Lodger eats our food

TBagpuss

I think you need to talk to your lodger and make clear whatthhe, and his girlfriend, are able to use.

Unless you cook for him (in which case decie how much you want to charge for making enough for her as well, and how myuch notice you need ) then remind him that he is repsonsoble for buying his own food and that he and his girlfriend should not b helping themselves to your food.

Speak to his girlfriend in a friendly way, explain you noticed her helping herself to [whatever] and show her which shelves in the fridge ./ cupboards are the lodgers and that she can only help herself to items that are his.

If the lodger doesn't have any food in the hosue then the teo of them can go shopping. 

SadieO

theoretica said:

Does that really cover the cost of food?  I would be careful about starting any hint of an 'all you can eat' for a fixed price!

Reminds me of a story in the book Freakonomics. A nursery was sick of parents being late picking their kids up so they introduced a fine, thinking it would be a deterrant. The opposite happened - people took it as the ability to "buy" a late pick-up, and paying the fine was worth it to them and meant they didn't feel guilty about being late, or even try to be on time any more!

So yes, you don't want the lodger thinking that, paying you some extra rent means they can freely eat your food! Not only might they do "all you can eat", and cost you a lot more than they are paying you, but even if you gave them an itemised bill you're still saving them the hassle of going shopping by effectively doing it for them! If they can't be bothered going shopping, they might just think "oh I don't need to bother, I'll just eat landlord's food this week and give them the money later!"

I's nice of you to be so caring and I am sure you would never see anyone go hungry, but make it clear you would only let them borrow some food in an emergency, not because they can't be bothered to change their personal money management from a weekly to a monthly budget. I imagine with a baby on the way there is a lot more things they will need to start getting on top of and they shouldn't be relying on you - are you going to start buying nappies and baby food too??!

elsien

His pregnant girlfriend manages to feed herself perfectly adequately the rest of the week so what makes you think that she suddenly loses that ability when staying over at yours?
Have you also have the conversation with your lodger about what happens when the baby comes because you risk having both the girlfriend and the baby staying over 3 nights a week otherwise. 

Set the boundaries now. It is likely to backfire if you don’t. 

saajan_12

If you want to include food, then be very clear on what that means.. otherwise what if they empty your fridge? Or demand you go buy more since they're still hungry and they've paid for food included. Or invite friends over to eat too? Or expect to not pay because they weren't there half the week? Or or.. 

My parents had a lodgers in their pre-kids days, and accommodated some food because that was the market at the time / area. It was a fixed all in £ / week, for 
- furnished room
- 1 laundry load a week (it was a luxury in those days!)
- 1 meal a day, whatever the family was eating for dinner. If you're out then you lose it, no drinks, no extra people. 
- space in fridge + cupboard for their own breakfast, lunch and drink items (usually was cereal and a sandwich at work for lunch or eat out)

zagubov

This has to stop. As a live-in landlord, you shouldn't have to put up with this.
What kind of house rules did you make at the start of the arrangement regarding guests and facilities.
Don't offer any meal deal nonsense; just let them have space to store their own food.

Sistergold

£25 per week for food is too little. 

koalakoala

You shouldn't allow overnight stays

Hannimal

sevenhills said:

Reggie65 said:

 He has a gf stay over 2 to 3 nights a week and I've noticed she also helps herself to my food

Are you ready for when the baby comes? Sounds like the GF might end up staying 24/7?

It boils down to how much money you want, £25 is too much for food, but if she is sleeping too, you should charge more depending on whether it's one/two/three people.

If that's too much then I don't know what I am doing wrong because my weekly food shop is much more than £25

aoleks

what's the gf doing there? and if she sleeps over, why on earth is she touching your fridge?

also, food has nothing to do with lodgers, they sort out their own !!!!!!. lodging is like a rental, but cheaper. you only provide the space and potentially some furniture, that's it.

Rumana03

Reggie65 said:

Hi I have a lodger who got paid weekly as from the 1st his firm now paying monthly.so he had to give me month upfront.however he has no money  for food so I give him something untill he gets paid. He has a gf stay over 2 to 3 nights a week and I've noticed she also helps herself to my food  .I've told him that when he gets paid   he will have to give me extra£25  a week for food   and iff his gf stays and eats that's a extra 15 a week does that sound greedy or should  I lower it down a bit.i know it's not her place to eat at mine  she's  pregnant  I don't want to deprive a pregnant  woman off food

Why is the girlfriend even staying over? You say they stay 2 or 3 nights a week but this could end up being every day if you don't put a stop to it. Also as they are staying half the week at your place then obviously they will be using your gas, electricity & water..all of which adds up when the bills come.

I had a lodger who when we drew up the contract said his fiancee would be ocassionally over and would this be ok? I made it clear from the start she would not be allowed to sleep over & she was only allowed in the areas he has on his contract (his room, the conservatory they ate in & use of the toilet the lodgers used).
After a few months I noticed he left her alone in the property whilst he was out. To me that was an issue as I didn't know her properly & it's a risk if anything was to go missing in the property. Another time I noticed she let herself in to the house early one morning with her own set of keys! After that I was extremely annoyed and had words with the lodger. He moved out within a month.

Honestly the more things you allow now, the more they will take advantage of you. Put your foot down now and make the rules clear. I typed an additional part to the contract once I noticed what was happening & had both my lodgers sign it.