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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To charge more for lodgers working from home

138 replies

SecretBlue · 04/10/2020 07:45

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?

OP posts:

AnotherNamedChanged · 04/10/2020 10:56

Just a few thoughts that immediately sprung to mind when I read your OP:
Would you expect them to stay in their room if they were WFH, it would be pretty miserable to work and sleep in just one room?
What happens if they want a warm bathroom or kitchen for their money and not just a heater in their bedroom? Will you be fore-warning them they can have a warm bedroom but the rest of the house will be cold?
What happens if they want to make a cooked lunch if they are WFH and are clanging about in the cold kitchen?
What happens if they just buy an electric heater and plug it in and run it 24/7?
Would it affect your bandwidth if they are on the internet all day? Would you be able to hear them if they are on Zoom calls all day? Would they be able to hear you?

I really don't think I could manage to have a lodger if they were WFH!

Pyewhacket · 04/10/2020 10:57

Market forces: you can charge what ever the market demand is .

Fallsballs · 04/10/2020 10:59

You seem a bit tight OP

AngryPrincess · 04/10/2020 10:59

Just get someone who goes out to work.

C8H10N4O2 · 04/10/2020 11:01

Stop putting words into my mouth, you said that - I didn't

From your own post:

If they have to WFH or lose their jobs I can give notice

Connieston · 04/10/2020 11:04

I'd suggest you just specify no wfh-ers. Even if they pay more you'll have lost your space and peace and quiet. You can't put a price on that.

Heffalooomia · 04/10/2020 11:06

It's tricky... if you're renting a room to someone then surely that room is their home, their sanctuary the place where they can feel safe
except it isn't, it's more like a dormitory, they can sleep there but they have to clear out and find other premises to exist in during the daytime.

HannahStern · 04/10/2020 11:09

Could you afford to live without a lodger? If so, I would absolutely do so if possible.

I think it is likely we will be back in some form of lockdown for the winter. Your kids will be home more and as a family it is likely you will be spending less money than usual. If you can budget to live without a lodger, I think it would be a good idea to do so.

spottybitch · 04/10/2020 11:11

@C8H10N4O2

Stop putting words into my mouth, you said that - I didn't

From your own post:

If they have to WFH or lose their jobs I can give notice

Where does that mention having to self isolate?

Howlooseisyourgoose · 04/10/2020 11:12

I thought you were going to say you were going to increase the rate to existing lodgers, but a new lodger is fair game, they will know what they’re signing up for.

LindaEllen · 04/10/2020 11:14

When I started working from home in 2012, I experimented with various types of heating methods (the business was slow starting if you can't tell, ha ha) and I found that having the gas fire on in the lounge (where I worked) was no cheaper than heating the whole house, and small heaters like the gas one you suggest are really energy hungry.

Could you not just turn off the radiators in the rooms you don't want to heat?

Apart from that, though, I don't think you'd be happy with someone there all the time. Having a lodger is all well and good, but you need your own space as well. I recommend trying to find someone who works out of the house.. or it'll drive you mad I think.

I wouldn't bother doing the two separate prices, it'll just get complicated if they go back to work part time (i.e. 2 days at home 3 at work), and what happens in the summer when the heating isn't used anymore?

Just decide on a price that you're happy with, maybe add an extra £25 a month (honestly don't think it'd cost you £25 a week to heat one room if you turn the other radiators down/off) and that's the price whoever applies for the room.

BubblyBarbara · 04/10/2020 11:16

If they need to self isolate or heaven forbid they catch the virus they'll be in all day anyway so you need to be prepared for that eventuality in these times. I would probably avoid lodgers until a vaccine

Marmite17 · 04/10/2020 11:20

@CeibaTree

£100 a month does seem a lot for heating their room - we don't pay that much in our 3 bed house. But I guess the new lodger won't know what the previous lodger was paying.

We had lodgers many years ago and I agree with the PPs, hold out for someone not wfh - if you are the kind of person who needs periods of solitude, then no amount of extra money will make up for losing that.

This

Howlooseisyourgoose · 04/10/2020 11:22

It’s not just heating though, they may be cooking more and using more water?

Doryhunky · 04/10/2020 11:28

I have got the same dilemma. My lodgers used to get up, go to work/college, go out for the evening, come home and sleep. Now they are likely to be wfh and apart from the
Cost it really changes the dynamic. The alternative is to get someone who works outside the home but they could bring home covid. I was on lockdown with one lodger who was fine but I was lucky.

SoloMummy · 04/10/2020 11:33

@SecretBlue

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

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

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?

Like you, I wfh. I'd say as a result, I use more electricity - the laptop, Wireless phone etc. Plus needed to upgrade the WiFi to facilitate the level of use plus my child's when was in lockdown and I know a colleague who has had to due to her husband wfh now too. So I'd factor in electricity and WiFi on top. Also, because the lodger is home, are they more likely to throw in additional smaller loads in the washing machine and dryer (I do!)

Though they sound negligible on their own, that could be a significant increase in your outgoings.

I'd also get some sort of written clause about in the event of them being contacted by track and trave or catching covid what the expectations are.
Is it an en suite room?

mamabears3 · 04/10/2020 11:42

personally and with kids at home id be much happier WITH somebody working from home! it will reduce your chances of and exposure to coronavirus !

mamabears3 · 04/10/2020 11:42

however i would increase my rent to cover extra costs of them being there and explain it clearly to prospective tenant

Atadaddicted · 04/10/2020 11:55

Worth considering OP that a prospective tenant WFH is probably not going to be that drawn to a property with children in it

milveycrohn · 04/10/2020 12:20

My DS has a lodger and they are both wfh at the moment (only due to Covid - not normally).
My DS is single, so does not have a partner/wife or family, that may make things more awkward.
Otherwise, he has not charged his lodger any extra for wfh. They work in separate rooms,, and do not really see each other, or get in each other's way, except maybe passing in the kitchen to get a coffee, etc
Until recently, they had not needed to have the heating on, so it has not factored in the cost. Technically, there could be a problem with the internet, but so far it has not arisen.

LakieLady · 04/10/2020 12:26

I think £25 pw for extra heating is a huge amount. Our energy bills are only a weeny bit more than that (£113 a month) for a 2-bed semi, for all cooking, heating, lighting etc. And even pre-Covid, I'd have the heating on a fair bit during the day, as I only work 3 mornings a week.

Sakura7 · 04/10/2020 12:37

I don't think you should have a lodger at the moment. If they WFH you'll resent them, and they'll have to live in a freezing house and tip toe around so as not to annoy you. If they don't WFH they could bring covid home, or their work situation could change at any moment.

Just don't do it unless financially you absolutely have to.

Gwenhwyfar · 04/10/2020 12:39

"because the lodger is home, are they more likely to throw in additional smaller loads in the washing machine and dryer (I do!)"

Why? Working from home didn't change the amount of laundry I do. Why would it? If anything you'd do less because you're in your casual clothes all the time.

EmbarrassedUser · 04/10/2020 12:41

Sounds miserable at your place! I don’t think I’d want to move in with those conditions 😂 I also truly don’t believe it would be £200 a month for an Oil filled radiator for one room.

Gwenhwyfar · 04/10/2020 12:44

"If they can't afford to pay and I can't afford to subsidise them or I don't want them in the house all day then I'm entitled to."

Lodging can be paid for on unemployment benefit. I actually started lodging with no job and never had a problem. Always paid my rent. I was home all day so did a lot of cleaning of the common areas.

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