By “Closet” I assume you mean an area that’s built in as part of the dwelling, that is the place you put clothes, shoes etc?
In Australia, most older houses and units were built without a built in closet, rooms were just walls, ceiling and floor and people purchased “wardrobes” to put in them. Wardrobes are a free standing cupboard.
So if you buy, rent an unfurnished place, unless it has built in closets or built in robes, unfurnished means no wardrobe. Buy your own.
In relation to the original poster, it’s not your fault she’s in a low paying role and wants to live in an area that’s out of her price range. My suggestion is that yes, you said she could use the parking spot, but you’ve had to wait 2 months for her to move in and someone else offered to pay for the spot.
So, she can have the room at the price previously agreed but not the parking spot. If this isn’t suitable, fine, you’ll find someone else.
Just a FYI - Newsagents (the bigger ones i think) have DIY rental agreements. Next time you want to have a go at renting buy one of these and go through it with prospective tenants as they cover pretty much everything you would need to discuss - stuff you would never have otherwise thought of. If you all agree and it’ll work - then think about filling one out, showing it to some sort of legal type and signing.
Out of curiosity–Where I live (Westfield, NJ), I know if you’re selling a house, you can’t call it a “bedroom” unless it has a built-in closet. So a 4-bedroom house with one bedroom without a closet is officially a 3-bedroom house.
In the case of my apartment, neither bedroom has a built-in closet. When I rented, the landlord offered to provide an armoire for each bedroom, because as others have said, bedrooms are just expected to have closets in the U.S. I would have preferred built-ins, but this arrangement was acceptable to me.
But given the above thing about “it’s not a bedroom without a closet,” in the context of an apartment rental, should they have called them “bedrooms?”
Ditto here in Ohio. You also cannot call it a bedroom if there is not more than one escape route in case of a fire. So basement rooms without a window large enough to escape out of cannot legally be called, or rented as, bedrooms.
She sounds like she might not be the most gracious tenant, but losing the parking spot sounds pretty devastating, if it costs the same as a quarter of the rent she can barely afford. I would give her the spot. By I would also get any expectations either of you has down on paper.
I agree that finding her a Christian parking spot is the best advice. Offer to pray with her that the Lord will bless her with a parking space, and then casually mention in the prayer that if she were somehow able to come up with more than the $60 your other friend currently pays for it, you might be persuaded to give it to her.
I’m going to say something from a Christian perspective since you seem to value this so much. If you are doing this as you say as a matter of Christian love, then the fact that you are going to make less money should not enter into it. You can’t serve two masters, both God and money.
But, honestly, it sounds more like you aren’t doing this for Christian reasons, but just to make money. Nothing inherently wrong with that, as God doesn’t forbid buying and selling. But, if so, you need to see this as business arrangement and not a gift.
But you do have to deal honestly, and that means keeping your word. If you promised the parking spot, she should have it. She is not being ungrateful for expecting you to keep your word.
So, really, either way, you should let her have the parking spot. Though, I guess, as a business transaction, you could also offer her something in return, like a reduction on the rent.
Why can’t she pick up a dongle for internet connection? Seeing as the OP doesn’t use it himself at home, she’d be the one paying for the service anyway: some of those prepaid jobs are incredibly cheap…< $10 pw.
As far as the carspace goes, given that she’s waited two months to move in, and you had every right to let the space to whomever you wished in the interim, it’s a bit cheeky to be demanding it now, ESPECIALLY when her rent is so low anyway.
Meh, I’d go the way of other posters and re-advertise the room. Ask the going rate, mention it’s unfurnished etc of course, and there is no allocated car space.
Uni starts next month, you’ll be inundated with requests.
You’re having trouble extending christian charity to someone from your own church? from your OWN church? what did Jesus say? be nice to those who mistreat you? that you don’t get credit for helping your friends, that anyone can be nice to their friends? aren’t those, more or less, his exact words? i’m sorry if i am being too harsh on you but stop and think about the implications of your attitude and reactions.
i’d give her the car space. i’d tell her she had to work out the internet on her own. i’d also talk to her before she moved in to let her know you were unhappy about things have transpired recently but that you want to move past it. being a christian means you do give to charity but it shouldn’t mean you repress your frustration or misgivings.
good luck. i recognize that by posting about this you are not indifferent to her or to the situation. so good luck resolving it. i wish you both the best.
if you feel like you are extending too much charity perhaps she could do some chores weekly to balance out that she is paying below standard rent. if you asked her nicely that is not an unreasonable request.
What if you weren’t in the equation? Where else would she live at such cheap rent WITH an internet connection and a car space?
If she truly cannot afford to live anywhere else, she needs to get a proper job so that her options are expanded. It’s all lovely and Kumbaya and stuff to teach kids bible stories, but in 21st Century Australia, that’s not going to cut it.
Huh. Never realised until just now that I grew up in a no bedroom house. We just had three closetless rooms that we slept in. Fortunately we moved into a post 90s house when I was in my mid teens, and finally had legal bedrooms.
Very unusual to find a house under 30 years old without built-in robes*, fairly unusual to find one older with them.
I live in a six year old house that has four bedrooms, including one without a closet. I find it a little weird.
I’ve been on both sides of the fence; I’ve rented a room from somebody and I’ve rented a room to somebody.
As a rentee, I had a bedroom and was given use of a bathroom, the kitchen, and the living room. The bathroom, also used by her 16 yr old son, was my responsibility to clean. The kitchen, she was psycho about. She literally took the toaster-oven out of the kitchen because I didn’t put the cozy back on after use.When I was in the living room watching telly, I went in my room when she came home because I didn’t want commentary on my shows.
As a rentor, The kid had a bedroom and was given use of a bathroom, the kitchen, and the living room. He became an a-hole because the kitchen and living room was not kept to his standards. I finally asked him to leave after he got into an argument with my girlfriend (now wife) about her hanging out at “our” place.
DO NOT RENT TO HER. Not because she’s a bitch or you’re an asshole. Don’t rent to her, or anybody else, because you are not ready to be a landlord and she’s not ready to be a rentee.
Simply tell her you’ve altered your agreement and she should pray you don’t alter it any further.
Although, really - if you rent to this lady you’ll both be miserable but she’ll be the one who has the freedom to move out when the misery is at its nadir.
Me? I wouldn’t go quite that far. Yeah, I’ve shared houses (never as a landlord, but have been ‘lead tenant’) and have had some issues etc, some minor, some deal breakers. You’re in a good position that you can call all the shots whilst having someone help you pay off your mortgage.
To be honest, the girl mentioned in the OP doesn’t sound like the perfect housemate and that’s before she’s even moved in. Being so poor, there are bound to be problems with rent being paid on time and other stuff. As I mentioned upthread, I’d readvertise the room and go from there. Work out in advance what sort of conditions are agreeable to you (chore rosters, visitors, level of cleanliness required etc) and be really firm about boundaries.
Thank you for the advice. I admit that I secretly began to wish that she would tell me that, without the car space, she would need to find someplace else to live. However, despite all complaints (and after she looked at other possibilities) she told me that she still wanted to move in for $160 p/week without the car spot.
She has been living with me for a week and so far things have been fine. The other day I offered to talk to our neighbour who has a car spot but has never had a car parked in it but she told me that she has not had any trouble parking. She has even found an affordable solution to her internet requirements.
