All Forum Posts by: Henry T.

Its been a long time since Ive done a room mate thing. But I know the best way to keep discipline is with clearly spelled out rules, on paper and signed.  

If you have rules in the lease such as furniture in shared spaces is fixed. No cameras allowed in common areas except that provided by landlord, garage agreement, and so forth, then I see no problem warning this guy to fix or quit.  Since you lived there as well, of course you have the right to come and go. You can just as well get married but say you'll be back someday keeping your right to come and go, no one should care, unless you've done a lease change about your space and that you are officially exiting.

If None of these supposedly agreed upon things are in a lease, then you may have a problem, and lack the grounds to enforce lease violations. Unless you have all the other roomies willing to back you up in a courtroom.

Regulations regarding eviction rules in regards to month-month or on fixed lease, you have to investigate for your state.

If you have the grounds to evict from official lease violations I'd have a sit down with the guy. Go quietly or be forced out and have an eviction on your record.

I will try simply to say what I think is going on. If I'm wrong and misunderstand your question then just forget about what I'm saying and move on, no offense.   I think the problem is this...

Legislation and government is making it too difficult to be a landlord. Definitely true in my state. Too many rules and regulations.  Rules and restrictions, and traps that don't apply to any other kind of businesses, only the rental market.

I think this puts the landlord on the defense. The tenant is almost an adversary before they even meet. I think the small a landlord is near an end. Corporations and large property managers are the future, and the hoops you need to jump thru are necessary because of too much legislation. It didn't used to be this way.  Now, you don't dare take a chance on someone that shows any sign of being a risk.

You've been sold down the river by politicians whose only desire is be re-elected.  They don't care that they're actually screwing the renter.

Just my 2 cents.

All you have to do is look at Seattle. Common comments and complaints are things like....

Wanted: a private landlord out there that will rent to me.

Why are credit requirements so high?

Let's eliminate credit screening.

Where's all the private landlords?

Why is a studio apt $1400?

Where did all the houses go?

Why is this lease 100 pages?

Endless Prop Tax Housing levies to pay for low income housing.

In our lovely state of WA once the removal is approved, it could take another week or two until the sheriff gets to the property and posts the legalese paperwork on the door(they are busy), basically telling the bum that he will be tossed on XX date.  Hang in there. You could ask your attorney if there's a way to track your progress, or see if he can follow up the paperwork. You probably did.  Hopefully you have an experienced eviction attorney. The wheels turn slowly.

Slip a note under the door.  Tell the owner everything about you. Full name. Credit score. references.. Why you like the place. "It's the perfect size for my family of 7, our 3 pitbulls, and our old RV". Or whatever. Be honest.

 Ha! Yeah, I could be off, with inflation and all, prices are getting crazy these days. Is that 2 rooms at Graceland, or two 10 by 10  war boxes? Who knows? But we don't sit around in sombreros waiting for a breeze. We stick and move, slice n dice, and crank em out.  And  I don't know about GA,  but $3000 is the bottom market for a house in Seattle.  

All of my spam calls, and the reason I never answer a phone is because of people like you. I suggest you send a nice letter, with your full name with an address. Anything without full details of who is contacting me goes straight in the garbage. Just for fun, I kept every mailed piece for a year in a large box. It weighed 54 pounds when I threw it in the recycle.

Btw. You could overwhelm your tax assessor with love by simply filing an appeal every year. Some people do this, every year, regardless. Assessors know who the pita's are, those same assessors have to sit on the board and answer every appeal. They absolutely hate that part of the job. They may just lay off a little when next major assessment/revalue comes. 

The way I see it, you'd better get to work. And it should be a perfect job or the rent is 3200 a month. When done to satisfaction, have him sign that the work is completed. Lets say you're only there for a year. There's no way I would pay anyone $1200 to do two rooms. I'd have that done in an easy 4 hours. Two coats with trim, 8 hours max.

A raise that soon will piss them off. Are you ok with them leaving and starting with new tenants? Is your place in demand? Then absolutely, yes.