Lodger agreement reasonable?

jonnygee2

So, after recently buying a house, a friend of a distant friend has asked to rent our room out.

We'd been considering this anyway. It's not a huge flat, but it's big enough to support a third person, with a separate kitchen/diner and a separate shower / toilet, and a relatively large second bedroom. And suddenly this opportunity has come along. I've looked into the legals, and it all looks pretty simple.

Thinking things through, I think it'd work for us but I want to give him the following 'rules'. Are these reasonable? In practice we'd be flexible, but I'm not sure if it's normal to be so prescriptive or not? The thing is that we want to preserve our space to some extent, but I'm not sure if that's a bit greedy given we'd be earning rent (although I've tried to make sure the room rate reflects this to some degree).

- Bathroom, no more than 20 minutes between 7 - 9am on weekdays.

- No showers 11pm - 7am Sun - Thurs (bathroom is next to our bedroom and a bit noisy)

- Kitchen - cook / eat before 7.30 pm. Can use our pans/crockery but must be cleaned and dried before this (we normally cook from about then onwards). Must only use own food (inc sauces, condiments, cooking oil etc)

- Laundry - daytime only (9 - 6)

- Living room - use until 9pm daily

- No noise (music in room etc) after 11pm Sunday - Thurs

- Guests - no guests allowed in living room or kitchen. No more than two guests at a time. Ask us before letting anyone stay overnight and not more than twice / week.

- Cleaning - must clean surfaces etc after use. No other cleaning necessary (cleaner comes weekly anyway).

What do you think? Have I missed anything important? And is this all reasonable or too much?

Pixie5740

jonnygee2 wrote: »

So, after recently buying a house, a friend of a distant friend has asked to rent our room out.

We'd been considering this anyway. It's not a huge flat, but it's big enough to support a third person, with a separate kitchen/diner and a separate shower / toilet, and a relatively large second bedroom. And suddenly this opportunity has come along. I've looked into the legals, and it all looks pretty simple.

Thinking things through, I think it'd work for us but I want to give him the following 'rules'. Are these reasonable? In practice we'd be flexible, but I'm not sure if it's normal to be so prescriptive or not? The thing is that we want to preserve our space to some extent, but I'm not sure if that's a bit greedy given we'd be earning rent (although I've tried to make sure the room rate reflects this to some degree).

- Bathroom, no more than 20 minutes between 7 - 9am on weekdays.

- No showers 11pm - 7am Sun - Thurs (bathroom is next to our bedroom and a bit noisy)

- Kitchen - cook / eat before 7.30 pm. Can use our pans/crockery but must be cleaned and dried before this (we normally cook from about then onwards). Must only use own food (inc sauces, condiments, cooking oil etc)

- Laundry - daytime only (9 - 6)

- Living room - use until 9pm daily

- No noise (music in room etc) after 11pm Sunday - Thurs

- Guests - no guests allowed in living room or kitchen. No more than two guests at a time. Ask us before letting anyone stay overnight and not more than twice / week.

- Cleaning - must clean surfaces etc after use. No other cleaning necessary (cleaner comes weekly anyway).

What do you think? Have I missed anything important? And is this all reasonable or too much?

You're not cut out to have a lodger.

If there's a separate kitchen/diner and a separate shower would this person even be a lodger? Why limit them to 20 minutes in the bathroom between 7am and 9am if they'll have their own shower?

greendoor665

Seems a bit too restrictive to me, especially the bathroom and kitchen rules. It seems like you want to have your cake and eat it - you're happy with them living in your house and paying you rent, as long as you don't have to change or compromise your current lifestyle at all and they just fit around you.


But I'd never be a lodger anyway.

Doodles

Some of this feels unreasonable.

Is your lodger a working person? if so then showers, kitchen, laundry and eating timings probably are not likely going to work for them.

Carrot007

Pixie5740 wrote: »

You're not cut out to have a lodger.

This.


Unless they are into the submisive thing.

jonnygee2

If there's a separate kitchen/diner and a separate shower would this person even be a lodger? Why limit them to 20 minutes in the bathroom between 7am and 9am if they'll have their own shower?

Sorry, there's one toilet, one shower, separate from each other, but it's a shared shower. Isn't 20 minutes quite a long time for a shower?! I normally take about 5! The kitchen /diner is separate from the lounge, I mean, giving a bit more space (that's better than a lot of London flats!) but they wouldn't have their own kitchen.

you're happy with them living in your house and paying you rent, as long as you don't have to change or compromise your current lifestyle at all and they just fit around you.

You're probably right I suppose. Kind of my fear. Especially with the kitchen (I think the bathroom is probably mostly okay tbh, as he's a student he probably wouldn't be up before 9 on weekdays anyway). Might have to think about if I can live with relaxing this.

jonnygee2

Thinking more, I probably only need the kitchen 7.30 - 8.30. I just cook at the same time every day (no chance two people are cooking in there!). I suppose I just assumed 8.30 is too late, but perhaps not.

