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They might just be a night owl or a person who started earlier and it took them forever to figure it out and accomplish the task. One of my kids is a night owl, she does crap like that all the time and is distressed by us insisting on doing projects at the "ungodly hour" of 9 am.
The OP and the owner sound like they are on different body clocks, and it is causing issues.
It's rude and inconsiderate to make noise by putting something up that can go up at some other time.
I had a molar pulled one time and couldn't eat solid food so I would make smoothies and I didn't even like to run the blender after 9 pm in case the person in the other apartment would hear it.
Some people have no shame, when they should be ashamed.
OP, sounds like you were expecting this room rental to be the same as apartment living.
It's her home, she sounds like a lovely lady with lots of friends, family, activities and pets. If it's not a good fit for you, go ahead and look for another place and keep this experience in mind when asking questions.
She is not going to fight you on leaving because she doesn't want turned in to any authorities. In fact, you can say you need to move to a place where you can get receipts for your rent.
When we lived in CA, we knew dozens of nice families that rented out rooms (owners and renters) on a cash basis to survive.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Sware2cod you're right, this rental situation is not as bad as roommates stealing food, drug and smoking issues but I forgot to mention that parking is a problem sometimes, especially when the homeowner rents out a third room to an occasional roomer or when she has visitors. She's allowed to park on the street because of her parking permit but prefers the driveway and us roomers can't apply for one, so we have to use the small driveway too. Since the homeowner likes to stay out late, she tends to block one of us in and if she has another person staying overnight, they block my full time roommate and my car. This has caused issues where we have to get in each others' business and ask when we're coming and going to coordinate the parking, one day the homeowner said the third roomer was coming at midnight and asked me to hand over my keys so I could go to bed on time and she could swap the cars' positions to allow me to leave early in the morning. That was considerate except that the third roomer was a no show that night and in the morning I had to knock on the homeowner's bedroom door and wake her up to get my keys back...pretty awkward seeing as she was in her pajamas and groggy waking up "early" at 7:30am.
Studying at school is a definite option but since the cafeteria is closed after serving lunch, I need to go elsewhere for dinner. I can go back to the house and bring my dinner to school, though the added inconvenience of the extra commuting and increased gas expenses are wearing on me. I wish I could do homework in peace "at home".
If I can't salvage the current situation to my satisfaction, can you folks offer suggestions on what to ask / how to phrase questions to homeowners to ensure the living standards will measure up to my expectations for peace and quiet without being too intrusive into their private lives?
First hing is I would not hand her any money without a receipt. Stand firm on this.
Secondly it sounds as if she was accommodating when you asked her to not invite friends over without warning. Tell her the same for putting up shelves. The rest is stuff is really not bad.
I forgot to mention something about the payment. I paid her 1 month in advance in cash when reserving the room in the summer and paid the following month by check. It was when I gave her the check that she suddenly mentioned that our (verbal) agreement was for $x per week, not $y per month as I had thought I negotiated initially. She also raised the rent by 20% more than the online ad, claiming that the ad I found was old (there was no posting date on the site I found it on so I can't be sure). About rent payment receipts. She originally wrote out a receipt for what I thought was the first month's rent (I paid cash) and then I paid by check, so I automatically got a receipt by writing a note about the check amount being for rent with my bank scanning it. The problem is that the next rent payment is due soon and she wants me to pay her each week without issuing me a receipt. I did mention that I could be open to paying cash as long as she issued a receipt but she asked if I was sure I wanted her to create a (handwritten) receipt,as if it was silly to do so on a weekly basis. I won't have any proof of living there (no bills in my name at this address) so how can I get renter's insurance?
I forgot to mention something about the payment. I paid her 1 month in advance in cash when reserving the room in the summer and paid the following month by check. It was when I gave her the check that she suddenly mentioned that our (verbal) agreement was for $x per week, not $y per month as I had thought I negotiated initially. She also raised the rent by 20% more than the online ad, claiming that the ad I found was old (there was no posting date on the site I found it on so I can't be sure). About rent payment receipts. She originally wrote out a receipt for what I thought was the first month's rent (I paid cash) and then I paid by check, so I automatically got a receipt by writing a note about the check amount being for rent with my bank scanning it. The problem is that the next rent payment is due soon and she wants me to pay her each week without issuing me a receipt. I did mention that I could be open to paying cash as long as she issued a receipt but she asked if I was sure I wanted her to create a (handwritten) receipt,as if it was silly to do so on a weekly basis. I won't have any proof of living there (no bills in my name at this address) so how can I get renter's insurance?
