anyone's opinion would be of great help...

[kerosam05]

hi fellows,

i have a sticky situation here. I just moved into my new 3 bedroom house. In july 2005, a mate (let's call him X) and his parents (also friends, i got to know them before i move here elsewhere) told me that X would like to move in with me in Nov 2005 as he just arrived in town for further studies and prefer to live with somebody they know.

of course i took their word for it and kept that room empty expecting him to move in Nov. I was actually thinking of renting out that room to help out the mortgage payments but thought i'll be fine just to wait for a couple of months.

yesterday, i was informed by X and his dad that X won't be moving in till mid- feb 2006 but will start moving his stuff into the empty room in the next couple of weeks. X is on a scolarship so the uni gives him 1st year free accommodation. i'm happy with him moving stuff in but they are not keen to pay full rent at all till X moves in to stay.

what should i do? should i insist that the normal rent and bond be paid? the father suggested (i guess as a form of compensation) for a discount to store his stuff till he returns in mid- feb. am i reasonable to ask for full rent when his stuff gets stored here? any help is appreciated. i tend to go along the line that full rent be paid once his baggage is in the house (of course). i'm just very disappointed that our verbal agreement is not honoured.

 

[rossv]

hi kerosam,

be wary ... he is not a person of his word ...

however.. if he wishes to store stuff there then clearly he should pay for that.

and personally i wouldn't give him keys until he moves in and pays up in full.


rossv

 

[crest133]

Hi Kerosam
Mixing friends and money and having problems already, surely no surprise.
Better to let them know you budgeted for room rent income starting November and cannot afford to wait 3 months without the income. The room is available NOV at ththe agreed rent, do they want it or not. Business dealing with friends demands very clear guidelines as you know, or you can lose both at once.
cheers
crest133

 

[Pablo]

Kerosam05

I guess it comes down to the extra money of a stranger now or a reliable tenant (?) who you know later on.

Would it be to difficult to line up a temporary tenant until your friend moves in and say they can't store their belongings?

 

[Ace in the Hole]

Hi,

My feeling is that they are taking advantage of you already and things can only get worse. They don't seem to show any appreciation for you saving the room up to this point in time.

Tell them your financial position doesn't allow the room to be vacant any longer and you need to find a tenant who will pay the full rate immediately.

Good Luck.

 

[skater]

Hi,

My feeling is that they are taking advantage of you already and things can only get worse. They don't seem to show any appreciation for you saving the room up to this point in time.

Tell them your financial position doesn't allow the room to be vacant any longer and you need to find a tenant who will pay the full rate immediately.

Good Luck.

Family/Friends & money just don't mix. Keep everything businesslike. You really do need to explain that in order to pay the mortgage you budgeted to have this room rented. If not to your friend, then to someone else. If they can't/don't want to pay for it there will be no hard feelings but you will have to find someone else who can.

My gut feeling is the same as Adrian. They are already trying to take advantage of you & it can only go downhill from here. If you nip it in the bud you may be able to salvage the friendship before it is too late. Good luck.

 

[see_change]

Hi Kerosam
Mixing friends and money and having problems already, surely no surprise.
Better to let them know you budgeted for room rent income starting November and cannot afford to wait 3 months without the income. The room is available NOV at ththe agreed rent, do they want it or not. Business dealing with friends demands very clear guidelines as you know, or you can lose both at once.
cheers
crest133

Spot on.

See Change

 

[DavidB]

hi kerosam,

Although annoying you need to take into account that a lot of uni students, travel home etc over the Christmas break so you may end up with a vacant room anyway if you start looking now. If you tell you friend that you will be looking else where for a tenant you may well not find one till Feb when uni starts back and end up losing your guaranteed rent.

Just a thought!

 

[dantheman]

I used to rent rooms to friends.

I had various problems which are harder to deal with when they are friends:

* Friend1 had been without money for a month (being sent from overseas by his parents), and promised every week it would arrive. 3 months later it still had not and was luckily paid at the end of his stay.
* Friend2 had a bad memory and left front doors unlocked, windows open, appliances on etc when he went out often
* Putting up the rent - very hard even though the whole market had hugely boomed and I only increased rent by 10% over 2 years.
* Getting them to leave - also hard. How do you tell your friend that they are difficult to live with, unclean etc. I should have provided a list of ground rules for house etiquette up front

Also, any time they are short on cash, they can ask you for a "repayment break" assuming that because you have a house you have lots of money.

Now I prefer to rent the whole house out and then rent a place off someone else with friends so we are all "equals" and there is no tension between us.

But if I lived in my own, I would rent to a stranger and provide rules up front. It may seem very anally retentive but they know where they stand and shouldn't be crying unfair if you boot them out later because they are difficult to live with.
Also the strangers I live with are much nicer, we have become good friends because we start out being courteous etc and making sure we do our bit to keep the household running.

Just my experience.

Dan

 

[kerosam05]

thanks folks! i have a few days to decide before making some decisions (might be hard ones).

thanks for your concern about friend booting out friends. i can be one mean bastard that is unreal. i will do what is necessary when i have to.

 

[WillG]

I have had similar experiences to Dan.

Rented a room to a friend to 'help him out'.

Although he paid rent every now and then I never got any $$'s for electricity, phone etc.

He often paid late or a proportion of what the agreed rent because he 'stayed at his girlfriends place a lot'

It is very important to set the ground rules from day 1

 

[Lplate]

kermosan05

He is not your dependant and the father is a skank for trying to put you in a 'one down' negotiating position (moving some stuff in).

Being a bit soft, I've had tenants play the game of just storing a bit of stuff and so on. But every single time I helped out tenants like that they immediately took advantage of me and didn't let up until we parted ways and that always took a fight.

Take action now to let the room. Then it could be "Sorry, I was skint and cannot afford the loss of rent". No way I'd take in any stuff and nor would I share a flat with the guy. How would you get on when they "Whoops, can't afford the rent this week etc etc."

LPlate

 

[lizzie]

from past experience i would certainly rent to a stranger above family or friends. then the deal is business only, with no emotions, guilt or past to be put into play.

my ex and i headed overseas and rented the house, fully furnished, to his two brothers and one of their friends. basically, shortly after we left the older brother drove the younger two out (made himself impossible to live with) and then only paid 1/3 of the agreed rent because "he was only using one bedroom". being overseas and being a brother, we didn't take any action but imagine how long an unrelated tenant would be allowed to stay if they only paid a portion of the rent!

 

[kerosam05]

just an update for those who have shared their opinions. i have another person wanting that spare room. Now, i'm just waiting for my friend to let me know his situation.

thanks folks.

 

[dantheman]

Give your friend 1 day to make up his mind if he wants to start paying rent immediately to hold the room