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

spirit

Hello H8money,

I have always been able to get good quality lodgers from ukeasyroommate there are others like spareroom but i believe that ukeasyrooommate has the most register.

bizzy_izzy

We have had students in our home for a few years on and off, never gone over the threshhold, we would like to take the next step up and have workmen etc, we live near Dounreay far north of Scotland,have written to about 30 companys, offering a room with sky tv, internet access, b&b evening meal for £35 a night as b&b charge £35 just for breakfast, any one got any advice to get it going? thanks

heppy23

ali1972 wrote: »

Anyone looking to rent out a room who lives near to a theatre (or on a good public transport link to one) might look into letting out a room via the theatre digs list. Theatres which have touring shows are always looking for good digs. Actors, technicians and musicians rent these rooms on a weekly basis. They get paid weekly and so pay rent weekly. They are out all evening and are very self sufficent. Put a kettle and a tv in their room and you will hardly see them. I can guarantee some cities and towns are very low on good digs!

We have a flat which we used to let for holiday lets. We got a block booking for several actors who were doing a 6 week touring run in the area. Seemed great BUT they got a reduction in the rent for doing a block booking (it was way in the small print) and also they were in all day during the day and had the heating on high and had loads of baths so the gas bill was a nasty surprise.

nikkie

I have been both a lodger and a landlord so decided i'd have a go at maybe parting with some advice! hope this helps someone!

Finding housemates- Register a listing with: gumtree [make sure you've navigated to the relevant geographic area before adding your listing!]; spareroom.co.uk, easyroommate.com; abodewithme.com; and/or flatmateclick.com... just google something like "house share" and loads of things will come up.
I use mostly spareroom.co.uk, but also easyroommate.com, simply because, after 7days, spareroom is completely free to contact and be contacted. my area means not a huge amount of people rent rooms out so the searches for landlords part keeps me on the first page even though my listing is prob older than most. besides- you can choose to pay to get contacting people if you want, it's one of the cheapest sites for this AND it has a facebook app that allows you to increase visability even more. easyroommate is quite expensive and i actually found that the people i was finding via easyroommate were also on spareroom! so i'd find out all the info and then make contact for free!

Try and include all bills in rents- it's easier for both parties (nothing worse than going through all those bills working out what from this/that etcetc very annoying and time consuming). don't include phone calls- tho i allow local calls to a certain extent, just don't like tennants taking the michael when it comes to phoning abroad. if they do that then they have to cover those costs but they can take as many incoming calls as they like as the rent includes line rental. You may get a electricity hungry tennant [for example] just make sure you tell them that bills are included "within reason" so, if you notice a massive increase in the bill, talk to them about it and negociate an increase or their decrease of use. They are human beings after all- you CAN talk to them! The only exception to this would be if you're going over the tax free payments- then construct it like another forum user said by having a rent payment plus a fixed utilities payment.
As for Council tax: You lose your 25% single person discount by taking in a lodger, but just make sure that the council tax bill is shared in the bills part of your calculation of rent... technically you're now getting a 50% discount! A student wouldn't normally pay CT but if they choose to rent a location that doesn't allow them to pay nothing [ie: by not living with other students] then it's tough as far as i'm concerned- they pay their part... more so if I lose a 25% discount by accepting them!

Get yourself a "flat/houseshare agreement for live in landlord" agreement form for them to sign- it's just a little piece of paper that prevents a shorthold tennancy from being formed (where they'd have more rights). you can get copies of this type of agreement for free off the internet [just google it]. This form also allows you to set ground rules without having to actually say anything as it includes details about rent, notice periods and deposits. I added into mine about a minimum length of tennancy and the lodger loosing this deposit if they left before this time... this isn't a legal thing- it's one of my "rules" and I add it into this form for clarity. why? because i recently had 2 consecutive tennants rent for only 2 months each when they should've been in for 6. i wasn't going to let that happen again so added this in as security but as a tennant myself in the past, I kinda thought this was a given anyway and most tennants you get in will not object to this- if they've ever rented before they'll assume this is actually the case anyway! if they are after a shorter rental period (or you don't want to commit to 6 months or longer) then just don't include that part at all. nuff said!

