Live in Landlord

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

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Is anybody here a 'live in Landlord'? or lived with their Landlord?

I'm due to purchase a property in the next few months and I will have 2 spare rooms that I plan on renting out to friends or lodgers to help overpay my mortgage.

I'd be interested to hear your experiences of it all? I'll most likely be having a contract drawn up by a solicitor or drawing up my own from a template and having it verified and recorded by a solictor so that it's all official and more importantly legal. Of course I'd take the usual months rent in advance as a deposit however, in the case of my friends, I don't think this is necessary but is never the less a good option.

Is there anything as a Live in landlord I should know or be aware of? Other than declaring the income from the rent to the taxman?

Thanks,

BennyC
 
At uni a mate of mine was our landlord (his parents bought him a house in his name).

Whilst we were all good friends, most things were done quite formally, ie proper contracts, deposits etc so it was similar to living in any other rented property.

Obviously he understood that wear and tear would occur, but any genuine damage that wasn't easily repairable was deducted from the deposit.

We didn't take the p*ss and trash the house so it worked fairly well :)
 
alx said:
At uni a mate of mine was our landlord (his parents bought him a house in his name).

Whilst we were all good friends, most things were done quite formally, ie proper contracts, deposits etc so it was similar to living in any other rented property.

Obviously he understood that wear and tear would occur, but any genuine damage that wasn't easily repairable was deducted from the deposit.

We didn't take the p*ss and trash the house so it worked fairly well :)
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Cheers for that.

That's what I'm thinking. These are my friends so I wouldn't be a tosspot about damages that can easily be repaired and would just charge them for materials. Or in the case a professional is required invoicing them as opposed to bumping up repair up to line my own pocket.
 
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My gf used to rent a room in a house with a live-in landlord.

As above really, everything is still done quite formally, written contracts, deposit taken etc. Its quite a large house, I think there was three lodgers in total.

It works well, the landlord takes care of all the cleaning for the house except the rented bedrooms which are the lodgers responsibility.

As long as you expect that sometimes they may wish for a friend / partner to stay once in a while, and set a rota for morning bathroom periods etc depending on the lodgers work patterns then there shouldnt really be any issues.
 
BennyC said:
Cheers for that.

That's what I'm thinking. These are my friends so I wouldn't be a tosspot about damages that can easily be repaired and would just charge them for materials. Or in the case a professional is required invoicing them as opposed to bumping to repair up to line my own pocket.
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The only issue is the boundary between friend and landlord - sometimes you will need to be firm if you think they're taking the ****, likewise the tennants shouldn't be expected to wait for ages for something like a broken dishwasher to get fixed just because you're their mate and they can wait a bit.

We never really broke anything (apart from the odd blutack staines on bedroom walls, cleaning bill etc). My mate/landlords parents have/had run quite a few student houses so were used to carpets getting stained, wall marks/scuffs etc so we didn't usually get charged for things like that.

However, they bought and ran houses purely for students so didn't mind that they got a bit messy as that's just the nature of students.

You on the other hand may have a different outlook as it's actually your proper house.
 
alx said:
The only issue is the boundary between friend and landlord - sometimes you will need to be firm if you think they're taking the ****, likewise the tennants shouldn't be expected to wait for ages for something like a broken dishwasher to get fixed just because you're their mate and they can wait a bit.
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Of course what's broken for them is also broken for me too so is in my best interestss to have it repaired asap. Whilst a dishwasher isn't a necessity a washing machine would be for example.

You on the other hand may have a different outlook as it's actually your proper house.
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Very true. Renting both rooms will allow me to (as it's only a small mortgage) pay it off 20 years and 11 months early! Saving myself upwards of £15,000 in interest. So if I have to repaint a wall covered in blue tac marks or replace a carpet at the end of their tenancy then it's a cost I'm prepared to pay for to be living mortgage free :)
 
BennyC said:
Of course what's broken for them is also broken for me too so is in my best interestss to have it repaired asap. Whilst a dishwasher isn't a necessity a washing machine would be for example.
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I was just using a dishwasher as an example because the one in our house broke, but yeah it's not a necessity. :)

BennyC said:
Very true. Renting both rooms will allow me to (as it's only a small mortgage) pay it off 20 years and 11 months early! Saving myself upwards of £15,000 in interest. So if I have to repaint a wall covered in blue tac marks or replace a carpet at the end of their tenancy then it's a cost I'm prepared to pay for to be living mortgage free :)
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Best of luck :)
 
Calculate the TAX implications, your can earn upto £350 per month TAX free but after that you have to start paying.
 
As above really.

At Uni a friends parents bought him a house (well long term investment) and 5 of us lived in it. Its fine as long as everything is running smoothly but we had a couple arguments that boiled down to us disrespecting his house........

As long as you are sensible and your mates are too and try not to take the mick with payments etc im sure it will be beneficial to all of you. Again as above its YOUR house so you will have freak outs now and then im sure of it, just try and be cool about it but not too cool :O
 
HEADRAT said:
Calculate the TAX implications, your can earn upto £350 per month TAX free but after that you have to start paying.
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Yep, I have done. I've accounted for the £4250 tax free allowance. I deducted the tennats share of the bills from the gross income generated from the rent, then deducted the tax free allowance from the total and then added what was left (the profit) onto my current salary. Whacked it into a salary calculator deducting my student loans, NI and tax. Then added the tax free allowance back on and have worked everything else out from there to give my net monthly income :)
 
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I have friends who live with other friends who are their landlords and it's all done very casually. No deposit, rent just goes in each month and everything has been fine for them. All depends what you're comfortable with, if it was me I'd probably make it slightly more official but depends on which friend I was living with. I own my flat outright, and live alone so I have the best of both Worlds!
 
Skillmister said:
Will this house include a gym and if so would you charge a fee? :p :D
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Haha funny you should ask that as there's going to be a log cabin down the end of the garden for the power rack, rower, DB's 2.5-50KG, bars, bench etc. Ocuk SA mini meet welcome :p

Very temping to buy a plate loaded press to slap in the garage!
 
As you've mentioned the rent a room relief i take it you are using a mortgage that allows you to actually rent rooms? Most standard mortgages dont allow this type of thing, so be careful what you say to the mortgage provider if it isnt one.
 
Make a clear line of your expectations. You have to imagine they will be in your personal space using your pans n plates etc..

My friend rented me a room and he turned into a massive knob, he had psychotic issues, he was impossible to please. I nearly smacked his teeth in. Obviously this situation works 2 ways.
 
Have some basic ground rules but don't be stupid, but make them clear from the start.

Obviously they are responsible for their own rooms (do you mind if they get into a complete state?), but what about cleaning communal ones. Do you mind empty plates, shoes, magazines left about the house? Is there a rota for cleaning the kitchen, dishes, oven etc.
 
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