Monday to Friday digs - Xmas etiquette

**BrilloPad** · 24 July 2013, 08:22

Do you want to be away from home over Christmas?

IMO etiquette should go out of the window and you should be honest about what you both want. If she really does not want you there and you want to be there then you should probably not be there - alternative is she might give you notice.

**cojak** · 24 July 2013, 08:37

Sorry, I mean that my contract ends before Xmas and I've advised her to get it sorted with the next lodger at the beginning of the let. My landlady just wants to know how it usually works with other Mon-Fri lettings.

(I know that some contractors expect to work as much as possible over Christmas, others want the break)

**TheFaQQer** · 24 July 2013, 08:37

If you have access to the room, then pay the rent. If you won't, then don't.

Last time I rented a room, I still paid over Christmas and NY when I wasn't there, and also for the weeks when I was on holiday and not working.

**cojak** · 24 July 2013, 08:39

Originally posted by TheFaQQer View Post

If you have access to the room, then pay the rent. If you won't, then don't.

Last time I rented a room, I still paid over Christmas and NY when I wasn't there, and also for the weeks when I was on holiday and not working.

That's the way I work and how I advised her to play it.

**kevpuk** · 24 July 2013, 08:44

My landlady and I talked about this t'other day too - she is 1st time landlady, and I am 1st time lodger.....
She is happy for me to be there over Xmas as work requires; the arrangement has been going since April and we get on well etc. As for me, my contract is due to end in early October, but Client has already started looking at being able to retain me, which is nice!
Then again, not sure that I will choose to work that much over the holiday period....2 little ones at home who I would rather spend time with.....we will see

**eek** · 24 July 2013, 09:02

Originally posted by TheFaQQer View Post

If you have access to the room, then pay the rent. If you won't, then don't.

Last time I rented a room, I still paid over Christmas and NY when I wasn't there, and also for the weeks when I was on holiday and not working.

Surely the idea is simple. If you want the room when you get back from holiday.... you pay whether you are there or not otherwise they may decide to replace you with someone willing to pay all the time.

**cojak** · 24 July 2013, 09:04

That's the way I saw it eek, and since that seems to be the norm my advice to her was correct.

Thanks all.

**kingcook** · 24 July 2013, 13:11

Originally posted by cojak View Post

I'm staying with a 1st time landlady in up-market accommodation. She's asked me about the etiquette of payment/staying over the Christmas break but as I'm a 1st-time lodger I really don't know what to tell her.

My guess is that the lodger pays the usual monthly rent, but if they need to stay between Xmas and the New Year so be it. My landlady would rather forgo a weeks rent and have her house to herself over the holiday.

I won't be here by then or we could have come to some kind of agreement. I'm sure the same thing will happen with the next lodger, but neither of us knows how it usually works.

How do you work this out?

What does the contract say...?

Oh wait...

**TheFaQQer** · 24 July 2013, 13:13

Originally posted by eek View Post

Surely the idea is simple. If you want the room when you get back from holiday.... you pay whether you are there or not otherwise they may decide to replace you with someone willing to pay all the time.

Yes.

I left my things there even when I wasn't there, so I paid for the room and expected that they wouldn't let it to anyone else while I was paying them.

Monday to Friday digs - Xmas etiquette