Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with roommate and rental

Lowering the rent for a roommate, but then deciding it wasn't a good idea.

wuMeFi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:45:24 -0800

My roommate asked for me to lower his rent. I said OK. But now I'm not so sure I should have. What should I do? My friend and I are sharing a 1-br apartment in San Diego. He is living in the bedroom, I am living in the living room. The rent division has been 60 / 40, bedroom / living room (it used to be like 65/35, but he felt that was unreasonable, so after the first year I changed it to 60/40. I occupied the apartment first and I do the bills. Our current lease ends in November).

Recently his whole department at work got a pay cut of 8%. He asked me whether I could reduce his rent by 8%. I felt bad for him, and my first thoughts were that in difficult times, friends help each other. So I said yes, and that he'd see the adjustment in next month's bill. I asked him whether his work would undo the pay cut in the future, and he said that it wouldn't, as a cut happened before in the past and was not undone.

So that was a few days ago. But now that I've thought about it, I'm not sure I should've been so quick to say yes. I'm living in the living room, and I'd be paying almost as much as he is, since the rent division would be 52/48. I suppose in an absolute sense, the additional amount I'd be paying per month is not A LOT, but it's not insignificant in the long run. I basically just gave myself ~8% rent increase. It's kind of a lot for me to take on suddenly.

I do want to help him out since we are friends. What is the best way I can do that, while getting myself out of this situation I got myself into? I was thinking of talking to him and maybe saying that "8% is a lot for me to take on, on second thought.. how about 4%?" or something (would it be too late to do that?).

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

roommate's leaving. any chance of negotiationg a way to keep the place myself but with a lower rent for single occupancy?

bartleby — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:56:44 -0800

Longtime roommate is moving out, and I'm not so hot on getting a new one. Any tips on the possibility of negotiating a rent decrease based on single-occupancy vs. double? So I've had the same roommate for many years. But she's moving out to live with her boyfriend (not a temporary thing).

We had each other pretty well "trained", and so I'm not that enthusiastic about getting another roommate.

But I'm also not that enthusiastic about doubling my rent either. As much as I really like our current place, it's a bit too pricey to carry all by myself for more than a few months while I decide what to do.

So I'm thinking, if anyone has ever negotiated with a landlord (amicably, he's a nice fellow ans has treated us right) and had any success on a "there were two people in the unit paying X dollars a month, now that there's only one tenant, any chance of knocking a couple hundred dollars off the rent?" type deal, could you give me any hints?

I'd like to stay put, but not at the current price. A couple hundred dollars a month either way is the difference between keeping the place or moving elsewhere that's cheaper but not so nice.

I'm in San Francisco, which has a notoriously tight (read: insane) rental market, but I figure it couldn't hurt to ask. But I also figure it couldn't help to get any pointers that the hive mind might be able to give me first.

lil' help?

Submitting 30-Day-Notice on Apartment

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:14:26 -0800

I am trying to end my tenancy in a month-to-month lease in Los Angeles, but the landlord says that submitting a 30-day-notice won't absolve me of any future responsibility if my roommate stays in the apartment. Please hope me! I would like to get out of my current lease by giving my landlord a written thirty days notice, which is what's required by law in California. However, my roommate would like to stay in the apartment so the management company is telling me that the notice would essentially be meaningless unless he is leaving as well.

I spoke with my roommate and he doesn't think he'll be able (due to laziness or whatever) to find a new roommate for January 1st, so I am trying to protect myself by having myself removed from the lease, which is what I understood the law to mean. I am already paying rent on two apartments (the current one and the new one) so I don't want to do that again in January in the event that he doesn't find another suitable roommate.

So my question is this - is there any way to force a removal of myself from liability unilaterally? Is this a situation where my roommate has to "turn his key" at the same time, as they saying goes. I just want to be done with the apartment and not be responsible for the rent after December 31st. It seems crazy that I cannot just give notice and be done with it.

I called the LA housing authority people and the guy I spoke with wasn't very helpful. This is time sensitive since today is the 1st of the month and any advice or input would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has any follow-up questions, you can email me at apartmentalrentalaskme@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Advise a SF renter?

aladfar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:20:28 -0800

Advise a San Francisco renter? I've about 6 weeks left on my current lease, and just had a new roommate move in. Rather than tack him on to the remaining time, my landlord would like to scrap the previous lease and have us sign on for a year. I've a feeling my roommate would prefer that as well. I, however, don't wish to be committed that long. So, I'm thinking I'll push for a 6 month lease - the same term as my last agreement. But I suspect I'll want to move sooner than that, perhaps as early as 3 or 4 months. I've come to realize that I'd much prefer my own place, and should be able to swing it financially.

I think the best strategy would be to tack the new roomie onto the current lease and then go month to month when it expires (I believe tenants have that right here in SF). But I suspect that will generate more than a little ill will.

Any advice on how to handle the situation would be much appreciated!

Am I screwed?

sunshinesky — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:04:21 -0800

yet another Roommatefilter: Subletter informed us yesterday that she would not be staying for October. Problem- she had not planned on paying for it. Any legal recourse?

Any way nice way let this bitch know how badly she's screwed us over?

How can we make sure she learns her lesson? This girl is 17 and it's her first place away from her parents. I'm afraid if we let her off too easy and just absorb the financial screwage, she'll think it's ok.

