How much to charge for a room?

whupdedo

Hi all, I have a 4 bedroom house in a sea side town in west clare, a friend of mine who is a hotelier ,asked me if I would be interested in renting out 2 of the rooms for his staff( I live in the house myself)

He wants to know how much a room I want all utilities included, I was thinking about 250 a room per month all utilities included, is this enough or am I fooling myself ????

Any replies appreciated, thanks

The_Morrigan

Go to daft and have a look at the the rents for the area. This will be a good starting point.

whupdedo

Thanks, also who would be responsible for buying sundries such as bin bags washing up liquid, firelighters etc, would that be down to me or to be shared with everyone ?

The_Morrigan

whupdedo wrote: »

Thanks, also who would be responsible for buying sundries such as bin bags washing up liquid, firelighters etc, would that be down to me or to be shared with everyone ?

I run a kitty for that..tenner a month each to be used for stuff like cleaning products, toilet rolls, paper towels, tin foil, cling film etc

It's your house you get to set the rules.

BabySlam

Also stuff like salt, pepper tends to be shared, or anything else that is "left out".

my3cents

OP, look at it this way. How much does the hotel charge for its cheapest crappiest room for a night? If your hotelier friend had to put these guys up then thats how much money he would be loosing. I'm not saying thats how much you should charge but it might give you a better idea of why you are being asked.

Mrs OBumble

Seems to me that you're making a pretty big lifestyle change (living alone to house-sharing with two people, probably quite young, who work shifts) to accommodate your friend - who presumably is having difficulty getting staff 'cos of lack of accommodation in the area. What it that worth to you?

That said, you need to know what they'll be earning too: if they're on close to minimum wage but don't get many hours some weeks, they they might resent you charging a lot, especially once they get to know that you're the bosses friend.

And some more numbers to factor in: if you take less than 12k per year (total), then it's tax-free, you just have to declare it, . Take more than that, then it's all taxable (less certain expenses, I believe).

If thee staff are seasonal (I'm guessing they are given the location), then there might be coming and going mid-season too. In that case, I'd do an all in figure allowing for bills, too.

And write some house rules around cooking times, laundry etc at the start, too: some hospitality staff forget that people not working shifts have to be up early the next day.

Tough one. Good luck

my3cents

OP who is paying the staff themselves or the hotel owner?

hfallada

my3cents wrote: »

OP, look at it this way. How much does the hotel charge for its cheapest crappiest room for a night? If your hotelier friend had to put these guys up then thats how much money he would be loosing. I'm not saying thats how much you should charge but it might give you a better idea of why you are being asked.

Why would the hotelier put his staff up in his hotel? He is paying them a fair wage, so they can obviously pay for their own accommodation. The only thing similar to this I have seen is ****ty hostels in the middle of the of no where.The staff are put up as they work 6 days a week. Food is included as they are so isolated from anything else.

OP I think the best way to find out similar rent is daft.ie or ask some in locality. But since its rural Ireland, I cant imagine its too expensive to rent an entire house

my3cents

hfallada wrote: »

Why would the hotelier put his staff up in his hotel? He is paying them a fair wage, so they can obviously pay for their own accommodation. The only thing similar to this I have seen is ****ty hostels in the middle of the of no where.The staff are put up as they work 6 days a week. Food is included as they are so isolated from anything else.

OP I think the best way to find out similar rent is daft.ie or ask some in locality. But since its rural Ireland, I cant imagine its too expensive to rent an entire house

Plenty do the two hotels near me both have staff that live in just for the summer.

whupdedo

my3cents wrote: »

OP who is paying the staff themselves or the hotel owner?

The staff themselves, I don't want to charge too much, but I don't want to be taken advantage of either, and I must admit it will take a bit of pressure off a few of the monthly bills and the mortgage, I thought about 60 each a week would be fair enough including utilities ?

The_Morrigan

whupdedo wrote: »

The staff themselves, I don't want to charge too much, but I don't want to be taken advantage of either, and I must admit it will take a bit of pressure off a few of the monthly bills and the mortgage, I thought about 60 each a week would be fair enough including utilities ?

That seems very low if bills are included. You have to keep in mind your bills will increase with three people in the house.

Mrs OBumble

whupdedo wrote: »

The staff themselves, I don't want to charge too much, but I don't want to be taken advantage of either, and I must admit it will take a bit of pressure off a few of the monthly bills and the mortgage, I thought about 60 each a week would be fair enough including utilities ?

Way too low - they'll think you're soft if you charge that little, and start to take the p*ss.

Assuming they're on roughly minimum wage, I'd be charging more like 110, ie 1/3 of it. Maybe a little less if they have to pay for transport between work and your place. Unless there are other places around which offer rooms cheaper - or unless you are offering strictly room only, with no access to the kitchen or living area???

um7y1h83ge06nx

Be mindful if you include the bills there are no incentives for them to be sensible with the heating and electricity.

