Should I ask my new lodger to leave?

[Pugmummy92]

I have recently taken on a male lodger much older than me, he’s in his fifties (I’m 25). I own my own home, just me and my pug living here, and have previously rented one of my single rooms out.

My new lodger only moved in last week, paying two weeks’ rent as he wanted to have an initial trial period. However, since moving in, he appears to have moved half a house worth of belongings with him, despite only renting a very small single room! He has now occupied most of the garden shed, several kitchen cupboards (it was only agreed to have one cupboard and half the fridge), half the understairs cupboard and half my third bedroom too! He is also leaving the heating on constant (even when he’s not at home!)

Another reason for me taking on a lodger was to look after my pug a couple of nights a week, and to feed him should he finish work earlier. He is home earlier than me every day of the week so the agreement was that he feed my dog and let him out etc. before I’m home. He seems to be quite reluctant to do this now he has moved in and has quite a standoffish attitude towards looking after my dog, despite claiming to be a dog lover himself!

AIBU to give him notice at the end of his two weeks’ trial period??

He’s not very easy to talk about problems with, and makes me feel like I am the one creating problems already even after just one week. I just don’t know if I can stand living with someone who takes over the entire house and all my free space, and has no regard for my ever increasing house bills, and isn’t keen on looking after my dog?

Advice please! X

[Tistheseason17]

Aaah, there's a reason he wasn't long with his prev landlady 😣

[Idontdowindows]

Tell him to get his stuff out of the spaces he's claimed first! The bloody cheek of him!

[AskBasil]

What about a friend, OP?

It's going to be a bit awkward over the next couple of weeks... tell him he can't have any more than the trial period as the trial's not working, you don't want all this stuff all over the place, you want your spare room back etc.

[PasstheStarmix]

Send him packing at the end of his trail period and tell him you’re sibling is moving in (a little white lie.) You can find a much better lodger than this guy.

[PasstheStarmix]

Your*

[GaraMedouar]

Tell him ASAP that it’s not working out. Good luck OP.

[Cuppaoftea]

Your safety takes precedence over work logistics, surely knowing you're intimidated by this man who you're alone with in your house in a rural location, your partner will drop everything to come over.

Get this lodger out of your house in the next 24hrs, you can't keep letting him move more and more stuff in.

[ZigZagIntoTheBlue]

Good luck op, hope he goes without a fight and removes all his crap!

[Moanranger]

I take in lodgers & it is mostly ok. The trouble with older men I have found is that they are mostly divorcing, have (literally) baggage, kids, sometimes babies that they somehow expect would be perfectly fine to stay(WTAF!!) Your situation demonstrates exactly why you should not take in that sort of person - the powers dynamics are all wrong. Stick with a lodger closer to your own age, a professional, quiet type. You do not need a 50 year old to get a quiet, responsible tenant. And insist on references, I never let one move in without. I use the Spare Room license agreement, which stipulates all the issues you now have - areas in common, or not, notice periods, etc.good luck with the eviction. I agree with others, you do not owe him 4 weeks notice under the circumstances.

[bunbunny]

oooh. I'm assuming that you usually expect people to pay a month in advance? And were expecting him to pay you a month up front when he moved in?

In which case, only paying a couple of weeks rather than a full month is incredibly cheeky of him and maybe (hopefully!) means that as he hasn't paid up in full for the full month that the agreement you had drawn up for the 4 week notice period is no longer valid... Definitely something to check up on at work first thing on Monday... (I hasten to add I'm not a lawyer so wouldn't know the legalities, just what sounds like good sense but I know that doesn't always tally with the legally correct!).

if he is the one that introduced the trial period despite having signed an agreement for 4 weeks then surely he is the one that broke that agreement right away - and you can just say that you don't want him there after the end of his trial period.

Sounds like the only paying half the rent could have been a power play too - testing boundaries to see what he could get away with. It's another red flag to add to the list of issues with the tenant - as is the unwelcoming vibe you're getting from him, the fact he has taken over so much space without asking. It's when you look at all these things together that your spidey senses should be tingling and alarm bells ringing - not a good sign in a tenant.

I would also be worried about him moving out - if he has moved so much stuff in, I would want assurances that a) it will all be moved out in a timely manner (not sure if you can charge a storage fee if not - maybe another thing to look into for putting into your next contracts!) and b) that he doesn't move any of your stuff out with his stuff - you don't want him to 'accidentally' take your nice garden mower or spade from the shed, or your nice tv from the lounge or the box of summer stuff you've got stored in your spare room etc and discover he has left you with his dodgy old mower, a cheap spade that breaks the first time you stick it in the soil, and so on. You certainly don't want him keeping the key and coming back when you're out to empty out more of his stuff so you can't check what has been taken and left.

Some people have a tenant because they need the help to pay their mortgage or rent - which you need to pay at the start of each month, so not being paid what you are expecting could leave you in real financial difficulties, even if just for a short while things get back to normal.

