Your Law Store

If you click the shop link in the navigation bar below you will find a difference.  It will take you to a completely new site!  This is the new Your Law Store ecommerce site I have set up with my long term web designer Gill Bishop.

This is an exciting new venture.  Gill and I have been working together for years, mostly on my Landlord Law website, but this is a completely new business. It is run through a new company we have set up together called Zollch Ltd.

As we have a nice new sophisticated ecommerce store, it made sense to use it to sell the Lodger Landlord products.  But don’t worry – if you find you have gone there by mistake you can always get back here by clicking the suitcase logo on the top right of the page.

As we have this new service, I am now looking to do some more lodger landlord products.  If there is anything you would particularly like me to do – in the way of forms that is, please leave a comment and I will see what I can do.

When I mean disappearing lodger, I don’t mean one who fades away like the Cheshire Cat!  I mean the tenant who just goes off and never comes back.  Generally owing you rent. I had an email from a reader about this just the other day, who said, quite rightly that this is not covered in my 21 days of tips.  Well you can’t cover everything!

To a certain extent what you do will depend on whether or not you have a lodger agreement, and if you do, what it says.  But here are some suggestions:

Make sure that you have a lodger agreement in place (such as the Lodger Landlord agreement) which says that the lodgers right to live in your room will end automatically if they stop living in the property.  Then if you have heard nothing, you can just bundle up any stuff remaining in the room, store it, and re-let the room (we’ll talk about the proper way to deal with property left behind in another post).

But what if you don’t have an agreement, or your agreement does not say this?

If you have a contact address for your lodger (for example if he is a student, this will be his home address, or in other cases use the address of any next of kin or people who you think will be in touch with him – you should have this on your application form) write to him and ask him to contact you and let you know whether or not he intends to return.  Give a time limit of say, 14 days.  If you hear nothing, again, you should be safe to re-possess and re-let the room.

But what if you have no contact address?

Well he can’t expect you to hang about forever!  But wait a reasonable time before taking back the room.  What is a reasonable time?  Well, if the room rent is paid up, you should do nothing.  You should only re-take and re-let the room if the rent is in arrears.  Ideally wait until the rent is in two months in arrears, but if you can’t afford that, I suggest you wait at least 28 days.

For example your lodger might be justifiably annoyed if he had an accident and was in hospital, and came out two days after his rent ran out, to find that you had re-let his room and thrown away all his things!  In fact in those circumstances he could probably sue you for compensation.  So be careful.

Have you had any situations where your lodger has just vanished?  How did you deal with it?  Did you ever hear from him again?

I am pleased to announce the opening of the Lodger Landlord Shop!  This is a separate part of the site where you can purchase documents, forms and letters.

At present the only items there are a lodger agreement and a letter of authority.  Although these are arguably two of the most important documents you will need.

Lodger Agreement: As discussed on Day 15 a lodger agreement is important to keep a record of what was agreed with your lodger and to set out clearly the terms and conditions of the contract made.

Housing Benefit letter of authority: This is for landlords with lodgers on benefit.  The letter needs to be signed by the lodger and sent to the benefit office, otherwise they will refuse to speak to you about your lodgers benefit application, citing the Data Protection Act.  Even though the application is for your rent!

All our forms and documents are electronic – we do not sell any printed forms by post.  Payment is via pay pal, and then you will then be directed to a page where you can download the form that you have bought.  Simple!

An additional feature is that if we carry out any upgrades to a form within 12 months of the date you bought it, we will let you have the new version free of charge.   All you  need to do is contact us with details of your purchase and we will either email the form to you, or send you a link to where it can be downloaded.

I will be drafting more documents for the shop and loading them up in due course.  If there is anything you would particularly like, please do let me know.

Documents and record keeping
Although not yet as bad as tenancies, there can still be quite a lot of paperwork involved in renting out a room. It is possible to do things just on a handshake, but this is not really recommended.

This is probably a good place to list all the paperwork which could be involved, up to the time when your lodger moves in. It is a good idea to keep all of these (or as many as you have) together, perhaps in a folder or drawer in your desk.

• Insurance policy (discussed on day 3)
• Gas safety inspection certificate, if you have any gas appliances (discussed on day 5)
• Receipts and other documentation (e.g. instruction booklets, warranty documents etc) relating to the furniture and items in your lodgers room
• Any PAT certificates for electrical appliances (see day 6)
• HMO license documentation if you need to get an HMO license (see day 7) (this will not apply to the majority of lodger landlords)
• Advertising paperwork, copies of adverts etc
• Any notes taken from your initial conversation with your lodger (see day 10)
• Interview notes and the form completed at the interview (day 11)
• All references and reference reports obtained
• Any other notes, memoranda of discussions prior to accepting the lodger (may be important if you ever have a disagreement about what was discussed at this stage)
• The lodger agreement,(day 15) together with any ‘house rules’ (day 14), both signed and dated (by the lodger – he should have copies signed by you)
• Any inventory used (day 16), signed and dated, together with signed copies of any photos used
• A signed standing order form (note that if rent is paid in cash, you should give a rent book)
• A letter of authority to the Housing Benefit office for lodger on benefit/local housing allowance (see day 13)

That is quite a wadge of paperwork!

Note that you will find helpful reference letters, a lodger application form, checklists and (if you get the plus pack) a lodger agreement form in our >> New Lodger pack.

Future paperwork could include:

• Insurance renewal paperwork
• Next years (and subsequent years) gas safety certificates
• Any letters and notes from and to your lodger relating to his lodgings
• A note of any agreements, for example if you reach agreement for an increased rent

Rent Records: You should also keep a record of all the rent paid, with a record of the date it was paid. Otherwise, if you lodger misses a few weeks, it might be difficult to work out exactly how much he owes you.

It is also a good idea to get into the practice of keeping a note of any ‘significant events’. For example if your lodger behaves badly, even if you decide to put up with it for that once, keep a note of what happens and the dates, just in case you want to refer to them later.

How long should you keep paperwork?

The lawyers answer, is for a minimum period of six years after your lodger moves out. The reason for this is that the ‘limitation period’ for most legal claims is six years from the time the contact ended. You will also need to keep paperwork for tax purposes, and this should also be for six years.

My advice would be to keep everything for as long as possible. Then you will not be inconvenienced by not having it if you need it.

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What is your experience of the things in this section? Are there any other documents I have missed out from this list? How long do you keep your paperwork? Do you have any advice for other lodger landlords on record keeping?