Remembering your lodgers with a guest book

Get your lodgers to sign your visitors book before they go

Lodgers are generally nice .. I have written quite a bit here about problem lodgers, eviction and the like, as these are things which worry people, and which have therefore been popular topics on the blog. However it is important to remember that most lodgers are lovely. I had six years of taking in lodgers, […]

Portable Appliance Testing : PAT for short

An incorrectly repaired plug

PAT stands for Portable Appliance Testing. A portable appliance is basically any appliance with a plug attached to it. For example personal computers, and their equipment (monitor, speakers etc), kettles, irons, leads, cables, toasters, printers, etc There is a very good and informative web-site here from which you can see that PAT testing is mainly […]

Dealing with post after your lodger has left

Do you keep getting letters for your lodgers after they have left?

Your lodger has gone – she cleared out her room, signed the visitors book and drove off.  But you keep getting mail for her.  What should you do about it? Ideally you should speak to your lodger about this before you leave.  For example If they get a lot of mail, tell them that you […]

Why you shouldn’t give your lodger a tenancy

Should you allow your lodger to fit a key to his door?

One of the commentators to Day 1 of my 21 days of tips for Lodger Landlords asked what was wrong in allowing your lodger to have a tenancy, bearing in mind that you would be able to evict without getting a court order if you shared living accommodation. These matters deserve to be set out […]

How do you serve notice on your lodger?

If possible service notices on your lodger personally

You have decided that you are absolutely fed up with your lodger and you are going to serve a notice to quit on them (as discussed in day 19 of our 21 days of tips). You have written it all out. How do you go about serving it? As you share a house with the […]

Planning permission, HMOs and lodger landlords

If they have more than two lodgers, they will need planning permission

In my 21 days of tips, I discussed whether taking in lodgers could create an HMO on day 7.  However, since then the planning law has changed.  If you take in more than two lodgers your property may need planning permission. The background to this change in the law, is the numerous complaints to MPs […]

Evicting a lodger without a court order – when can you do it?

When can you evict a lodger without a court order?

Lodger eviction In Day 20 of my 21 days of tips for lodger landlords, I described a procedure for evicting lodgers without getting a court order. When exactly can this be used? The answer to this lies in the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.  This is the act which says that all eviction of residential occupiers […]

Do deposits from lodgers need to be protected?

Tenancy deposits and lodgers Although I wrote about this on Day 16 of my 21 days of tips for lodger landlords, I think it is worth repeating. The tenancy deposit regulations only apply to assured shorthold tenancies It is legally impossible for someone renting a room in your home to have an assured shorthold tenancy […]

Update on Raise the Roof campaign from Spareroom.co.uk

The nice people at Spareroom have kindly allowed me to post an update here from their excellent ‘raise the roof’ campaign to increase the rent a room tax exemption. Tessa. ********** Back in November 2009 we launched a campaign called Raise the Roof with the intention of asking the government to increase the tax free […]

Five tips on how to avoid creating a tenancy when renting a granny annex

A granny annex

Avoiding a tenancy in a self contained letting I did an advice recently for a client who wanted to let out some self contained accommodation in his house (effectively a ‘granny annex’) but was anxious to avoid creating a tenancy. Although this is covered in part here,  I thought that it might be worth repeating […]