How much should I charge my lodger to work from home?

Chocolatebiccies

I have a lodger, and he has told me that he needs to work from home from next week onwards.

I was thinking of charging him a daily rate (on top of his rent) to work from home.

How much should I charge him? 

Ayr_Rage

Having someone working from your home will most probably affect your home insurance, you need to check your policy.

Albermarle

£5 per day?

FlorayG

Well you're going to have extra costs for electricity and gas so you need to factor that in.
Last time I had a lodger working from home the lodgers room got awful with damp and mould on the walls because he was in there 23 hours a day with the door shut; bedrooms generally aren't designed for this sort of occupancy and you need to bear it in mind
Honestly I would be giving him notice to find somewhere else to live, I don't have a lodger to have them hanging around the house all day
If you decide to go with it I would suggest an extra £100 a month for the inconvenience and costs

NameUnavailable

FlorayG said:

Well you're going to have extra costs for electricity and gas so you need to factor that in.
Last time I had a lodger working from home the lodgers room got awful with damp and mould on the walls because he was in there 23 hours a day with the door shut; bedrooms generally aren't designed for this sort of occupancy and you need to bear it in mind

Bedrooms aren't generally designed any differently to other rooms in a house. The cause of the damp/mould would be lack of adequate ventilation.

NameUnavailable

Chocolatebiccies said:

I have a lodger, and he has told me that he needs to work from home from next week onwards.

I was thinking of charging him a daily rate (on top of his rent) to work from home.

How much should I charge him? 

Is he working from home full time for ever and a day? Or is it one or two days a week or just a temporary thing?

Assume it's clerical work? On the phone much?

If you're happy with it then yes you should charge more to cover the additional costs for heating/lighting. I wouldn't charge a daily rate as then you could get into arguments about what's due if he isn't working on some days. I'd agree a new monthly rent, but £5 a day/£100 a month as suggested seems fair.

FlorayG

NameUnavailable said:

FlorayG said:

Well you're going to have extra costs for electricity and gas so you need to factor that in.
Last time I had a lodger working from home the lodgers room got awful with damp and mould on the walls because he was in there 23 hours a day with the door shut; bedrooms generally aren't designed for this sort of occupancy and you need to bear it in mind

Bedrooms aren't generally designed any differently to other rooms in a house. The cause of the damp/mould would be lack of adequate ventilation.

But house owners don't spend all day in one room is what I mean; even if they use one of the bedrooms as an office. If it's your bedroom, living room, eating room and office then it's going to need extra ventilation and lodgers like to keep to themselves in my experience, not have the door open all day while they are working

theartfullodger

Working from home at what??  If e.g. writing tech manuals or handling 'phone calls on his mobile likewise but, if, say training dogs or meeting clients I'd just say no.

Do let us know....

ButterCheese

If you are going purely on extra cost, then I think you need to calculate it a bit more fairly.  e.g. will they have the heating on all the time etc? That is calulatable if you have a smart meter or App to monitor your daily or weekly heating use.  A laptop or desktop can be googled to see how much power it uses and you could calulate the extra electricity useage per hour, and calculate what it would cost per month.

They are more likely to remain happy with the cost if you've worked it out and explained it, rather than just putting a number down. 

maman

I'd agree that any increase should be based on extra actual costs. If you're normally at home all day with heating on then increased costs should be minimal particularly during the summer months ahead. 

Maahes

FlorayG said:

But house owners don't spend all day in one room is what I mean.

I pretty much do, from 6am to 10pm in the same room. Work, eat and game in the same room from when I get up to when I go to bed. There is a triple bunk bed in there for visitors but I think my wife might have something to say if I slept in there as well