Lodger - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition lodger

Definition :

Lodger, a tenant, with the right of exclusive possession, of a part of a house called lodgings, the landlord, by himself or an agent, retaining general dominion over the house itself.

Lodgings may be let in the same manner as lands and tenements; in general, however, they are let either by agreement in writing or verbally. An executory verbal agreement may be void by the (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 40; and see Edgev Strafford, (1831) 1 C. & J. 391, as being a contract in relation to land, and a written agreement is often desirable to avoid dispute.

Lodgers in rooms which have been let as a separate dwelling to them, unfurnished, may be tenants of a dwelling-house for the purpose of the (English) Rent Restrictions Acts, 1920, 1935, and if that dwelling or the house of which the rooms form parties not decontrolled, their tenancy is within those Acts (see INCREASEOF RENT). As to rent-books generally, in small houses, see (English) Housing Act, 1936, s. 4, and Part IV of that Act as to overcrowding (see that title).

Lodgings, other than those in common lodging houses, are regulated by the Public Health Act, 1875, s. 90, repealed and replaced by the (English) Public Health Act, 1936 (which came into operation on 1st October, 1937), ss. 235 et seq. And the Housing Acts, and in London by the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, s. 94. See LODGING HOUSES, COMMON.

The (English) Lodgers' Goods Protection Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 79), passed for the protection of lodgers' goods, is repealed by the Law of Distress Amendment Act, 1908 (8 Edw. 7, c. 53), in as far as that Act applies (see DISTRESS). The case of Morton v. Palmer, (1881) 51 LJQB 7, decides that a person many be a 'lodger' even though his landlord does not reside on the premises, so long as the landlord retains the dominion and control which the master of a house usually has. Law of District Amendment Act, 1908 (8 Edw. 7, c. 53).

As to the stealing by lodgers of chattels and fixtures let to be used by them, see Larceny Act, 1916, s. 16.