Set the rules from day one- at some point the interested party will come and meet you and see the property inc the room- use this time to get to know the person and get a feel for them. use your instincts as, for the most part, they'll be the best thing to telling you whether this person is worth renting to or not. Tell them any "rules" you have- maybe ones regarding: friends staying over; use of things in/around the property; and what will happen if they miss a rental payment etcetc. I am very flexible with my tennants, mainly because I have had some very inflexible landlords in the past- so I treat the tennants exactly how I would like to be treated (I allow house guests- within reason... what i mean by that is I don't want a guest becoming another housemate by staying for anything longer than a long weekend or a visiting girlffriend/boyfriend staying in the house more than me). Also let them have a blank copy of the agreement so they can read it at their leisure. At this point- if they say they're interested- ask for reference information. I request 1 character reference and 1 ex landlord reference [namely their last one prior to it becoming me!]. Now I have never looked into references, never felt the need (as references can be fairly easily faked)... I have, however, refused to rent to various people over the last 2 years mostly based on my own personal "instinct" about them- i have to be able to get on with them and if the meeting is strained or just plain naff then I remain polite but eventually state something along the lines of "I don't think you're right for this household". Also ask for the deposit, as a sort of "holder" to the room so you won't show/rent it to anyone else- another way of knowing if they're serious/keen/legitimate. Then get them to set up a standing order to your chosen back account to pay in on the day you've agreed for the rent to be paid [remember: it can take up to 3 working days for the money to move from the accounts, so if it's set up to pay out on the 1st of the month the money may not appear until the 3rd- only start chasing up late rent payments after 5 working days have past to avoid potential embarrasing situations. you've got to make sure it's not a banking error or delay before you go at the tennant guns blazing!:eek: ] and then set a date for them to move in.
The deposit can be any amount you wish- from nothing [unwise!] right up to 3 months rent [I wouldn't go higher than this as that's getting a little unnecessary and will scare potencial tennants off as not many people would have that amount of money available. I would only ask for 3 months rent if the person was only going to stay for 3 months and it would just be a full payment rather than a deposit anyway].
Get them to fill in and sign that agreement on the moving in day- copy it and give them the copy- keeping the original yourself somewhere safe.

Give the tennant a decent amount of cupboard/fridge/freezer space in which to keep their food stuffs- think logically about how much space you would want/need. Give them a full cupboard [if possible!] and if you have shelves or drawers in fridge/freezer give them 1 full shelf/drawer as their own. I had one landlord to give me ONE shelf in a small cupboard for all my dry goods [they didn't include things like salt/pepper in their rent so i had to allow room for this kinda stuff too... basically impossible with the tiny shelf I was given! it was very narrow- only 1 can high so it's not like i could stack stuff to give me more space! and the fridge/freezer situation wasn't much better- basically I was told to find space where I could... and in a very full and very much in need of defrosting freezer, that wasn't easy!]

Clearly state what you consider to be "shared" and "out of bounds". i view things like household cleaning products- ketchup, salt, pepper, tea, coffee, butter, toilet roll, milk etcetc- to be shared items and they can help themselves to. Every now and then i will ask them for an extra £5-£15 to cover the costs of these items. it varies because I don't have to buy a 24 pack of toilet roll every month! (for eg). The only things i consider "out of bounds" are speciality items that I have specifically bought in, such as a fancy box of chocolates, or a piece of prime rump steak... that kinda thing. helping themselves to a can of baked beans, or some dry pasta is fine- as long as they eventually replace it... or it gets covered in the £5-£15 budget. My tennant drinks a lot of coffee and, as a result of that, a fair bit of milk too so he just buys it in and happily let me use it... but even then I still sometimes buy in the milk and/or coffee.

It is all common sense really- just be logical about stuff and you'll be fine and if something is nagging at you- say something! if they're not pulling their weight cleaning up, tell them! it is your house after all so don't suffer to the point where your only solution becomes one of evicting the tennant when just simply saying something straight away will solve it. most of the time most people won't know they're doing anything wrong until you point it out so don't suffer in silence.

oh, and one more thing- don't put locks on rooms or allow tennants to put a lock on.
several reasons: fire safety is one, bit obvious about why so won't harp on about fire safety; putting a lock on a room that means the door can be secured without a person inside the room [NOT just a latch to stop you coming in] changes the terms of a tennancy AND the use of your home making it a TV lisencing issue- put a lock on and they'll need their own TV lisence though it is their responcibility; final reason- why should they get the privalidge of restricted access when they have the full walk of the rest of your home? I don't think it's fair and, besides, if i need to access their room for a reason I should be able to. of course I address privacy issues by knocking first etcetc but the nature of a lodger means you are within your rights to enter the room as you wish- it is still very much YOUR room. If a lodger requests a lock I ask why first [to check it's nothing i'm doing to offend... etc] and then tell them a categoric no and tell them the reasons that I have just stated above. Never had a come back from a tennant about that, yet!

