Advice on renting please?

[Mary]

If I want to rent a room out what is the usual notice period (in case they are awful lodgers!)? Is is 1 week or 1 month?

And is there anyone who wants to rent a large double room in detached house in quiet cul-de-sac just off J7 of the M4? Plenty of parking and close to mainline railway station into Ealing and Paddington. And great for all those West London venues and the uniquely brilliant Twyford

M

[Trousers]

Is that the venue where the teacher has hair that looks like a guinea pig

[stewart38]

If I want to rent a room out what is the usual notice period (in case they are awful lodgers!)? Is is 1 week or 1 month?

And is there anyone who wants to rent a large double room in detached house in quiet cul-de-sac just off J7 of the M4? Plenty of parking and close to mainline railway station into Ealing and Paddington. And great for all those West London venues and the uniquely brilliant Twyford

M

Ans To the point worthy of rep

Is that the venue where the teacher has hair that looks like a guinea pig

I think if the teacher has hair like a guinea pig he is saying a week ?

Don’t think many tenants would be happy with a week but you could ‘agree’ that before they move in with their drums ?

[Sparkles]

I think it's 1 month, but if you're the landlord and you're renting to someone you know you can make up your own rules.
There's a good book the WH Smith sell about renting out rooms and being a landlord (lots of advice online too, most of it good).

Good Luck - I hope you find a lodger as lovely as mine!

[Barry Shnikov]

Look it up online!!

Notice periods are generally for getting rid of a tenant/lodger when you wish, for no other reason, to bring the agreement to an end. Minimum notice period for assured shorthold tenancies, for example, is two months.

If any essential facilities (washing, cooking, toiletry) are shared, then the agreement will be a licence agreement, rather than a tenancy, and the person will be a lodger rather than a tenant. The provisions of the act that governs tenancies (Housing Act 1988 as amended 1996) do not apply to licences.

In general, the minimum acceptable notice period would be a month. You need to get a licence agreement drawn up, which will specifiy a number of things which the lodger may not do, and other things which he or she must do (eg, pay rent!).

Breach of those terms would permit you to terminate the agreement without the agreed notice period. You could then require the person to leave in a shorter time. However, this is a very important type of legal agreement in that it is an agreement by which one person obtains, for consideration, a home. The law, quite rightly, does not treat such agreements lightly. Breach on the part of the landlord may unlawfully deprive someone of the place where they sleep and keep themselves safe. Breach by the lodger usually deprives the landlord only of money (breaches of other terms, such as not keeping clean, making unreasonable noise, etc, are much rarer).

Therefore if you do consider a lodger is in breach of a term by behaving unreasonably, you would still have to give a reasonable period of notice. That would be - rule of thumb - enough time to find somewhere else to live. 14 days would probably be minimum. If they don't move out in 14 days in theory you have to apply for a court order to get them out. Changing the locks, for example, would probably be a breach of one of other of the provisions of the Protection from Eviction Act.

There! You had no idea it was that complicated, did you?

There are also new rules about deposits. I'm not sure whether they affect licence agreements as well as tenancies, but the idea is that all deposits are held by third parties, so that the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse to refund the deposit at the end of the tenancy; it's also supposed to reduce the incidence of tenants assuming that their last month's rent will be taken out of the deposit.

You may find your local housing department can help out with advice. Most of them are anxious to help new prospective landlords as housing pressure is usually acute.

[Lory]

I heard an advert on the radio last night, stating that a new law is coming out, within the next few weeks, which protects the tennants deposit...

...it might be something you need to look into as well?

THIS site may be of some help

[Barry Shnikov]

I heard an advert on the radio last night, stating that a new law is coming out, within the next few weeks, which protects the tennants deposit...

...it might be something you need to look into as well?

THIS site may be of some help

If that's the case, I wouldn't hold your breath.

The new rules come from the Housing Act 2004 and were supposed to be introduced April last year, then October last year...now a new date has been publicised!! Ho hum.

[Mary]

Thanks for your help and advice guys. I have had lodgers in the past but only short-term and on an informal arrangement, and it's worked out very well. Just a bit nervous about having a stranger in the house.

Sparkles, I don't suppose you could clone Alice for me and programme her to need somewhere out this way?

M

[Alice]

Thanks for your help and advice guys. I have had lodgers in the past but only short-term and on an informal arrangement, and it's worked out very well. Just a bit nervous about having a stranger in the house.

Sparkles, I don't suppose you could clone Alice for me and programme her to need somewhere out this way?

M

I'm quite happy where I am, thank you:P No need to clone me- just think of the chaos that would ensue

Good luck finding someone though- hope it works out as well as it has for us

[Lynn]

Thanks for your help and advice guys. I have had lodgers in the past but only short-term and on an informal arrangement, and it's worked out very well. Just a bit nervous about having a stranger in the house.

I've rented rooms for everything from 2 months to 2 years. And the best housemates were two girls neither of whom I knew before they moved in. The worst experience was someone I'd known for years but who turned into a real nightmare to live with, and I did have to ask her to leave - giving a months notice. That experience means that if I ever do rent again, I'm setting a trial period after which we can both review how things are going. Though I haven't rented since, its nice having a spare room for people to come and stay.

[Sparkles]

its nice having a spare room for people to come and stay.

... now look what you've done - you'll have a flood of people PMing you wanting to come and visit

[Lynn]

... now look what you've done - you'll have a flood of people PMing you wanting to come and visit

That's OK. Lynn's B&B* has already been in operation for a while now, its been fully booked for the last two NI freestyles in Feb and March and is already booked up for April and June.

*Umm, not very good at the breakfast bit, guests have been known to fend for themselves - but I always make them plenty of cups of tea...

[Paulthetrainer]

I live in Tonbridge and have had a lodger for the last 18 months. I found her via FlatmateClick - flatmate, flatshare, houseshare and rooms to rent. It's proved absolutely ok. I took a £200 deposit from her, she's paid her rent at the start of the month by direct debit ever since. We get on fine despite not spending that much time together and the most controversial thing about her is that she doesn't eat mushrooms. We have no formal agreement whatsoever.

However.....I also have a 2 bed flat in Upper Belvedere, Kent which I rent out. I had to get a court order to remove my most recent tenant because he just stopped paying me rent. He now owes me £2,250 in rent arrears which I will have to pursue him through court to get back. He left the flat in a real mess, he stole my WINDOW of all things which cost me £350 to replace. And he didn't flush the loo last time he used it.

So if anybody is interested in renting a now totally clean 2 bed flat in Upper Belvedere, Kent with recently fitted kitchen window, I'd be interested to hear. No crazies though please. Guess that rules out a lot of the folk on here.