Top tip for landlords: always take a deposit

Published on 18/02/2012 00:00

Brian Ferrie, 49, lives in Barrhead and has been taking in lodgers for seven years – housing around nine people in total.

“I started doing it when I converted the upstairs floor of my home so that my parents could stay in it while they had some building work done in their own house which had overrun,” he said. “Then I realised it wasn’t that bad, having someone stay there – I didn’t find it too much of an incovenience – so decided to take in a lodger.

“Having the extra money is fantastic – I’ve usually charged around £380 a month – and I’ve had some great holidays as a result of having that extra cash.”

But while Ferrie has made some friends out of his lodgers, he has also had some not so good experiences.

“I would say there was one woman out of about nine or so lodgers over the years who I have stayed really good friends with – we used to eat dinner together sometimes when she lived here and we got on really well,” he said. “But it all depends on who you get.”

One lodger, a work colleague, failed to pay his rent – and Ferrie was powerless to do anything about it as he had not requested a deposit from him when he signed the rental agreement.

“I broke one of my own rules there,” he said. “I always make sure I have a deposit from people – but in this case, I thought as he was a colleague, I would be fine. In the end, the only way I could get the money out of him was to shame him into paying up in front of other people in the office, which was embarrassing.”

Another woman who stayed with him for six months ate nothing but baby food – and blamed him for moving her possessions when she lost anything.

“She was always losing her keys and insisting I had moved them,” he said. “Then they would turn up in the laundry basket a few days later. Also, living with a grown adult who ate baby food was quite bizarre. She was a nightmare.”

Overall, Ferrie – who shares a kitchen with his tenants, but provides them with their own living space as well as a bedroom and a bathroom – says he prefers lodgers who keep themselves to themselves.

“I think people I’ve had who’ve worked out best have preferred to stay in their own space – and I stay in mine,” he said.

“I had one man like that recently and I was sad to see him go.”

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• Boost your finances by taking in a lodger

  The friendship between a landlord and his lodger was immortalised in the 1990s sitcom Men Behaving Badly, when hapless Gary took in equally hapless Tony to help fund his mortgage.

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