Renting Woes

[adele 0]

Sorry, I know this may not be the right place for me to pour my woes.

but i am really very troubled. I hope home owners who rent out their rooms can share their experience.

i rented out a common room to 3 students who studying for their degree here...one of them is my cousin

they are from indonesia.

This is my first time renting out a room. furthermore i just moved in July after renovation. and they moved in in august.

we really have a hard time to adapt at first, so far we manage to pull through and try to convince ourself as the extra income really tempting.

but i really getting troubled everyday. after a hard day of work, you just want to return home and relax. but i dont, i feel tensed.

once i enter the house, there is a smell and the smell come from their room. they got so much lugguages, bags, clothes. the smell is like those clothes smell dat never sun properly.

is really fustrating.I hint them before but they dun seem to understand. if i keep telling them off....it look bad on me, like i am restricting them a lot.

and they are home by 5 and sleep at 11pm, you can imagine the electricity they use. Weekend they stay at home and play their DS. sigh.

now i cant even go holiday in peace. when i went overseas, my mind will keep thinking whether they will abuse and use a lot of electricity, whether they got bring friends over. I think the fact is our house is new and have to shared with outsiders make me more unbalanced. worse, they are boys, they are being pamper at home, they dun noe how to do housechores like dat. they dun bother clean their room, every weekend i have vaccum their room for them. I can see residues of coffee powder, milo at my solid surface.

can anyone share their experience with me ? maybe i shouldnt rent my house at all.

how should i tell them in a nice way if i were to terminate the rent ?

sorry for the long post....i am really fustrated

[ahjane 2]

give them house rules. For example can only on fan or aircon after 8pm. They can stay in aircon shopping mall if they want. Daytime cannot on aircon even for weekend. Cannot on tv or play games whole day cos to much electricity consume. Tell them to clean up their own room-pass them the vacumn and mop pail.

Of cos, u earn their money, u should clean a bit lah..like the kitchen...dun expect them to clean ur toilets right...but they susposed to clean their room mah....

Ask them to sun their clothes over the weekend, of cos u got to allow them to use the hanging poles lah...if not, how u expect them to wash and sun.

If u dun allow them to sun their clothes...they can only air dry in the room..with a fan constantly blowing...

for win win situation, work out laundry schedule if u wan to use it during weekend, they can use it during weekday since they are back at 5pm..plenty of time for washing.

if they wash their clothes often, u might think they consume water. if u dun let them use washing machine...then they anyhow handwash...end up not clean, smell not nice....lose lose situation leh. 3 boys in a room, where got space for hanging their clothes...not healthy for them, if fall sick...spread to everyone...

give and take lah..your cousin somemore....hygiene and cleaniess is important.

[junxian 0]

this is why I just cant let my self rent out my empty common rooms.

[mwerkz 0]

this is why I just cant let my self rent out my empty common rooms.

ya. indeed. i cannot img pple i rent to damaging my nicely renovated hm. though de money might sound good. but than again, how much u spent renovating ur hm oredi?

[adele 0]

Ahjane, thanks for the reply.

Yah, I think I will have to work out a timetable.

----------------------------------

If can choose, of course i dun wish to let out my rooms and stay with strangers, if not for my cousin coming to stay, i wont rent out my room at all.

[zirhk3355 1]

Is there a proper tenancy agreement being signed? If so then there must be a breach of agreement before you pre-terminate the lease. However, if you are using a standard agreement (either from agencies or download from CASE website), then it should have a clause that says the tenant are to upkeep the premises in a tenantable status. What do we mean by tenantable status, well, its always up to the Landlord to define.

It is very easy for the landlords to terminate a lease because they always have the upperhand, but of course must 'law-by-law' lor...

But then again, its your cousin, do you want to use your legal powers as the landlord to pursue this case? I guess not. So adding on to what ahjane has suggested in term of house rules, you might also want to consider employ a day maid and get them to share the costs. The maid can clean up everyone's room including theirs, wash/iron everyone's clothes and other house chores. It costs like $40-$60 per week, so shared by everyone I don't think its alot, right?

In terms of utilities, what was agreed when they rented your flat? A usual practice is that the utilities bill will be equally divided by the number of people staying in the house; eg your case with 3 students, your hubby and yourself, then it will be divided into 5 parts and you pay 2 parts.

I had been renting my common room for more than one year already, maybe I am lucky, but never had problems with the tenant. In fact my wife said the tenant takes care of the house better than me! I have a day maid that comes weekly, while for utilities, my condition is that I will pay the first $250 then anything above that will be shared equally by headcount.

Edited November 19, 2008 by zirhk3355

[CutePinkElephant 0]

if for me i never rent out to any family members.