Ok, I think that's most things... waffled a bit, but hopefully there's stuff in there that can help people out! well done if you've read this far!:beer:
I treat my tennants more like housemates- like i'm renting with them rather than to them- and it works well for me. I'm a single girl so it's nice to have company and know the mortgage is covered. in an ideal world i wouldn't have a tennant at all! but needs must so I do it this way and it works well for me. Everyone is different though and I don't know personally, but can easily understand, hpw the dynamics for a family might change by taking in a lodger far more so that just the likes of little ol' me. Remember- you can evict someone so if it's not working, don't fight it- end it! both yourselves and the tennant will be happier in the long run.

N xx.

megsykins

Lots of good advice Nikkie; one thing slightly confused though...

nikkie wrote: »

As for Council tax: You lose your 25% single person discount by taking in a lodger, but just make sure that the council tax bill is shared in the bills part of your calculation of rent... technically you're now getting a 50% discount! A student wouldn't normally pay CT but if they choose to rent a location that doesn't allow them to pay nothing [ie: by not living with other students] then it's tough as far as i'm concerned- they pay their part... more so if I lose a 25% discount by accepting them!

If the lodger is a (full-time) student you'd still be entitled to your 25% discount. When I was at uni we lived in a student house with 3 of us students and my then boyf who worked full-time; he got the 25% CT reduction depsite there being 3 other people.

Thanks for the website hints - am flathunting in Sydney and turns out easyroommate has an Aussie version

huggermugger

I have been doing this on and off for a fair few years. I'm a single Mum now so for me this is a good way to pay off the mortgage/ pay for things on the house.

I've had lots of different sorts of people but for me the main thing is some sort of security and traceability. I wouldn't feel happy with widespread advertising, particularly on a national basis. Therefore, my method for finding lodgers is either by word of mouth (I just tell anyone & everyone that I'm looking) or I contact local large companies. Some of them have accommodation/relocation departments for new employees, some have an intranet for advertising rooms etc. (Sometimes you need to find someone who works there to put an advert on for you). I have found large government-related organisations particularly good for this, we have a research facility nearby and my theory is if they've been positively vetted, that's good enough for me! Even with a civilian company, at least you have the assurance of knowing that they are who they say they are.

The same goes for actors etc - there is a certain amount of traceability. But my experience with actors isn't brilliant. By definition they inhabit a twilight world, not coming in until late, often needing to wind down considerably before they go to bed, and not getting up until quite late in the day. If that's your lifestyle as well, fine - but it doesn't fit well with average family life. I got a bit fed up with saying "shush!" to the children and my last guy took to having baths at 2.30am and didn't like being asked not to...

I agree that you can talk to people but it is better to cover all the bases before you start as I find I sit and mutter to myself and resentments start to build up! I don't usually have a written agreement as my understanding is that anyone living in your own home can be asked to leave at any time. I would want to be very clear about the legality of any document - firstly because they're only as good as the enforcement action you are willing to take (ie you have to go to court to enforce them), secondly because there is a lot of legislation that covers renting and may overide any written agreement.

As for Council Tax & losing the 25% discount - I would rather have someone who works & is out all day than a student who lets me keep my 25% discount but is in a lot of the time using gas & electricity... My discount comes to about a pound a day & I let the room for a lot more than that!

huggermugger

bizzy_izzy wrote: »

We have had students in our home for a few years on and off, never gone over the threshhold, we would like to take the next step up and have workmen etc, we live near Dounreay far north of Scotland,have written to about 30 companys, offering a room with sky tv, internet access, b&b evening meal for £35 a night as b&b charge £35 just for breakfast, any one got any advice to get it going? thanks

Adverts in local shops seem to work well for this, but also contacting other B&B's because often they will pass spares on to you if you promise to do the same for them (this works best with other small ones rather than guesthouses). Otherwise it's good old word of mouth (my favourite) - have some cheap cards printed up at one of those machines that you sometimes find at motorway services or do them on your PC - tell everyone, give them all cards, ask them to put cards on noticeboards at work, etc etc.

