Page 5 | Mumsnetters are always telling people to get a lodger

TomorrowIsANewDay28 · 07/12/2025 01:27

@CraftyPlayerI’m not in London and we (DH and I) had a series of lodgers when we bought our first place.
We put an advert on Spare Room and were inundated with so many messages that by the second day had to take the ad down.
Our lodgers were all international students or young professionals who were in the city for short term contracts.
But we had enquiries from all kinds of people. The most memorable was a middle aged man who was newly separated, with multiple kids by several women and wanted to bring them to the flat for visits…said he’d pay the deposit once he’d asked his mum to lend him the money.

To answer the OP’s question, the people we did rent to were pretty easy going , they were only there for a few months each so didn’t really treat it like their home - they were either out of the house or in their room, although they were welcome to use the living room. They had a shelf in the fridge and a cupboard. We didn’t ask them to clean, only their room, but they were all pretty clean and tidy so it didn’t feel like we were doing much extra cleaning. None of them brought friends or boyfriends/girlfriends over, it didn’t even come up. I guess we got lucky, didn’t have problems with any of them and made extra cash to pay for travels and our wedding.

CeciliaMars · 07/12/2025 07:22

We had them a few years back! We had a spare bathroom and a second fridge. It worked ok. There are lots of single people who can no longer afford to live alone, much as they’d like to.

SalmonOnFinnCrisp · 07/12/2025 07:31

Lots of Lodger Love here 💕💕💕💕

I was one and then used the money i saved lodging vs commercial rent to buy a place... and then i got a lodger too!!!

Fridge
No. Just be normal and eat your own food.

Cleaning
Both instances had a cleaner 2 hr per week built into rent to save on disagreements.

Weekends
Yes the lounge is communal.

Friends
Infrequent and brief so a non issue both when lodging and owning

Lovers!
Lodgers 2-3 nights per week max. No hogging the living room while commuting excessive PDAs. PDA Rule applies to all.

This was all 20s/30s.
I had 3 lodgers over 6 years
find someone normal with similar lifestyle and its great!

Owly11 · 07/12/2025 07:46

I know people who have had or regularly have lodgers. It is tax free income so that in itself is quite an incentive. It seems to work best with young female lodgers who are busy in the day with work or education. One person i knew had a male lodger and that turned into a nightmare because he refused to leave when asked. I expect since it is your house you get to set the rules about no guests, no one sleeping over, and which rooms are available to use. For the lodger it is cheaper than renting so they can't expect to have the same level of freedom and protection as if they are renting.

opencecilgee · 07/12/2025 07:48

My neighbour always has one. They’re usually Doctors from local hospital.

YellowCherry · 07/12/2025 07:56

I have a friend who works in London but lives up north with his family and they don't want to move to London, so he is a lodger during the week and then goes home to his family at the weekend. It's a good arrangement because it's the cheapest way for him to live in London for a few days each week (he used to stay in a cheap hotel), and the family he lodges with gets their home to themselves at the weekend. Obviously he pays less than a full time lodger would pay.

DeedsNotDiddums · 07/12/2025 18:06

I know someone who has a lodger. I'm not in London.

angela1952 · 07/12/2025 18:11

We often had lodgers when the children were younger, usually students or people from our workplaces who were only in our city from Monday to Friday. We had a large house so they had a decent room so we had enough hot water, bathrooms and two living rooms. I cooked for everybody in the evening and some of the younger ones helped with babysitting or cleaning in return for a lower rent.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/12/2025 18:20

CraftyPlayer · 06/12/2025 14:31

Is it more of a London thing? Non-Londoner here and I’ve never known or heard of anyone lodging or having a lodger ever, never seen it advertised or asked for either.

Obviously not just London.

When advertised it's often not clearly stated that it's a lodger arrangement. It will be advertised as housemates/houseshare, only when you get there you find out one of the housemates is the live-in landlord/landlady.

MN actually has a horrible attitude to lodgers thinking it's OK for them not to be able to have guests or use the common areas. The only kind of lodging I find acceptable is when the lodger can have guests (with certain conditions of course like prior warning) and use the common areas freely. Otherwise, it's horrible.

Even with the friendliest people, it's not great though. I will avoid ever having to do it again, but of course, I can't predict what life has in store for me.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/12/2025 18:26

Velveletteslonleylonelygirlami · 06/12/2025 15:02

Eddie was better looked after by Mrs.O than Stan was.👍😁

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Old style lodgers got their meals as well. That must be very rare nowadays.

Bbq1 · 07/12/2025 18:37

SlothfullyYours · 06/12/2025 14:38

I'm just imaging a rainy Saturday with a lodger doing their laundry or sitting in the lounge watching telly. Or bringing a man/woman back from the pub for a sleepover and me worrying about being murdered or robbed.

Or both.

Just as likely to be murdered or robbed bringing a stranger from the pub back to your house too.

Pherian · 07/12/2025 18:38

SlothfullyYours · 06/12/2025 14:29

Have you had one? Been one? How does it work.

Do they have a shelf in the fridge? Cleaning rota? Do they use the lounge in the evening/weekends?

Can they have friends over? Boyfriend/girlfriend to sleepover?

I would never take on lodgers - but I’ve been one. It all depends on what rent they pay and what rules you set out.

The more ridiculous your rules are the less you should charge.