Just insist on a receipt when paying ANY cash whether it is weekly or not and don't back down, period. This is a business contract after all, not a free for all honor system. You must protect yourself and don't back down. What is she going to do? Evict you? She is already doing shady things to try and dodge the laws so I doubt she is going to attempt to go through the courts to try and evict you. She knows better than that so you DO have power here and rightfully and justifiably so.
So, when you go to pay her the cash, also have a written receipt made up for her to sign. If she forbids then you just tell her that you can not and will not pay her cash for the rent unless you get a signed receipt OR she allows you to pay via check.
Let's be honest, the owner made it pretty clear she isn't claiming the rental income, like most people who rent rooms out of their own house. I'm guessing the OP may not be willing to pay higher rent to offset the taxes the owner will pay if she starts claiming it because the tenant insists on a receipt.
Not condoning it, but if the OP wants receipts, leases, rules, insurance, she needs to rent from a legal apartment or professional landlord.
Putting shelves up at 1:15 am is what a crazy person does.
Agreed. This woman has no consideration for your work/sleep schedule. If she wanted to keep you as a tenant, she would be following some basic *consideration for other people* guidelines...
Unless you were getting cheap, cheap rent, and found the saving "worth it" by trading off a lack of sleep, I would plan to move on..
there are better roommate situations - if you're not in a "time crunch" it will be easier to find them, perhaps with another older adult student from your school.
I've lived in houses or condos build in the 70's with no sound insulation between the floors - still my roommate would not cause sleep disturbances, other than the occasional tame Friday night gathering with a few of her other classmates.
She (the roommate) was in her mid-20's.
So, there's some better living spaces out there, I would imagine you have access to a community board or roommate board at your college? that will help you as many of the places will not be advertised online...
One last thing - I tend to avoid housing situation where the owner of the house lives there, esp. if this is the first time they decide to rent out rooms. From my experience, often times these owners don't quite understand what is entailed in "renting out a room" and they think it's an easy way to make some extra cash - not quite understanding that there are rules/laws/guidelines to being a landlord.
If these people can't pay their mortgage on their own, it is quite possible they may have emotional problems (or drug issues, or gambling debts?) that you, as the renter, don't need to get involved with...I mean, 'ya have enough on your plate already ; ) If it's not a peaceful home, why live there?
Just my opinion...
In my experience, many of them don't understand that when you allow tenants into your home, it's gonna be WORK: you have to communicate with them clearly, and it is going to be an inconvenience sometimes.
There are *probably* some normal people who rent out rooms, but I have never found them in an owner-occupied "room for rent" scenario... those situations really bring out the crazies. Tread carefully...
Good luck, and good on you for going back to school and "starting again"
sunburned_in_seattle
Last edited by sunburned_in_seattle; 10-22-2016 at 01:31 PM..
addendum: I wouldn't give her a month notice, I would give her a week notice (when you have already found a place, signed a new lease/roommate agreement, and given your new landlord a security deposit and first months rent).
In some states (California?) you only have to legally give notice based on how often you pay rent.
E.g. if you pay monthly, then you are obligated to give one month notice.
But you pay weekly, then you (and the landlord - it goes both ways) are only obligated to give one-week notice.
When I first read your post, I thought the Landlord was purposely having your pay weekly so as to only be obligated to give you a one-week notice when she wants you out.
disclaimer: not saying that she wants you out, she probably needs the money. But I would in no way hint that you are unhappy and thinking of abandoning ship. She may get pissed and give you notice early, at a time that is inconvenient for you to find a new place. (like finals week).
Your tenancy is under a "verbal contract". The terms of that contract apparently changed from a "monthly" rental period to a "weekly" (in cash only, undocumented) time frame.
You have a week-to-week obligation that both of you apparently agreed to as a modification of the original terms. So you do not owe your landlord a "30 day" notice, but only a "one week" notice.
Given the circumstances you describe, it sounds like you're incompatible. While I could ask if you believe that you'll find a more compatible set of living conditions at another place ... re noise, odd hours, activities of others, etc. ... that's for you to discover in your college years.
But it does appear that moving on will be your best near term choice. Find another place and move ASAP. With only a one week notice needed, you've got more flexibility of choices than might otherwise appear to be the case.
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agreed.
