To get a lodger when renting

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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.

It works for some people, it doesn't for others. Personally I'm loving having mine.
Don't worry OP, it sounds like assuming this goes ahead it has every chance of being a success.

www.gov.uk/private-renting/your-rights-and-responsibilities sets it out very clearly, especially the bit about l/l responsibilities.

I'm a private landlord (know the neighbour's/small village location) and would say no. I choose not to rent to adult sharers even though I could charge more for doing so.

If I was happy to do so, I would need them to be fully referenced/checked, on the tenancy and jointly liable for the whole rent (all arranged at the tenants cost). I would also want to increase the rent marginally to cover the additional hassle/wear and tear and make it competitive with other "professional sharer" properties in the area.

I rented myself for many years (and through circumstance do now again) and I've had tenants. I think I have a reasonable idea of the consequences when these sort of agreements fall apart so i'd probably say no.

Oh golly, some people seem to be hell bent on putting down the OP when they haven't said anything unreasonable.

I'm no legal expert, but I'd say do as you suggested - call your landlady and tell her you were thinking of putting the spare bedroom to more use, you're not going to need it for a while and you haven't had any house guests for ages so it seems a waste at the moment. You have a friend who is currently looking to lodge and it seems like a perfect fit.

If she says no, she says no and that's ok.

If she says yes, just tell her you're going to pop this all in an email as you like having all your ducks in a row, and not to worry that you'll sort out the lodgers' agreement.

Make sure at the end of your email you ask a question, e.g. "does that sound ok?", just so that you have a written confirmation.

Sounds pretty simple to me :)

The l/l needs to sort the lodgers agreement, and be happy with it, as she is the one that will paying for any possible eviction. He also needs to be checked as the law changed and anyone private renting has to have their passports checked to see if they have the right to rent in the UK.

The l/l will also have to check with their insurance and mortgage company that this arrangement is acceptable, and may have to pay increased premiums for the former. It's not as easy as you like to make out Sonders. The landlord has certain legal responsibilities, and she needs to be sure that the tenant having a lodger won't impact those, or cost more.

Some of the people on here are being such freakin'... I don't know the word for it...? Arseholes? The OP's landlady rents a large two-bed to a couple. If/ when they have children will she increase the rent to recoup the increased 'wear and tear'? She rents the property for a set amount, maybe she is happy with that amount and wouldn't want more money? Maybe she will trust the OP's judgement in having a friend to stay for a few months? Maybe she values the OP because she always pays her rent on time, takes care of the property and gets on with the neighbors. Hopefully for these reasons she will be happy for someone to stay for a bit and help the OP out with her bills in her home.

Charley50 It's not the rent, it's the legal responsibilities like the insurance; what happens with damages etc. I rent, and am also a landlord, and I don't think my landlords would be too thrilled if I suddenly decided to sublet part of the house; neither would I be if my tenants decided they wanted to do that, given that it would make it an HMO.

Houses in Multiple Occupation

Your home is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply:
at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants.

A household is either a single person or members of the same family who live together. A family includes people who are:
married or living together - including people in same-sex relationships
relatives or half-relatives, eg grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings
step-parents and step-children

With an HMO the landlord then becomes liable for council tax for example, unless there is a joint tenancy with all three names on, and they all have the right to use all parts of the property.

The landlord may also need to apply for a licence for an HMO depending where the property is.

We are not being arseholes, we are being practical and pointing out to the OP the legal position of the landlord. You and the OP may think it irrelevant, but you wouldn't be footing the bills for any problems, and the landlady would.

Charley- I can guarantee the majority LLs would charge more if they could. In fact in some places rent is so astronomically high it literally makes no sense. I have been approved for a mortgage, my monthly repayments will be £700 p/m, my rent is currently £1,580. how does that even make sense? Don't be fooled that all LLs are kind and thankful for a good tenant!

Babies can't contribute to the rent or run up high bills the way a fully-functioning adult can the last time I checked so that argument doesn't really work.

at comparing babies to lodgers.