Rhaenys · 07/12/2025 18:40

I think this only works if you live in London or somewhere nearly as expensive. I could only get about £400 pcm for my spare room and obviously all my bills would go up, so I’d actually get less than that in my back pocket. That’s not worth losing my privacy over. £400 isn’t even.

Chinsupmeloves · 07/12/2025 18:46

The idea of a lodger seems unfathomable now but used to much more common.

An example from history...

My grandma had a small 3 bedroom terraced cottage and 3 DC. DH passed away young so she was a single Mum, no welfare, had to work several jobs, repair clothes, do all the heavy work, which housework really was and so much more.

Only option was to take in lodgers for extra income so took in 2 or 3 at any given time. DC had one bed in one room to sleep together, which she would also use if 3 lodgers with 2 sharing.

She got up early hours to set the coal fire, make a cooked breakfast for them, walked kids to school, went to work, came home and cooked evening meal for them, then back out to work, repeat...

It was so tough then, huge admiration for that generation, true graft, resilient, harsh.

We've all become much more comfortable, even if struggling, there is help with benefits etc, so the idea of taking in a lodger makes us gasp.

We're fortunate times have changed. Xx

Trishyb10 · 07/12/2025 18:48

It was always more common the in the south as rents and mortgages so high compared to the north. Do it, anytning thatvtakes the financial,pressure off

EsmeSusanOgg · 07/12/2025 18:52

I have had lodgers, and been a longer. But this was when I was single and much younger. And only ever sharing with one other person. I could not imagine lodging/ having a lodger with a family.

JaceLancs · 07/12/2025 18:52

When I was newly married 35 years ago we were struggling to pay 15% interest on mortgage and a work colleague of DH lodged with us for 2 years - he did his own washing and kept own room cleaned - sometimes he ate with us others got a takeaway - he was rarely around at weekends as usually stayed with his GF or they were away at events

redluckycat · 07/12/2025 18:53

I was a lodger during my first year of uni, 17 years ago. I lived with an older lady and another lodger (not a student). I paid a set price including all bills so it worked well for me. I had the choice to pay extra to have meals included, but chose not to. We shared the kitchen but the lodgers had their own living room. I’m not near London.

mikado1 · 07/12/2025 18:55

Like others have said, a friend rents out a spare room for a Mon-Fri only student. It helps cover her own child's accommodation costs in college. I will definitely think about it when mine are older.

EsmeSusanOgg · 07/12/2025 18:56

redluckycat · 07/12/2025 18:53

I was a lodger during my first year of uni, 17 years ago. I lived with an older lady and another lodger (not a student). I paid a set price including all bills so it worked well for me. I had the choice to pay extra to have meals included, but chose not to. We shared the kitchen but the lodgers had their own living room. I’m not near London.

Edited

I thought lodging in university towns is more common? I lodged one year. A friend's parents had bought a house for them. And a few of us paid rent/ lodged. This was 20 years ago. Not London.

Lucyccfc68 · 07/12/2025 18:56

I had a few lodgers when I first bought my own house, when I was 26. I used the money for going out and holidays.

First lodger was a bloke (same age as me) who was a friend of a friend. He was brilliant. He couldn’t be arsed cooked, so would have a huge lunch in his works canteen and bring a sandwich home for his tea. He was either in his room or at the pub. We used to go out on a weekend and get drunk together. He bought his own house eventually. I still bump into him now.

Next one was was a ‘student nurse’. She was a nightmare, after about the first 8 weeks. Best behaviour until then and then I got the sob stories about not being able to pay her rent. Regular had her boyfriend round and they would take over the lounge every night, snogging and groping each other. When I told her to do that in her room, she removed my dvd player and attached it to her own tv in her room. Her boyfriend was away with work and one weekend she brought some random bloke back to my house. He came into my kitchen just wearing his boxers and I told him to get dressed and do one. She used to miss work and make up loads of excuses. Her manager/mentor called round one evening, as they were really worried about her after her ‘miscarriage’. I didn’t drop her in it, but she was never pregnant (so no miscarriage). I turfed her our after that - she was an absolute liability.

The 3rd one was just short term. A girls from work, who was the victim of DV. Her and her 3 year old lived with me for a few months, just till she got on her feet. It wouldn’t have worked long term, as my house wasn’t big enough, but it was nice to help out short term.

Dollymylove · 07/12/2025 19:07

I rented a room in London back in the 80s.
I had a room upstairs and there was a downstairs bathroom and a kitchen area seperat from the landlady's living area. A young male student rented the other upstairs room with his own bathroom. It worked really well and we kept ourselves to ourselves. My lovely landlady was always cooking at the weekend and always insisted on sharing her food with me.
It was a lovely time in my life, back in the days when life seemed so much less complicated xx

redluckycat · 07/12/2025 19:14

EsmeSusanOgg · 07/12/2025 18:56

I thought lodging in university towns is more common? I lodged one year. A friend's parents had bought a house for them. And a few of us paid rent/ lodged. This was 20 years ago. Not London.

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My situation was different as the elderly lady who owned the house and lived there was a total stranger; it was her house and I was her lodger. No other students in the house.

Brokeandold · 07/12/2025 19:24

Our DS’s boyfriend lives as a lodger up in Edinburgh. He has a bedroom/bathroom , shares the kitchen/living room.
The couple are away most weekends so he has the flat to himself, don't know what he pays tho.

Timebudda · 07/12/2025 19:37

I have a 2 bed flat only me living in it.
And not on your nelly would i have a lodger.