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?

I think you might find having someone around all day takes a bit of adjusting to. I’d think very hard before going down that route. If you decide you do want to but don’t want the heating on all day, then you need to be up front and say so. You could suggest that said lodger might want to consider bringing an oil fired rad with them for their own comfort. But presumably you have the heating on more often in the winter when it’s cold?

Obviously you can advertise at whatever price you want.
Whether it is competitive enough, compared with other lodgings nearby is something you will discover.
Like so many others though, I think you are wildly overestimating the cost of having a heater on in one room for 40 hours a week. Then, are you going to reduce their rent in the Summer ?
I think the bigger consideration is how much it will impact on you having someone around during the day - I had enough of an issue adjusting to dh wfh

You can install a secondary prepay meter in their room for electricity so they are paying directly if they want to have the oil fired radiator on @SecretBlue. They cost from £50 - £100 plus installation.

You could install a second broadband connection so they have and pay for their own broadband, if they are working from home, or agree that if sharing broadband causes issues, they need to do that.

OP, it seems like you want to have your cake and eat it. You want the income from a lodger but you want the house to yourself!

Realistically at the moment you have to expect that anyone you let to might either switch to working from home or become unemployed in the near future. So unless you want to evict someone as soon as their office closes, which is a serious dickhead move, you're going to have to plan for home workers.

And I agree with the people mentioned that many who are going out to work are at an increased risk of catching covid and bringing it home.

Thanks, Atadaddicted.

're insurance cover - it's tricky. In the office we have risk assessments, h&s policies, a fire escape plan. We can also control that people are using equipment correctly, at least to some extent. Legally an employer is supposed to risk assess their employees home if they're to wfh, and provide necessary adjustments. In practise, this seems intrusive and likely to end up prohibitively expensive.

Sorry, slight tangent, OP! I suppose strictly speaking a lodgers employer is supposed to come and risk assess your house before they wfh. Not that it seems many do.

Fwiw, I think you're asking a good question OP. A workplace is legally different than a home. There are various things to consider.

You are crazy to think about using an oil filled radiator if it’s going to cost you 50 quid a week! Putting the heating on low would be so much cheaper and save on the washing of all those jumpers too.

@jay55

Depends if you're still below the rent a room allowance or if you'd start paying tax on it. Is the heating on low not cheaper than the single oil radiator?

Do people actually self report if they go over the limit? I know I never have!!

I honestly wouldn't do it as it will mean somebody in the house a lot. If you do decide, I would charge more than 25 extra. I guess they aren't going to know its extra as they will just see the advertised rate. Make sure the price covers the pitfalls for you. It's up to the tenant to decide if they are willing to pay that

Beware, OP, a person who is around all the time might not be a good idea.

My very lovely, clean, polite, quiet lodger began working from home last year, before covid or lockdown or any restrictions. Once I began to work one day a week from home before Christmas, I realised how annoying it is to never have your house to yourself. There is always someone else there! Always a noise from their laptop if they are watching something, or the sound of their phone calls. Lockdown made it easier to accept, somehow, because there was no choice but to just get on with things, but losing my quiet house on the pre-lockdown days I had chosen to work at home was quite tough.

I did not put the heating on last winter for any more hours than it was already on. If she had asked, I would have pointed out that she had decided to work from home and had access to a centrally-heated space at her work. The house never seemed to get very cold during the day as it was a mild, if very wet, winter in our part of the UK.

Because she is lovely etc., I never said anything to make her feel uncomfortable and she is leaving quite soon as she has a new job. I can't wait, although I'll miss the cash.

So, OP, it might be better to find someone who goes in to work, if you can feel confident about their social distancing at work etc., or wait for a while and see if you can manage without the rent until working from home is less common.

Where does that mention having to self isolate?

How do people self isolate without staying at home with or without work?

Do you make it clear in the agreement that if their employer asks them to work from home then you will evict them?

Every business has had to adapt to the current circumstances and unpredictability of work locations.

Have lodgers, don't have lodgers, charge them 25 quid a week for an 3 quid a week radiator in a cold house. However in a competitive market most of our juniors (who would typically be gold lodgers) can be picky and are voting with their feet.

If you like solitude and don’t like to share the space and begrudge putting the heat on then maybe renting a room out isn’t for you. Wgat would you do if you gave someone who works out of the house but is then ill for a week and home all day? Will you charge an extra £25 for them being ill? It sounds greedy. I know you’re doing it for the money but making it so obvious like that will put people off. Just increase the price by £25, regardless of who takes the room if you need 25 quid that desperately,

If I saw an advert that said “if you work from home it’ll be an extra £25 per week for heating” I’d move on. Makes me think the landlord is penny-pinching to the extreme. I had a landlady like that when I was at university. Happy to take £55 a week from me (in 1992) but tutted every time I took a shower, vacuumed my room or put the oven on (or anything else that used electricity), wanted me to only do 1 load of washing a week - that was for all my clothes and towels. I ended up moving out. It was a horrible atmosphere.

My main worry for me would be confidentiality. Its all very well having lots of calls, even with headphones on, with your spouse there but you and the lodger may need to consider if you can hear anything sensitive.