help with rental agreement

TimeCruncher
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:42:49 +0000

I strongly suggest that your daughter graciously back out of this prospective rental situation.

I am an experienced tenant. I have continuously rented in various housing environments (college dorms, large private buildings, small private buildings) since I moved out of my parents’ home nearly thirty-seven years ago. I have rented in owner/owner’s family-occupied buildings twice. The first time worked out well; I was the sole occupant of one of three upper-floor apartments in the permanent ground-floor resident property owner’s three-story family home. The second time was a nightmare; my family resided in a five-unit building owned by a foreign national absentee landlord who used the building to temporarily house herself (while visiting the country) and to permanently house her migrating extended family members, rent-free. When my family first moved into that building, only one of the building’s other four units was occupied by a relative of the owner (the owner’s sister, who functioned as the on-site manager). However, during my family’s five-year tenancy, the owner’s extended family members (adult siblings with their spouses and children) arrived to occupy two additional units. Both my household and the other remaining “outside” tenant household–renting under month-to-month rental agreements–were subjected to frequent and hefty rent increases to subsidize the owner’s relatives’ rent-free residency. We two “outside” tenant households quickly lost our power to request reasonable building services and unit repairs, and–given that each of the absentee owner’s resident relatives (even the teenage children) functioned as the owner’s agent–we also lost our right to “quiet enjoyment” of our respective apartments.

I think it’s risky for your daughter to room with the apartment building owners’ daughter, because your daughter will be subordinate to the roommate. You can assume that the terms under which your daughter rents will be vastly different from the conditions (if any) the apartment building owners impose upon their daughter. Your daughter will have to walk on eggshells around the roommate. If your daughter and the roommate have a roommates’ dispute–however minor–the roommate need only make one phone call to Mommy and Daddy, and they will find a reason to send your daughter packing, probably with the loss of her security deposit, as well as the likelihood of an unfavorable former landlords’ report when your daughter applies for future apartments.

This sounds like the sort of rental arrangement which has the potential to go really wrong, really fast. Unless your daughter is in a pinch for rental housing, I suggest that she rent elsewhere.