I've seen and heard it before with people running electricity heaters like crazy in their room as it's not costing them more etc.

laurenhiggins

OP ur making a big change if u rent two rooms out so u should charge what you feel makes it worth doing this change for you

BabySlam

BabySlam wrote: »

Also stuff like salt, pepper tends to be shared, or anything else that is "left out".

I'm a fan of everyone have their own stuff in house shares. That's the way it's always worked in the places I have house shared only items that were shared were toilet paper, washing up liquid and soap everything else have your own stock.

The_Morrigan

Rebecca Victorious Hurricane wrote: »

I'm a fan of everyone have their own stuff in house shares. That's the way it's always worked in the places I have house shared only items that were shared were toilet paper, washing up liquid and soap everything else have your own stock.

House shares and rent a room schemes are two different things. You're comparing apples and oranges.

The_Morrigan

The_Morrigan wrote: »

House shares and rent a room schemes are two different things. You're comparing apples and oranges.

One of the places I lived was an owner occupier renting rooms and it worked exactly the same as any other houseshare I've been in, in fact it was the first place I lived out of home so it's their I learned this way of doing things.

my3cents

Is there any insurance implication in this for the OP?

The_Morrigan

my3cents wrote: »

Is there any insurance implication in this for the OP?

They just need to inform their insurance provider there are guest staying in the house.

whupdedo

whupdedo wrote: »

The staff themselves, I don't want to charge too much, but I don't want to be taken advantage of either, and I must admit it will take a bit of pressure off a few of the monthly bills and the mortgage, I thought about 60 each a week would be fair enough including utilities ?

That's way too little imo for the rather big change it will be to have two people living with you.

Also as others have said charge separately for the bills and split them 3 ways.

Mrs OBumble

Rebecca Victorious Hurricane wrote: »

One of the places I lived was an owner occupier renting rooms and it worked exactly the same as any other houseshare I've been in, in fact it was the first place I lived out of home so it's their I learned this way of doing things.

Indeed.

it's more like and apples and soaps, ie two totally different things that sometimes overlap (you can have apple-shaped soap).

Rent-a-room is the name for the tax-regime that applies to people who make income from letting out part of a house that they live in.

House-sharing is about sharing a living-space with one or more people who you aren't in an intimate relationship with.

Sometimes, people house-share with an owner-occupier. When this happens:
1) Regular tenancy law doesn't apply, and
2) The household organisation is less democratic than house-sharing with a non-OO or leaseholder.

But how much less democratic it is can range from just a tiny bit (the OO manages all the bills and maintenance, and has the right to kick people out but never does), to hugely (the OO runs the house as full-board digs, provides all meals and does all the laundry).

When I was an OO, I ran it just like the house share we all moved from when I bought the house.

The_Morrigan

Rebecca Victorious Hurricane wrote: »

That's way too little imo for the rather big change it will be to have two people living with you.

Also as others have said charge separately for the bills and split them 3 ways.

Don't do that - it makes completing the tax return a complete pain in the hole.
You'll have to keep every bill and record of amounts paid by each person for the entire year, and include those payments as part of your return for income received under the scheme. You'll also have to keep them on file in the event the tax man decides they want to audit you.

It is much easier to have one set amount being paid into your account on a weekly/monthly basis and then knowing exactly the amount you will be declaring in January of next year.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Indeed.

it's more like and apples and soaps, ie two totally different things that sometimes overlap (you can have apple-shaped soap).

Rent-a-room is the name for the tax-regime that applies to people who make income from letting out part of a house that they live in.

House-sharing is about sharing a living-space with one or more people who you aren't in an intimate relationship with.

Sometimes, people house-share with an owner-occupier. When this happens:
1) Regular tenancy law doesn't apply, and
2) The household organisation is less democratic than house-sharing with a non-OO or leaseholder.

But how much less democratic it is can range from just a tiny bit (the OO manages all the bills and maintenance, and has the right to kick people out but never does), to hugely (the OO runs the house as full-board digs, provides all meals and does all the laundry).

When I was an OO, I ran it just like the house share we all moved from when I bought the house.

I understand all the above I was referring to the dynamic in the house when I meant that house shares and OO renting a room can operate in a similar way.

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Don't do that - it makes completing the tax return a complete pain in the hole.
You'll have to keep every bill and record of amounts paid by each person for the entire year, and include those payments as part of your return for income received under the scheme. You'll also have to keep them on file in the event the tax man decides they want to audit you.

It is much easier to have one set amount being paid into your account on a weekly/monthly basis and then knowing exactly the amount you will be declaring in January of next year.

Fair enough I hadn't considered that the bills had to be so closely accounted for from a tax perspective if they are being split 3 ways.