I'm not sure I fully agree that the shower rule is too prescriptive though. I've lived in loads of shared houses, and 20 mins in the shared shower at peak times has been a common rule.

campbell19925

jonnygee2 wrote: »

So, after recently buying a house, a friend of a distant friend has asked to rent our room out.

We'd been considering this anyway. It's not a huge flat, but it's big enough to support a third person, with a separate kitchen/diner and a separate shower / toilet, and a relatively large second bedroom. And suddenly this opportunity has come along. I've looked into the legals, and it all looks pretty simple.

Thinking things through, I think it'd work for us but I want to give him the following 'rules'. Are these reasonable? In practice we'd be flexible, but I'm not sure if it's normal to be so prescriptive or not? The thing is that we want to preserve our space to some extent, but I'm not sure if that's a bit greedy given we'd be earning rent (although I've tried to make sure the room rate reflects this to some degree).

- Bathroom, no more than 20 minutes between 7 - 9am on weekdays.

- No showers 11pm - 7am Sun - Thurs (bathroom is next to our bedroom and a bit noisy)

- Kitchen - cook / eat before 7.30 pm. Can use our pans/crockery but must be cleaned and dried before this (we normally cook from about then onwards). Must only use own food (inc sauces, condiments, cooking oil etc)

- Laundry - daytime only (9 - 6)

- Living room - use until 9pm daily

- No noise (music in room etc) after 11pm Sunday - Thurs

- Guests - no guests allowed in living room or kitchen. No more than two guests at a time. Ask us before letting anyone stay overnight and not more than twice / week.

- Cleaning - must clean surfaces etc after use. No other cleaning necessary (cleaner comes weekly anyway).

What do you think? Have I missed anything important? And is this all reasonable or too much?

No offence mate but this sounds like a prison camp - no-one in their right mind would want to live with you.

Ms_Chocaholic

Why are you limiting the bathroom use to 20 minutes, are you trying to restrict the amount of water your lodger uses. What if he goes in the bathroom, a sh*t, shave and a shower might take longer than 20 minutes.

Also why laundry only between 9am-6pm? Our washing machine is regularly on in the evening and doesn't cause disruption. Wouldn't you be better saying no laundry after 11pm or washing machine finished before 11pm.

Also the prepping and cooking dinner is a bit restrictive, both you and the tenant need to compromise on the use of shared spaces but it doesn't appear you want to do that.

jonnygee2

Why are you limiting the bathroom use to 20 minutes, are you trying to restrict the amount of water your lodger uses. What if he goes in the bathroom, a sh*t, shave and a shower might take longer than 20 minutes.

I use the bathroom too at this time, I just need to get to work on time.

The toilet is separate from the shower. I'm pretty sure a man can reasonably shower and shave in 20 minutes! (seriously to me this sounds like ages). But I guess it wouldn't really kill if it were 30.

00ec25

jonnygee2 wrote: »

- Bathroom, no more than 20 minutes between 7 - 9am on weekdays. Ok so occupants have to respect each other's morning routine and each (?) of you have to get to work,so a routine needs to be in place

- No showers 11pm - 7am Sun - Thurs (bathroom is next to our bedroom and a bit noisy) yes it may be noisy, but the fact you want to put that in writing shows the contempt you hold the lodger in

- Kitchen - cook / eat before 7.30 pm. no way. That is beyond draconian. You are not offering a prison with rules, you are offering someone a place they can call home. yes it is your home, but if you cannot tolerate someone coming in late and needing the flexibility to live their life as they need to, then you are not suited to having lodgers

Can use our pans/crockery but must be cleaned and dried before this (we normally cook from about then onwards). Must only use own food (inc sauces, condiments, cooking oil etc) ok. That should go without saying but having it in writing makes it clear for both parties

- Laundry - daytime only (9 - 6)so that means weekends only then doesn't it? Very poorly thought out....

- Living room - use until 9pm daily OK, you want your own space, but again the fact you put that in writing says much about your approach to the person wanting a home

- No noise (music in room etc) after 11pm Sunday - Thurs will you be offering the same in return? They may hate your idea of what constitutes "music". What about the noise you create when having ladies and gentlemen?

- Guests - no guests allowed in living room or kitchen. No more than two guests at a time. Ask us before letting anyone stay overnight and not more than twice / week. so they are forced to entertain their friends where? Their bedroom? The bathroom? the kitchen? the garden?

obviously ladies and gentlemen activities must be addressed as that is of course entirely predictable. and it is much better to have clear rules from the outset.

Expect a moderate to high turnover of lodgers if they find "the one" and want more than twice per week though

- Cleaning - must clean surfaces etc after use. No other cleaning necessary (cleaner comes weekly anyway).so no concession from you then as you do nothing yourself. But at the end of the day a person who does not clean up after themselves has no place in anyone's home

What do you think? Have I missed anything important? And is this all reasonable or too much?

as above in red