Suggestions?

I want to have the freedom to rent out my room!

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:16:21 -0800

I just leased a two bedroom apartment. I want to rent out the 2nd bedroom however I do not want whom ever I rent the room out to, to go on my lease. The lease I signed of course says that only I am permitted to live in the apartment (even though its a two bedroom). Do people routinely rent out their extra rooms without adding people to their lease? The lease has a clause that says each individual listed will be solely responsible for the rent (ie if one flakes out, the other is on the hook) this also obviously allows complete shared rights to the apartment and my reason for wanting to rent out the other room is because A) i wont have to do this for the entire duration of MY lease B) I may or may not end up liking the person who moves in (I of course would supply them with a fuill 30 day notice that it was not work) and C) the rent I am charging is on the lower end and I want people to have a sense of flexability in terms of how long they want to stay as an added bonus for why someone would want to rent the extra room (this would help to over come a few short comings of the apartment)
What are you thoughts on my two options
1) as the management company exactly how they would want me to do this (probably ad the person, etc etc etc) or
2) Just go ahead and rent out the 2nd room without informing the manager.

Thank you for your advice / input / personal experiences!

P.S This is all in DC. With what seems like a decent management company but for an apartment in a so so part of town.

Roommate predicament, should I pay or not?

thefinned1 — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:40:08 -0800

Roommate predicament, should I pay or not? Short summary: The former roommate in the house I was planning to move in to tried her best to be discreet about telling me that I might not be getting into a good rental situation when I asked her. I pulled out but left the live-in landlord with half my deposit as not to screw her over. Now the landlord has contacted the old roommate telling her she is liable for rent because things with me fell through. The old roommate was only trying to protect me – and now she is about to get hurt because of it. HELP! I need advice.

(Very) Long version: I arrived at my new apartment, ready to move in with my car half full of stuff ready to unload. My new landlady who I would be living with was at work, and the roommate who was moving out was home finishing up the bathroom cleaning. After checking out the empty room, I was headed downstairs to start with the first load of stuff, and I asked the roommate who was leaving if there was anything I should know about the landlady or the living situation before I took the plunge.

Her response left me baffled – she refused to go into any details until she got her full deposit back, but the look in her eyes and the fact that she felt worried that she wouldn’t get her deposit back from this lady didn’t fare well for what kind of situation I was about to get myself into. I tried to get more information out of her so I could make the right decision, but she wouldn’t budge one bit. She seemed very very nice, and sympathetic, and the more I tried to get info out of her, the more I understood that this was NOT a living situation I should be entering into. She even mentioned wishing that she had the phone number of the other roommate who recently moved out, insinuating that that person had a bad story to tell as well.

So...the former roommate and I exchanged phone numbers and agreed to talk later, so I could tell her what I was planning to do, and so that she could eventually tell me, once she got her deposit back, what was so wrong with the landlady/living situation, regardless of my decision. The landlady never knew that she and I came into contact, and we agreed to keep it that way.

After giving it much thought that afternoon, I decided that the best way for us all to get out of it – for me to not have to move in with a crazy lady, and for the former roommate to not be affected by my decision – was to make up a story that got me out of it. So, I did – I made up a life altering event, the end result of which meaning that I couldn’t move in. The landlady was sympathetic to my situation, I told her to keep the deposit money I gave her to cover the half month of rent that it could, and the former roommate wasn’t involved and should therefore get her money back – everybody wins, right?

So I thought until I received a call from the former roommate – the landlady called and told her that because things with the new roommate (me) fell through, she was still responsible for paying rent until she found someone who could take the room. Obviously this is unfair and ridiculous – the deposit money that I left should be what covers the rent until a new person comes in – but as far as the landlady knows, the former tenant and I never touched base, so she doesn’t know that we each know what she’s trying to do. The problem now being, this former tenant can’t get her deposit back from the landlady, and it’s at least partially, if not fully, my fault.

So – what should I do? Should I offer to pay the former tenant a portion or all of the deposit that she won’t be able to get back? That would be money I’m paying, literally, for NOTHING! Should I tell the tenant that I’m sorry she is in this situation, but I can’t help, and risk having her tell the landlady about our interaction, and therefore I would be held responsible for my end of the rental agreement?

I really want to do what is right for everyone, including myself…but what is right? What would you do in my situation?

I'm in California, if that helps/matters.

How do I get my money back from my ex-roommate?

thefinned1 — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 19:17:22 -0800

How do I get my money back from my ex-roommate? I just finished a one year lease with a roommate who never paid any of his share of the utilities. I asked for them every month but never got any of money out of him. Since I could afford it I paid both my share and his. The last month he didn't pay his share of the rent, and in the interest of keeping my rental history clean I had to pay it. Over the course of the year he ended up owing me $1,300.

I always wanted my money but now that I am out of the apartment I really want my money.

I have sent 2 or 3 letters to him, outlining what he owes me and when I want the money. The deadline for him to pay me was just the other day and surprise, surprise I didn't get my dough.

Initially I had planned on taking him to small claims court but though a mutual friend I found out that he (my ex-roomie) filed for bankruptcy on the last day before the law was changed.

So what are my choices?

Can I still take him to small claims court despite his bankruptcy?

Can I take him to bankruptcy court?

Should I hire a lawyer?

Cut my losses?

Are there other options?