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

mang0s

I did have a lodger, it worked well for the first few months and then the problems started, late payment or not the full rent. He decided that he would sooner pay each week rather than per month. Then things went missing.

As he was a lodger I could get rid of him with little notice when he refused to pay rent (they are classed as a paying guest and as such have very little rights).

Went to the Police over the missing items and it turned out he had been selling them to cash converters so that he could pay rent!!!
The only item they could prove in the end was a camera which he got £30 for, but in court he was found guilty and ordered to pay me the price I had paid for the camera along with a nice fine and costs.

so even if you do get a bad one, (I will be double checking references next time) there can be a good ending. I would recommend that you get a small safe for anything of value since your contents insurance will not pay out unless there is forced entry into the property (internal doors being forced do not count) despite the hike in insurance costs for having a lodger

cheers

Ed

dawyldthing

Your best bet for having a lodger is to do an 'all inclusive price' but stipulate that if the bills go over 'x' amount then they will need to contribute a little more towards the bills. mondaytofriday.com is good, easyroomate.com is where I found my let last time and gumtree is another which is ok. If your looking for students there is student specific sites sometimes, like I know in Leeds theres unipols site for students.

huggermugger

BetsyBoo wrote: »

Firstly I am relatively new to this so hope I've posted this in the right place, forgive me if I haven't!

I have had a lodger now since Sept and every month the rent and bill money has arrived on time. The agreement is rent plus split bills however she has just come to pay rent and has said she is giving me half the bill money as she is away on friday for christmas and won't be back until 12 Jan. I understand she is away however phone/net/insurance/tv still all need to be paid even if they are not used over christmas.

When she said it I explained this and she then offered another £10 and as I don't want to upset her as she has been such a good lodger so far I said this would be fine but it is now annoying me because my understanding from any flats I stayed in previously to buying the rules were all bills are split even if you choose to go away on holiday for a few weeks. Am I being unreasonable or is this the usual rules? I just feel it is a little cheeky as I am not going to be at home either for this period as I am flying to France to join my other half for Christmas.

Am I being unreasonable?

No, she is totally taking the mickey! Unless she's planning to move all her stuff out for the period and willing to take the risk that you will have rented her room to someone else in the meantime... How about when you go away and she remains in the flat, is she willing to pay more rent then? That appears to be what she is expecting you to do... The only excuse can be that she is very young and/or naive, in which case she needs the concept of "renting a room" explained to her. Have a talk to her, get a written agreement in place asap and/or seriously think about getting a new lodger. There is always someone else who wants to rent a room and in my experience, the ones who start off taking the mickey tend to continue.

jarvis2007

Hi the first £4250 is tax free at what rate would i be charged if i went over that. :j

JoeyG

BetsyBoo wrote: »

Firstly I am relatively new to this so hope I've posted this in the right place, forgive me if I haven't!

I have had a lodger now since Sept and every month the rent and bill money has arrived on time. The agreement is rent plus split bills however she has just come to pay rent and has said she is giving me half the bill money as she is away on friday for christmas and won't be back until 12 Jan. I understand she is away however phone/net/insurance/tv still all need to be paid even if they are not used over christmas.

When she said it I explained this and she then offered another £10 and as I don't want to upset her as she has been such a good lodger so far I said this would be fine but it is now annoying me because my understanding from any flats I stayed in previously to buying the rules were all bills are split even if you choose to go away on holiday for a few weeks. Am I being unreasonable or is this the usual rules? I just feel it is a little cheeky as I am not going to be at home either for this period as I am flying to France to join my other half for Christmas.

Am I being unreasonable?

I was in the same situation but in reverse!

My lodger was away from xmas eve until 17th Jan... so when he paid his full rent at the end of January I refunded him a small amount, which I roughly worked out to be his share of gas/water/electric over those 3 weeks (the rent includes bills).

I think a small discount on that basis is perfectly reasonable, but if bills are not included then no discount would be appropriate.

harryhound

jarvis2007 wrote: »

Hi the first £4250 is tax free at what rate would i be charged if i went over that. :j

Assuming that you are a standard rate tax payer then 20%; however you most likely risk being sucked in Self Assessment.

