I LOVE MY LODGER!
Renting out our room has been an unexpected delight, says
You know you are tempted. You know it would make good economic sense. But, as a homeowner with a spare bedroom, could you really take on a live-in lodger?
Most homeowners, if they are honest, would give a resounding no. Lodgers spell, not trouble exactly, but inconvenience. They come and go at odd times. They have odd habits. The list of potential flash-points, red lines being crossed, just goes on and on.
From the 1927 Hitchcock film The Lodger, in which the lodger was a suspected serial killer, to the classic Seventies sitcom Rising Damp, the landlord-lodger relationship has been fraught with difficulties. It can end in tears — and you don’t have to go far to find a home-owner who has had an offputting experience.
In 21st-century Britain, however, the live-in lodger is a fact of life. There are more of them; they are getting older, and with property ownership becoming ever more elusive, those trends seem certain to continue. A recent study by Knight Frank found that 21 per cent of British households — set to rise to 24 per cent by 2021 — live in private rented accommodation. And the average age of live-in lodgers is 31, according to LV insurance.
You can now become a landlord without having to deal with semihouse- trained students who are strangers to toilet brushes. And you will do so with the full blessing of the Government, who have introduced fiscal incentives to encourage homeowners to take in lodgers.
under the Rent a Room scheme, outlined on gov.uk, owner-occupiers or tenants who let out furnished accommodation in their main home can earn up to £7,500 tax-free, or £3,750 if they are letting jointly.
So why not just take the plunge? That’s what we’ve done. My wife and I— middle-aged home-owners in oxford — have always baulked at the idea of taking in lodgers, not because we are anti-social, but because our house is just not lodger-friendly.
There is only one bathroom, and the kitchen is what estate agents call petite. What if our lodger were a curry enthusiast? or liked taking 20-minute showers? We did briefly take on a teenage lodger nearly 15 years ago and, although we got on well and remain friends, it was weeks after his departure before the smell of heatedup frozen lasagne — his meal of choice, seven days a week — receded.
We are creatures of habit, and we found living under the same roof as someone with different habits, disconcerting.
It was only when the son of some friends got a place at the oxford School of Drama, and was looking for cheapish digs, that we decided to have another stab at being landlords.
A mature drama student — he is 22 — would surely be preferable to a first-year undergraduate. And from what we knew of the boy, he had no vices or irritating habits. Months into his tenancy, we are still pinching ourselves that things are going so well. Sharing a bathroom and kitchen has been largely stress-free, we have settled into a harmonious routine and, best of all, we enjoy his company.
It is loneliness, not lodgers, which homeowners should be fearing. Better to have human interaction, even if it takes effort, than empty rooms and long silences.
THe life of our household has been transformed, and for the better. Before it was just us, Darby and Joan, incorrigibly set in our ways. Now it is Darby and Joan plus one.
Drama students, we have discovered to our delight, are pure comedy gold. When our lodger asked us for a hot-water bottle, we thought his bedroom must be too cold. Not a bit of it. His tutor had told him to place the hot-water bottle on his diaphragm to enhance his voice production. Imagine!
Snatches of Shakespearian verse percolate through the house. Some of his vocal exercises have to be heard to be believed. Did Judi Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch have to go through all this malarkey?
If he turns up in the kitchen in a leotard, we know it is dance and movement day. If he tiptoes in at 3am we know he has been out on the razzle. My daughters fled the nest years ago, so sharing someone else’s formative years, watching them grow and develop in pursuit of their dreams, feels more of a privilege than a hassle. Indeed, it has been an education. And when our one-time lodger is playing Hamlet at the RSC, we will be in the front row, cheering him to the rafters.
WITH just two per cent of UK housing designed specifically for older people — much of which is priced at the higher end of the market — the pressure is on to build more affordable retirement schemes.
In March, the normally pricey retirementhousebuilder Audley secured planning permission to begin work on its first affordable scheme, Mayfield Villages. The site, in Watford, will offer 253 one-and-two-bedroom apartments priced from £262,500.
‘ Mayfield Villages will be on larger sites and offer a lower price per square foot,’ says Audley CEO Nick Sanderson.
‘ The mid- market represents about 4.5 million consumers, nearly twice the size of the luxury sector. These new-build villages will typically be found in urban and suburban environments.’
A total of 1,250 units are planned at sites over the next five years ( mayfieldvillages.co.uk). According to a report by Knight Frank, 46 per cent of households aged over 65 live in a property with an average value of up to £250,000 — not enough to buy a modern retirement property with money left over to enjoy a decent lifestyle. Affordable options are coming, but not enough.
Inspired Villages is offering ten affordable one-bedroom homes in phase one of its Gifford Lea Retirement Village in Cheshire. Five properties will be for rent and the other five can be bought on a shared ownership basis, from £185,250 ( inspiredvillages.co.uk). ‘Shared ownership can give many people an opportunity to find a new home that is appropriate for them with a more flexible financial approach than 100 per cent ownership,’ says Inspired CEO Jamie Bunce.
For great grandmother Mo Ewen, 78, and her cockapoo Murphy, the shared- ownership scheme at Guinness Homes’ Quayside retirement development on the River Dart in Devon solved her problem finding an affordable home. ‘Shared Ownership enabled me to release some money to pay for services and to enjoy my retirement,’ she says.
The 30 one and two-bedroom apartments at Quayside are close to doctors surgeries, a pharmacy, supermarket and leisure centre, and are a short drive from the beaches in Paignton.
Prices start from £143,250 for a one- bedroom apartment and £ 171,000 for a two- bedroom apartment and are being sold on a 75 per cent shared ownership basis (guinnesshomes.co.uk). Stamp duty is another disincentive preventing older people from moving. Crossbench peer Lord Best, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Care for Older People, argues retirees should be treated like first-time buyers and excused from paying stamp duty.
Retirees selling the family home would start a chain of purchasers, who would be paying stamp duty.
‘ No one of pensionable age should pay stamp duty when they move — no matter what they buy,’ he says. ‘This would stimulate the property market and increase stamp duty receipts overall.’
The retirement rental sector is increasing, offering another option to cash-strapped retirees. Quadra, a scheme of one and two-bedroom apartments in Hackney, East London, operated by Hanover, has properties priced from £237 a week ( quadra.hill.co.uk).