Rent rooms or house

Hi,

I'm currently rented a room in my PPR under Rent a Room Scheme, no problem there.
I'm now moving out myself & the girl would like to stay on & I had wanted to give her that option as she's been there a year.
I had been thinking I would rent the other 2 rooms myself (separate leases) & manage it that way, obviously no longer my PPR, so I would be registering as a landlord & paying tax but facilitating current lodger staying & also 'keeping an eye' on things for me, in exchange, not increasing her rent.
That was my original thinking but after reading through some topics here, I'm starting to get nervous of doing that.
Has anyone any experience of doing it this way compared to renting out the house as a unit under 1 lease?
I'm concerned that there will be significantly more work involved in renting individual rooms myself & also some 'gaps' in the leases with regard to common areas of the house & damage etc.
Somebody mentioned on another thread that you become involved in personality clashes etc by doing it this way.

It's looking cleaner & safer to rent house as a unit but what rights does my existing lodger have? Is it fair to offer her that she either take over the full house lease, be responsible for full rental or else move on?

Appreciate your views/experiences
dillons.

hI Dillons

i have a property in lucan where i rent out the rooms separately.My mother lives in the house and she has the attic with its own ensuite.she cant hear any noise downstairs and she is always away or doing something.so i rent 1 double room with an ensuite and another double room.I will be renting the box room soon.I have done this for the last 5 years have hadma steady flow of tenants and not 2 many problems.Its not a bad idea to do they all then have to share the bills between themselves.
depending on the area you are in it coukd work out well for u renting out the rooms separately.

Have you asked her what she would prefer? At the very least, you should give her a say in who moves in - after all, she's going to have to live with them!

From my point of view (longest renter in a 3-bed apt) I wouldn't want sole responsibility - it's not my apartment and there's no benefit to me. The three of us have to sign the lease and if someone moves out before the lease is up we replace them - assuming their references check out and the letting agent/landlord is ok with them. We are jointly and severally responsible for rent, bills etc (even though I end up taking the immediate hit if someone doesn't lodge their rent on time as the whole rent is paid from my account).

I'd prefer if we all had separate leases but that's not a runner with our landlord and I can understand why - it's far more hassle for him to administer.

Eanair said:

Have you asked her what she would prefer? At the very least, you should give her a say in who moves in - after all, she's going to have to live with them!

From my point of view (longest renter in a 3-bed apt) I wouldn't want sole responsibility - it's not my apartment and there's no benefit to me. The three of us have to sign the lease and if someone moves out before the lease is up we replace them - assuming their references check out and the letting agent/landlord is ok with them.

I'd prefer if we all had separate leases but that's not a runner with our landlord and I can understand why - it's far more hassle for him to administer.

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I think you misunderstood Eanair.
My decision is between doing it the way it's done by your landlord ie 1 lease signed by whoever she finds or me administering separate leases & finding people.
I've given her 2 months notice that I'm moving out & she's gonna let me know then if she's staying, I wanted to give her time to think it through.

If I rent rooms separately, then no I wouldn't be letting her choose who moves in but if she takes the lease (with whoever she sublets to) then it's her choice as long as the rent is paid.

No, I understood what you meant, and I suppose I'm suggesting a middle ground, where whoever she finds also has to sign the lease, rather than making her totally responsible in a subletting situation.

Eanair said:

No, I understood what you meant, and I suppose I'm suggesting a middle ground, where whoever she finds also has to sign the lease, rather than making her totally responsible in a subletting situation.

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Yep that's what I'm suggesting, whoever she sublets to also signs in on the lease but ultimately the full house rent has to be paid every month so if 1 moves out, it's the responsibility of others to find replacements. That's the way it always worked when I was renting but I never started out in a house on my own.
The other way I had been thinking was me renting room by room, thereby if 1 moved out, I took the hit until I found someone else so it's not really an option to let others influence who moves in & that's where I fear the problems would arise.

I'll talk it through with her but I don't think she'll go for 1 lease.

You never know - if it's a choice between 1 lease and not having any input into who they shared with, I think most people would prefer the 1 lease. I've had an offer on a house accepted, so pending any problems with survey etc I'll be getting out of renting and it'll be someone else's problem to replace me - can't wait! Best of luck with it either way.

thanks & good luck with the new pad!