Charging rent for guests...reasonable?

[TW]Fox;18024359 said:
You live alone and pay all your expenses yourself.

Your girlfriend lives in a shared house paying a landlord rent.

Can anyone else see the obvious answer to this?
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The girlfriend works near where she lives, she'd have to travel 25 miles on public transport to get there if she lived with me. She also can't afford to live alone on her current wage, so if she wanted to move out of the house she'd have to find other people to live with.

I'll get my girlfriend to check over the contract, hopefully it doesn't say anything about guests or I might not have a leg to stand on. I get on really well with the other housemates, and the landlord barely lives there these days (maybe see her once a month) so I don't see how I could be getting on her nerves. The other people in the house thought it was very steep too, we all agreed £1 or £2 would be plenty to cover any bills.
 
Hamzter said:
The girlfriend works near where she lives, she'd have to travel 25 miles on public transport to get there if she lived with me. She also can't afford to live alone on her current wage, so if she wanted to move out of the house she'd have to find other people to live with.
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Well given you currently pay all the costs of your house, why not let her move in for token rent and spend the savings on her transport costs?
 
[TW]Fox;18024443 said:
Well given you currently pay all the costs of your house, why not let her move in for token rent and spend the savings on her transport costs?
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It's not the costs but rather the time, it's over 2 hours each way, couldn't make her do that. Also we've only been goin out slightly over 6 months so moving in might be a bit premature...
 
Can't see a good response to this, other than get your girlfriend to live somewhere a bit more sensible.

In the meantime make sure you get your £5 worth, whichever way you choose to interpret that ;)
 
It does seem a bit excessive, maybe the charge is as much a warning that they feel you're staying over a bit too often as it is a serious attempt to get you to pay up. However you're only going to know that if you have a proper discussion with them.

I wouldn't be inclined to pay it, it's pretty much an accepted 'risk' that sometimes peoples partners will stay over. As long as they try to fit in with the house and not inconvenience people then it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Jonny69 said:
Can't see a good response to this, other than get your girlfriend to live somewhere a bit more sensible.

In the meantime make sure you get your £5 worth, whichever way you choose to interpret that ;)
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LOL
I'm coming over tonight love, so be ready yeah coz it is costing me £5 a go.
 
In my old student house contract it used to be that if anyone stayed for over 4days iirc we then had to pay an extra £4 a night, not that the landlord ever tried to charge us even though he could have on many occasions
 
Pay as you Screw.....lol

Seriously tho if you a paying some money does that mean she will draw up a contract. You are now paying for something and thus have rights. Ask her what the £5 includes. You may as well get a bath there instead of one at home. Turn the fire up full blast to get your £5 worth. And who is keeping a record of you being there if the landlord is not there...you have to clock in...lol
 
Totally unreasonable. If she seriously thinks that you're costing extra on the bills by being there, then she should ask your girlfriend to pay a greater share of the bills under her contract then the two of you could sort it out between yourselves. It's ridiculous to ask you for a fiver every time you stay there, especially if they're friends!

It could always just be that she is annoyed with you always being there and this is her little way of having a dig. Fair enough if so really, I often get annoyed having had flatmates other halves monopolise bathrooms ect!
 
Several years ago I used to live in Essex and rented a house with a mate from work. After we'd been there for a few months his girlfriend (who lived in Kent) got into the habit of coming round after she'd finished work and staying the whole evening and overnight. This would happen several times a week. In the end, it got to the stage where I felt that I was sharing a house with someone not of my choosing. She tried not to be a nuisance, but the nuisance was the fact that she was there so often. It felt like I was a spare wheel in what was effectively my own house. I'd chosen to rent with my mate, not my mate and his girlfriend.

In the end (under advisement from several joint friends) I told him that she should start contributing to the bills, which upset him greatly as he was totally blinded by love and blind to the fact that she was as tight as a gnat's chuff when it came to paying her way.

The point being, I can sympathise with the landlord for asking you to pay some money to stay over. You're not paying just for the water, electricity etc that you partake in, but also for the disruption you're causing for the people who didn't choose to share a house with you.
 
Surely this is up to the other tenants and not the landlord. I used to live with a landlord and it was very trying. In fact I would never recommend it. I often found I had to tell this guy to stop being a landlord and start being a tenant. Some issues you would not expect a landlord to get involved in and this is one of them. Then its important that the landlord has no more or no less weight to their vote.

I cant see how £5 is justified really
 
J.B said:
...I used to live with a landlord and it was very trying...I had to tell this guy to stop being a landlord and start being a tenant...its important that the landlord has no more or no less weight to their vote.
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Take it you didn't last very long! You would sure would be out of my house asp!
 
Sounds like she's renting a room, not a house, so if you ask me it's reasonable for a contribution.

I had 2 male friends who were sharing a 2 bed house. One had a girlfriend who practically lived there, and he wouldn't budge on paying more than 50/50 which I thought was completely out of order, as the single guy was effectivley paying 30% more utility bills. She should rent her own place if you ask me, or you should do the decent thing and contribute by paying slightly more rent, or come to some kind of arrangement...
 
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Hamzter said:
My girlfriend currently lives with friends, one of whom is also the landlord, who has announced that I now have to pay £5 every time I stay overnight, which is usually a couple of times a week. This seems like a lot of money, or is it just me?
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Yes, just you, everyone else she only charges £2.50-£3 for a night with your girlfriend.
 
You are using the room as a shag pad, it's a shared house, I don't see the issue with expecting a little more tbh.

Agree with fox though, have her move in with you and get her driving.
 
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