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So I've been living in this awesome 2br apartment for almost a year now with a friend from college. we don't talk much so that's kind of weird, she's changed a bit since college, but other than that it's a great living situation and i don't have any major complaints; we get along fine and respect each other's property.
Ever since the day we moved in, she's been on the fence about moving back to where her family is, and as a result, we signed two 6-month leases instead of a year-long lease. This was fine with me and my landlord, but it gets annoying because she literally waits until the last second to decide what she wants. the first time the 6-month lease was almost up, i asked the landlord for a 6month and he printed one for just me, and when i told her i was about to sign, she emailed the landlord to tell him that she changed her mind and wanted to stay, so he printed out a new lease with both of us on it. again, fine with me because it's cheaper (i can afford to rent the whole place out by myself).
i am going to be out of the country when our next lease expires, so i already renewed a 1 yr lease with him, and paid rent for the next 3 months since i'll be traveling. again, i checked with her before i did all of this and she said she was pretty sure she was moving. I did tell the landlord if she changed her mind i'd be fine with it. but i am the only one on the lease right now. he wanted to raise the rent, with two different amounts depending on if it was just me or if it was me + a roommate, and since it was just me it's being raised less.
now that i am about to leave for my trip, i asked her when she was planning on moving out and what she's doing with her stuff (i didn't want to be left moving her furniture, as she'd be moving cross country back with her parents so most of the stuff she has here she'll no longer need). i sent her an email asking about this almost a week ago and i got no response. even though we live in the same house, and i know she saw the email, she has been avoiding me about it. finally tonight we were in the same room for more than 1 minute and i asked her if she was moving out when i am out of town and she said, "no, i'll be here...i'm still trying to figure things out but i signed up to do some stuff here locally and while you were away a few weeks ago a friend visited and i had such a good time here that i want to give it another chance. i'll ask the landlord about another lease" and then she ran into her bedroom and shut the door. ugh. again, it saves me money so it isn't the biggest deal, but i am starting to want my own space and because she is kind of weird i was looking forward to her moving out and not having to deal with these quirks.
But then there's something else that happened between when i signed the lease, and now. A few weeks ago when i was on a trip (like a week after the lease was signed) i talked to my long-distance boyfriend and he had decided that he wants to move to my city in the next year! in an ideal world, he'd move in with me since i have an awesome place already. If it were just him and i, (no roommate), I am sure my landlord would be fine with him moving in and i'd tell him to raise the rent to the level he initially proposed for two people. BUT my boyfriend has a dog. an old friendly lazy dog who sleeps all day, but my landlord has a strict no dog policy because he feels that dogs are more destructive than cats. What my boyfriend has done previously is offer a larger security deposit, so our plan was to ask the landlord if he can move in with a rent increase and a larger security deposit for the dog. if he says yes, great! if he says no, well, my boyfriend will find somewhere else to live and once my 1 year is up i'd move in with him somewhere else. this was when we still thought my roommate was going to move out.
Now that she wants to stay, but for god knows how long, i don't know what to do or say. i am leaving for a month in a few days and our current lease expires two days after i get back. I haven't told my landlord about the boyfriend thing because it isn't urgent and i am not even sure when he'd move out here yet, or if he'd move in with me. it could be in 3 months, could be 5 or 6. As a landlord, if you have a tenant with a lease and the roommate who said she was moving out now wants to sign a lease, what would you do? what if the roommate only wanted a 6 month lease, but the other tenant has a 1 year lease? Do i have any right to ask him not to let her sign a lease since I already signed one (it's a ***** move, i know)? Does he have to run it across me before he writes her a lease, since i already signed one (though we had a email correspondence where i said it was okay if she changed her mind and wanted to stay)? Could he ask to raise the price since she wants to stay now?
As for the boyfriend thing, would you say yes or no to that situation given the dog but also extra $$. At first I wasn't going to say anything to him until we knew for sure when my bf was going to move out here, but now I'm wondering if I should say something now?
I must be bored. I actually read your entire post LOL.
If I was your landlord, and you came to me and told me you didn't want me to change the lease, that you want to kick out the roommate, I'd be okay with that. Unless your LL is renting out the rooms separately, he has to get both of you to sign any new lease with both of you on it. So, you can just refuse to sign a new lease, saying you want to leave it as-is, and just give the roommate notice to move out. Then, you'd need to give her written notice to move out.
As far as the boyfriend and the dog, if I had a firm no pets policy, I'd say no to the dog, and you couldn't convince me to take it no matter how much money you offered me. Then, I'd want to go through normal application procedures with the BF - check income, credit, criminal, references, etc., before I allowed him on the lease.
If you already have a signed lease and it doesn't have her on it, then you can decide that that old lease stays in place WITHOUT HER because the document is already signed. Tell her she has to move out because you already signed the lease on your own and she's not on it. YOU are the one that decides, not her.
Don't say ONE WORD about the boyfriend's dog. It's highly likely that the landlord WON'T allow the dog to move in, even when your boyfriend offers higher security deposit.
Knowing I don't have to sign a new lease and that I'm protected is very reassuring
The previous tenant had a cat, even though LL said no to cats she was able to talk him into one. He said he was going to be more firm on dogs though. I communicate very well with LL and he already told me that I am a trustworthy tenant. I feel like I have to mention the dog if I mention the BF because he's not getting rid of his fur baby and I don't want the LL to think I blind sided him by asking about the dog later (plus, I remember telling LL my bf has a dog so it's possible that he'll remember anyway).
