just want to check here first - rent increase

[ohtobe4]

We have had our lovely lovely lodger for 2 years now.

She pays £600pm which includes all bills.
We haven't put the rent up since she moved in, and am dreading the conversation as I know I will feel really awkward.
Do you think an increase of 5% (£630) would be an ok amount to ask?
The last thing I want to do is make her move out!
Thanks.

£30 seems low. Have you worked out how much your bills have risen by, and what's a fair proportion for her heating etc?

Are you sure you only need to increase it by that much? Given bills are included it doesn't seem like a big increase given the amount bills have increased. But then I think £600 a month for a room in a house seems a lot but I'm guessing you live somewhere expensive.

Ok, so it shouldn't scare her off then you reckon.
The next thing is how to broach the subject. I am certainly no business woman, and hate asking people for money.
Lodger is almost self contained, and tbh we hardly see her so don't talk much.

Can you suggest a conversation opener please?

Hi lodger, how's your week been? I absolutely hate doing this but can we have a quick chat about the rent?? Our bills have gone up by xx amount and so we're going to need to increase your rent by xx. We'll leave it as it is this month but from xx you'll need to increase the payments. I really wish we didn't have to have this conversation but it's just got to a point where we can't absorb it any more I'm afraid

£600 for a lodger's room strikes me as really high, wow (am familiar with market rents in expensive UK cities). Are you sure it's not an unfair rent already? And do you actually need the money or are you wanting to put it up because it's been two years? Don't think this sounds fair, unless she's putting the heating on a lot...but then I'd give her the choice between paying extra or cutting down on energy use.
Being a lodger and living with your landlord is not great so I'd expect the rent to be £100-£200 below a room in a shared tenancy.

Obvs ignore the above if you're providing food and cooking for her, doing laundry etc.

Depends
If she aays ok i move out
How long to find a new lovely lodger?
Did you say rent would be reviewed in the contract?
What is maximum.under rent a room scheme tsx wise?
Is it just for energy costs?

£600 a month is high!

That sounds like an awful lot already, even in London. A fair amount of people have mortgage payments less than that.

DD is looking at renting a room in Bristol. They are all around the £600/£650 mark.

m.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/?search_id=1136392662&

It is high for a room I would say even if self contained accommodation with en suite and own sitting room even if an expensive area. I have a friend who rents out a couple of houses. His take is to avoid whenever possible putting up the rent of reliable tenants. It can work out very expensive on repairs or getting back rent if you end up with unreliable tenants. If you put her rent up by £30 and she decides to move out and it takes even one month to relet you will have lost far more than the increase and it usually ta ki es longer than that no y the time you advertise, take up references ext.

Look on spare rooms for your area presently and see what the average is for rooms similar to yours and how many?

in my area £600 would be top end with a big double bedroom, own bathroom in top area

Wishful thinking...london can easily be 900 for nice room

I thought that, too.

Can you describe her accommodations/privileges?

Well really it boils down to what the market rate is. How much would it cost her to rent a similar room in your location?

Also how much do you value having her as a lodger? If good lodgers are are to come by where you are, and she's been respectful of your property and reliable at paying her rent on time then that might count for something too.

So the rent was set 3 yrs ago at £600, but we went through a few lodgers before our current lovely one, who has been with us for 2 years.

I think I need to have the conversation fusionchefgeoff suggested. Surely she won't move out for £30pm…..

for those speculating about the rent - she has her own front door, own bedroom, own bathroom, own large kitchen to cook in, which is also our utility/laundry room/access to our other rooms….so not entirely private.

@MrsOwainGlyndŵr
when my son moves into his flat he will probably rent the second bedroom which is En-suite
he is in Bristol and could easily get £600 a month and his place has 24 Security and a gym and beautiful grounds

room rates even for lodgers is expensive
you can get some house shares a bit cheaper but you could be sharing with 4 plus people

@ohtobe4
if you were renting it out now what would you charge
if you think you could get £700
Then split the difference of £100 so £50 extra so it would be £650

you can be pretty sure your electric and gas have gone up by more than £30 a month and as it’s bills included she is on to a pretty good deal
Everything has gone up why would this be an exception

Your not a charity and you don’t need to subsidise a grown up person .

what you have described is pretty much self contained annex and she would probably struggle to get something like that again at that price including bills especially as the cost of electric and gas has soared

You should be asking for more than £600 then!

Have a look on spareroom.com to see how much similar properties in your area rent for

I think that's fine. We rent a two bedroom flat and very grateful our landlady has only put the rent up £50. She could easily rent out the flat for £150 more than we pay.
Obviously we pay our bills.
Your lodger must have had a pay rise in the last two years. As renters we expect our rent to increase every year

She must be aware of the cost of living crisis.
You can't just let her off and absorb more costs yourself just to not upset her.
Most tenants will be being charged more .

What is her share of the utilities bill i e if she was not there how much would you save on dnergy costs ?

What is the local rent a room rate?

@cestlavielife
Sounds cheap to me if all bills included apart from her food and any subscriptions or personal bills.

So she’s almost got an entire apartment. Apart from the fact you can access her kitchen. Going up to £630 seems fair.

any way of possibly dividing that space and making it a proper apartment?