How difficult would it be to get a part time lodger Monday-Friday in Belfast? 24 July 2020 at 4:49PM in N. Ireland 6 replies 376 views

Lonely_willow

I have a 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom / 2 living area house on the Lisburn road. The house is close to the train station.The property could comfortably house three people and if the whole house was rented out would achieve a monthly rent of £1100 a month.

I want to look at getting one lodger to earn some money from the house. The issue is I do not think I could stomach living with a stranger for 7 days a week. I was wondering for a slightly lower rent could I offer to rent a single bedroom for 5 days a week, with the person vacating the house on the weekends. I want a long term lodger (2 years plus), I am not interested in airbnb holiday guests. I was thinking of charging £375 a month for the rent.

I would love to know if anyone thinks there is demand out there from people to lodge somewhere long term for 5 days a week at quite a high monthly rental cost?
I know if I were looking for a standard lodger I could rent the room out within 10 minutes but I fear I could be searching months for a part time lodger.

bradders1983

My boss used to commute from Belfast, work in Sheffield, and then go back to Belfast at weekends. I suspect the main flow of labour is that way, rather than the other way round.

Old_Git

what are you supplying for £375 per month .Are you providing the food or cooking facilities? 
With covid 19 do you really want a lodger ?
your best option monday to Friday may be a student .

motorguy

bradders1983 said:

My boss used to commute from Belfast, work in Sheffield, and then go back to Belfast at weekends. I suspect the main flow of labour is that way, rather than the other way round.

+1

A lot of contractors go from Belfast to the mainland.  I've done it for 5+ years.

Very few do it the other way round as the rates here arent great.

motorguy

What about Airbnb and just put mondays to fridays as the dates available?

belfastgirl23

It depends what you’re pitching it at. If it’s at a market that otherwise would be in airbnb then maybe that’s ok but if it’s people who would otherwise rent a room in a house it’s expensive for 4-5 nights a week, though maybe less so if there are no other costs in terms of utilities etc.  You could possibly attract QUB lecturers, there are people who live elsewhere but come to Belfast to teach for e.g. 3 days a week and might be interested in some variation on this arrangement. Hard to imagine a student who would want to live with you on that basis or indeed that you would want a student living with you, but who knows, there are always exceptions to the rule. That said a lot will depend on whether there ae people on campus this year...

ChrisNI

One other thing to note is that most standard home insurance policies won't cover subletting so you may need to change policies / insurers