Hi all,
I have had a Monday- Friday lodger since June 2019. He was sent to WFH from mid March. My lodger went back to his home several hours away where he stays on normal weekends and therefore wasn’t staying with me. He wanted to stop paying rent as a result but come back once we returned to the office. It didn’t seem fair to me that he should get 100% of the benefit of this situation so I said he could pay April rent as usual, and then a 50% retainer for those months he wasn’t here after that. Or he could give his 30 days notice and I would find someone else. He chose the former and to me that meant we both gained/lost equally from the situation. I thought that was fair. He paid the reduced rent in May as planned. On Sunday he text me to say he was coming back on Monday and he would be working in the office one week on and one week off. I said great- checked my banking (it was 1st June Monday and rent was due) and he had paid me the 50% rent. I sent a text saying that I expected full rent if he was returning. He said “we could discuss it when he got home”. When we did so he said he didn’t think it was fair he had to pay full rent when he’s only using it 8 or 9 nights a month. I said that if he wanted to go elsewhere he was welcome to and he said something along the lines of “well you know it would be hard for me to find something else in these times...and it would be just as hard for you to find someone”. It felt he was insinuating I had him over a barrel. Which maybe I do- but surely it’s not my fault that if you want to have exclusive, reliable use of a room you have to pay for it? It’s a really good price for the area so even if he managed to save something now by paying nightly somewhere, he would lose out when he had to find weekly accommodation again (when presumably he goes back to full time at the office). He said he would think about what he wanted to do (pay full or give notice I guess?).
The money is helpful but I don’t need it and I don’t think it would be worth the hassle for 50% rent so I guess I decided to stick to my guns as I’d be happy either way but I feel irked he is insinuating I’ve acted unfairly and I don’t know if that’s unreasonable! I thought I was being fairly generous to reduce the rent while he wasn’t staying here. He has yet to tell me his decision.
YABU - he is right, it’s unfair he has to pay full rent for 50% use.
YANBU- he is being unreasonable to want to pay half rent for half use.
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
AIBU?
Lodger rent during COVID
43 replies
CRbear · 03/06/2020 14:58
OP posts:
Am I being unreasonable?
235 votes. Final results.
POLL
You are being unreasonable
20%
You are NOT being unreasonable
80%
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.