Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Last year, I broke up with my boyfriend of 11 years and have been living with friends...and recently have been itching to move out. My friend Jason told me about this apartment that his friend has been wanting to rent out. The landlord, who doesn't live in this area, gave me a tour of the apartment and I LOVED it. It's really nice sized, clean and in a great neighborhood. He said he would rent it to me on the cheap with the understanding when he needs to come into town, he could stay there. (A room with his stuff would stay in tact and the rest of the place is mine to do with what I want.) I asked him how many times he would be coming into town and he said at the most twice a year for only a couple of days at a time. The rent would only be $400...and that INCLUDES utilities. It's an absolute steal. I would have a roomie (a guy) so I wouldn't be there alone if the landlord needs to come and stay.

What do you guys think? He's a really nice guy...(older...in his 60's..) and comes with high praise from my friend Jason. I did a pro and con list and the pros waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay outweigh the cons. I overthink everything and I feel like I really want the place but have this nagging doubt from picking it apart to the point of driving myself mad. URGH.

I'd go for it. If he's not there much than it's only inconvienent a couple of times a year.

(but I'd check for or make a lock on your bedroom door)

Having a place that's more or less your own is important and will probably make you feel better.

I think that as long as you feel safe it sounds like a good deal. Perhaps add an addendum to the lease to help ensure that there is a safety net for you. Although what specifically that would look like, I am not sure.

Yes, if there's some way of doing this that would be a plan.

I had a situation that was meant to be like that once... 'cept the (50 your old) landord (who lived in a different country when I took out the lease) ended up pretty much moving in for a few months and I couldn't do anything about it. He also walked about in his pants and took drugs all the time (and, uh, tried to get us to grow marijiuana in the back garden) and stole my deposit.

... I'm sure your experience wont be like that though!

Man, I'm such a downer tonight! *backs off into the cute things thread*

for $400 a month including utilities and in a great neighborhood, i would live here if the dude told me i had to paint the ceilings naked whenever he was home. not really. but maybe. no, i wouldn't.

i totally would.

That's only that great of a deal depending on your location. Here, I could have that minus the potentially sketch landlord for the same amount.

ohhhhhh, fee doesn't have to prance around naked for her dirty old man landlord just to live in a place she can afford. WELL LA DE FRICKIN' DA.

What sort of lease do you have to sign? And is the roommate someone you know already? If you're comfortable with the lease and roommate, and since it sounds like the landlord does come with a good reference, it looks like a good situation.

Of course I don't have to, that would be degrading, I just do it for fun.

I don't know exactly how this works, but can you get in writing approximately how many times he'll be staying per year/for how long? When I younger my parents rented a lake cabin for a little while one summer and the guy who owned it said he'd need to be there one or two nights but ended up being there a ton and bringing friends and just generally not doing what he said he would when they rented it. They had to take him to small claims court to try to get some of their money back. I don't know if they ever did or not, but it seemed like a pain in the asparagus, and they wished they would have had a clearer contract.

But other than that, I agree that it sounds great.

GO for it! Maybe you can have someone stay with you on the days he's there, just in case.

This would be my advice. Granted, I am very cynical about landlords because I had the landlord from hell in my last place. But the one thing I took from that situation was to get everything that could conceivably be an issue worked out in the lease before signing. My former landlord was pretty vague in parts of our lease and later totally exploited that to do all kinds of stuff we weren't okay with.

It really does sound like an awesome situation, and I think you probably don't have anything to worry about. But it would be ideal if he could make clear on the lease exactly how often he will be there, just in case.

This.

Yeah, get everything you feel is a necessary part of the deal in the lease.

Yeah, get it written into the lease that he can stay there for x days/nights per year.

Our landlord organised that he could stay in this shed out the back of our house, but the people who signed the lease then didn't get him to write in how much he could stay, and earlier this year he was here for about a month (without warning or letting us know how long he'd be here for - he doesn't communicate with us at all because he's a weirdo). He's mildly creepy and scares one of my flatmates, but since he can't come inside I didn't care too much, and eventually he just left. But yeah, in future I'd want to avoid this.

If you're comfortable with the situation, then I say go for it. But like everyone else has already advised, I'd ask him to write on the lease how many days he's going to stay in the apartment. I don't trust landlords to not exploit open-ended/vague leases.

This sounds great! But I would definitely clarify the amount of time he would be spending there and get it in writing. Two of my friends had a situation like this and it worked out well because they had a gorgeous place at a bargain price.

I moved into a new place a month ago and the landlords live in a cottage in the back for part of the year. I think they forgot to mention that they would be sharing the kitchen with me and they're in the house ALL THE TIME. And I think all the plagues have descended and I might be carried off by mice or fleas in the middle of the night. So that clean thing you mentioned, that's a selling point in my book!

I second everyone's suggestion to put a maximum number of nights he can stay there into the lease. And keep track! On paper!

Also, I would add a piece to the lease that says he can't leave anything of value in his room when he's not staying there, so that he can't accuse you of stealing stuff.

If he says no to those things, I wouldn't do it.