To give notice to non-paying lodger.

[Anondra]

I'm away from home for family reasons until mid December and have a short term lodger who arrived in September. They are due to leave just before I get back ie in 4 weeks as I will then need the room for a family member. If essential I could make a flying trip home to sort things out. It's an 8 hour journey and not my first choice.

Rent is due weekly, my agreement states I can give 2 weeks notice and they can give one week.

They paid the first two weeks up front, had to be chased for the next two and have paid nothing since.

I personally like them but there are a few issues - nothing that matters for a short-term arrangement. I'm not sure they are doing the job they say. (A long time ago I had a lodger who claimed to be a nurse but turned out to be not quite as qualified as he said). They have had an extraordinary amount of bad luck recently if they're telling me the truth. I have occasionally had several awful things happen at the same time so I want to keep an open mind and be kind whatever the exact facts.

I finally got a reply to multiple texts, emails etc and apparently they smashed their phone, their bank account is mysteriously frozen and they had a very upsetting family bereavement. They promised to get up to date next week (presumably missing the payment due this Friday).

I'm looking after two disabled family members, I need the rent. What is the best way to navigate this?

Kick the fucker out a e go to small claims court

When are you back at your property? You’d be better to give notice then so there’s no risk of them claiming to be a tenant as you are non-resident rather than a lodger (unless you have a family member currently residing there).

Otherwise, no, it’s not unreasonable to give them notice for non payment of rent.

I wouldn't have left a stranger I've known since September alone in my home if I was out of the country.

Yeah - having had a run in with a tenant (in a private rental) who wasn’t paying and then wouldn’t leave when I gave notice - you need to start making serious moves to make sure you can evict them NOW - and take proper landlord/legal advice on the proper process to keep yourself right

Why would they voluntarily pack up and leave when they have a nice cushy number in your house paying no rent?!

Get rid OP - don’t put up with that shite - you’ll be taken for an absolute ride

Are they a lodger if you don’t live there too? What difference is this from a tenancy?

They sound more like a squatter than a lodger if they’re not paying you any rent! I would come home now and give them notice then. Can you then stay until they go, then change the locks.

This might become tricky if you are not resident as they could claim tenants rights. I would be very wary of letting this drag on.

www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/ending-a-letting

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/lodging-index/what-rights-do-lodgers-have/

Sorry but these excuses sound like absolute horseshit and straight from the big book of 'how to stall paying what I owe'. You sound like a nice person and your lodger is taking advantage of this fact. It's a pain in the arse but I would return to your home and supervise this relative stranger out of the front door as right now there is not much incentive for them to leave.

I think if you were to make a flying visit then it should be to remove all their clothes etc out of the property and change the locks.

Give notice today otherwise. You are being taken for a ride.

OP does live there too. She's currently away from home. It's right there in the first line of the OP

I read it as OP has been away whilst they’ve been there, hence why she rented the place out

The OP currently isn’t there and isn’t intending to be there for the rest of the time the lodger is there - that could give the lodger scope to play silly buggers, especially if the OP has been away for their entire stay.

Exactly. Seems like they have exclusive use of the property in that case.

I would t give. Pride until you're back in the house. I wouldn't want her to take her frustrations out on my home. You might come back to the house being trashed

Don't get drawn into their personal issues, serve one weeks notice and if they don't leave change the locks and leave a message to arrange a time for them to collect their stuff.

My guess is they won't pay and will have gone before you move back

You need to get them to leave asap. Can anyone help you?

Have you ever actually lived with them? So, they were a lodger and you lived with them, then you’ve gone away for a few weeks on a trip but will move back to live with them? Coz that’s OK. You can go on holiday with a lodger still around.

Or did they move in because you were moving out? If they’ve never properly been a lodger but rather lived there alone for almost all their tenancy, then they’re not a lodger, they’re a tenant. And they can claim tenants rights which means, even if not paying rent, they wont have to go until you get an eviction through the court. They could have had the locks changed and everything.

You mean the OP where she says she isn’t living there as she moved out in September and won’t be back until December?

If this person can show exclusive use of the property, not only can he argue he is a tenant not a lodger (and therefore a court order is needed to get him out), he can prevent the OP moving back in!

Her description of events suggests a short term exclusive tenancy while she lives elsewhere not a live in landlord with a lodger.

I suspect HMRC would see it the same way, as would whoever enforces the rules on landlords needing safety certificates etc.

Hopefully there are other family members still living in the house with the ‘lodger’ so he doesn’t have exclusive possession.

Well I think you've been madly trusting to let a stranger live in your house while you're not there, no matter what the circumstances are. And yes, of course you kick him out. Hopefully he'll go quietly.

Go home! Then give notice and change the locks. Madness to leave a stranger with the run of your house while you're on another continent!

Presumably the contract is as lodger and specified that they have a bedroom and access to other facilities, not full run of the property ?

I wouldn’t try and evict them from a distance because of security issues. You or someone responsible needs to be there from the time they receive notice until the time they leave and you reclaim the keys.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they are putting the heating on with no regard for economy, you need to know they leave without causing damage, theft, not checking that doors and windows are locked.

Did they know from the outset that you need them to leave Mid Dec? Is that in the contract?

If so I think I would calmly remind them of the leaving date in a formal letter, then arrive home a couple of days earlier than expected to make sure they leave without damage etc.

At this stage the security of your flat is more important than the rent, the cost of which could be swallowed up by an extra interim flight home anyway.

Have you got a friend who can pop over and check all is well?

He could trash the house in anger. This needs to be dealt with urgently.

Hopefully you have other family members living in your home, because as everyone else is saying, giving the lodger free run of your home if there is no one else around to keep them in check, sounds foolhardy.
My experience of lodgers is that once they start not paying, it is always a problem and they eventually leave owing you money. Sometimes it's a moonlight flit, with or without some of your possessions.
They have shown that you needing the rent is not their main concern.

It’s very hard to do anything until you are back in the property to assess how things are and protect your asset.

Get proper advice. Get back, serve notice and stay in the building until they are out.