1.cant rent in high price

2.once u not let them stay, ur relationship also effected

3.they will know all ur lifestyle.from wake up, what u eat,what ur bad habbit,how u arguing with hubby....all will become gossip in ur big family ....... but if u rent for outsider they dont care........

in the first if u dont want to rent out ur room,but paiseh to tell them , u just ask them to stay at your house till they get a room for rent....

but now...how to tell them ler? heheheh maybe u can tell them that both of u will go for long biz trip so not convenience to leave the house to them lor.....

[Yang Guo 7]

hmm..

my opinion is that renting to 3 guys is indeed a disaster. My mum rented a room to 3 guys also(age 35+). Think we have the similar problem.

If renting out to a couple or 1 person is still okay right? generally couple or 1 person will be very clean cos the whole room is theirs.

If 3 person, 1 person see the other person so lazy, he also becomes lazy and dont bother abt cleaning the coffee powder etc on the floor

[clockwork 0]

I've been renting out my common rm to a friend of ours for more than 2 yrs now.

Becoz at that time he had to vacate his current place and had no place to stay.

We live in a 3 rm unit and my son still sleeps with me , and we thought why not , no harm mah.

Although I did place some house rules , at times my tenant/friend do bend the rules.

Like I told him you can bring your GF home ONLY when we're in the house , but as time goes by , she starts visiting when we're out at work , stayed till the wee hrs in the morning and even sleep over.

His GF was rather nice lah at 1st , very sweet gal, but I notice recently , she's getting too comfortable. When she comes over now , she doesn't even bother to say hi to me , just walk in and mind her own business, like we're transperant !

The thing is , we always have friends over our place , and I always welcome them.We share the same friends . We'll cook and have lunch / dinner gatherings. And they are free to eat whatever I have in my house. But it comes to a point that they are so comfortabe that they'll just open my fridge / cabinet and cook without even asking for my permission. I don't mind if they eat my food & cook, but at least ask for permission ahhh..not so difficult wat.

I charge only $300/mth which includes,

eletricity & water use

Internet use ( we have 3 laptops )

We do his laundry

Now we got a maid , so maid does everything lor...He considered very lucky + we're shifting to 4 rm soon.

I've always wanted to confront my tenant / friend but my husband always say why kick a fuss. We can afford the food and bills , just let them be. My hubby very soft-hearted one. He doesn't wanna strain the friendship .Very frustrating.

Now whenever I buy food , I have no choice but to keep in my room, coz they might eat it and not leave anything for me...

My hubby just shakes his head and says I'm stingy....( am i ? ) sigh...

Edited January 28, 2009 by clockwork

[mango_wati 0]

I've been renting out my common rm to a friend of ours for more than 2 yrs now.

Becoz at that time he had to vacate his current place and had no place to stay.

We live in a 3 rm unit and my son still sleeps with me , and we thought why not , no harm mah.

Although I did place some house rules , at times my tenant/friend do bend the rules.

Like I told him you can bring your GF home ONLY when we're in the house , but as time goes by , she starts visiting when we're out at work , stayed till the wee hrs in the morning and even sleep over.

His GF was rather nice lah at 1st , very sweet gal, but I notice recently , she's getting too comfortable. When she comes over now , she doesn't even bother to say hi to me , just walk in and mind her own business, like we're transperant !

The thing is , we always have friends over our place , and I always welcome them.We share the same friends . We'll cook and have lunch / dinner gatherings. And they are free to eat whatever I have in my house. But it comes to a point that they are so comfortabe that they'll just open my fridge / cabinet and cook without even asking for my permission. I don't mind if they eat my food & cook, but at least ask for permission ahhh..not so difficult wat.

I charge only $300/mth which includes,

eletricity & water use

Internet use ( we have 3 laptops )

We do his laundry

Now we got a maid , so maid does everything lor...He considered very lucky + we're shifting to 4 rm soon.

I've always wanted to confront my tenant / friend but my husband always say why kick a fuss. We can afford the food and bills , just let them be. My hubby very soft-hearted one. He doesn't wanna strain the friendship .Very frustrating.

Now whenever I buy food , I have no choice but to keep in my room, coz they might eat it and not leave anything for me...

My hubby just shakes his head and says I'm stingy....( am i ? ) sigh...

of course you are not!!!!!!!!!!! its your food, your money!!!!!!!!! i also use to rent 1 of my common room to a divorcee with 3 kids and a maid. she's my mum's friend and i charge her $400 including utilities bill. For usage of 5 people, i tink the rent is very cheap rite?????

Initially the maid was very hardworking, will clean the house and cook nice food for us to eat...but because she;s not my maid mah..so not nice ask her to do things for us...but the ma'am always insist that the maid helps me to look after the house and do my chores for me...but i tell the maid no need to do my chores...i don't want people to think that i take advantage of the situation...

so the maid become big headed....because i also don't care about things that she do...in my house will talk on the handphone with her friend on loudspeaker so loud,(the whole house can hear their topics)...will eat foods that i buy( initially i don;t mind but as times goes by, gets a bit irritating...until i stop buying things to keep at home...)...the common toilet that my tenant family use never wash at all!!!!!!!!!! the whole toilet's flooring turns yellowish and the WC also turns yellow/brownish!!!! One day i so angry told the maid to clean the toilet up properly until clean!!!!!!!!!!! when she do cookings also never put my laundry out...in the end my laundry will have stale smells!!!!!!

i told her off on a few occassions and she never speak to me anymore... even when my tenant family move out, the maid didn't even speak to me...so what..she don't have any rights in the 1st place!!!!!

