Dd is renting in a house off campus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think this is extremely restrictive?

I do.

Also, if it's not in writing in the contract, and if the contract hasn't been modified in writing with the agreement of both parties, I'd say it's a big flaming sack of not binding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

It's not like my dd plans to "break" the rules just they are a bit rigid. If you pay rent somewhere you kind of expect to do what you may as long as you don't damage anything or have other people (not paying rent) staying in the home. I just think that if a college student is responsible enough to pay rent, they are responsible enough to eat a sandwich in their room without being in violation of the rules.

These rules kind of seem like ones you would give an 8 year old.

Yes, this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dd says that the ll drops by like every day so she would know if the rules are broken. Dd also said that she thinks that as long as the house stays generally clean the ll won't make a fuss

I really don't think that dropping by every day to see if your tenant is sweeping the kitchen floor and doing the dishes right after every meal is legally permissible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a crazy group house landlord like this once. You can go over the lease and have your daughter write a letter, but honestly, the best advice I have is to walk away. Help your daughter find a new place to live.

In our group house, we did point to our lease and referred LL to the rules in our county. It did not matter. We found out later from a neighbor that LL came in while we were all at work. My housemate once was a day late with rent. He came home from work on the 2nd to find that the landlord had gone in his bedroom and removed his television and all the clothes from his closet. We had a lawyer write a letter from the 4 of us and got the heck outta there.

Maybe your DD's landlord doesn't rise to that level of crazy...but she can certainly make it a miserable and stressful year for her. If you can handle the temporary hassle and expense of moving, do it.

The heck? That's theft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like she doesn't want any premarital sex happening. She doesn't want guests upstairs at all.

If she hasn't figured out that people can have sex on the floor, or on a couch, or on a table, or against a wal, or or or on the ground floor, then she's dumber than a rock.

[Anonymous]

You can check the lease as well as landlord/tenant but I think if the landlord moves to alter the terms of the lease after it is signed that your DD can refuse the new terms and then she would be able to move out penalty free. You might also want to check if she really signed onto the actual lease or if she just signed an agreement to live there under the main leasee. I ran into this in college. The landlord had an actual lease with one person in the house then each person who came in really only had an agreement but it was the one person named on the lease who collected rent and paid the landlord. Again, it likely depends on the laws in your area.

[Anonymous]

The lease is individual. The landlord is having plumbers and such come and go apparently. I think after they get the house together, the landlord will stop showing up so often.

[Anonymous]

I'll chime in to add to the chorus of folks who think your daughter's landlord is a weirdo.

[Anonymous]

Not worth the extra stress on a young person on college. Get out now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have a crazy landlord. I would inform the landlord that you have no intention of following these unenforcable rules and you intend to abide by the written terms of the lease. If not, the landlord is in violation of the lease terms, you want the deposit back, and move out.

It's. It like she moved inside the house with a resident house mother or are a boarder. This is never going to go well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And the landlord just imposed a set of "house rules" a week after the lease was signed. I have met with the landlord and she says that she thinks dd is a wonderful and responsible college student. These rules are really restrictive and they were not mentioned at the time of signing. Dd signed and I signed as a guarantor in case she doesn't have enough work hours or something and can't pay rent. The rules are:

- no overnight guests (we knew about this one upfront and it's fine)
- guests must stay on the first floor of the house
- guests must leave by 10 pm
- no food may be consumed outside of the kitchen
- you must pick a day to wash your clothes
- all dishes must be washed after each and every meal
- kitchen must be swept after every meal

Now, when dd and I met with the landlord, she only told us about the overnight guest rule. Dd said that's fine. Otherwise my daughter and the other girl in the house are pretty self regulating. I have a feeling this landlord is going to drop by often to make sure the rules are followed. I know how my daughter is at home, she is neat and will usually deep clean the house on Sunday mornings. I guess it is a little odd that this lady randomly gave them new rules to follow as if it is a halfway house or something. I know his because I visited yesterday to drop off something for dd and she showed me the rule sheet. Honestly I get it, this lady wants to make sure the girls don't destroy her house and I thought that's what the deposit was for. It really seems like they are living with even more rules than a dorm.

OP,
Is this an apt building with multiple units? It sounds like it could be and she is trying to prevent certain problems like pest infestations, noise/parking complaints, disputes about using a shared laundry facility etc. I have lived in an apartment where we had problems like this and it sucked. Neighbors didn't keep their apartment clean and there was roaches despite the fact that my apartment was clean. I took trash out daily, washed dishes at least once a day, cleaned my floors and bathrooms frequently, and didn't leave crap laying around. I'm guessing that at least one neighbor wasn't keeping up with cleaning and trash removal because I had the management sending the exterminator EVERY WEEK, but the roaches kept coming back a day or two after the exterminator came. I lived with neighbors who were noisy and used up multiple parking spots so I had nowhere to park. People took advantage of the laundry facility too. So I can see why a property manager would want to avoid this, but that doesn't mean I don't agree with you that the list is crazy!

Hopefully what would happen is that your dd's landlord will soon see that she has nothing to worry about and only makes herself known when your daughter needs something. I am renting a condo and the landlord was around a few times the first six months we moved in, but she always mentioned how clean the place was and thanked us for calling if something went wrong instead of leaving it go to get worse. We've been here 2 years now and the only time she comes by is if we ask her to fix something. Good luck op.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar situation right out of college with a landlord trying to act like my father. He came in unannounced and then called to say that he thought that the place needed to be kept cleaner / neater and a couple of other rules. He was quite frankly acting like a dickhead lecturing a 13 year old

After listening to him for a minute I told told him that I had lived under another set of rules at home. I was not really a fan of the rules but my parents did not charge met rent. I told him he could either enforce his "rules" or collect rent but not both, he needed to make a choice. He backpedaled and said that's not the way he meant it. I said that it was and I was never going to take another silly call from him regarding the apartment.

Second I told him to never enter the apartment again without written notice and that if he did, I would call the police.

Third, I told him that any further discussions regarding the apartment would need to directed to my families attorney.

I hung up the phone and instructed the family attorney to draft a letter documenting the discussion and the instructions to never contact me again. My attorney added that any further attempted contact with me would be considered harassment and that if he attempted it, we would file a for a restraining order. My attorney told me that we would never get it but that this would "shut the old bastard up".

I lived out my lease, always paid my rent on time and NEVER heard word one from the landlord again.

Nip it in the bud.