Enquiry - Lodgers

Antithermal1723

Good Morning,

This is my first post so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve recently put a deposit down for a 3 bed flat and am wanting to live with my best friend who I’ve lived with for the past two years. My friend will be a lodger who’ll have access to shared areas (bathroom, kitchen and living room) whilst I too live in the accommodation. 

They’ve asked what rent they’ll be paying so and I’m not sure how much rent I should be charging. We have been renting for the past 5 years and have been paying £800 each per month for rent & utilities combined. 

I was thinking of charging £600 for rent to help pay for my mortgage then split the utilities (council tax, electrics, water, wifi and insurance) in half. That in total per month would be £750 roughly for the lodger. 

Whilst I will be paying the ground rent, annual service charge as well as half of the utilities. This’ll be £410 roughly for myself. Do you think this is justified? 

I reviewed rooms to let on Spareroom in my area and discovered that furnished rooms were being rented for £500 - £550 excluding bills so am undecided.

I am also considering acquiring a deposit of £400 for reassurance if there were any maintenance or repairs that needed to be carried out during the tenancy. I would return the deposit upon my lodger terminating the agreement of course if they wish to do so. 

Do you think I should adjust the rent or am I being paranoid?!?! 

Should I split everything in half instead but then will I be losing out because of this? 

Thank you for reading my post

_Penny_Dreadful

Antithermal1723 said:

Good Morning,

This is my first post so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve recently put a deposit down for a 3 bed flat and am wanting to live with my best friend who I’ve lived with for the past two years. My friend will be a lodger who’ll have access to shared areas (bathroom, kitchen and living room) whilst I too live in the accommodation. 

They’ve asked what rent they’ll be paying so and I’m not sure how much rent I should be charging. We have been renting for the past 5 years and have been paying £800 each per month for rent & utilities combined. 

I was thinking of charging £600 for rent to help pay for my mortgage then split the utilities (council tax, electrics, water, wifi and insurance) in half. That in total per month would be £750 roughly for the lodger. 

Whilst I will be paying the ground rent, annual service charge as well as half of the utilities. This’ll be £410 roughly for myself. Do you think this is justified? 

I reviewed rooms to let on Spareroom in my area and discovered that furnished rooms were being rented for £500 - £550 excluding bills so am undecided.

I am also considering acquiring a deposit of £400 for reassurance if there were any maintenance or repairs that needed to be carried out during the tenancy. I would return the deposit upon my lodger terminating the agreement of course if they wish to do so. 

Do you think I should adjust the rent or am I being paranoid?!?! 

Should I split everything in half instead but then will I be losing out because of this? 

Thank you for reading my post

You’re comparing apples with oranges.  When you were joint tenants together, each paying £800 a month, you each had all the rights of a tenant with an AST. Lodgers aka excluded occupiers don’t have the same rights as tenants so I wouldn’t expect to pay a similar amount as an excluded occupiers as I would a tenant. That’s likely why you see rooms being advertised for less than you want to charge your friend. 

Antithermal1723

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Antithermal1723 said:

Good Morning,

This is my first post so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve recently put a deposit down for a 3 bed flat and am wanting to live with my best friend who I’ve lived with for the past two years. My friend will be a lodger who’ll have access to shared areas (bathroom, kitchen and living room) whilst I too live in the accommodation. 

They’ve asked what rent they’ll be paying so and I’m not sure how much rent I should be charging. We have been renting for the past 5 years and have been paying £800 each per month for rent & utilities combined. 

I was thinking of charging £600 for rent to help pay for my mortgage then split the utilities (council tax, electrics, water, wifi and insurance) in half. That in total per month would be £750 roughly for the lodger. 

Whilst I will be paying the ground rent, annual service charge as well as half of the utilities. This’ll be £410 roughly for myself. Do you think this is justified? 

I reviewed rooms to let on Spareroom in my area and discovered that furnished rooms were being rented for £500 - £550 excluding bills so am undecided.

I am also considering acquiring a deposit of £400 for reassurance if there were any maintenance or repairs that needed to be carried out during the tenancy. I would return the deposit upon my lodger terminating the agreement of course if they wish to do so. 

Do you think I should adjust the rent or am I being paranoid?!?! 

Should I split everything in half instead but then will I be losing out because of this? 

Thank you for reading my post

You’re comparing apples with oranges.  When you were joint tenants together, each paying £800 a month, you each had all the rights of a tenant with an AST. Lodgers aka excluded occupiers don’t have the same rights as tenants so I wouldn’t expect to pay a similar amount as an excluded occupiers as I would a tenant. That’s likely why you see rooms being advertised for less than you want to charge your friend. 

I was thinking that it was too high plus I’d be over the threshold for the rent a room scheme by £1,500 so not ideal 😅

_Penny_Dreadful

Antithermal1723 said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Antithermal1723 said:

Good Morning,

This is my first post so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve recently put a deposit down for a 3 bed flat and am wanting to live with my best friend who I’ve lived with for the past two years. My friend will be a lodger who’ll have access to shared areas (bathroom, kitchen and living room) whilst I too live in the accommodation. 

They’ve asked what rent they’ll be paying so and I’m not sure how much rent I should be charging. We have been renting for the past 5 years and have been paying £800 each per month for rent & utilities combined. 