[adele 0]

I've been renting out my common rm to a friend of ours for more than 2 yrs now.

Becoz at that time he had to vacate his current place and had no place to stay.

We live in a 3 rm unit and my son still sleeps with me , and we thought why not , no harm mah.

Although I did place some house rules , at times my tenant/friend do bend the rules.

Like I told him you can bring your GF home ONLY when we're in the house , but as time goes by , she starts visiting when we're out at work , stayed till the wee hrs in the morning and even sleep over.

His GF was rather nice lah at 1st , very sweet gal, but I notice recently , she's getting too comfortable. When she comes over now , she doesn't even bother to say hi to me , just walk in and mind her own business, like we're transperant !

The thing is , we always have friends over our place , and I always welcome them.We share the same friends . We'll cook and have lunch / dinner gatherings. And they are free to eat whatever I have in my house. But it comes to a point that they are so comfortabe that they'll just open my fridge / cabinet and cook without even asking for my permission. I don't mind if they eat my food & cook, but at least ask for permission ahhh..not so difficult wat.

I charge only $300/mth which includes,

eletricity & water use

Internet use ( we have 3 laptops )

We do his laundry

Now we got a maid , so maid does everything lor...He considered very lucky + we're shifting to 4 rm soon.

I've always wanted to confront my tenant / friend but my husband always say why kick a fuss. We can afford the food and bills , just let them be. My hubby very soft-hearted one. He doesn't wanna strain the friendship .Very frustrating.

Now whenever I buy food , I have no choice but to keep in my room, coz they might eat it and not leave anything for me...

My hubby just shakes his head and says I'm stingy....( am i ? ) sigh...

Hi Clockwork,

I understand how you feel. I was in the same situation too. when i complain to my mum, she also say i stingy to my cousin. Is not a matter of stingy. is just that you work so hard for a salary and buy food that you like to eat and drinks, and ppl just take and eat it. Imagine i buy 6 can of soft drinks for my own consumption and my cousin can finish 2 can in one day. though 6 can of drinks dun cost much, but accumulate can be big amount.

Houserules

I did give them houserules and i did have a conference with them. Things did improve a while but after a while, they tend to forget . the dustbin with their finished packet food is not throw away, my tumble not top up.

I also find that they are like simply waiting for each other, one pretend not to see, wait for the next one to do it. like wait here and there, in the end, is me who cleared it.

Yes, i agree that i do earn rent but they should not treat my house like hotel.

is really a "mao dun" position

[asianms 0]

wah, I think you guys are very generous. You are not collecting a lot of rent $, yet must feed your tenant & look after his/her well-being. I think it is too much. Should seriously consider, since it is not a big sum of $, can you do without the $, and enjoy more privacy & peace of mind.

I don't think there is very much left from the rental $ afer you deduct their utilities usage, food bill, and clean-up services. I consider the stress and inconvenience a very high price to pay. Now that the economy is down, I'm sure there are more properties available for rent. Perhaps its time to suggest they move on.

When I was flat-hunting, I came across 1 household where the owner rented his common corridor room to a girl. He laid down strict rules that she is not to bring any kind of friends back. Even installed a CCTV camera along the common corridor to ensure his rule is strictly adhered to.

[pinkpetter 0]

WAH Clockwork and Adele... I really think you guys are very kind...

I thought that in the event, my siblings move out and we have spare rooms, my parents can rent them out to students as they are building the 4th University near Simei... and I thought that charging $600-$700 for fully furnished rooms is reasonable.. but in your cases, you charge so little and they are still using your things... mm I think it's really time to either increase rent or... change tenants...

[clockwork 0]

Haiyah...

I just found out my FAV Marks & Spencer Chocolate Chip Cookies are missing. I asked my maid who ate it , I thought my son ate it , my maid said it was my friend / tenant...

Thing is , I brought 2 pack of the choco chip cookies , 5 days ago , I eat 1 -3 pieces a day. I purposely keep in plastic bag and tuck it below my fridge. 1 pack was still unopen and the other pack has 3 cookies left....but he eat everything just now , before I got back from work !!

If there's a few piece left I don't mind , but a whole pack ??

Plus he ate our dinner my maid cooked for us too....SIGH....

My hubby also brought another set of cookies from M&S ...and offered it to him the other day , so I thought he understood that set was meant to be shared and mine was mine alone.

I only eat that certain cookies , it's my FAV , and M&S so far , I stay in Tampines , so sian to travel to Town just to buy cookies....aarrgghhhhhhh