Dear LPG,  

We are always being told about the rising problems resulting because there are more people in the UK than places for them to live.  We also know that a problem shared is a problem halved, as the proverb states, and so many people, particularly us older members of society,  have extra space which they would happily offer in order to not be quite so alone if only there were not so many risks involved.  


A few years back I offered my spare room to a nephew and, love him though I still do, I learned that young live-in relatives can, often unintentionally, take you for granted and the lack of detachment and worry about what the rest of the family make of those difficulties can add a whole different set of problems to how it all pans out. 


The saddest part of the equation is that many of our young people are busy living alone too, and while those youngsters have lives that are travelling at a much faster pace than us oldies, many of them are not enjoying it either.  Finding ourselves at this point, whether it be because your family has all moved out or you are enjoying not being under your parents’ rule anymore, is often not just about being lonely for as many people as we might think.   


I found some online information which suggests that younger people who live alone are as likely as we oldies to be perfectly happy with a busy day-time lifestyle, but we all are equally as likely to find nights spent behind a front door which is ‘all yours to be a dauntingly lonely experience regardless of age.  


You would think that the solution is simple.  So many more of us older people have spare rooms where our middle aged children, who now have families and live in far-off locations used to live, while many students and young people, who are caught between that bit of life where they are starting out on that journey of independence and have yet to find Mr or Mrs right, don’t all spend every night partying until they are too tired to do anything but drag themselves home to get a few hours’ sleep.  

For those more active oldies who are extremely happy but for the lonely nights, having a young lodger to share a day-to-day life update with might not be a bad thing, and hearing about what is going on in a busy young life might drive an older person to find more things to add to their side of that ‘what have you been up to today?’ conversation.   

There also have to be the positive security and financial implications of doing this.   While it would be good to have a bit extra coming in, a pensioner might be less likely to be looking for the inflated amounts of rent that many other landlords might expect, and having someone with a young sense of balance to change the odd light bulb has to be a good thing.  

But being any sort of landlord or tenant can come with a minefield of problems whenever house sharing is involved.   Trust is one issue.  How can you be sure that the person you are sharing with (from whichever point of view) is not going to invade your privacy more than necessary?  Anything from fiddling with your personal things, putting shared things where, in your opinion, they don’t go, not to mention leaving the place untidy or enjoying a louder lifestyle than you might have in mind, has to be potentially off-putting obstacles.    

The problem is that you will never know until you try and if it all goes right it will lead to an idyllic improvement all round.  I have been thinking about it for a while with my thoughts swinging up and down  as if on the end of a see-saw.      

And the saddest aspect of all has to be the sanctions put in place to protect tenants and landlords to the point that people are being put off.  For instance, the cost of getting someone to move out if you need them to and they refuse. 

I think that the cost and inconvenience of deciding that you want your space back can be the biggest off-putting aspect of sharing any spare room you might have to offer, although lodgers don’t have the same rights as tenants.   

This is something I have thought about because finding the right young person that you have never met before to share your home with could be a solution for a young student, and while I am still thinking about it I have found some agencies that provide such a service.  They screen young people using background checks on potential lodgers before pairing them with house owners.  Having done a little research, I thought I might share their information although I have no idea of the cost of their services…   

AD, Catford. 

 

 

AD shares a little of what her research has uncovered…

 

 

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… and offers the details of a couple of the many agencies that might be able to help…

 

 

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