Buying our first house together - Third person as a lodger? Thoughts appreciated!

[Bromhead]

Hi guys,

Wanted your thoughts on this. Me and my partner are going to be putting in offers for houses in our area very soon and hopefully within 4 months we expect to be moving in to said house. We already have a mortgage promise, a good chunk of money saved for the deposit and we earn enough to comfortably pay the mortgage every month, bills etc.

The mortgage itself will be around the £750 mark (obviously we don't know exactly what it will be until we find the specific house and know the price we're going to be offering).

We're just out of university and we have a lot of friends who are either renting, or still stuck at home and want to get away. The house we will be buying will either be a 3 or 4 bedroom semi-detached or detached.

Our initial thoughts are to rent out one of the rooms, with access to all other rooms of course, for a set amount so that it isn't too complicated. We were thinking of asking for £300 which would be set in stone and all bills covered.

This would massively reduce our commitment in terms of outgoings per month. I understand a lot of members on these forums will have owned a house for many many years. However with both of us fresh out of university, we're use to sharing houses, halls and to have a friend around lodging in your house may not sound ideal, but to us it really is the norm.

TL;DR

1. Do you think having a lodger is a good idea and if you were in the same position, would you?
2. In regards to the price, again do you think it is a fair price when considering all bills are also included.
3. Anything else you think might be important

 

[Bromhead]

Thanks for the responses so far. General consensus appears to be this isn't an alien thing which is good! Out of our friends we're the first to make the plunge and purchase a house, so in terms of renting rooms once you own a house, this is new to us and we have no friends who have done similar to base it off.

All new territory, but extremely exciting. Currently I'm living back with my family, which although it has been enjoyable, there is no internet here. I tether with my phone which has been horrible No online gaming!

One point that has been raised and that I was worried/concerned about slightly is the legal aspect. I guess I would need to ask my mortgage lender the legal side of things in order to protect ourselves against any sort of claim/right to the house if they lived there for x amount of years?

 

[Bromhead]

Thank you very much for the responses guys! I think having a lodger will be a good step to take, especially as we have some decent friends who living with would be great.

Although we can comfortably pay the mortgage, we will be dumping anywhere up to 14k on the house deposit, then another 4k on bits for the house, solicitors fees, so a lodger and the extra income will be nice to build up our money pile again.

We won't use the extra space, so I really see it as just free money. I will as advised look into getting a contract and talking to my bank about this. I will also have a think about the price per month, if £350 is tax free then that is maybe something to consider.

In terms of who the lodger will be, it will be one of several close friends we have, that we would feel comfortable with and that we've known for years and shared previously with.

 

[Bromhead]

I think what bluepower is saying if his mortgage was £500 per month and the bills were £100 per month.

Then he would put £300 towards the total cost of house and bills and the lodger would pay the same.

 

[Bromhead]

Bromhead - if you want me to fire you over the house rules & agreement I drew up for my lodgers let me know. E-mail in trust.

Regardless of how good a friend they are set some ground rules for cleanliness, noise, parking, pet peeves etc. Take a deposit too.

More likely than not whatever you draw up won't hold up in a court however chances are the other party doesn't know that and isn't prepared to shell out to find out if it does!

It's all just a precaution really but you'll kick yourself if you didn't do it if something kicks off.

Thank you Benny that would be great, I'll e-mail you in trust now

 

[Bromhead]

Now whilst we're on the subject and this may seem a silly question but I haven't checked or asked my Bank this yet.

If the house costs for example, 130k, given that our mortgage promise is a higher amount than this, could we borrow 140k. 130k for the house and then 10k left over for kitting it out doing jobs etc. (I understand there will be additional fees on top of the 130k but our budget already covers those). Or is it a case of, the house cost you 130k, here is 130k and not a penny more.

Anyone in the know that can help answer this question?