With money so tight, many tenants are finding it hard to pay their rent. One solution is to get a bit of extra money by taking in a lodger.
Most tenancy agreements forbid this, and so if you are a tenant you will need to get your landlords permission first. In most cases your landlord will be only too happy to say yes, if it means he will get his rent paid promptly and on time.
However remember that if the property is an HMO he may have no alternative but to say no, if the lodger would bring the number of occupants of the property above the number permitted in his license.
The landlord may also want to exercise some control over who the tenant is, to make sure that no-one unsuitable is living in his property. Practically there is not much he can do if you take in a lodger who is not to his liking – other than serve a section 21 notice on you and require you to vacate! So it is probably best to co-operate with him.
However YOU will be the person having a share a house or flat with the lodger, so you should be the person who has the last word on the matter.
There are lots of ways of finding a lodger – postcards in shop windows are a very traditional way, but many people are now using the internet with sites such as www.spareroom.co.uk and www.mondaytofriday.com. However it is important that you take great care in your choice as the lodger will have access to all your personal possessions – so you need to be sure that he is trustworthy.
Often people taking in lodgers tend to skimp referencing and credit checks, but they are arguable more important for a lodger in your own home than they are for landlords taking in tenants. So make sure you do this – my Your Law Store site has a new lodger pack which will help here. It also has a lodger agreement which you can use – another essential which lodger landlords often ignore.
Taking in a lodger can be good personally as well as financially. Sometimes lodgers stay a long time and can become an important part of the household. However it is best not to be too friendly at first. The relationship is after all a business one, and if you get too pally some people may take advantage of this.
There is a whole lot more about lodgers on my special website Lodger Landlord so if you decide to take in a lodger this is a good place to find out more.
My tenant lost his job and has had to claim JSA and Housing Benefit. I agreed that he could take a lodger (someone known to me) to help him pay the rent. However, the benefit office said it would reduce the amount of HB he would receive, and generally complicate matters. So he decided not to bother.
That doesn’t surprise me. It seems that once you get stuck into the benefits system you are rather circumscribed as to what you can do.
Still taking in a lodger can be a great help if you are just finding it difficult to manage on your salary. I had lodgers for years before I got married and very useful the money was too!
I have a mortgage case, a guy on benefits and he took in a lodger to help cope and I seem to recall the calculation was they discard 20% on the rental income and then reduce your benefits on the remaining sum by 50%. So on a rent of £100 that would leave the tenant with £40 from the lodger
tenant would keep £20 from lodger in ben’s example, unless a meal was provided in which case tenant would keep £60 (1st £20 + half the rest).
Tenant would keep all the money from lodger but would lose £80 of benefuts no meal or £40 with meal.
It is worth remembering that council tenants who are secure tenants and housing association tenants who are secure tenants have a statutory right to take in lodgers that the landlord cannot forbid [absent eg statutory overcrowding} — section 93(1)(a) Housing Act 1985.
Most housing association tenants who are not secure tenants but assured tenants are given a similar right by their tenancy agreement.
Thanks for correcting me there Niki. I will state for the record that my last maths exam result when I left school was 9%, which says it all haha.