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

LilacCow

Hi

I live in North London, and I'm new to the whole spare-room-rental thing.

Could anyone suggest what would be good websites to advertise on?

I'm looking for a non-party-animal - possibly a mature student or a monday-to-friday lodger.

I've heard of the following but I've no idea if they're any good - do they charge me? Does anyone read them?

• flatmaterooms.co.uk
• spareroom.co.uk
• ukeasyroommate
• gumtree

Any tips would be gratefully appreciated.

(Plus I don't suppose any of you forum people are looking for a nice double room in Stoke Newington with your own bathroom?)

Brighton_belle

Lilac, I've just used gumtree for the first time and it was well worth it - got lots of replies and lodger moves in tomorrow.

It is free, but my advice would be to pay the 12.95 it cost to keep your add at the top of the listings for 3 days. First time round got very few replies, as with each new ad mine got shoved down the list. Paying did make a huge difference and got many replies.

I also liked the fact I could chose to receive responses by email only rather than phone - it gave me a chance for an initial sifting of who I wanted to invite for a viewing.

It was important to us to have a non party animal too. So don't be afraid to say this: there are people out there who would dread moving into a noisy party house.
We have, unually for us, gone for someone much younger this time, but as they are a med student, they will be out all day and studying most nights.

Other advice, it to be clear what space is shared and what isn't right from the start - this saves confusion . For example we do not share a sitting room. Being clear about this means we get people who equally have no interest in hanging out with us in the evening. But it is important to us to be warm and friendly, and we have always had like minded people - friendly, considerate, but not looking for new buddies in who we live with IYSWIM.
Also be clear about bills, when the heating can be put on, attitiude to switching lights off, friends/partners staying over etc. This all helps get the sort of person you want if you know what what your expectations are.

Josie_CP

I'm with Keldin - short term sites like mondaytofriday.com fit much better with my busy work and social life.

I had a tenant through them last year and it worked out really well until she changed jobs - since then I've found crashpadder.com really useful - recommended by MSE here:

moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money

They actually have a calendar that lets you select when you're unavailable so guests can't book your room. This function is also useful for making sure you don't make more than the governments max on Rent-a-Room...

spirit

I always got all of mine via ukeasyroommate. you get a lot of people registering with them daily. spareroom didn't seem to have many registered.

julie777

Anyone happen to know if a lodger will affect my Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit? I am disabled, my husband relies on Income Support due to chronic illness. We get full Housing Benefit and CTB.
Now our son is ill too and surviving on Statutory Sick Pay. Just wondered if a temporary lodger might help our finances. I will phone the HB office if no-one here can help. Cheers!

Big_Bad_Al

Can anyone recommend the best bank or building society account to put my lodgers deposit money in to at the moment? I want something which'll give the best return AER but which will be accessible for when he leaves in four months time to return the £280 please? Any ideas or anyone else in the same fortunate predicament?!

harryhound

4 months after tax is only going to be a couple of quid, so I would use something convenient, probably in your local high street.
I know it is old fashioned but "teletext" will list "money facts" top ten instant access accounts and 3 month notice accounts.

Presumably a lodger is not covered by the protection of deposits law brought in about 3 years ago?

SFARAH

I think it's really inappropriate that this tip suggests you can use tenants deposits as income. IT IS NOT INCOME FOR YOU TO SPEND!!! A deposit has to be placed under a deposit protection scheme. You will have to give it back when the tenancy ends unless you can prove their is a ligitimate reason for you having to keep it.

deedee71

SFARAH wrote: »

I think it's really inappropriate that this tip suggests you can use tenants deposits as income. IT IS NOT INCOME FOR YOU TO SPEND!!! A deposit has to be placed under a deposit protection scheme. You will have to give it back when the tenancy ends unless you can prove their is a ligitimate reason for you having to keep it.

Has that post been deleted, as I can't see what you are referring to?

joe_peddos

We provide home stay for foreign language students from a private language school which is open almost all year. We are paid £115 a week for which we provide breakfast and dinner at night. The school pays us every 2 weeks. If we get a student on a Sunday 2 weeks money is in my bank account by Wednesday and we never have to ask the students for rent. We have done this off and on for about 30 yrs and claim under the rent a room scheme. In that time we have only asked 3 students to leave and the school found them other families to stay with. We have had students who we have heaved a sigh of relief when they have left and others we still keep in touch with

We usually have short stay students from about 2 weeks to 3 months and do this for about 6 to 9 months of the year and wont take any students under 18 yrs old (the school sometimes gets school parties with kids from 14 to 17 yrs old)

Some years we have taken over the limit under the rent a room scheme but have only had to pay tax on the difference

I worked as a chef for most of my life ( I am retired now) so I do the cooking for them and as long as you are prepared to make meals from scratch you can keep the food costs quite low.

Security and Insurance. We do have a small safe in our bedroom and a lockable filing cabinet in our front room and we have no students staying when we are away on holiday. There are some restrictions on our household insurance. Accidental damage in the students room is not covered and if we were burgled there would have to be signs of a forced entry or exit.