Can anyone advise on returning lodger?

[Margery80]

My lodger has been staying with his girlfriend on the other side of London since before lockdown. However he has just messaged me to say that he would like to come back and stay chez moi at some point this week. His belongings are here, and I haven't charged any rent in this period.

Anyway, I am not sure from the regulations if he is even allowed to do this. Can anyone advise, or point me in the direction of someone who can advise?

My initial thought is don't the regs say, "still no overnight stays", but surely lodgers have other rights?

If that’s his address then he’s allowed to go home. Why haven’t you charged him rent?

Because he hasn't been here ,and we wouldn't have been able to let it out to someone else. Seemed fair.

That isnt how lending agreements work, if he went on holiday you would still charge him surely?
It's your call but you are perfectly in your rights to say no as he hasnt been paying rent anyway, to protect your family. You dont know what kind of regulations he has been following during lockdown, you also have no control over how he continues to behave when he moves back in and if he is not social distancing he could put your family at risk.

That’s not fair at all. You can’t rent a property or a room, voluntarily decide to stay somewhere else for a few weeks and just decide to stop paying rent. I let out to help pay my mortgage. If my tenants decided to stop paying then I’d lose my house. And all of his belongings were at your house too, so it’s not like you could let to someone else in the meantime.

It's bizarre that you didn't charge him rent but what's done is done. If he moves back in then he will be part of your household. He can't move between yours and his girlfriend's however.

He didn't just decide not to pay the rent - my OH and I agreed this at the outset, because of the exceptional circumstances - we suggested this to him. As far as I am concerned isn't really the issue. This is purely about to what extent I am oblliged to house him, nothing about the rent. Sorry if this has made things unclear - just giving a bit of background info.

In terms of what is legal, it is legal to move house, but not to flit between two addresses, so it would be legal for him to move back in with you. If he moves back to yours, but nevertheless spends nights at his girlfriend's, he would be breaking the law.

Do you actually want him back op? The lines are blurred now as he’s not paying rent. Do you have a contract with him? I suppose you could refuse to have him back, but you’ll have to allow him to collect his belongings

My mom has got a lodger who she’s had for about 3 years and he stays there 4 nights a
Week for work purposes, and the other 3 nights he is in his own home which is another a 3 hour drive away.

When lockdown first happened and he was furloughed he obviously stayed at home.

However, my mom mentioned to me last night that he’s back there for about 3 weeks now, doing his usual 4 nights at her and then going home for 3 nights.

She asked me if I thought it was allowed and I said probably not but the lines are a bit blurred as he needs to stay with her for work, after all he can’t do a 6 hour commute everyday.

Her justification was that she doesn’t spend any time with him, they just have brief chats when standing a few metres apart but otherwise he’s just in his room.