Thinking about a lodger but I’m a self-confessed pita and would only want someone lodging Monday to Friday. So am wondering about someone who is a contractor and goes home at weekends.

Does anyone have any experience of this please?

Thank you so much. 🙂

Hey what’s a PITA? Don’t you put humous on it, but that doesn’t work in this context 😉

😆 @ Munqe-chick

I couldn’t bear to share my house with any of the contractors I know. You are talking about IT and construction workers after all…

I don’t have experience but have seen ads for people doing the same and I can easily see how it would work well

pain in the………

I’m sure you’ve seen this:

http://www.mondaytofriday.com/

and this

http://www.spareroom.co.uk/

When we moved to our new house we thought about going the Monday to Friday route but ended up with a full-time lodger. Thus far (two years plus with the same guy) it’s been fantastic (truly, it’s working great!). We found ours through spareroom.co.uk.

I’d say ask tough questions and be totally honest about what you expect from a lodger / want from a lodger when interviewing them. And if it doesn’t feel totally right for you, say no. And google their name and email address to look at their online life… an easy way to find out a bit more about them.

spareroom.co.uk
beware pay to gefister wbsites …………….

My friend is doing this at the moment, she’s charging £275 pcm on an all included basis.

There were teething problems though when the first lodger seemed to think that shagging her was part of the ‘all inclusive’ package! 😯
Can’t blame him really, she’s gorgeous.

sorry – register
get phone no, email – google them
copy passport, take deposit
contact insurance co/mortgage, – may not be covered for lodger theft etc etc

Both spareroom and mondaytofriday have had a fair amount of national press over the past few years, may be worth checking out.

With spareroom, (at least in the past, and they keep on offering to me now) if you register as a potential landlord (or whatever the term is) and then don’t create an ad for a week or so they used to offer you a free two-week ad.

Also, both sites offer advice (to both tenants and landlords) which would certainly be worth reading.

Edited to say top point on the house insurance and mortgage front. Only change on our house insurance was that to claim for theft there now has to be signs of forced entry. Mortgage co were fine about it (but had to be told).

might help

@gusamc – I wondered WTF “gefister” meant, so I googled it. It’s German for “fisting” apparently 😯

So, spelling mistake or Freudian slip? 🙂

Thanks for laughing at me CG and not explaining it! But I’m up and rad wiv da lingo now, cheers bruv

Wow! Thanks for all the replies. No, I haven’t seen those sites before so that was useful.

It would only be for a temporary basis as I’m hoping to move so could be anything up to 6 months I guess.

Of course it may well suit a mountain biker as I do have one or two trails near me and could be on guiding duties.

On the one hand, I would prefer an informal arrangement although obviously appreciate that one needs safeguards.

There was a nightmare story on here a week or so ago (chap posted asking for help) after an informal arrangement turned sour. WH Smith offer DIY landlord papers which can be adjusted to suit a lodger situation. Take care of all the potential problems up front and then it can feel totally informal from then on.

Feel free to email if you have more questions pertaining to our situation – we’ve probably had lodgers (one at a time, but both friends and strangers) for a combined total of 7 years. Only had it go wrong once (guy who had been a great mate) and it went hideously Policetastically wrong! Yeah, deal with all the uncomfortable stuff up front and straight away!

OK, stupid question time :roll:.

Does a Monday to Friday lodger leave their belongings in their room so it can’t be used at the weekend?

What happens about breakfast, dinner, laundry, towels?

You wouldn’t be expected to provide meals.

Maybe provide bedding, but they’d be responsible for laundering it.
Typically, you couldn’t expect a lodger to remove all of their property at the weekend, just to vacate the room.

OK, stupid question time :roll:.

Does a Monday to Friday lodger leave their belongings in their room so it can’t be used at the weekend?

What happens about breakfast, dinner, laundry, towels?

All dependent on the arrangement you have. Our lodger does his own laundry with his own laundry detergent, uses our kitchenware and loads his own stuff into the dishwasher / washes it up himself. Unloads the dishwasher a fair amount. Has his own towels but I think we initially provided two sets of bed-linen – can’t remember though and he washes them himself so I haven’t seen them recently enough to remember! He has his own fridge (but more common would be their own shelf in shared fridge) and a drawer in freezer, plus a cupboard for his dry foods. He has use of his room, ensuite, kitchen, laundry and lounge, plus storage space in garage for his bike.

