Practical advice on taking on a lodger

zagubov

We need to be clear that in addition to the obvious advice from the pinned posts on lodgers, we thoroughly recommend:

Absolutely never use the words tenant or subtenant at any points - it might allocate them more rights, and you, more duties than are worth it.

Keep the notice period relatively short, and be prepared to be flexible about early ends.

Be very rigorous about rules when it's a friend rather than a stranger - if they have to guess the boundaries they'll probably misjudge them.

TBagpuss

I have done it a couple of times in the past .

I thin one thing is not to assume that everyone has the same expectations or assumptions about what is normal, so think about what's important for *you* in terms of house rules, and then ensure that you discuss those with prospective lodgers and have some written house rules. Don't micro-manage, but consider what things are important to *you*.

Decide in advance about things like:

- cleaning  - you'd normally be responsible for the main areas of the house, but be clear about whether you, or they, are responsible for cleaning their room. If you are going to be sharing spaces like bathrooms and the kitchen, be clear about the expectations for cleaning these after use

- Cooking - think about what space you will be providing them for food storage etc, and what you will be providing. think about any house rules (e.g. food in bedrooms, cleaning up after cooking / eating)

- Visitors - any rules / restrictions? e.g. overnight guests, midweek / late night visitors, visitors by arrangement only

- General expectations - think about things like noise and household routine - you might want to include something about no loud noise before or after certain times,  and talk to your prospective lodger about your and their routine (i.e. if you routinely get up at 6 and are in bed by 10, a lodger who likes to cook at 10 and go to bed at 1 a.m. may not be the best fit, and at the very least you both need to know that those are likely to be the time you'll respectively be moving around and making living noises!) 

- work - perhaps particularly now, but in any event, you want to check9and be clear about your own pattern f work) about whether you or they will be working from home or bringing home work equipment. There may be insurance issues but also bear in mind things such as whether they are likely to want heating on through the day if they are working from home, and whether your WiFi is up to the job!

One of my lodgers was someone who worked from home - we agreed a slightly higher payment to take into account the heating and agreed to review after the first 6 weeks and adjust once we knew what the actual bills were. (she also preferred much warmer rooms than me, so as well as extra heating in the day when I was at work, she typically had the heater in her room on much higher and for longer than I normally would, and it did make a noticeable difference to my bills.

Hannimal

AdrianC said:

Hannimal said:

AdrianC said:

Have you ever lived in a shared house...?

Yes. Why?

There y'go, then. You have direct personal experience of what works and what doesn't, when it comes to sharing a home with people who start as strangers but become housemates.

Hmm, I have made some mistakes along the way and ended sharing with people I didn't enjoy living with. It's those mistakes I am hoping to avoid but practically I am clueless as to how I can do that. Hence I am asking. I've had great experiences living with friends I knew beforehand, not so much when finding housemates on Spareroom and the like. 

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

If you can find another way of earning money then I would recommend you do that. I have 4 spare rooms, My OH wanted to explore his option, turns out having space and freedom is worth any amount of cash. 

wilfred30

Hannimal said:

AdrianC said:

Hannimal said:

AdrianC said:

Have you ever lived in a shared house...?

Yes. Why?

There y'go, then. You have direct personal experience of what works and what doesn't, when it comes to sharing a home with people who start as strangers but become housemates.

Hmm, I have made some mistakes along the way and ended sharing with people I didn't enjoy living with. It's those mistakes I am hoping to avoid but practically I am clueless as to how I can do that. Hence I am asking. I've had great experiences living with friends I knew beforehand, not so much when finding housemates on Spareroom and the like. 

Presumably, when you lived in a shared house, you didn't get to chose the other people living there whereas, with a lodger in your own home, you do.  You need to 'interview' them when they come round to view the room/house and get as much information out of them as you can.

Hannimal

wilfred30 said:

Hannimal said:

AdrianC said:

Hannimal said:

AdrianC said:

Have you ever lived in a shared house...?

Yes. Why?

There y'go, then. You have direct personal experience of what works and what doesn't, when it comes to sharing a home with people who start as strangers but become housemates.

Hmm, I have made some mistakes along the way and ended sharing with people I didn't enjoy living with. It's those mistakes I am hoping to avoid but practically I am clueless as to how I can do that. Hence I am asking. I've had great experiences living with friends I knew beforehand, not so much when finding housemates on Spareroom and the like. 

Presumably, when you lived in a shared house, you didn't get to chose the other people living there whereas, with a lodger in your own home, you do.  You need to 'interview' them when they come round to view the room/house and get as much information out of them as you can.

I did though. I rented the same place for nearly a decade before I bought my own place and I had four different housemates during the time living there. Two of them I interviewed and then got new contracts with them when the previous one moved out. The two others were friends I ended living with. The two I interviewed I hated living with - one of them was a violent bully and ended with me making a formal complaint and contacting police about him, the other one I just didn't get on with as she was incredibly messy. Despite telling me when we initially met for the interview that she was looking for somewhere clean and was not messy. So screening people in a quick interview style is clearly not what I am good at. 

FreeBear

Hannimal said:  So screening people in a quick interview style is clearly not what I am good at. 

I have done trial periods for a couple of weeks or so before entering in to a contract.

MovingForwards

Shelter offers template lodger agreements and covers things which should be discussed / agreed before the person moves in.

Hannimal

FreeBear said:

Hannimal said:  So screening people in a quick interview style is clearly not what I am good at. 

I have done trial periods for a couple of weeks or so before entering in to a contract.

This doesn't sound fair to me. The other person could end without housing and over here it is very competitive to find a room. 

Hannimal

MovingForwards said:

Shelter offers template lodger agreements and covers things which should be discussed / agreed before the person moves in.

Thanks I am aware of these and I have a lodger agreement written up from before while a friend lived in my spare room. But it seems there should be some magic when figuring out what to consider with a stranger...