Might also be worth ringing his previous landlady up even though he wasn't there for long - find out if he left at his request or her request - and if the latter - how he reacted on being told!

How is your house insurance set up re having tenants - have you got it covered? And if so, have you got legal cover on it? In which case you could ring them up and ask for advice (I know you can access it at work too but sometimes it's nice to have access to a different source of info to back it up).

Good luck!

[Dieu]

Of course get rid, but your dog is no-one else's responsibility, and (even as a dog lover myself) I wouldn't be impressed at having this landed on me.

[CircleSquareCircleSquare]

Yep you really need to read that nymag article someone linked above.
Not suggesting it will end anywhere near as bad but it might spur you on to get him the hell out of your house

nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/jamison-bachman-worst-roommate-ever.html

[Gemini69]

you need to stop him moving stuff IN ... get him out.. he is taking over your home.. and you're doing nothing to stop this.. I have visions of him refusing to leave now....

[ZenNudist]

Agree with others. Tell him now to leave after the trial period is up. Of course it works both ways.

Also getting him to remove hus things from the other rooms or start charging additional rent!!!

[MistressDeeCee]

Get rid. & if you're having to wonder if to serve notice on a man who's imposed on you by taking up much of your living space and furthermore is stand-offish with you, then you're not ready to take in lodgers. You aren't assertive enough and there are total strangers - which is what most lodgers are -who will totally take advantage of you if they're not pleasant people.

Did you take up references by the way?

As you've also let a man into your home who is twice your age, and you don't know him.

'He' wanted a 2 week trial? You're the landlord it's your home not his.

Honestly, serve notice on him then take a break, think if you want another lodger and if you do, there's lots of advice online re boundary setting, how to make very clear what you're renting ie single room only, even a licensing agreement if you want that.
& assertiveness guidance

As other pp's have suggested, have someone else with you when you tell him. & a couple of people who will pop round from time to time until he finally goes

[PreemptiveSalvageEngineer]

Is his name Feathers McGraw?

[GayAllen]

Good god get him out ASAP!

[Motoko]

What reason did he give you about why he wasn't in his last place long? Didn't that ring alarm bells?
Surely the sensible thing would have been to contact his last landlady for a reference? His employer is not going to know what he's like to live with, or whether he pays his rent on time.

Forget about 4 weeks notice, he's only paid for 2 weeks, not 4 like he should have. You should have still insisted on 4 weeks as per the contract. If he wanted to leave after a 2 week trial period, you could refund the other 2 weeks.

[SickofThomasTheTank]

I don't understand why you're putting off telling him?

It doesn't matter if you drew up a proper agreement! The law is the law and he has no Legal Rights!

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

Ugh, definitely get him out. Why can your partner not be there with you when you tell him?
And why can't you take your dog with you to your partner's?

Either way, assuming your partner is unable to help you out with any of these things, you really should have someone there with you, just in case - but even if he's not broken any actual terms of your agreement, you can still get rid because it's your house. I had a lodger that made me uncomfortable after a while, and it took me ages to pluck up the courage to get rid of him - ages of me coming back, avoiding him, my heart sinking if I saw his light was on - and he wasn't a piss-taker, he was just a bit strange.

Yours is a right cheeky fucker - he's taking up far more of your house than you anticipated, he hasn't' given you a full month's rent up front and he's already on several of your nerves, so grasp this nettle straight off and get rid.

And make sure someone is there in the house when he leaves as well!

[123MothergotafleA]

.

[FifiVoldemortsChavvyCousin]

Make sure it’s in writing.

Dear lodger, we agreed to a trial period and during this trial it is clear it is not going to work out. (You don’t need to give reasons). Please piss off by X date, and make sure your -shite- belongings are also gone. -I’m changing the lock and have learned a lesson- Yours Sincerely the bloody owner of the house and a person who’s boundaries you have no respect for.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

Do you still have his former landladies contact details? I would contact her and ask her why he left and assuming she ended the contract if she had any issue with getting him to leave.

[FifiVoldemortsChavvyCousin]

You work in landlord and tenant law so you know that he is an ‘excluded occupier’ as he lives with the landlord and shares facilities (kitchen). The statutory notice period is ‘reasonable notice’ which is not strictly defined but in case law between 24hrs to several weeks depending on how long he has been there and ‘other factors’.

The point is, don’t give your lodgers more than the statutory minimum. In your next contact you can say something like 2 weeks notice. If it doesn’t work out you have two weeks to leave. After that 2 weeks notice by landlord, 2 weeks from tenant.

I know you wrote in the 4 weeks to be kind, but it just inconveniences you.

[YimminiYoudar]

Don't wait till the end of the 2 weeks to give him notice. Tell him asap that you want him gone. There is no logical reason to wait, though having someone with you when you tell him is fine just make it happen as soon as you can.