A clerical or (better) an on-line tax return system that requires you to detail all your sources of income and then demands the extra tax.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804

narnia2000

I am fairly new to the landlady situation, however, would like to add to the forum:
Sometimes, especially when you see no other way of keeping your house, it's easier to try and keep everything sweet and avoid the rooms that your lodger occupies. Example allowing sole use of a bathroom, although lodger agreement states shared. Feeling a stranger in your own lounge and kitchen, actually being asked why you are in said lounge, or reprimanded for using the wrong sponge in the kitchen.
My advice is to think carefully when a prospective lodger admits to being slightly OCD .
Secondly, get the months money upfront.
If you feel that someone has a reasonable ask eg. wireless broadband, TV in rooms, wait until they have paid enough rent for it to be viable....obviously you must tell them this up front.
It seems to me that every prospective lodger has a slightly different wish list, more fridge space, more freezer space, wireless internet, sole use of bathroom, more cupboard space, to be honest, I did use to try and accomodate, gave up when lodger stayed a week then went, more recently a month then went back to his wife. Offer what you have, negotiate anything extra within a time span?

puddings_2

BetsyBoo wrote: »

...I have had a lodger now since Sept and every month the rent and bill money has arrived on time. The agreement is rent plus split bills however she has just come to pay rent and has said she is giving me half the bill money as she is away on friday for christmas and won't be back until 12 Jan. I understand she is away however phone/net/insurance/tv still all need to be paid even if they are not used over christmas.

When she said it I explained this and she then offered another £10 and as I don't want to upset her as she has been such a good lodger so far I said this would be fine but it is now annoying me because my understanding from any flats I stayed in previously to buying the rules were all bills are split even if you choose to go away on holiday for a few weeks...

Are you saying that your lodger offered to pay the rent but NOT half the bill money... or was she offering to pay half the bill money but NOT the rent ???
The way you wrote it makes it sound like she wants to pay both. So nothing unusual, and nothing to complain about!!!

Is it unreasonable? well I've rented out my two spare rooms to lodgers for the last 15 years, and rent i charge has always been "inclusive of bills" mainly to reduce the opportunity for bickering etc.

Normally I'd expect rent/bill money even if they were away on holiday for a month: I'd argue that they can either pay "rent inc bills" of £60 per week OR if on holiday then they can pay for storage of their belongings which also happens to be charged at £60 per week. lol

Occasionally, you get a really good lodger that you want to hang on to. I had one "the perfect lodger" a bloke who used to commute up and stay here monday to thursday, he was clean and tidy, pleasant to get on with, and even did all his laundry at his own home at weekends... so when he said that he was going on holiday for a fortnight, then it me that made the offer to him that he didnt need to pay rent while he was away.
Ok, it cost me two weeks rent, but a year or so later when he moved out, he then basically sorted out somebody else to immediately take over his room,all which he didnt need to do, and which saved me money by not putting an advert in the paper and by not having the room vacant between lodgers.

So I'd say that you are not being unreasonable, but you could use your discretion, and it might pay dividends in the longer term.

bundly

I am really curious about this business about having locks on rooms and how this changes the status of a lodger.

Can anyone point to any official document that has anything to say about this, or is it just another myth?

metherer

We've just taken in a lodger, the sixteen year old daughter of a friend of ours.

We've had to get a rent book (bought from Smiths) and have printed off a lodger agreement. She's arranging to get her housing benefit paid directly to us to avoid any possibility of falling behind.

She has access to every room in the house except for my husbands bedroom. She can go into mine to get to my ensuite bathroom as it has a better shower than the main bathroom. We also have access to her room as we have a full wall bookcase built in it so we'll be able to get to them. We have agreed we won't go in without speaking to her first though. There are latches on the bathroom doors but nowhere else.

We think it will go well, we've agreed some house rules, and I'll report back once we're a bit further in.