Heating and lodger

[HarryPotterDucks]

Hello all.

With the massive bills with heating and electricity I don’t know how I’m going to survive over winter.

I have a lodger and obviously as he’s not paying the bills than he doesn’t care about reasonable saving of money.

However this has to be approached. I’m just a softie and probably a bit on the spectrum.

Would I be unreasonable to be strict about the heat?

My normal bills were £110 in the winter and already my DD is £70 per month, just for electricity.

Ive not put up his rent, which I maybe should. He’s paying £400pm at the moment.

I think it depends on the relationship you have.
Presumably, if sharing a house, you can talk to each other?
Everyone understands costs have gone up. How long since you raised the rent (or bills if that is how you work)?
Have a conversation about choices - about being more careful with outgoings / costs rather than a large increase in rent.... make it a choice for them.

Costs have increased so increase rent. Simple. OR split the bill so they also have incentive to keep the bills down

It’s my house. Bills included. He’s said to me he’s paying my mortgage…. So I don’t think he respects me

How does he control his heat? Don't you have the heat on a timer? You should probably put his bill up so he pays his share of the increased utility bills, but bear in mind that he may be tempted to move and think about what the market price for rent is. I'd suggest a sensible discussion about keeping bills down, explaining what you're doing about it yourself, so that he doesn't feel he's paying for your extravagance.

It’s my house. Bills included. He’s said to me he’s paying my mortgage…. So I don’t think he respects me

Of course he's paying your mortgage. Wonder how he'd respond to: the only reason you're here is because I need the money. Fucking rude. Just for that I'd bin him off.

I don't mean to sound rude, I mean this in a supportive way, but you need to detach from any emotional aspects of the issue.

It's more expensive now and it's reasonable to share costs.

A short conversation along the following lines is best:

Bill was previously X.
Rent was calculated based on X.
Bill now is 2X
I have no choice but to ask you to pay more from Y date.
The rent will now be Z.
If that doesn't work for you, I respect your decision and understand that you'll be leaving.

How strict with the heat are we talking?

I wouldn’t expect him to walk around in T-shirts and shorts but if he has a jumper on and he’s still cold and the house is cold then I don’t think he would be unreasonable to turn the heating on.

You could always ask him for a extra £40 a month for gas and electric? That’s a 10% increase on his rent.

but if you do then I’d expect him to want the heating on when he’s cold.

@HarryPotterDucks

Maybe it's time to give him his marching orders and get another lodger;there are people out there desperate for accommodation especially if the landlady is nice.

Show this rude arsehole the door. You won't have any trouble finding a replacement.

Two of my dc have had this issue in shared student houses.
Long before the recent price rises, but they can't get their heads round some of their housemates wanting the heating on 24 hours a day, up aat full blast, never wearing jumpers and then opening windows to let the heat out when they are hot. This was just to do with the waste of the World's resources (at the time the bills were included for both of them), and how uncomfortably hot it was in the houses.

So some of it depends upon whether that is how your lodger is working, or if you are suggesting no heating / very limited heating...not being allowed a shower when you need one, etc etc. I think there is a basic expectation of heating and being able to have hot showers etc if you are lodging somewhere, but I also think there is a reasonable expectation from the landlord that the lodger doesn't take the mick.
It will also depend on what the rent is, compared with other rooms locally.

So there is a lot of "it depends" about this.

He’s said to me he’s paying my mortgage

He is paying for a roof over his head. He sounds rude and resentful. You're right he doesn't respect you. I'd ask him to leave. This will only get worse.

It's your house and your rules. You shouldn't feel uncomfortable, or be made to feel uncomfortable.

Don't know where you are in country but t £400 including bills is cheap because my utilities is now over £400 pet month. I would add £50 on per month. Just give them a months notice of rent increase. If they don't like it they can leave but I doubt they will find cheaper. I am a LL and I increased rent on a 3 bedroom house from £710 to £750 because mortgage gone up 5 times, gas certificate gone up, and insurance gone up. Tenant told me they would look for somewhere else. I said fine, let me know when you want to leave. A week later I got text saying they were not leaving as to their suprise other 3 bedroom houses where £850+. I don't put up rent every year but only if my mortgage payments go up.

*things will only get worse if he stays.

Reminds me of a lodger I had. He was bloody dirty (food left in pans on cooker/ kitchen side for days, washing just left for days, spit and toothpaste left in sink, never cleaned toilet - I could go on) and never cleaned the kitchen or bathroom and whenever I pulled him up on it (nicely - honest!) he complained that I was being unreasonable and picking on him at which point I recalled how he waxed lyrical that his previous landlord had picked on him very unreasonably...I asked him to go after that.

He’s certainly making a contribution to your mortgage, and enabling you to pay it, so he’s not entirely wrong there.

If you feel he’s disrespectful, there’s no reason why you can’t get rid of him and find a lodger whom you find more congenial.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to put your rates up to include a contribution to increased bills. This shouldn’t cover the whole of the increase - as the home-owner you should cover at least half of the increase, probably more, yourself.

Profligacy/parsimony is up for debate. Some people are reckless, some people are willing to pay to be comfortable, some people are prepared to economise to some extent, some people are mean in the extreme. If you’re both somewhere in the middle, you can find a working compromise. If you’re at either end of the continuum, you’re probably not suited to living together.

No he’s not.

he’s paying for someone where to live.

does your boss say to you “I pay for your mortgage”.

it’s rude and unnecessary.

Standing charge has gone up by £182 per year. So that’s an extra £7 a month. My utility bills will now be in the region of £300 over winter. So fair to charge him an extra £75? That’s realistically how much it’s costing me.

You ought to visit spareroom.co.uk every few months, pretend to be a lodger and search for identical rooms to let as the one you are offering.

That will give you an idea of what other landlords are charging.

Hello. Yes I have done…. Hard to compare as HMOs are usually use as much utilities as you want as all included and plus no idea who you will live with.

You have a licence agreement. Give him fair notice of the increase and if he starts being difficult fair notice of the licence ending.

Hes just a rude arrogant lodger, he has no respect, guve him notice and find someone else.

tell him how much your bills have gone up

tell him that if he wants extra heat, the cost is xxx extra per day or week or whatever

and what Cornish Tiger says

when i go and stay with a relative, i always say from the start I will pay you £10 for the extra heat that I would like please

that way, both of us are happy

For that comment alone he’d be looking for a new home.

Well tell him that since he's paying your mortgage, the interest rate has increased and therefore so has "the mortgage"!

Seriously, everyone is aware that the cost of living, particularly fuel, has risen so he need to pay more. I would tell him that there will be an increase now and an increase in October too as things rise again. Forewarned is forearmed.