Comments on: Day 21 – What should you do when your lodger leaves?

By: Tessa

Tessa — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:58:44 +0000

I think you can legitimately use money paid to you for reasonable expenses for cleaning and repair of any items broken.

So far as their possessions are concerned, you need to keep these for them as they do not belong to you. I will be doing a blog post on this shortly.

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:35:39 +0000

I have recently evicted a lodger from my home. After getting into an argument threats were made to my property whilst I go on holiday. The lodgers have left and I have their keys but some of their stuff is left in my house, there is writing on their wall and the room is filthy. They have paid most but not all of their rent for the month and are asking for the remainder of the months rent back. where do I stand in terms of removing the property and keeping the money for cleaning? Thanks.

By: Tessa

Tessa — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:42:58 +0000

Take a look at days 19 and 20 in this 21 day series. They will tell you what you need to do, to evict a lodger, for example one who is not paying rent. Then have a look around at some of the later posts which build on that information.

There is no magic ‘silver bullet’ you can use to ensure payment of rent. However what you can do is get rid of people who don’t pay, so you can find someone else who does.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:24:24 +0000

Oh Tessa I hope you can help me!!
I have this lodger he moved in on 8th of June and is now 02 of July and he did no t pay his rent or even gave me the deposit! He gave me some money to secure the room but then when he moved he started giving me excuses til today… I don’t know what to do as I hardly see him and he does not answer my calls, he just txt saying his going to bring the money around but never does!! I went into his room just to see if he was intending to leave but all his belongings is in there. I txt him saying that he won’t be able to come in the house unless he pays and said when he does i’ll gie his stuff back! Can i even do that? What should I do to make sure I get paid???
Thank you!!

By: Tessa

Tessa — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:09:35 +0000

Thank you for your comment Linnda. Getting departing lodgers to give you a set of self addressed stickers is a really good idea. Thank you for that.

By: LYNNDA

LYNNDA — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:54:06 +0000

Having had lodgers for 15 years old mail becomes a problem. I usually require at least 6 (more is better) self addressed stickers which makes it easier. I had a girl once who received a £300 check from inland revenue 3 years later which she did not expect. Happily i had already been invited to dinner at her new home and could give her her mail.