I'm thinking about mentioning this hypothetical situation to him before my roommate contacts him about a new lease, just so that I have information for planning purposes. and if he says yes, i have a valid reason to not sign the lease that's nicer than "I don't want to live with you anymore." If he says no, I'll know that eventually I'll have to move out to live with my bf, and I might be more inclined to sign a new lease so that I can save $$.
she's been on the fence about moving back to where her family is
she changed her mind and wanted to stay
i already renewed a 1 yr lease with him
she said she was pretty sure she was moving
if she changed her mind i'd be fine with it
she said, "no, i'll be here...i'm still trying to figure things out but i signed up to do some stuff here locally and while you were away a few weeks ago a friend visited and i had such a good time here that i want to give it another chance
i am starting to want my own space
This isn't an issue for your landlord; it's with you letting this other person dictate your life for you by hemming & hawing about living there.
Tell the roommate you want her out by the time you get back and tell the landlord you do not want her on the lease.
Once she's out you can decide about another person moving in.
Wow, you are trying to make decisions around other people. Maybe your roommate with her secret life is moving or not. Maybe this long distance relationship will germinate. Maybe the long distance BF will want to live with you. Maybe your LL can be convinced that the dog policy can be waived.
Grow up. Decide to own your world. If you want the place and have a signed lease tell spooky roomie you couldn't deal with the indecisiveness any longer and she's out. Tell her she needs to move her stuff.
Grow up. If/when BF decides to move to the area, let him find his own place and if you like him sharing a city with you after about 6 months then explore options.
I am not going to be too harsh on the OP, I assume she is pretty close to college age and I well know how challenging it can be to deal with roommates, boyfriends, career issues etc...
What I will say, as a former landlord, is that the headaches that come from letting your tenants' "personal lives" interfere with BUSINESS DECISIONS that include things like how much the utilities cost for renting to a single vs a couple (or even two singles that never entertain because they don't really a shared social life...) or how much the potential cleaning costs from even the sweetest pet can eat away at the ability to re-rent the place without serious cleaning / repairs (heck my own sweet old lab had some issues with "holding it all day" when she got old and that meant some stains in my own house, and I live with that but I would not dare ask a new tenant to move before I replaced the flooring...).
What I am saying is: Despite this place being a great apartment for you so far, you probably need to be honest with your landlord and start thinking about a place that better matche the "next phase" of your life, whatever that may include.
Don't say ONE WORD about the boyfriend's dog. It's highly likely that the landlord WON'T allow the dog to move in, even when your boyfriend offers higher security deposit.
Let me clarify. I mean don't say anything about the boyfriend and his dog moving in AT THIS POINT since this is an unknown. If and when he decides to move, then you check with your landlord about the dog at that point in time. There is no need to complicate the matter right now with your current roommate. I didn't mean to say you should sneak the dog in because you don't want to do that.
sware2cod, thanks for the clarification! I definitely wouldn't sneak the dog in. I heard from mutual friends that my roommate actually had one of her friends who has a dog over in the house WITH THE DOG when I was gone, and I was livid because I am a stickler for rules.
Everyone else, I know this isn't my LL's issue, hence why I am trying to figure out a plan of action instead of going to him right away with these personal issues of a flaky roommate who may ask him to modify the lease and a boyfriend who i want to move in with eventually. I totally understand that I might need to move for my relationship, and I am 100% okay with that, but if there's a possibility that we can stay here I don't think it's unreasonable to ask. I know it's business and if he says no the subject is closed. It's not like I am trying to sneak someone into the apartment, I am being very forthcoming because I respect that this is his property and his decision ultimately.
But you're all right, if her indecisiveness and lack of communication is bothering me, I should just refuse to sign the lease point blank. I don't like the idea of screwing someone over (especially because we get along fine and have a lot of mutual friends) but at the same time, if she communicated with me better I wouldn't even have to be thinking about this.
sware2cod, thanks for the clarification! I definitely wouldn't sneak the dog in. I heard from mutual friends that my roommate actually had one of her friends who has a dog over in the house WITH THE DOG when I was gone, and I was livid because I am a stickler for rules.
Everyone else, I know this isn't my LL's issue, hence why I am trying to figure out a plan of action instead of going to him right away with these personal issues of a flaky roommate who may ask him to modify the lease and a boyfriend who i want to move in with eventually. I totally understand that I might need to move for my relationship, and I am 100% okay with that, but if there's a possibility that we can stay here I don't think it's unreasonable to ask. I know it's business and if he says no the subject is closed. It's not like I am trying to sneak someone into the apartment, I am being very forthcoming because I respect that this is his property and his decision ultimately.
But you're all right, if her indecisiveness and lack of communication is bothering me, I should just refuse to sign the lease point blank. I don't like the idea of screwing someone over (especially because we get along fine and have a lot of mutual friends) but at the same time, if she communicated with me better I wouldn't even have to be thinking about this.
You wouldn't be screwing her over, in my opinion. If she gets mad, she did it to herself. She's been putting you through the wringer with all of her indecisiveness. She'll probably say you're screwing her over - but you're not. Ending a roommate situation is just business, and you can do it in a nice way by saying you're ready to live with your boyfriend, and you made plans to do that after the last time she said she wasn't staying.
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If he says no, I'll know that eventually I'll have to move out to live with my bf, and I might be more inclined to sign a new lease so that I can save $$.
