Renting a room to a single mother with 6yo daughter

_Penny_Dreadful

Bookworm105 said:

unless you have a very special size bedroom with 2 beds in it I'd be amazed at the idea of a 6 year old sleeping in the same room as their mother.

the annual gas safe check is not a should, it is a legal must 

Residential landlords are also required by law to have a GSC if there are gas appliances in the property. 

https://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/landlords/safetycheckswho.htm

Grumpy_chap

Bookworm105 said:

the annual gas safe check is not a should, it is a legal must 

Gas safe check has been mentioned a couple of times in this thread.
Is that definitely required, even though the OP is only considering a lodger?  This is not a tenancy.

zagubov

As said before, never mention tenants or tenancies. In your agreement do mention your rules about the following:locks/ visitors(e.g.  work customers etc.)/ guests/ partners/ rooms usable/noise/ smoking/ cleaning/ food prep/ pets/ bills/ keys/ TV use/ laundry (2x week max)/ notice to quit etc.

Albermarle

Brie said:

Just as a precaution I would make sure that there is nothing around that a mother might consider offensive for a young girl to see.  So any books like Ulysses or Fifty Shades on the top shelf and no channels on the TV that are adult rated.  Keep your pc/laptop locked simply for privacy from either of them.  

Our neighbours used to regularly have young students staying with them and no DBS checks were done.  Generally they were 10-14 year old boys which was the same age as their sons so maybe that's why it wasn't required.  

If you are a bloke I don't think I'd recommend having a young girl staying with you in case there are any misconstrued situations.  But even if you are a woman I'd suggest you agree up front that at no point do you agree to be in the house alone with the girl, so no babysitting or looking after her while mom nips to the shops.

To begin with that would be a good idea, but if all works out well, then inevitably the odd bit of babysitting/looking after them is going to happen. Six is quite a nice age, and the OP might get quite fond of her and be happy to look after her.
It is quite normal to entrust your kids to other adults ( sleepovers, parties, tea after school etc ) and for adults to keep an eye on other people's children. 

_Penny_Dreadful

Grumpy_chap said:

Bookworm105 said:

the annual gas safe check is not a should, it is a legal must 

Gas safe check has been mentioned a couple of times in this thread.
Is that definitely required, even though the OP is only considering a lodger?  This is not a tenancy.

Yes, it is a legal requirement. 

https://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/landlords/safetycheckswho.htm

lincroft1710

gow007 said:

I am mostly on the roads, travelling for work purposes and will be barely home, perhaps a few days in a month.

For this reason I think it is a bad idea. You will be not be able to stop them accessing whatever part of the house they want to nor stop any undesirable visitors/guests 

FreeBear

Bigphil1474 said:

 A HMO is at least 5 rooms from memory so not an issue.

HMO is based on the number of residents or family units. You could stack 20 individuals in to a room, bunk house style, and then you'd be a HMO. Not a particularly savory HMO, but one none the less.

[Deleted User]

Is your friend going to be a guarantor? If mum misses payment, how would you handle having to ask them to leave, with say a weeks notice? 

theartfullodger

Under overcrowding laws 6 year old counts as 1/2 a person so -see link - room needs to be at least 8.36 sq metres
https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/housing_conditions/overcrowding#title-1

gt568

Would not touch with a bargepole.