Enquiry - Lodgers

FreeBear

You only need a Gas Safe certificate. EPC, EICR, and the rest of the stuff that would normally apply to renting are not needed for just a lodger.

As long as the rent received (including bills) is under £7500p.a. there is no need to inform HMRC.

I've never done an inventory - Perhaps I was wrong, but never really saw the point. Any damage would be quickly discovered, so action could be taken immediately to resolve it. 

Albermarle

You only need a Gas Safe certificate

OP - To be clear that is not the same as having the boiler serviced, which is separate.
Probably though most Gas safe heating engineers could do both at the same time. 

Antithermal1723

If I’m splitting the utility bills in half with my friend, do I need to add their name when I’m contacting the utility companies or simply mine alone? My plan is they simply send me the money with the reference as bills / month and I can pay the utility straight away or should I give them the opportunity to pay themselves to the utilities account? 

I’ll be keeping a track on monthly utility costs to make sure it doesn’t exceed 😅

saajan_12

Antithermal1723 said:

If I’m splitting the utility bills in half with my friend, do I need to add their name when I’m contacting the utility companies or simply mine alone? My plan is they simply send me the money with the reference as bills / month and I can pay the utility straight away or should I give them the opportunity to pay themselves to the utilities account? 

I’ll be keeping a track on monthly utility costs to make sure it doesn’t exceed 😅

What's the point in segregating bills so much?

As discussed in earlier posts, it doesn't make a difference to the tax situation whether its money towards bills or just part of rent. 
If you want to prove to friend that you're not overcharging then just show them the bills. 

trix-a-belle

Most utility companies will expect full payment in one lump each month, not ad hoc payments on account. Don't add your friends name that has the potential to cause some confusion over lodger vs tenant imo, you are the homeowner bills getting paid are your responsibility.

As i'm guessing you're yet to move from your current accommodation together & hopefully have access to the utilities accounts for that home, it would be worth you making a note of the usage you have been using together there for each service to at least give you a rough indication of what to expect (it will also give you an annual usage approx figure to use for comparing gas & electric tariffs to sign up to once you are in assuming you want to transfer from the incumbent). (Council tax figure for the new property can be looked up on your council website)
By getting those figures you might be able to come up with an appropriate estimate on bills that you can just split and add to the rent so that you haven't got this unknown bill variable & unknown possible tax position with the over or under the rent a room threshold. You can give your friend that figure too so they aren't caught unawares, you could potentially suggest sticking with that figure for 6 months till you've found your feet and got settled.

Also i'm thinking you haven't considered the fact that most utilities won't be neatly billing you accurately on your usage on a monthly basis it will be a split of the annual figure based on the estimates you give with a correction based on actual usage every quarter/6 months or pay on receipt of bill will be on a similar non monthly frequency.

FreeBear

trix-a-belle said:

Most utility companies will expect full payment in one lump each month, not ad hoc payments on account. Don't add your friends name that has the potential to cause some confusion over lodger vs tenant imo, you are the homeowner bills getting paid are your responsibility.

If I were just a lodger, I wouldn't want my name on any of the bills - That would make me jointly liable, and if the homeowner failed to pay them, I'd be on the hook.