I was thinking of charging £600 for rent to help pay for my mortgage then split the utilities (council tax, electrics, water, wifi and insurance) in half. That in total per month would be £750 roughly for the lodger. 

Whilst I will be paying the ground rent, annual service charge as well as half of the utilities. This’ll be £410 roughly for myself. Do you think this is justified? 

I reviewed rooms to let on Spareroom in my area and discovered that furnished rooms were being rented for £500 - £550 excluding bills so am undecided.

I am also considering acquiring a deposit of £400 for reassurance if there were any maintenance or repairs that needed to be carried out during the tenancy. I would return the deposit upon my lodger terminating the agreement of course if they wish to do so. 

Do you think I should adjust the rent or am I being paranoid?!?! 

Should I split everything in half instead but then will I be losing out because of this? 

Thank you for reading my post

You’re comparing apples with oranges.  When you were joint tenants together, each paying £800 a month, you each had all the rights of a tenant with an AST. Lodgers aka excluded occupiers don’t have the same rights as tenants so I wouldn’t expect to pay a similar amount as an excluded occupiers as I would a tenant. That’s likely why you see rooms being advertised for less than you want to charge your friend. 

I was thinking that it was too high plus I’d be over the threshold for the rent a room scheme by £1,500 so not ideal 😅

Don’t let the tax tail wag the dog. You don’t turn down a pay rise at work just because you’ll have to pay more income tax. It’s the same with other forms of income. That said, I think your initial rent estimate was on the high side. 

I’m also not sure about expecting the lodger to pay for half the insurance. 

Antithermal1723

Thank you for the comment! I’m not sure why I put insurance as part of the utilities since I’ll be paying for that haha ooops. 

I’ve had this on my mind since I’ve posted on here. I was crunching the numbers and I’m thinking £450 for rent and then split the bills? That would be fair right? 

I forgot to mention - we don’t have a single furniture in our name since we’ve been renting but I’m willing to furnish their room I.e bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers so that they can lodge in it or should I rent the room unfurnished? That’s another question to be had 🫣

BungalowBel

A lodger room needs to be furnished.

It's been a long time since I had any lodgers, so I have no idea how much the rent should be but your initial rent seemed too high.

You may find this guide useful:

https://www.lodgerguide.co.uk/how-much-rent-to-charge-your-lodger/

kimwp

If my bestie came to live with me, I'd be charging them less than the going rent (assuming I could afford to do something), not more. 

bobster2

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Antithermal1723 said:

Good Morning,

This is my first post so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve recently put a deposit down for a 3 bed flat and am wanting to live with my best friend who I’ve lived with for the past two years. My friend will be a lodger who’ll have access to shared areas (bathroom, kitchen and living room) whilst I too live in the accommodation. 

They’ve asked what rent they’ll be paying so and I’m not sure how much rent I should be charging. We have been renting for the past 5 years and have been paying £800 each per month for rent & utilities combined. 

I was thinking of charging £600 for rent to help pay for my mortgage then split the utilities (council tax, electrics, water, wifi and insurance) in half. That in total per month would be £750 roughly for the lodger. 

Whilst I will be paying the ground rent, annual service charge as well as half of the utilities. This’ll be £410 roughly for myself. Do you think this is justified? 

I reviewed rooms to let on Spareroom in my area and discovered that furnished rooms were being rented for £500 - £550 excluding bills so am undecided.

I am also considering acquiring a deposit of £400 for reassurance if there were any maintenance or repairs that needed to be carried out during the tenancy. I would return the deposit upon my lodger terminating the agreement of course if they wish to do so. 

Do you think I should adjust the rent or am I being paranoid?!?! 

Should I split everything in half instead but then will I be losing out because of this? 

Thank you for reading my post

You’re comparing apples with oranges.  When you were joint tenants together, each paying £800 a month, you each had all the rights of a tenant with an AST. Lodgers aka excluded occupiers don’t have the same rights as tenants so I wouldn’t expect to pay a similar amount as an excluded occupiers as I would a tenant. That’s likely why you see rooms being advertised for less than you want to charge your friend. 

Exactly!

And this idea is just outrageous...

Antithermal1723 said:

I am also considering acquiring a deposit of £400 for reassurance if there were any maintenance or repairs that needed to be carried out during the tenancy. I would return the deposit upon my lodger terminating the agreement of course if they wish to do so. 

The idea of deducting costs from a lodger's deposit for "maintenance" of the property!

Grumpy_chap

Antithermal1723 said:

I was thinking of charging £600 for rent to help pay for my mortgage then split the utilities (council tax, electrics, water, wifi and insurance) in half. That in total per month would be £750 roughly for the lodger. 

I reviewed rooms to let on Spareroom in my area and discovered that furnished rooms were being rented for £500 - £550 excluding bills so am undecided.

You seem to have answered your own question.

HampshireH

Lodgers don't pay your maintenance costs. You can't use the deposit for this.

That's part of home ownership, if you need to recover this in part then your rent value should factor it in and you should set it aside.

Antithermal1723

Thank you for the comments! I definitely overthought the rent situation and have come up with a more suitable plan