To get a lodger when renting

[PaperdollCartoon]

Mostly posting here for traffic, posted in chat a while ago and didn't get any answers. I would be so grateful for any input. I'll try to get as much info in as possible without rambling.

DP and I rent our house, it's currently just us (and two cats). We have two large bedrooms. It's a fairly roomy house, including basement 'man den' as well as living room, dining room. So plenty of space for more people. Eventually children is the plan, but not for a couple of years.

We've been talking about essentially renting out our spare room to bring in some extra money, to pay off some debts, save and have some spare cash. Which would be lovely as at the moment we have basically none! I wouldn't want just anyone but we have discussed it with a close friend who is keen on the idea. If he hadn't been open to it we wouldn't probably have shelved the idea, I wouldn't want just anyone living here. He's a very close family friend I've known at least a decade, and we could quite happily all live together, and the house has space for privacy if needed. It would also do him a lot of good for various reasons.

However I'm not quite sure how we should broach the idea with my landlady. DP and I would still have full legal and financial responsibility for the tenancy, and can afford it without anyone else so no concerns there. Friend would be paying us some money directly and would have no legal recourse to the property. It would be a casual arrangement which we are all happy with, no deposit, any unlikely damage would still come out of our deposit. Basically he would be our lodger, not a joint tenant. It sounding remain our house in the strictest sense. I've checked our tenancy agreement and there's nothing that seems to be against the idea, only thing it mentions is anyone living here would need to be named. Everyone we speak to says why do we need to tell her at all but I don't really want to do it convertly and lie if we don't have, our landlady is lovely and we want a good relationship with her for many years to come.

Any advice on what we should say/how we should bring this up with her? Thanks so much.

[SlimCheesy2]

You said your lanlady is really nice and always repairs things promptly etc. So why not return the courtesy and respect and just ask her?

FWIW, my tenants just yesterday asked if they could sublet a room for the summer to a family friend. I said that in principle I had no issue with it and would check to see if there were any issues for my insurance etc. If they had just done it without asking I would have been incredibly upset and would have been rethinking renewing their tenancy.

[TheoriginalLEM]

You absolutely DO need to inform the hmrc of a lodger and pay tax accordingly. Flagging this up to your lanflady will mean she has to (if she agrees) declare it slso. If your friend uses your address too that will flag it up also.

but this is turning into one of those threads

OP - is this a good idea?

THE INTERNET : probably not because xyz

OP - you are all wrong and mean

[BeBopTalulah]

The tenancy agreement states that all occupants need to be named, as in officially to the agent/landlord. Taking a lodger is subletting. I think people are getting shirty about it because you seem to deny that this is the case. Regardless of the casual arrangement that you want, it is what it is - subletting. If your landlord says ok, fine. You cannot invite someone else to live with you without asking her first.

[PaperdollCartoon]

So in regard to things getting broken, if we have friends stay for the weekend and something accidentally got broken, what then? It would still be on us. Or even just here for a day and the shower broke while they were in it. What then? What's the difference really? Does everyone coming into the house need to be insure or added to the tenancy in case something gets broken?

[KittensandKnitting]

A good friend of mine lent me some money when I was in a pretty bad place five years or so ago and then she was going to be homeless for six months so she "stayed" with me during this time whilst she was finding her new home.

She cleared my debt and I let her "stay" with me for six months as my house guest, in my rented property which didn't allow tenants to have tenants. I did actually borrow money off her she broke up with a boyfriend and needed somewhere to stay, we were exceptionally close friends.

Landlord will insist the other person is on the agreement because if they are paying rent to you then they have statutory rights to the property, it's very different from having a child in the property.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

What if they accidentally set the house on fire?

[PaperdollCartoon]

I've said repeatedly I'm going to ask her, I never suggested I wouldn't so no one needs to say anything about that. I always find it interesting on threads when people constantly refer to something that wasn't said...

I'm not stamping my feet, I'm saying I don't think this is as necessarily wrong in principle as some people seem to think it is.

[PaperdollCartoon]

What if anyone accidentally set fire to the house? My mum could come round for the day and accidentally set fire to the house? Does she need to be on the tenancy or paying rent to do that? No.

[HermioneJeanGranger]

If someone is staying long-term they need to be named on the tenancy agreement for insurance reasons. People aren't saying that to be difficult but because both you and the landlord could get in trouble otherwise!

[Adnerb95]

Having a lodger does NOT turn your house into a HMO, that is nonsense!

[KittensandKnitting]

Of course you don't paper same as if you own your property.

The only reason someone needs to be on a tennacy agreement is because if they are paying rent to someone for staying in a property it is down to removing them from the property in the event the landlord wants it back.

