Take in a lodger... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

wileycat

Vickisaver wrote: »

Hi,
I am going to need extra income shortly and am thinking about a lodger. I have a nice double room which I would happily rent out, and enough space left to get away if they were in the sitting room (have a dining room and study as well).
My biggest thing is how much I could charge. The room is recently decorated, and is big, and will have a TV etc and access to the wireless broadband I have.
In order to make ends meet, I need an extra £300 a month, but not sure this is realistic as I live about 30 minutes from Glasgow, although there is a good bus service & train link, or I would consider driving to work and doing a car pool.
Does anyone have any ideas, and would I have mortgage issues?
thanks
Vicki

Give you're mortgage company a call, and even just say you're about to get a mortagage with them and what is you're policy about lodgers.
Also check you're home insurance exclusions.
Try splitting it down a bit, between rent and bills, I know our bills would be £70 per person per month (slightly variable with elec/gas prices and usage), so £230 would be about £50/week does that seem far for the room?

pineapple

I think you can underestimate the impact that a lodger can have on your life. For me it worked best when their room was big enough to be a bed sitting room and the house was big enough for some personal space.
What about when they want to invite their mates round? I came home once to find a stranger cooking and rifling through my (kitchen) drawers and couldn't help feeling a mite resentful. Plus, if you live on your own, it can feel threatening to come home and find people you don't know in your house. To me, this is the sort of thing you have to think through as much as the legal side.

puddings_2

Vickisaver wrote: »

Hi,
I am going to need extra income shortly and am thinking about a lodger. I have a nice double room which I would happily rent out, and enough space left to get away if they were in the sitting room (have a dining room and study as well).
My biggest thing is how much I could charge. The room is recently decorated, and is big, and will have a TV etc and access to the wireless broadband I have.
In order to make ends meet, I need an extra £300 a month, but not sure this is realistic as I live about 30 minutes from Glasgow, although there is a good bus service & train link, or I would consider driving to work and doing a car pool.
Does anyone have any ideas, and would I have mortgage issues?
thanks
Vicki

I charge £300pm for my double room, but I don't know how Blackburn rent compares to Glasgow rent. If you're unsure, have a look in your local paper - the property to let section - see what other people are asking for house share double rooms.
Re your mortgage - it would be very honest of you to declare it to your mortgage lender, but if it was me, I would just keep shtum about it. Obviously though if you're applying for a new mortgage then you'll have to tell them otherwise they might refuse to lend you the money.
Your home insurer is a different matter though, you MUST tell them, otherwise if you come to make a claim you might not get paid out. If they refuse to continue your cover try Norwich Union instead.

Re: pineapples comments, yes it does feel odd to come home and find your lodgers guests in your kitchen, but remember that while they're paying rent, it is your lodgers home as well as your own. I make it clear to my lodgers they are responsible for their guests behaviour and they will have to pay to repair any damage that their guests cause. On that basis I'm welcoming to their friends (and occassional "breakfast" friends too!). If you start to feel resentful when you find somebody looking through your kitchen drawers then think about the money that you are being paid to allow this to happen (after all it is only your kitchen drawers not your bedroom drawers or anything like that).

want2bmortgage3

I've got a double room soon to be advertised for a lodger. I've furnished the room quite nicely with a double hopen bed from ikea and 2 x bedside drawers, and a big sliding wardrobe (one door mirror) with 2 large drawers, and a couple of shelves, all in oak effect. I've spent about £500 on the furniture. Thats on top of £200 for a new carpet and £50 skimming the ceiling + re-decoration, new curtain pole/curtains, new door. It all adds up... hopefully I can get max rental income for the room.

Badger_Lady

want2bmortgage3, that sounds wonderful! Your new lodger will really appreciate the effort

I've found it quite unnecessary to do much to my rooms, but then it depends fully on the type of lodger you want to attract and how desireable your house / location is already. My target market of 28-32 yr old chilled-out men are really unconcerned with decoration - they're happy to have a convenient place to crash with usable facilities and a good atmosphere.

One of my lodging rooms has a decent carpet and textured wallpaper; the other has a cheap brown carpet and only half wallpapered... both of them were furnished using Freecycle (double bed, wardrobe and 1-2 bedside cabinets). Every time I advertise, I get a queue of people and all those who see it (so far!) apply for the room.

Edit to add: I had planned to decorate the rooms beforehand but just never got round to it. I started advertising them for free as a test to see what the local market was like - was shocked when they were both taken within a week! As soon as the rent cheques were coming in, I abandoned my decorating plans.

carebear1976

One of my relatives ( a pensioner), has been renting out part of their property to a lodger. The house is in one council tax bill but is technically two different buildings (one an old cottage) and the other a more modern house. He lives in the modern part and the lodger in the cottage.

He was under the impression that he was eligible for the rent a room exemption as he was renting out rooms in his own house, but my reading of the government website would suggest to me that he wouldn't be entitled to this as it would fall under the exclusion on "granny flats". Does anyone know if that's right?

If so, I understand he will have to fill in a tax return (hasn't done one recently as his only other income was his pension) declaring the rental income and any related expenses. If he has to do this I guess he could do a split of the council tax, electricity, gas etc to work out the net income on which he has to pay tax, but I assume there are other expenses he may not be able to work out so easily. How much should he allocate for maintenance etc - I presume the HMRC will have "reasonable range" tables for these?

Any help gratefully received!

Vickisaver

Where do you think I should advertise my room, I'm not having much luck on the sites I've chosen so far!

carebear1976

carebear1976 wrote: »

One of my relatives ( a pensioner), has been renting out part of their property to a lodger. The house is in one council tax bill but is technically two different buildings (one an old cottage) and the other a more modern house. He lives in the modern part and the lodger in the cottage.

He was under the impression that he was eligible for the rent a room exemption as he was renting out rooms in his own house, but my reading of the government website would suggest to me that he wouldn't be entitled to this as it would fall under the exclusion on "granny flats". Does anyone know if that's right?

If so, I understand he will have to fill in a tax return (hasn't done one recently as his only other income was his pension) declaring the rental income and any related expenses. If he has to do this I guess he could do a split of the council tax, electricity, gas etc to work out the net income on which he has to pay tax, but I assume there are other expenses he may not be able to work out so easily. How much should he allocate for maintenance etc - I presume the HMRC will have "reasonable range" tables for these?

Any help gratefully received!

A bump for this evening?

harryhound

Is it two postal addresses?
Does it appear as two properties on the voters register?
Has the tenant bothered to register?
Are they both claiming single person Council Tax?
Does it look like one property?
Does it have more than one "front" door.
Does the tenant or the neighbour have any reason to try and "shop" the landlord to
the tax man?
How old is the landlord? Does he qualify for the addition of age allowance to his personal allowance?
Just how much additional tax is at risk?

spirit

Vickisaver,

Where have you been advertising so far?