To charge more for lodgers working from home

[SecretBlue]

I genuinely don't know the answer to this, so will to accept the Court of Mumsnet.

I've had lodgers for 10 years so am a very experienced landlord and have only had 2 bad experiences in all that time. My kids accept it because they enjoy the financial benefits having lodgers provides.

Anyway my current lodger is moving out after 2 years to move in with her boyfriend and I have advertised online.

Now about 50% of enquires are from people who are now working from home. I don't normally rent to people who work from home. I work from home and I love my solitude during the day with no kids and no lodgers.

However these are strange times, so I may have to rent to someone who wfh.

Anyway my question, obviously someone who works from home is going to "cost" so much more than someone who is out during the day. I'm particularly thinking of heating.

I don't have the central heating on during the day and just wear a million layers of jumpers.

However I can't do that to a lodger, I was thinking about giving them an oil filled radiator.

This will cost approx £200 a month if in 24/7.

Hopefully they won't have it all the time.

Anyway I'm thinking of charging an extra £25 a week if they work from home to cover some of the extra costs.

Is this reasonable?

Are you in the sort of location to be able to offer a Monday - Friday let? You’ll get less money. But you’ll get someone working out.

To be honest I would do an uplift to the advertised price rather than purposefully add money on for someone who works from home. As a PP has said, peoples situations can change anyway, a lot of people here were back in the office for a few weeks, and then sent home again with a few hours notice to WFH for the foreseeable, having a clause built into the agreement to say if this changes you will be liable for additional charges is probably more off putting than just setting the rent at a level that accounts for that, people can pass it by if it's too much. I would consider the implications of either though, someone going out to work is increasing the risk to your household (personally I would be okay with that as we are all low risk, not everyone would), or they could have to WFH which impinges on your solitude (I'd feel the same).

Just use your central heating. Your energy bill would be much cheaper than £200 per month 😳

See what the market comes up with and try to get one who is not working from home. My son i s doing the same course his sisters did after graduating except they were out 4 days a week including 2 hours travel a day and then often in the evenings and indeed weekends out out out. This time it is very different. (I also work from home and have since 1994 and like being alone) he is no trouble at all and we can chat about law in his breaks but he is there... and indeed has had the heating on this week when I normally keep it off and just turn on my fan heater when needed at this time of year, so much I got very very hot and had my window open. He uses more loo paper as here all day (again it's my son and obviously not an issue at all) and lights are on in the room he works in downstairs, his friends pop round, dishwasher full every day rather than on my own every 10 days. I need to hoover much more. I don't mind as it's my son but it does illustrate the difference too that there would be with a lodger who was in all day.

Perfectly reasonable.

You can charge whatever you like - you just need to test the market.

Saying you will see how the viewings go and then slap on the £25 pw after - can you even do that? I would guess you can’t advertise it at a certain price, show someone round then say ‘btw, it’s now £25 pew more than advertised’. It would be very unfair, and is something you perhaps should have thought through BEFORE advertising?

Where are you getting £200 from? From this it would be £75 a month if they have an oil filled radiator on 12 hours a day.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/recommended/home/best-electric-heater-portable-use-around-house/amp/

I think the answer a bit on how much you need a lodger. I suspect the reason there are so many around are some who would have let a room, are now working from home and have chosen to do that from their parents. In addition all of the people who rent a room to be near work do not need to etc. Ultimately people have more options open to them on where to live when not tied to a location.

If you don't need the money and want to secure someone who is out a lot you could as some have said offer a reduced rate for those people. However, if its unbearable to have someone work from home simply block that option in your ad.

In a busy market, cheapen your offer and someone will come.

Are you near a hospital, a large train station or factories etc? If so, you could try approaching those employers direct to advertise in their break rooms etc.

You can advertise at whatever price you like, and you will know if it's reasonable if people are interested. I would just advertise at a price assuming that people will be working from home. If they aren't working from home currently, they are likely to be face to face with the general public, possibly in a high risk environment (eg hospital, care home) which you might also not be comfortable with. Perhaps a lodger isn't for you at the moment.