Truly, it’s all negotiable. Work out the situation you’d be happy with and take it from there. I think on the ‘leave belongings in room’ question, a new hanging rail and a storage chest would be a cheap way of giving them space of their own while allowing you to use the room at weekends.

I have used monday to friday and spareroom a few times to find rooms for during the week, usually on a 3 night basis monday to thursday. Has always worked really well for me and the people I am lodging off. Typically pay between £200 and £250 pcm all inclusive. Most landlords use a standard WHS contract and take a £250 deposit.

Do you have a fast internet connection?

as above – down to what’s agreed, but having lodged one of the main reasons for a room as opposed to hotel is the ability to leave stuff over, as it’s a pita having to move everything every Mon + Fri.

You need to see it from both views, and I’d suggest that you need to accept that it’s their home from Mon-Fri, and they will probably like to use it thus.

Markie – some very useful info there, thank you. 🙂

LHS – Monday to Thursday sounds even better!

TSY – who needs a fast internet connection when there are such fab trails close by. 😀 OK, fail. 🙁

As gusamc states, you have to consider the fact that it’s their home to, at least for part of the week.

Too many live-in landlords want to have their cake and eat it, in some cases depending on the lodger’s money in order to pay the mortgage, but at the same time resenting them.

This is also why I would never choose to live with the owners of the properties I rent, you’re always made to feel like a guest who should feel grateful. I had quite a falling out with one particularly bad landlord (more with his hideous freeloading girlfriend really) and ended up explaining in no uncertain terms that for £450 pcm, if anything I was a part-owner! When I announced my intention to move out he was literally begging me to stay, but the damage was done.

Just another person who had radically overstated his income on the mortgage application!

I’ve used arrangements like this when I’ve been working away from home a lot. I used my own bedlinen & towels which I took home to be washed at weekends, most of my other junk went into a storage box for the w/e; not that there was much of it. I paid per night spent over as it wasn;t that regular, but that was convenient for both parties as the landlord worked away as well, staying with his girlfriend.
My short-distance commuter bike went in the shed.

I did this in Bristol for a few months this time last year – lodged, that is. Financially, it helped a great deal – miles cheaper than a scutty B&B.

I paid £70 a week for three nights (travelled south very early on a Monday and returned north on a Thursday night. I used my own bedding, but towels were provided.

In the end, I moved out as the landlady occasionally used to let her Labrador sleep on my bed when I wasn’t there – unfortunately, I’m allergic to dogs, so I wasn’t too chuffed. She denied it until one Monday when I returned to find paw prints on the bed. She also turned the lounge into another bedroom for her and the dog, so the only place to sit and unwind in the evening was in my bedroom.

Rent yer house out for porn shoots.

No, seriously- you could make more per day than from a lodger all week. And they wouldn’t be there at night to sneak into your room and murder you…..

QUOTE: Elfinsafety – Member
Rent yer house out for porn shoots.

UNQUOTE.

I’ve long suspected that you work in the adult entertainment industry…

Elfinsafety: Hi, I’m selling the Morning Star door-to-door
Busty Housewife: Mmmmm, I’m feeling sooooo radical!
Elfinsafety: Can I interest you in a loooooong subscription?
Busty Housewife: Will you stick it through my box personally?

😆

I’m off to see a new house share tonight…hope to God it’s better than the dross I’ve seen lately.

I would CG if I weren’t on expenses 🙂

I am just such a lodger (Monday – Thursday or Tuesday – Thursday depending on what I can get away with). Work in London, home in Yorkshire.

I have a couple of draws in a chest of drawers to keep clothes (all cycling ones) and a laptop – nothing else stays there. Bike gets parked in garage when I’m there but it’s my transport round London so comes home with me.

I use a bit of fridge space during the week, and other than wireless braodband that’s all I need. I’d have thought most weekday lodgers would be similar?

Anyway, glad for this post as those sites look good for when I want to move.

Last time I checked (a few years ago now) lodgers have absolutely zero tennancy rights. As long as you the owner are still living there, then basically it’s entirely up to you how you manage the situation.

To illustrate, they could come home one day to find you’ve turfed them out and changed the locks and there wouldn’t be anything they could do about it.

But like I said, it’s been a few years since I checked.