Tenant is not pulling weight in terms of chores, cleaning

[Scorcher79]

Hi all,
Find this forum invaluable for totally objective advice/perspective so I thought I'd share a wee issue which is bothering me and perhaps others might be able to advise on?

Basically, I have a tenant renting a room from me for almost 2 years. She's a lovely girl and we get on very well but I fear I have been a little too nice and now I notice she's doing the bare minimum in terms of cleaning and household chores. She also doesn't contribute to bills which are increasing now with the cost of living...

The trouble is I hate confrontation and don't want to make things awkward or uncomfortable for either of us so I'm not sure how to deal with this? Any advice? It's my first time ever being a "landlady" as I only bought the house two years ago...

Any tips greatly appreciated!

If your tenant is a student then you should consider the voluntary regulatory framework

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/be552-rent-a-room-voluntary-regulatory-framework/

She’s a lodger rather than tenant. I’d say it’s pretty standard for a lodger not to p-y any bills and instead the amount is covered by her rent.

When I was a lodger I didn’t have any cleaning responsibilities and my landlady had a cleaner.

You don’t. Her rent includes bills and her cleaning responsibilities end outside her room apart from leaving the kitchen and bathroom as she finds it.

I wouldn’t expect a lodger to do any cleaning in the main spaces if your home other than cleaning up after themselves. So washing their own dishes but not a deep clean of your living room.

Put the rent up. Get a cleaner. Formalise the whole arrangement.

If you feel she is using the rest of the house and causing it to get dirty then I would put her rent up and use it to get a cleaner and contribute more to the bills. Give her enough notice, say that your energy bills have increased and you need to ask her for more rent. She’ll either pay more or she’ll look for somewhere else to live.

You’re not room mates. It’s your house and your responsibility. She pays you a set amount for her room and use of necessary facilities. Put the amount up, and if she is not washing up/cleaning up in kitchen or bathroom after using it, warn her to do so or move her out.

You don’t share chores, she is just renting a room to live in

It sounds like you need to increase her rent - which is fair enough if she's been there for two years with no increase in that time.

Is she leaving a mess in communal areas? If so, she should be cleaning that up.

what you do is set the rent at a rate that covers the cost of a cleaner for two hours a week

Thank you, I have of course but as I mentioned in my original post, I'm fairly conflict averse and try to avoid them where possible.

You haven't clarified any of the questions here? Does she use other rooms in the house? What do you expect to be cleaned by her?

I have a lodger (England). I use a standardised agreement provided by the website I used to find my lodger and then customised it.

If you don't like conflict then why not start a conversation by saying you were reading a discussion online about lodgers and lodger agreements and decided you want a more formal agreement, so you have drawn one up and you've been advised to include some points about expectations.

But you really need to find out what the legal requirements are on both sides. In England, you have to check that the lodger has the right to be here.

My lodger's rent includes all bills. She cleans her own rooms (has own bathroom) and I clean communal areas because DC and I are the ones using them most. She's a decent human being and will empty dishwasher, vacuum a bit, etc.

Apologies. To be fair she's very respectful and considerate. She only really uses the kitchen, she mostly watches TV in her bedroom. It would be nice if she cleaned the kitchen a bit more often, took out the recycling, hoovered the landing etc occasionally. She used to do this when she first moved in without being asked which was obviously great but now I feel like she does nothing apart from wash up her dishes....

Sorry, that earlier reply was in answer to your questions!

Thank you, that was really helpful and also made me laugh!

Have you taken on board any of the many posts stating those aren't the responsibility of a lodger?
a lodger isn't a housemate. They have far less protection and security than a joint tenant. In return, they have fewer responsibilities than a joint tenant too. Vacuuming and recycling is your sole responsibility.

she does nothing apart from wash up her dishes....

That’s all she should be doing. Get a cleaner.

It would be nice if she cleaned the kitchen a bit more often, took out the recycling, hoovered the landing etc occasionally.

Use your rental income to pay for a cleaner. Stop trying to make your lodger into your personal skivvy.

She does contribute towards bills, whatever she pays you is her contribution towards lodging and bills, that's the whole point. It's not her job to clean your house. She cleans up her own pots and her own room. The rest of the house is your sole responsibility.

If you aren't able to discuss things with a lodger, then you shouldn't have a lodger.

All you need to do is put in writing what the rent increase is, and exactly what it covers, and then detail her responsibilities, which is basically to tidy up after herself and that should cover whatever area she is using, so clean sink/toilet etc if dirty after she uses it. You can ask her to put empty bottles etc into the recycling but you can't make her take it out.

It's not a house share, she is renting a room.

I would make sure that you get the contract drawn up properly and then renew it every year due to the rising COL.

Time to put the rent up.

It's not the lodger's responsibility to clean the common parts of the house or do maintenance etc, but you could offer her a rent reduction in exchange for regular, clearly specified cleaning duties. Whatever the agreement, it needs to be in writing. And if you are old enough to have a house, you are old enough to have a 'difficult conversation'.

You need to have a conversation with her about the rising cost of bills (which everyone knows so won’t come as surprise) and the need to increase her rent to cover the extra cost of the energy/water she’s using. That’s only fair, doesn’t need to be confrontational. If she’s cleaning up after herself in the kitchen and bathroom, that’s fair too as it’s not her responsibility to clean your house.

As pp have said, either it’s a house share in which case everything is split, but doesn’t sound like that her. Or she’s a lodger and all she is required to do is leave communal spaces tidy ie do her own washing up, not leave a mess in the bathroom etc. Hoovering and cleaning the kitchen is on you.

Yes obviously her living there will mean the floors and kitchen get dirty more quickly but equally you have more money coming in. If the extra income doesn’t seem enough to you for the extra work then the correct solution is to ask her to pay extra rather than help with cleaning, that’s not part of being a lodger.

I guess as it’s an informal arrangement, you could give her the choice though - she might prefer to do more cleaning than pay extra?

Hi Lodger, due to the increasing costs of living, I'm going to have to increase you rent by X amount to Y, starting 'whatever date is set out in your agreement for notices'.