I would just advertise the rate as £25 more per week and when they look around explain that you are happy for them to work from home if required and this is the set up.....e.g. can they use the kitchen table when the kids are at school?

My oh wfh all the time and I don't put the heating on much for him.....he has an oil filled radiator which he says heats his study in 15 minutes. That seems more efficient to me than heating the whole house....but admittedly I haven't done the maths!

Having a lodger brings expenses as well as income. How much would you be saving, both in terms of time and money, if not having a lodger?

I think that is the key question as it may come cheaper not to have one than keeping one warm, feed and happy.

If you decide to have one ask for non smokers only (you have no idea how heating costs increase having someone opening the door repeatedly throughout the day to go for a fag outside).

Its up to you what you charge and what you are comfortable with - as long as you are extremely clear with your expectations before and during the lodging it is then up to the lodger to accept or not accept the conditions.
However if unforeseen circumstances happen - ie the employer makes them work from home or they get injured and can't leave the house - you will have to work around that.

Everyone has different levels of what they are comfortable with or what they will compromise so like other posters have said work out what you are comfortable with. If you can't get interest at the higher price then that's that - don't grudgingly accept something lower if you dont have to.

I had a part time lodger for a while last year who travelled into London for work, so my weekends were free, perfect arrangement! However my price was very very low and reflected that. So it's possible? Theres a lot of people out there and you might find someone introverted who prefers their own company. Never know!

Couldn't you just have your central heating on low, and the lodger can adjust their own radiator if necessary?

More people are currently WFH ATM so it may be difficult to find someone who is at the office 9 /5 .As far as heating bills go maybe about £50 /£75 p/m or try at £ 100 or so and see if any takers.

Running the full central heating is cheaper than an oil filled heater!

Just let them put the heating on but charge a set % of the gas bill.

I think it would be tricky charging an extra amount for wfh at the current time when people’s work situations are changing so rapidly. As pp pointed out will you pro rata the charge if they go into the office a few days a week, do you put up the bill if they need to self isolate.
In this case you are renting out a room and (unless you are charging by the hr) then it’s really up to the lodger how much time they spend in it. So I think you need to put the rent at a realistic price for someone spending time there during the day regardless of their work situation.

I am ALWAYS cold! If I was the lodger, I would buy an electric fan heater and use it in my room!!!!

I would say £25 a month is more than reasonable ,unless you have a well isulated house even the central heating is expensive , plus the extras and using your internet all day. After all they are saving on the commute. You could offer to adjust back down in the summer months if they were a good lodger .

£200 extra! That’s double my gas and electricity bill, and that takes into account my dh always work from home.

Try putting your price up by £100 per month and see if you get any response.

I agree just put on the central heater, it’ll work out cheaper, and probably not as much as you think.

Rigsby lives!

Extra heating, lights on all day, internet speed may slow down ect yes you would be within your rights to charge more but as pp have said no one is obliged to take the room your offering.

My total gas and electricity is £78 monthly and I have it on at least 18 degrees 24/7.
Room temperature is 20 to 22 degrees.
It's very bad for your health to not heat your home and I never understand the jumper thing. How do people move freely. I like breathing warm air.

Mines a 3 bed terrace.house.
Even considering that your house is far larger than mine, surely heating the whole house would be less than £200 per month.

Oil-filled radiators are INCREDIBLY expensive to run. Make sure you've got your sums right on that.

The thing is, you can't predict or control how other people behave, how they use space and facilities, what their idea of working from home really means for you.

You need to decide whether you can cope with daytime disruption, at all, or not.

I agree that I would just use the central heating more. Perhaps specify in the advert that you don’t have the hearing on throughout the day and if they choose to heat their room more than you will charge extra for that.

Although, you also have to weigh up the additional risk of covid being brought into your household (or even just regular colds etc resulting in isolating or testing) by having a lodger who doesn’t wfh. I’d be questioning whether it was all more hassle than it’s worth over the next few months and look for a lodger again next year instead.

If you have a spare room why don't you downsize? I'm missing the point I know, but I would want to explore every other possible option before taking on a lodger.

I am a bit of a hermit though.