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Best place to find a lodger

6 replies

confusion77 · 20/06/2014 09:23

And how much to charge?

Large double bedroom. Village location but bus goes past end of road. 6 miles to town. 6 or 2 miles to main line train station.

Off road parking. C/h. Plenty of kitchen storage. I have a cat who has a cat flap and 'goes' outside.

Private gardens.

I do have two reception rooms so could offer one of those aswell.

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Jamie1981 · 20/06/2014 09:31

You don't mention where you are, but you could try sites like easyroommate.co.uk, roombuddies, spareroom.co.uk. Also gumtree.
There are also sites such as airbnb where you can rent out on a short term basis or, for example, monday to friday.
Easyroommate also allows you to specify monday to friday only in your listings. This is something that would work well if you live, for example, in London. For London, a Monday to Friday rental would earn you £450-600 depending on area.
There is also a specialist site called mondaytofriday.com.

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confusion77 · 20/06/2014 09:56

Thanks. No i am not in London. Its an hour on the train to London.

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holeinmyheart · 20/06/2014 12:59

Try Gumtree.com as they are the only site that I know that are free. Spareroom.com allows you to respond to those that have paid. I think it is cheap. However if you have never had a lodger then you need to think seriously about what sort of person you would be happy living with and what you are going to provide for them. 1. Always ask for references and a passport and keep photocopies. 2. Ask them if they have siblings as if they have lots they will be used to sharing. 3. Forbid all the keeping of animals unless you want to find a Rat in a cage in the room as they eat carpet. 4. Don't have a smoker unless you smoke , as they will smoke In the house when it gets cold, what ever they say to the contrary. 5. Make some rules about cleaning their room, don't wait until the smell emanating from the room knocks you out. 6. Put a waterproof mattress protector on the bed In case they are sick or wee and forbid them to take it off. 7. Take a deposit and put it into a Goverment Deposit scheme, it is not as difficult to do this as you might think. 8. Make a rule about their visitors, they could be nice but their visitors vile, you don't want to find strangers in your house who may not be trusted. 9. Parking. allocate one parking space to them otherwise you may find that you can't get into your drive because your tenant's pvisitors have parked all over your drive. 10. Take the rent in cash weekly. If they stop paying then you can take action immediately. 11. Get them to sign a short hold tenancy agreement and keep copies. ( you can get a pack from Smiths) 12. Don't let to a person that has just left home as they will be looking to have a riot. Remember you are not a charity! Don't feel sorry for someone as the basis for letting a room in your house.
As an experienced landlady I think the ideal tenant is around 28. They have left their Mummies a while, I think Men are preferable to women as women make more fuss about seeing a slug or spider inside the house and are not so keen on do it yourself. (I know this one is going to get Mumsnetters going but I have been letting for years) Men can be quite clean and women can be filthy, amazingly. Interview them very carefully, preferably with a friend , as you can then get a second opinion. Don't be tempted to go with the first person to come through the door. Suggest you give them an initial three month trial as letting in your own home has different rules to commercial letting. Don't lend anyone any money! Look in an Estate agents window to find out how much to charge. I know in London it is around £600 a month for one room. In the North it is half that. I would offer one room first and then see how it goes. Try and be circumspect initially about your personal information, as if it all goes pear shaped, and you have told them all about your naked three some in the park, and then you give them notice, you might find your details on Facebook. Xx best of luck

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hellsbellsmelons · 20/06/2014 16:27

Spareroom.com and easyroommate.com and fivenights where the ones I used. Although fivenights, I had very little response from.
I live in a village - had a double bedroom with en-suite - off road parking.
4 miles to town. 20 minutes on train to London.
I charged 350.00 PCM. Almost everyone who wanted the room only wanted it during the week which is great as well.

I'm a smoker (well kind of) and I NEVER EVER smoke in the house.
Doesn't matter how cold or rainy etc.. it gets. Just never.
Anyone I know who smokes also will not ever smoke indoors.
So PP could be a bit off there.

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holeinmyheart · 20/06/2014 21:51

Unfortunately Hells I have had tenant smokers who swear black and blue that they would never smoke in the house and they have. I drove up to one house one day and saw one bloke with his head out of his open window( all inclusive heating included in his rent) blowing smoke rings out of the window. Also their guests sometimes smoke and the back gardens are full of fag ends which give the game away. My ads always say no smokers. Luckily for me I have a keen sense of smell and even when someone turns up and they lie about smoking, I can smell them. Sorry but all smokers smell in my experience.