Hi all,


I have a prospective lodger looking to move into a room in my house if we can come to some agreement on the rent to charge. She travels a lot and is likely to be away from home for weeks, possibly months at a time. On average, she reckons she will be home 1 week a month.


As I quite like living alone, this could be the ideal set up! (Currently, I tend to have short term lodgers with large gaps in between, partly so I can have some space, partly because my lodgers tend to come to me through work, so I just wait till someone needs a room).


Anyway, I have some ideas about how and what rent to charge, but I'm interested on how others would handle this/have handled this.


She has agreed that if there was someone needing a room whilst she was away, they could use the room but I'm not sure if this would be likely to happen much in practice.


I currently charge £80/week.


Thanks all.

Guest101

What area?


- £80 seems fairly cheap, but I wouldn't let anyone else use the room at all.


She pays, it's hers, not yours.

missbiggles1

If she pays the full rent then I'd agree it's hers but she might be happy to pay a reduced rent if someone else uses it while she's away.

However, this sounds a very complicated arrangement to manage - would she pack all her stuff up every time she goes away?

Calleja

Its a reasonable price for where I live....!


I agree, if she pays full rental cost, the room is hers to come and go as she pleases and no one else would use the room. But we are looking to come to some agreement that saves her some pennies whilst she isn't there. So I'm just looking for some ideas of what kind of arrangement is fair on us both.


As my other lodgers tend to come with just a suitcase and stay for a short period of time, she wouldn't need to pack up her stuff, they would just need the bed. The room being used in her absence was her suggestion, not mine. I have some 'regular' lodgers and they are just pleased for a bed that isn't a hotel room, they won't mind a few personal belongings lying around!

G_M

Some sort of compromise must be achievable.

* you are going to benefit greatly from having your own 'space' for 3 weeks out of 4
* you will also benefit financially, since she will not be there using gas/leccy/consumables etc (minor cost I accept, but all the same....)
* so seems fair that she pay a reduced rate
* I assume, though, that she will be leaving possession/belongings in the room - so letting to someone in her absence seems problematical
* if she cleared her room out completely when away, you could charge her the £80 pw for the weeks she is there (and then let it to others or leave empty at your discretion). Though actually, doing it this way I'd charge her a premium (£90? £100?) since you'd be giving her first option when she needed it, making letting to someone else very difficult
* I'd suggest a flat rate of, say, £60? 70? whether she is there or not - but I'd build in some agreement that if her lifestyle changed ad she were there more than x weeks per month, or Y days per 3 months (or whatever), the rent would return to £80.

they are just pleased for a bed that isn't a hotel room, they won't mind a few personal belongings lying around!

and if something goes missing/gets damaged.....?

LODGERS (Licencees/Excluded Occupiers)
A lodger (broadly) lives in the same property with a resident landlord & shares facilities. Unlike tenants, lodgers have few rights.

The Housing Act 1988 provides definitions of 'Resident Landlord' & 'same property' (S31 & Schedule 1 (10).

See:

LodgerLandlord (21 tips from solicitor Tessa Shepperson + General information site)

Landlordzone (Various articles on taking in lodgers)

Renting out rooms in your home (Government info)

Rent a Room Scheme (HMRC guide for tax-free income from lodgers)

Calleja

G_M wrote: »

Some sort of compromise must be achievable.

* you are going to benefit greatly from having your own 'space' for 3 weeks out of 4
* you will also benefit financially, since she will not be there using gas/leccy/consumables etc (minor cost I accept, but all the same....)
* so seems fair that she pay a reduced rate
* I assume, though, that she will be leaving possession/belongings in the room - so letting to someone in her absence seems problematical
* if she cleared her room out completely when away, you could charge her the £80 pw for the weeks she is there (and then let it to others or leave empty at your discretion). Though actually, doing it this way I'd charge her a premium (£90? £100?) since you'd be giving her first option when she needed it, making letting to someone else very difficult
* I'd suggest a flat rate of, say, £60? 70? whether she is there or not - but I'd build in some agreement that if her lifestyle changed ad she were there more than x weeks per month, or Y days per 3 months (or whatever), the rent would return to £80.

and if something goes missing/gets damaged.....?

LODGERS (Licencees/Excluded Occupiers)
A lodger (broadly) lives in the same property with a resident landlord & shares facilities. Unlike tenants, lodgers have few rights.

The Housing Act 1988 provides definitions of 'Resident Landlord' & 'same property' (S31 & Schedule 1 (10).

See:

LodgerLandlord (21 tips from solicitor Tessa Shepperson + General information site)

Landlordzone (Various articles on taking in lodgers)

Renting out rooms in your home (Government info)

Rent a Room Scheme (HMRC guide for tax-free income from lodgers)

Thanks for the replies. And thanks G_M for the practical, sensible advice as always!


Missing/damaged property is a good point to take on board.


A lower, flat rate might be the simplest option all round...


But still interested if anyone has any other thoughts!

Rosemary7391

Could she perhaps have some lockable drawers or similar - so when she's away, her stuff goes in there and is safe(r) if other folks are using it? I'd then charge some sort of average between your normal rent and the price of a self store type place.

moneyistooshorttomention

Back when I had lodgers years back one of mine was there just part of the week - but got charged full rent as per the others had been. That was on the basis the room was still hers and it had been her choice not to use it then.

For someone who was away for weeks at a time - personally I would still regard the room as hers (as I was unable to use it for anyone or anything else). As to whether you decide to charge proportionately less for lower usage of fuel then I guess that's down to how much less fuel you think the house will use. If the bills go down, say, £5 per week whilst she's not there - then let her have that £5 as a discount on the room for that time. If it's more than that - then proportionately more. If it's much about the same - then no discount (ie as all costs would be the same).

NB; Bear in mind lower usage of water too (assuming you're on a water meter).

You may prefer to offer her the choice of you being able to use her room as guest bedroom for yourself whilst she wasnt there - in which case then a rather bigger discount would be. Personally - I wouldnt expect a lodger to accept their room being used for anything other than themselves (as I wouldnt accept "sharing" the room myself in their position).

missbiggles1

Do you live in an area where you might expect to get shorter but better paying lets through https://www.airbnb.co.uk/ ?

Calleja

Thanks all for the responses. I think I've opted to go for a lower flatter rate with the room being exclusively hers. I will benefit from having the house to myself quite a bit so happy to receive less rent for that reason. As I say, I currently have short term lodgers with long voids (as I don't actively look for lodgers, people who need a room come to me) so under these terms I think I will be slightly up, from the money point of view.


Airbnb might give me more rent but I don't think its for me.

TBagpuss

I see you've made the decision, I was going to say go for a stright let to her with exclusive possession but consider a slight reduction on your normal rate as presumably there will be a bit ofsaving on things such as heating and water if she is there less frequently.