Rent a room agreement

[kirsteen0603]

Hi, Can anyone help me with this? as an extra source of income we rented out a bedroom and a livingroom to a girl with shared kitchen and bathroom with ourselves. Stupidly we only asked for 2 weeks deposit and as the girl had just come out of a relationship she couldnt pay the first months rent in advance so we agreed she could split the first months over the next five months in the term.

It came to yesterday when the first lot of rent was actually due, five weeks after she moved in. as you have probably guessed she hasnt paid it. she only gave us a hundred pound. We had all signed a house share licence I downloaded from clickdocs.com. which stated term (6months) and everything else i believe it should have. It now leaves us in an impossible situation where we feel like we are being taken advantage of and have someone we no longer trust in our home potentially for another five months of stress and late or unpaid rent. Can you please advise where we stand and what our first step should be before i speak to her.

Many Thanks,

Kirsty

[MrShed]

I thought if someone was a lodger in your own home you could evict them without notice?

[red40]

I thought if someone was a lodger in your own home you could evict them without notice?

Only if they are an excluded tenant, without any sort of agreement

I think you should be looking for legal advice on this one :)

It sounds to me and it is my own opinion, that because you are a resident landlord, your tenant doesn't have the same protected rights as an assured or AST. Because you haven't received any rent I reckon you can use the forfieture clause in your agreement to remove the tenant, however you would have to give her reasonable time. If there isn't a forfieture clause you maybe stuck with her for ther full duration.

Before you do anything do get legal advice though and if necessary a court order.

[Paul_f]

A house share license (whatever that's supposed to be) is just an agreement that would only be enforceable under common law so it would be one person's opinion against another if there is a dispute!
There is no security of occupation by the lodger; that's all she is, not a tenant!
You can just ask her to leave if she is in breach of your agreement with her and it would be up to her to take action against you if she felt justified in doing so, but it appears that would be unlikely!

[ngadef]

Ain't it so predictable!

My first lodger agreed to pay everything in cash when she got the keys
Then turned up & said she'd arrange it through the bank

And two weeks later I still had nothing, it ruined our whole relationship
She was the sister of a good friend so I had trusted her word

It dragged on for months & I was in misery
Even found myself not wanting to go to my home

She is a lodger & has no security so don't let it drag on
Give her a week or two weeks if you''re generous

Another lodger I had was giving me problems
And I booted him out in 3 days, even called the police on him

But it was worth it when he was gone, It's better to deal with it quickly
No matter if it seems difficult you'll feel so much better when it is sorted