ADDLED Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Hi all, Im new to the forum and this is my first post. Ive had a read through and cant find a post specific to my question, but theres so much good knowledge here that Im sure I'll get an answer. Apologies if it's a bit long winded. In mid December 2013 I took in a lodger, I also live in the flat. The advert stated minimum 6 month term and detailed monthly rent, 6 weeks deposit, bills, council tax etc. When I interviewed the tenant she mentioned that she works overseas 4-5 days/week and is out most weekends with friends. I work from home a lot and so would be using most of the energy so calculating her share of the energy bills would be a pain, so I told her I would include the gas/elec in the rent, and explained my reasoning for this. She took the room, moved in for a week and was away for almost a month over Christmas. I noticed that she had paid short, she had missed off the Council Tax, so I mentioned this when she was back in mid January. She disagreed, claiming I had agreed to include ALL bills, and I explained again my reasoning, and that irrespective if she was occupying the room or overseas, she still needed to pay Council Tax. She said she would sort it. Next rent payment was short, I mentioned it and got same answer, and Feb was short too. Mid March she mentioned she had rented a flat with a girlfriend and was moving out 1st May, so I told her to pay rent to 15th Apr and I would deduct remainder from her deposit. Again I mentioned the CT but this was shrugged off. When she moved out I deducted the last 2 weeks rent and also the CT amount off the deposit and sent a bank transfer. I also emailed her detailing the payment and what I had deducted. Since then I have received threatening emails, the last one mentioning court action, my lack of rental deposit scheme, etc... I know it's naïve but I didn't have a written agreement, other than the info listed in the original SpareRoom advert which was pretty thorough. I appreciate that I perhaps should have mentioned the deductions before she moved out, but since she had been ignorant of this previously I didn't hold out hope of coming to an amicable agreement. I think I've been pretty reasonable in that the letting term was 6 months and I didn't quibble when she wanted to leave after 4.5 months. If she brings a County Court claim, could I use the missing 6 weeks term as a defence? I would really appreciate some advice or guidance. thanks in advance ADD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 The bottom line to all of your predicament is that you didn't have a clear and precise written terms of your agreement between yourself and your lodger and what was included in the rent agreement payments. Lesson learnt for you in the future I would say. Essential these days to have everything in writing to avoid any arguments at the end of occupancy. I don't have a lot of experience of rent-a-room T&C's but I do believe there are whole set of different rules which apply to this scheme rather than the normal assured tenancy contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADDLED Posted June 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Thanks Melboy, appreciate the response. Im totally naive for not having an official agreement but I guess I thought the terms in the advert would serve as proof if rent/deposit/length of your occupancy etc. Do these carry no weight at all? tks ADD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Thanks Melboy, appreciate the response. Im totally naive for not having an official agreement but I guess I thought the terms in the advert would serve as proof if rent/deposit/length of your occupancy etc. Do these carry no weight at all? tks ADD If the detail of the content of the advert was strong enough to stand up to scrutiny and you still have that advert it may well help to convince any action against you by way of a dispute. There are other's on the forum who will have a better knowledge than me on rent-a-room procedures etc. as I am mainly involved in assured tenancy contracts and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADDLED Posted June 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Thanks again, The ad was with Spare Room and was very specific about length of term, deposit amount, monthly rent, bills etc. Advert stated plus bills and council tax, it was a verbal agreement when she came to view the room that I would include energy bills. cheers ADD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Print it off and send it to her then? This should put a stop to her pestering and if she wants to take you to the small claims court it is very doubtful she would win her case on her evidence. The only thing I am not sure about is whether you, on the spare room lodger business, have to have the deposit in a government backed account for deposit protection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADDLED Posted June 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Thanks again. Deposit protection doesn't apply to lodgers. Thats the one thing I DO know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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