Good luck with this - my best one was a guy who came for B&B, worked v. long hours, stayed three months and only had muesli for breakfast! (He came to me through a friend who worked in an estate agent as he was looking for somewhere to buy in the area - might not be such a good contact now! )

LyndaP

I have had students from a local language school for the past 12 years. It works out well. Firstly the student pays the school and then the school pays us so no problems with payments. Secondly, if there is a problem with the students - (this has only happened to us once) then you can contact the school and they will resolve the problem or move them on to a more suitable homestay.

We now have friends all over the world and we might, one day, get to visit them! Different cultures have different thoughts on what is acceptable but we find we just let them know quickly what is not acceptable and that usually resolves the problem. Some students think our bathroom is a wet room and get water everywhere. You do usually have to feed the students but I am cooking in the evening anyway so that does n't matter.

To find your local language school try https://www.britishcouncil.org/accreditation-az-list.htm

sarahemmm

Very good advice from Nikkie - almost exactly what I was going to say!

I have had lodgers for over 20 years, and have been a weeknight lodger for the last 8 years. (Does anyone have a spare bed near Staines?)

With a single exception, all my lodgers have been great, and most became good friends. Current guy has been with me 5 years and says he'll be here til we retire...and the two postgrad students I had last year are coming back in January after research abroad (lucky them).

BUT: I have a big house, with two living rooms and three bathrooms. And I treat everyone as a member of the family and expect them to treat me and mine in the same way. They pay a fully inclusive rent except for food, and there is plenty of space in the kitchen for everyone to have a cupboard and space in the fridge and freezer. I provide everything else - toilet roll, washing powder, etc. I do except expensive phone calls, but have never yet had to invoke this rule, as even a couple of calls to Switzerland didn't go over £10. As yet, we share the cleaning, though I am considering getting a cleaning service in, mainly because I tend to be the lazy one.

We usually share a meal at least once a week, taking it in turns to cook. And if I am going somewhere, often someone will come too - just like a real family. Family and friends visit, and sometimes stay over - mine and theirs. I have a pet - so did two lodgers. I don't lock things away - and they don't have locks on bedrooms. BUT: I do evaluate a prospect fairly carefully. I normally specify an age range over 30 and make it clear how the household works, as it probably won't suit everyone.

As for insurance, I have a policy with Endsleigh which specifically allows for lodgers (though see some of the warnings above) and my mortgage provider is also informed (very important).

Speaking as a lodger: I am treated as part of the family, but its a different family, so I make an effort to fit in. Its only me and my landlord, in a much smaller house. So I make sure I am up and out of the bathroom before he gets up. I sit with him in the living room in the evening, but he has the remote - if I hate what he's watching, I read my book. It works fine and I have been with him for eight years, including a house move.

huggermugger

Have come acrosss this guide to letting rooms in your house produced by the Dept of Communities & Local Government which comprehensively covers the law relating to letting rooms:
http://www.riky.co.uk/GetDocument.asp?DOC_ID=228

It's long but it does cover all legal aspects & has lots of helpful info.

What you seem to have to avoid above all is creating a tenancy but you avoid this by either sharing some part of your home with the lodger (has to be something more than the hall or stairs but can just be the loo) or preventing exclusive possession of the room. This seems to be a bit more complicated than just not letting them put a lock on the door, more that you should establish the right to have unrestricted access to the room for some specific purpose eg: emptying bin, changing bed linen, cleaning etc.

The only danger I can see after reading a lot of it is if you let an ensuite room which you don't regularly enter for the purposes of cleaning etc. and they have no right to use any other room in the house.That would mean you give a tenant exclusive possession of the room AND you don't share any facilities with them, which would make them a tenant without a proper shorthold agreement and you would have difficulty getting them out.

Things are a bit more complicated on ending - if you share facilities then you or the tenant/lodger hasto give notice to quit of "at least the length of the period and end on a rent day" So if you let by the month:at least one month & ending on a rent day. There is no requirement for it to be in writing but it's a good idea. If you do the cleaning etc it's "the longer of whatever has been agreed and what is reasonable".

So, although I have let rooms myself for a while I take it all back and admit that it's probably best to use a written agreement! There is advice on the above site and elsewhere about what to include in the agreement. You can buy pre-written ones - the above site has them for £4.95, elsewhere on the net they're available for £9.99 or £30.... but of course you can't look at them first. I haven't found a free one yet - if anyone does, post it here so we can look at it! If anyone has one they feel like sharing, that would be good though of course none of us could rely on it legally. And whatever agreement you have doesn't stop you from being subject to property law.

As for all the above, it's only my interpretation, of course, based on what I have read. You'll find a similar disclaimer in what I have read! :rotfl: