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?

If they are messing around this much with the rent there’s a good chance they won’t follow the rules for moving out. Have you rented the house or a room? If it’s the latter then move back in and hope there’s more chance of them leaving. In the meantime have you someone who could check on the place?

Not to scare you OP but I just finished watching 'Worst Roommate ever' on Netflix and one of the episodes was about lodgers who become squatters. Apparently it can be harder to get them to move on as the lodger can claim they're in a relationship with the owner/occupier etc.

Call me cynical but the smashed phone/bereavement stories sound like they're right out of a playbook with the next level up being some kind of health/cancer scare. 😬

I'd send a polite text to say that you're expecting them to square up on Friday as agreed and if not, you will be heading home to sort matters out. If they don't pay up, I would definitely start the process of removing them. If they've come from another country they should have come with enough funds to survive for at least a few months. It's not fair they are out of pocket if they haven't.

Just as an aside, you mentioned this had happened to you before. Even for short term lodgers, do you get references and a credit check? It's a bit of extra faff but can save you a world of pain if the person is not who they say are.

Exactly this.

I would say they have until 12 noon to pay what they owe or you'll be getting the locks changed.

@CrabbiesGingerBeer I've just re-read the OP and can't see any reference to the OP being away from the property since September. Only that the lodger arrived in September.

Irrespective of that, live-in landlords are allowed to have multiple residences, provided that the property in question is their principal residence. That doesn't mean they can't spend periods of time away from it, as OP is currently doing.

I too would tell them I needed payment by 12 noon on Friday.

Do you have anyone local that would help you?

For example If I were your friend living close by, with your permission I would go to your home, check and let you know the physical condition, and also make it increasingly awkward for the visitor, I would be in his space, I would offer to sleep there, and if you didn’t receive payment on Friday, I would take necessary actions for you on your behalf…. Have you anyone that you can call on?

You need to turn up and be in the house in person. If you say you'll change the locks on x day. they may change them before you get home.
Write them a signed for letter telling them to pay what's owed and leave by x date and turn up home same day as the letter, or before. They are proper a cheeky beggar. You need them out. Don't count on them being sympathetic to your cause.

All replies really helpful, thank you, my backbone is reinforced!

The reference to another continent made me smile wishfully (I'm still in UK think Edinburgh - London). My friend's spending Xmas on an Australian beach. If I was on one now I bet I'd just chill about the whole thing 🙂

To allay some poster's worst fears about my stupidity: Lodger doesn't have access to the whole house and I haven’t been away the whole of their stay which has a definite end date.

I agree there's a risk taking certain actions while away from home so I'm thinking carefully about how to practically manage the speediest exit.

Friend is keeping an eye while I'm away and I'm thinking about asking other friend to go and stay until either lodger leaves or I get back.

Well it sounds less worrisome since you updated. I’m still not trusting a person who doesn’t pay the agreed rent to be decent about the whole thing though so I wish you luck.

And you said a flying trip home that would take 8hrs so people assumed you were abroad lol

I wouldn't do anything until you're back on the house. You could get back to the locks changed or your house cleaned out.

they can only claim 'tenancy rights' if there's an agreement that gives them exclusive use of the house/ room - if you have a written agreement that makes it clear you can still access the room they're staying in, then they're legally considered a 'lodger' whether you're there at the time or not.
personally, i would make the journey back - possibly without warning - and then insist on them paying the debt before you leave again. would it be worth asking them if you should treat their weeks of non-payment as equivalent to notice of their planned departure? if they are intending to leave, it would be better for you/ your property to insist on them doing so while you're around (to make sure nothing gets trashed or stolen)

Indeed! Badly worded, no intention to mislead 😁

I never trust new people who seem to be having "a string of bad luck". Different if it were someone I'd known a long time. But it never is! Always some drams llama or scrounger.

Are you sure about that? If the home is the OP's main and sole residence and her reason for being away is temporary due to sorting out family, then they are a lodger. A tenant inhabits a property owned by the landlord to let out to others, not shared with the landlord.

If the OP has been away for the entire duration then it would be relatively easy for the lodger to claim to be a tenant and hold things up by forcing the OP to take them to court to get them out.

A non payer isn't exactly playing by the book so people are just flagging up to the OP other issues she may face if she is still away when she tries to get them to leave.

Some LLs try and use lodger agreements to limit the rights of people who should be tenants (not saying the OP is as she has clarified), and some also accidentally end up making their lodgers tenants so that's also why people are asking.

I would give them their two weeks notice now and if they pay up now possibly extend it by a couple of weeks

They are clearly lying to you so why are you being nice to them.

Tell them that unfortunately a family member may needs the room earlier than you had anticipated and make up an equally sad story about their circumstances

I’d definitely ask your friend to go and stay op and agree this is sticky ground for tenancy rights. Hopefully they will just leave with minimal fuss.

Is the building actually your main home or do you really live elsewhere.
If you are properly living there then your rights to enjoy your own property take precidence and the lodger has very few rights. You can ask them to leave and can legally remove them and their possession from your property with reasonable notice (2 weeks is reasonable).

You are on dodgy ground because you have not been actually living there for a while. If it is deemed that your actual primary residence is elsewhere then they are a tenant not a lodger and they have significant rights and protections against eviction. You need to return to the property asap.

It might be safest to move back in and then after a couple of days serve notice, that way you have demonstrated they don't have exclusive possession.

I don’t have direct experience but stories from people that do! We all have disasters , but your tenant seems to have had quite a few in a very short space of time .. I mean, not impossible, but unlikely! Especially the frozen bank acct .. they don’t freeze them for nothing! I would, if you can (as you say) get someone in, staying until you return or they leave. Then I would get legal advice! I think it’s pretty safe to say they are just gonna smile, pack up & trot off o the leaving day. U would be est to have a plan B in case that room isn’t available for exactly when you need it.

Too many coincidences.
They are taking you for a ride and will continue.
Time for that eviction letter to scare them . They Probably intend fleece you. My experience is: LODGERS are either GOOD or ROTTEN, there's no in between . Once they start with the sob story's, they never end . Sorry to be blunt. Kiss goodbye to the owed Cash. 💋