CF lodger - advice please

[Kiwirose]

Our spare double room in our family home is let for single occupancy for £500pm including bills (which is probably too cheap) to a PhD student. He has just returned home with is wife without discussing this with us first. She tells us she is staying for 2-3 months.

We knew he was married and his wife lived and worked abroad in the same country he lived and worked in prior to study, so he is over here on a student visa.

We previously discussed with him the need to increase rent bin October because of the cost of living and all of the bills increasing.

My question is how much do you think it is reasonable to charge for a double room with double occupancy for the time his wife is here?

(and yes I am annoyed that this happened without prior discussion. I think he is treating this like a shared flat which it isn't, but even if it were I don't think you could move another person in without everyone else asking reasonable financial measures to compensate for additional utility usage and inconvenience).

All ideas gratefully received please.

I'd up by 50% of what you were going to increase it to (so if you were going to increase it to £600, I'd charge £900). But do you want a couple there?

At least I am not the only one!

With previous lodgers they too have asked questions (eg can I have my contact time with my kids at your house?) but in advance so that you can have honest and open discussions with the option of saying "no thank you, that doesn't work for us".

Exactly about the headspace!!
I ranted to my husband in the car this evening because I feel as though we can't do that in our own house because she is there.

So visas are not a problem - both have the right to be here.

I'm pretty sure it won't come to a refusal to leave situation and lodgers do have less rights than if I were letting a flat for example. But that is always a risk.

Contracting for 2-3 months isn't too much of a problem if it is only 2-3 months and not for longer. Although the money isn't so much of an issue to me as the lack of thought and communication on their part and the resulting lack of control on our part that this has caused.

We will have discussions with him at the weekend (hopefully without the children listening in). My husband asked if we should speak with them together but I feel that our contract is with him rather than them if that makes sense. Also it feels awkward to me because I don't really know her. Hopefully my husband will lead conversation because he is much more reasoned. I'll be tempted to start with WTAF which probably won't be helpful.

I would be sitting this chap down and explaining that, the room is let to one person. There has been a misunderstanding on his part that he could rent the room and then move someone else in. This is not a tenanted property he is living in but a lodger and a lodger is a solo person renting.

therefore he has options, he can search for some where else for them both to live or his wife can find lodgings - but the situation as it is can not continue.

this is a family home and it’s too many people living in a confined space and not appropriate, it’s not a HMO but you could bring up there are rules and regulations you do have to abide by

give him two weeks to sort out alternatives, but it’s likely to be nearer a month.

this was not the deal and had you known you’d not have taken him as a lodger

be strong, this is not going to work. He’s already put your back up and having Mrs hanging round the house all day was not on the cards

You do have a gas certificate don’t you?

Just tell him that the price paid is for one person. Any visitors need to be agreed in advance and on occasional basis, certainly not for weeks of months in advance. Tell him that actually he is not in a flat share but is a lodger so seems to have misunderstood how it works. Give notice or double the rent. Water/gas/electric will go up with someone in the home all day.

. Lodgers have absolutely no right to invite or accommodate
any additional guests to share the room and/or the hosts facilities.
So his "wife" can't stay in your home, she must go and stay in a hotel. Tell him this is not negotiable, she leaves right away.

He must have known from the outset he was looking for lodgings for two, and NEVER MENTIONED it when he sought lodgings for himself. The fact he never mentioned her, shows that he was intending to pull a fast one right from the outset. You've been scammed by a conman. Don't fall for it.

He's shown you their mindset, which is to cheat and manipulate and take advantage of you. There are multiple other ways dishonest guests can abuse your home and trust.

Don't mean to he horrible OP but get a bloody backbone. He's moved her in by stealth and any bets they won't be gone in 2/3 months. Tell her she has to leave now. Don't know if you have a contract with your lodger or what his rights are but if you have a clause that you have to give him notice then he can stay but she can't. Don't leave it until the weekend because they'll take that as you consenting to the situation

I almost ended up with a CF lodger - an acquaintance from work who was separating from his wife. I agreed to him moving in and then he mentioned that his kids (both under five) would come to stay every other weekend oh and did I have super fast broadband because he was a gamer and wanted to get set up properly?

Thankfully I was spared the task of telling him “no fucking way, pal”, by his wife giving him another chance. More fool her, he was a giant manbaby and a cheater to boot (despite being a devout Christian). Ugh.

yup - why??

Just tell him she cannot stay.