JeanGenie - I don't for a minute think that all LL are kind and thoughtful!
Scary teacher - ok I understand your point that it would become a HMO, and all the awful legal implications to the LL. But personally I think it is one of those situations where you just don't tell the people who would deem it to be a HMO, and consider that it's just a friend staying for a couple of months who happens to help out with the bills.

No they can't pay rent madhatters, but babies can contribute to the wear and tear that someone up thread was so concerned about.

And yes adults use utilities and contribute to bills but they pay them too. The bills are in the renters name not the LL, so why should that bother the LL.

Sparkling I was referring to the argument that rent should go up because there is more wear and tear.

Charley that would mean the landlord was committing a criminal offence and risk a £20k fine. Why would they risk that?

Charey50 What then happens if someone reports it as an HMO? The landlord carries the not inconsiderable legal can, and then has to go through the wringer with all the things that have to be done to a HMO. Plus this: 'You could get an unlimited fine for renting out an unlicensed HMO.' From the YouGov website.

Why should the landlady put herself in line for that? If the landlady knows, then she is obliged by law to talk to the local council about it.

I don't think it's irrelevant, and I never said that. I do find it frustrating when people put words into my head! I would of course ask her if there would be any legal/insurance ramifications to the arrangement were it to go ahead.

Of course not all LLs are nightmares, or care, and not all tenants are nightmares either. Both sides get unfairly bad press! We're a young professional couple, we don't have raging parties, we pay on time, we don't cause any bother. She's lovely, fixes things promptly (in turn we look after things and don't call her for no reason!) she said for us to think of it like our own home, it's not an 'investment' to her, it was her home before she married and she just wanted a nice couple who would stay a long time so she doesn't have to worry. Im not entirely sure how much 'wear and tear' a house with one extra adult in it can undergo, all the furniture is ours, she's happy for us to paint walls if we want to, the flooring is mostly floor boards. What does everyone else do to their houses to create so much additional wear and tear?!

I'm going to repeat what has already been said: letting a room like this would make the house an HMO. Your landlady should say no unless a) she's prepared for the huge hassle of running an HMO or b) is fucking clueless about the legislation, in which case you should run for your life anyway as she's probably equally clueless about other safety requirements / insurance etc.

We are LLs and let both 'normal' properties and HMO's. They are a completely different kettle of fish - there is much tighter legislation around HMO's, especially with fire safety / gas safety. You can't usually have a pay as you go electric metre with HMO's for example because of the fire alarm requirements - don't know if that applies to you.

Your LL would be extremely foolish to agree to this without doing it properly but it's a lot of hassle for her for no extra benefit - you will be pocketing the cash. I would say no in her shoes.

Ok scary teacher I get your point. Highly unlikely that anyone is going to report it as being a house of multiple occupancy but if what you quoted above is correct I could see the issue for the LL.

I think this sounds like a good way of improving your own financial situation. You do need to discuss it with ll though.

I would say no too as I have no idea who the person would be in my property.
You can ask though, your ll may put up your rent or ask for new insurance etc.

Just tell the landlord you are polygamists then no hmo issues.

What does everyone else do to their houses to create so much additional wear and tear? Having to spend an enormous wodge of cash to sort out my house after tenants left, they can screw your pristine laminate flooring by using a desk chair with wheels, and wear a gouge in the laminate. As the floor was over 6 years old, as they had been long term tenants, I got £40. To replace the floor would have been £700+.

Some tenants also don't heat or air the property, so you get mould and condensation problems that take months to sort. Mine managed to set fire to the sitting room when she dropped a log out of the fireplace. They wash parquet flooring so it lifts; they leave cat litter trays uncleaned and full of cat shit on the patio; they don't tell you when there is a problem because 'they forgot', and so it costs more to fix. I could go on....

These btw were older tenants, both in their mid to late 50s/early 60s.

Seven I assume that's a joke? :o

Yes I was joking

Eh I did this for years in my early 20s-- rented out an apartment with two bedrooms, took on entire responsibility for rent, then got flatmate to pay me. Landlords were never interested. I guess just think through worst case scenarios.