So if your mate stays with you for six months and pays you rent two months in advance for example, his statutory "hold" on the property is two months. (It's an unwritten periodic tenancy after six months) if your contract with your landlord is monthly in advance and you have passed your six months then your statutory hold is one month but you have a written contract.

They give you a months notice you leave peacefully, your mate doesn't... He pays rent to you, he has an unwritten tennacy agreement with you not your landlord

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

If a day guest set fire to the house tgen the insurance would cover it. If the insurers discovered an undeclared tenant had started it in then they would have good reason to not pay up. I think Admer's letter is the way to go.

[MadHattersWineParty]

Well you are profiting a bit aren't you as you get a reduction on your rent- you've said the extra cash will help you save and clear debt.... So I fail to see how that isn't profiting!

[Spermysextowel]

I said you don't seem to want to ask. If you did then it's simple & you could've done it by now.

[PaperdollCartoon]

I know he needs to be named, I mentioned that before, but can that be done without him becoming an actual tenant? We don't really want him to be a joint tenant, unless absolutely necessary of course

[PaperdollCartoon]

I just wanted some advice on how might be the best way to approach it.

[whois]

It is sub letting and should be explicitly disallowed in your tenancy agreement.

If I was your LL I would not allow you to do this. I want to maintain ultimate control over who rents my property, and I should receive the financial benefit. 3 people is more wear and tear than 2 and I wouldn't rent my (hypothetical) 2 bed to 3 adults.

[scaryteacher]

You need to grow up OP. As a tenant, I have very strictly laid out responsibilities as I rent abroad; as an landlord in the UK, I have very strict responsibilities as well.

If the shower got broken, my tenants would be looking to me to fix it, irrespective of who did it, and I would have to pay for it, as I do any repairs that need to be done to the house. You blithely say you would foot the bill for repairs, but you can't afford to, as you are talking about subletting because you are broke. What part of 'I'm broke, so I have to sublet, but I'll bear all the cost of any damages' makes sense to you? Can't you see that your position in inherently contradictory? If your mate caused thousands of pounds worth of damage (and it does happen), can you afford to fix it then?

Your landlady doesn't know your mate from Adam. I would not agree to anyone living in my house that hadn't been credit checked, had passports etc checked (as is the law now), and they would have to be named on the tenancy agreement to protect my back in case it all went tits up.

[PaperdollCartoon]

Kitten I see your point, but he wouldn't be paying any rent in advance, he'd basically be helping us out with bills.

[Hoppinggreen]

You seem to be trying to convince us - it's not a bunch of strangers on the internet that you need to agree to this its your landlady
A lot of people on here have given you reasons why it might not be a good idea but you seem convinced it is so speak to your landlady and see if she will allow it.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

Subletting and taking in a lodger are two different things. It's not just semantics. An HMO is something different again.

All you can do is ask, OP. Adnerb's suggestion for how to broach it is good I think. I'd want to make it clear that I wasn't considering taking in just any old lodger but that this was an old and trusted friend. Also the likely timescale - i.e. he's looking to buy somewhere next year.

She might say no but I think she'd be a bit daft to evict you just for asking, if you've been good tenants.

[PaperdollCartoon]

Ok, if he needs to included on the tenancy that's fine. I will say that happy for that to happen if she wants that. I was never going to attempt to trick her in some way. I've got to go to work so probably won't reply for a while.

[whois]

If you got a lodger it would turn your house into an HMO which would need to be licences by the council and has a lot of different rules surrounding it. It is not a straightforward process

That's a really good point. You go from being a family group to an HMO (3 people, not from the same family group).

So that's an even bigger reason for LL to say 'no chance'. In fact, if she agrees, she will be very foolish.

My house was an HMO (but not a large HMO, 3 people) and it is a PITA. Had to get a change in use thing from the council as there are limits on HMOs. Also lots of other risk assessment and safety type stuff.

[BipBippadotta]

NeedaCleverNN I think the difference is that babies don't generally pay rent to their parents. All the tenancy agreements I signed back in the day stipulated I had to inform the landlord / property manager of whoever was living in the flat, including new babies (and most of my agreements specified no children or pets allowed - - but this was London).

OP, in terms of broaching this with the landlady, try identifying what the benefit will be to her of this arrangement. If you can't think of one, be prepared for a 'no' - and also be prepared for the possibility this might prompt her to raise your rent, whether or not you take on a lodger. A lot probably depends on her own circumstances and what your relationship is with her.

Your insistence that this is 'no big deal' is not really taking into consideration whether this might be a big deal for your landlady, and she's the one deciding. So you need to sell this to her, not just state that there's nothing against it in the contract and will all be just peachy.

Think about what you might be prepared to do to make this an easier thing for her to say yes to - would you put him on the tenancy agreement? I know you want to keep it 'informal', but that will probably not work with her legal responsibilities as owner of the property. Would you consider a small increase in rent?