@Kiwirose

I don’t get how people ( your lodger ) even think that he can bring his wife to live with you for the same price as what he is paying

its not rent a room for 1 but get 2 people for the price of one

I could just about tolerate it if it was for a weekend a one off but 2 -3 months

You know if you don’t get rid she will be there till the new year

if you don’t mind then definitely say you want more money at least an extra £75 a week don’t accept a penny less .
and don’t worry about pissing him and his wife off because he clearly isn’t worried about taking the piss out of you

A friend of mine rents room and he had one guy from Mexico move in and think that all thr food was included as well for £500 a month

it took my mate 2 weeks to pluck up the nerve and explain that food was not included and he’s a big burly ex fireman 😂so he could rescue you from your burning house but not say WTF food isn’t included in the rent 😂

Christ there’s always one isn’t there. Bloody curtain twitcher.

The tale of your friend made me laugh - mainly because I also have a responsible job managing people and can be assertive at work without issue!

Give him strict time limit-2 months or whatever and tell him the rent is now £800. Cheeky bugger!

I would actually double the rent and also put strict timescales around it. You need to take back control of the situation and assert your authority in your own house. Good luck!

I’m absolutely gobsmacked someone can rent a double room for £500 per month! Is this the going rate in a city? Does the person use the kitchen and livingroom? I'm not being goady, just astounded that people charge this for a double room then ask if they should increase the rent. How much hot water or electricity can one person use?

We have 2 and 3 bedroom cottages that we rent for less than £500 per month!

He has moved his wife into your family home.
It's his family home now .

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he may just have a mindset that he rents the room, and can have visitors stay in it if he chooses. Yes, we all know it’s extra utilities usage, etc. Yes, it’s cheeky. But he might not be the stealthy master conman he’s being made out to be. I can imagine a student having lots of experiences of dodgy living arrangements and maybe just not thinking too much of it. When I first moved to the UK and was looking for a place to stay, I was weirded out by how rule-heavy and controlling some landlords were, particularly those who were renting out what was essentially a studio in their own residence. I wasn’t intentionally being a CF, I just didn’t have any previous experience of living as a lodger in the UK, although I’d been a lodger living in a spare room in a shared house with the homeowner in other places. It seemed to me like they wanted the benefits of me filling their spare room with none of the most basic realities of living with another person. That said, I wouldn’t have expected I could just move someone in for several weeks without discussing it first and without paying extra.

Just talk to him. Charge them £200 pw she’s there, it seems about right for the additional occupancy and utilities. Firm deadline of x day for her to leave. Maybe they’ll want to go elsewhere Christmas anyway?

@Etive
I live in a expensive popular student city and the going rate for a lodger ( all bills inc ) is around £600

Proper House shares ( with AST contract ) anything from £450 - £600 plus bills each room so probably £600 ish £750 ish a month

my sons friend paid £750 for an large ensuite room with all bills included this year
it was a Professional HMO with 2 kitchens / 2 x lounges and each room had an en- suit plus there was 3 extra bathrooms

Think 8 -10 people lived in the building as it was separated into two flats but there was a communal door into both flats

Also I think because of the HMO / licensing it’s difficult for landlords to rent to people of 3 or more who aren’t related
I think they have to pay for HMO licensing or something so this pushes the cost up due to extra work and cost so they charge more for this

My son plans to rent out his spare room / bathroom and he will easily get £600 a month could probably get more as it’s huge double room , fully furnished with all new furniture and it’s in a fab building .

for every room that’s up for rent you will get 50 -100 enquirers in my city

Have a think about whether you really want two people living in your house, it really changes the dynamic. If you do, you need a clear sit down and how much the rent will increase.

In my lodgers contract it clearly states “Visitors; not to cause, allow or invite visitors to the property on more than two nights each month without prior permission from the licensor”. If you don’t currently use a contract, drop me a PM and I’ll share the one I use, as it’s always best to have one!

I recently re-advertised on spareroom and was surprised by the interest, I’d also recommend not featuring, as that means only those who are really serious will be able to message you.

Surely they could rent a whole house for that, especially if you intend to charge for bills on top.

@Nolosomi @Kiwirose It’s relevant if this chap goes to council with any complaints, I’d not want to see this backfire on op. This lodger is not doing what was agreed on and consequently I wouldn’t trust him not to cause trouble. Thus my stance on getting rid of him from the house

Well you'd presume not, otherwise they obviously would.

I'm not in a city, but a 1 bed flat costs upwards of £900 a month round here, obviously not inclusive of bills.