A lodger is a person who rents a room and share some accommodation with the landlord such as the bathroom or kitchen. Lodgers often pay for other services such as meals and cleaning too. If a lodger is taken in a property, he or she may have no exclusive access to any space in the property and the landlord can go anywhere in the property. Or some shared areas would be made cleared while the exclusive use of certain room would be given to the lodger in the lodger agreement. At the same time, the lodger would have exclusive possession of certain rooms agreed by the lodger and the landlord.
You may now have an idea about one of the differences between a lodger and a tenant, which is a lodger may live with the landlord in the property while a tenant does not. Next the difference between lodgers and tenants and their rights and responsibilities will be discussed in detail.
Lodgers vs tenants
You may be very familiar with the definition of tenant who rent a house that you own or rent the house with other tenants together. In this case, the landlord would not live in his or her property with one tenant or more than one tenants. As for the rights of tenants, they have exclusive rights to the rental property or room. During the lease term, tenants are entitled to put a lock on the door and the landlord cannot get in the house without the tenant’s permission.
The concept of lodger might be new to you. If you are a landlord and you let someone live in your house as a lodger, it means he or she pays money to live in your property you live in the same time. In this case, you and the lodger should make a lodger agreement instead of a tenancy agreement. Where a tenant have exclusive rights to the rental space, a lodger cannot exclude their landlord from any space. For example, the landlord can enter the room under the lodger agreement without the lodger’s permission and the privacy should be ensured.
The rights and responsibilities of lodgers will be set out in the agreement agreed mutually by the landlord and lodger. First let’s get to know the essential parts of a lodger agreement.
Lodger agreement
A Lodger agreement is a contract which grants a licence to occupy part of a residential property. The licence gives permission to someone (the “lodger” or “licensee”) to rent out a room in the property someone else (the “licensor”) is living in for an agreed fee. It is the preferred arrangement between parties who want to let part of a shared property, but do not want to take on the official responsibilities that come with the legal status of landlord and tenant.
The term of a lodger agreement can be fixed or periodic.
The fixed-term agreement includes the commencement and termination date while the periodic-term agreement will run from one set period of time to the next, such as from month to month, until one of the parties gives notice to terminate it. Note that if a Lodger Agreement does not address how long the licence is meant to last, the licence automatically becomes periodic.
Unlike the tenancy agreement, lodge agreement does not offer the rights to remain in a property. If the landlord intend to evict a lodger, a reasonable notice would be given to the lodger before he or she is asked to move out of the house. And the notice should be as long as the rental period. For example, if the rent is paid monthly, the lodger should be given at least a month to leave the property.
Besides the term of the licence, a lodger agreement should cover:
- The accommodation provided to the lodger. It should be noticed that whether there is an exclusive space for the lodger that the landlord does not to access without prior consent.
- The rent. It should be set out that how much the rent is and when the rent should be paid.
- The deposit. Deposit is paid to the landlord. In case of certain damage or failure made by the lodger, the landlord may deduct from the deposit any sums.
- Other clauses may include break clause, privacy clause or insurance.
