Dear Students, especially international student who are not familiar with the term 'lodger' here are a few facts to consider before signing a 'Lodgers' Agreement'
1. You DON'T have exclusive possession to your room. Meaning you DON'T have your own PRIVACY. Your landlord can come and go as he or she pleases.
2. Your Landlord lives in with you.
3. The Landlord can make up rules as she likes!
4. Being a Lodger you barely have any law protecting you.
What you SHOULD be doing if you are a lodger is:
1. Get your landlord to sign a contract that has a clause of you are entitled to your room and your privacy
2. REMEMBER you may not have exclusive possession to the room BUT you still have your proprietary rights. Your landlord should not be going through your things!
3. Verbal agreement IS legally Binding
4. NEVER let your landlord push you around, what you have is a LEGAL RELATIONSHIP you are not required to be their friend.
Personally, after going through the experience of having a horrific landlord, My personal advice is to NEVER sign a LODGERS AGREEMENT. Its the worst contract you can get yourself into. If you are living in with a Landlord the best will be to sign a tenancy agreement. That way you are much more protected by the law just in case your landlord turns out to be a horrible monster in disguise.
Not only don't I have a lock on my door, my landlord comes in as she pleases and recently she removed my property from under my bed. Now I am going through the trouble of getting a solicitor which is ABSURD as a student I am here to get my degree not go through this hassle. She has GBP 800 of my money and I desperately need it back.
PLEASE DON'T let what happened to me happen to any of you who out there. NEVER EVER sign a Lodgers Agreement with your Landlord. If you read this post, tell others about the content. Support the International Community around us, we only have each other here.
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