tryingtobecheekyPartassipant [2] 144 points145 points 1 year ago

Nta. I don't see why people are calling you an asshole. If she's renting a room, she can put it there. If it doesn't fit, then she doesn't get to keep it.

KatJen76Professor Emeritass [73] 60 points61 points 1 year ago

This site is dominated by Americans and this type of arrangement is less common here. I think a lot of the people saying OP is the clear TA are imagining that you split the house 50/50 and you're both entitled to full use of all common areas.

miss_anthropy_666[S] 36 points37 points 1 year ago

Yeah I gathered that by now. Having to explain over and over that a lodger isn't the same as a housemate

[deleted] 3 points4 points 12 months ago

Tbf you did call her a housemate in your post

LordofFullmetal 22 points23 points 1 year ago

I mean, I'm Australian and live in a lodger style house (people renting rooms) and that's not how it works here either. We're all entitled to and responsible for the common areas of the house. Especially because you have to walk through the living room to even get to the kitchen - why the fuck would we say you're not allowed to use the living room? That makes no sense.
Could be literally just a UK thing and nowhere else, but it feels strange to me.

spiteful-pirate 17 points18 points 1 year ago

It's pretty common. Usually houseowners who need some help with the mortgage so they rent out their spare room. Typically in a lodger scenario the lodger is rarely in the home like they work long hours or only live there Monday to Friday or they just hide in their bedroom. You get perfunctory use of the common areas, like make your dinner and go eat it in your bedroom type thing but you certainly cant bring furniture into or make changes to the common area. Some places even advertise as you can't use the lounge when the home owner is in it. I've got friends who lodge and some who have lodgers and the general attitude is that you don't interact all that much.

It's basically a less formal renting situation and you don't have to worry about contracts and minimum length stays and its usually cheaper.

Silent_HastatiPartassipant [1] 8 points9 points 1 year ago

It's also VERY common in student housing situations, where a student doesn't want to live in the chaos that is the dorms but doesn't have enough for an actual 1br apartment

[deleted] 9 points10 points 1 year ago

That's a different thing to what is happening here which is that OP owns the house and rents one room in it to somebody else. It isn't an uncommon arrangement in the UK. Generally if you choose to have a lodger instead of a housemate, it is because you want to make use of your spare room while maintaining control of your own house, rather than sharing the whole place equally. A lodger is allowed to use all common areas but is expected to behave like a guest in somebody else's house, tidy up after themselves and generally not inconvenience the person whose house it is, and in exchange for this the rent is basically tiny.

HuggyMonster69Partassipant [1] 2 points3 points 1 year ago

Is your landlord a roommate though? Think of the situation as renting someones spare room on air bnb. It's better than the streets, but not ideal for most people. They're also normally pretty short term.

miss_anthropy_666[S] 36 points37 points 1 year ago

THANK YOU. as I kept saying she can put it in the spare room or the dining room. I was pissed off coz she said it wouldn't fit through the doors when it clearly could!

tryingtobecheekyPartassipant [2] 24 points25 points 1 year ago

The fact that you let her keep it at all is good. As a lodger, and not a traditional roommate, she has access to her room, the kitchen and the bathroom. It sounds harsh but that's what she's entitled too. Anything more is by your discretion.