Weird subletting condition - is this appropriate or reasonable? update #27

[siamesecat2965]

I guess I'm finding misleading ads really frustrating because I'm in the process of trying to move and it takes time and energy and then the tenants mention weird conditions or important information that should have been in the original advert.
 

I haer you. when I was looking for my first apt, I decided I needed to find a roommate situation. First one, would have been simply the bedroom, and the woman there said her BF would be there quite a bit. Sorry, no thank you.

The second was the best though; great location, right in the town wehre I worked, 10 minutes from my parents, etc. right in the cute downtown area.  So i call in response to her ad, we agree to meet at the apt (previuos tenants were not out yet but were fine with letting her show it to me) she had already signed the lease and whatnot and was looking for someone to share.

First red flag: she had cats, which wasn't the issue. Issues was she said she spent most weekends with her BF, so she might ask me to feed them, or have someone come in to do it. Um, once in a blue moon, fine, but not every wekeend, nor do I want someone I don't know coming in to do so.

Second red flag, and the reason I chose to decline:  She told me the rent was x dollars, so split would be half. Apt came with one parking spot in back; if I wanted that, $10 more a month. which for the area, was more than reasonable.  She then let it slip the rent was actually much less than she had told me, but since she paid a broker $1200 to find her the place, she was charging more to recoup that money.

OH NO. sorry, but the fact you made the decision to use a broker to find you the apt, and THEN looked for a roommate, no sorry, the cost is on you. And she wasn't up front about it either. It came out in conversation. Thankfully it did, since i would ahve been VERY upset had I decided to move in, and later found out the extra $90 or so a month was going to her for that.

[livluvlaf]

This reminds me of something which happened to my sister. While attending university in a major city, she rented a 4 bedroom flat with 3 other girls. None of them stayed in town over the summer, so one roommate made arrangements to sublet the whole flat to her sister and sister's bf. Towards the end of summer, my sister and her roommate (sister of the sublet) went back to the city to register for the next term's courses ... back then it needed to be done in person. They had only planned for it to be a day trip, but the process took longer than expected and they missed their train home.

So the roommate suggested they just go crash on the couch at their apt. Since it was her own sister, neither of them expected there would be a problem. WRONG! The subletting sister said no and moved a heavy dresser in front of the door, barring them from even entering.

It was many (many!) years ago, and the thought of my sister spending the night sitting in a train station still annoys me ... but in the end, the sublet sister was legally right - they needed to announce their visit 48hrs prior.

But wow - with a sister like that, who needs enemies!

________________

But back to the OP, the "dropping in" situation could change (by the original renter) without you having any recourse. If that makes you nervous, ask if this is necessary (play the female security card if necessary). Ask if the owner can find a couch at a friend's house instead.

[lowspark]

Second red flag, and the reason I chose to decline:  She told me the rent was x dollars, so split would be half. Apt came with one parking spot in back; if I wanted that, $10 more a month. which for the area, was more than reasonable.  She then let it slip the rent was actually much less than she had told me, but since she paid a broker $1200 to find her the place, she was charging more to recoup that money.

OH NO. sorry, but the fact you made the decision to use a broker to find you the apt, and THEN looked for a roommate, no sorry, the cost is on you. And she wasn't up front about it either. It came out in conversation. Thankfully it did, since i would ahve been VERY upset had I decided to move in, and later found out the extra $90 or so a month was going to her for that.

When my son moved in with some roommates for his first apartment after college, the apartment required that he fill out an application just like everyone else. The two roommates he would be sharing with already lived there with a third guy who was moving out so management already had all their information. They still only paid with one check (one guy paid the rent and the other two paid him) but the apartment management had info on all three.

My point of telling that was to say that everyone knew what the rent actually was because they were all acquainted with the management office. There was no way one of them could have falsified the rent amount to the others. And that's another reason to be on the up & up with the management as to who is living there and who is paying rent etc.

[miranova]

Well technically.....I think if someone is the only name on the lease and legally responsible for it, and they are renting out a bedroom, they can charge whatever they want.  The other person can decide if it's a good deal or not.  I don't think there is any rule that says rent must be split equally, especially if the 2nd renter is not on the lease. 

Now if everyone is on the lease, they deserve to know the full rent and what percentage they are paying.

[daen]

Well technically.....I think if someone is the only name on the lease and legally responsible for it, and they are renting out a bedroom, they can charge whatever they want.  The other person can decide if it's a good deal or not.  I don't think there is any rule that says rent must be split equally, especially if the 2nd renter is not on the lease. 

Now if everyone is on the lease, they deserve to know the full rent and what percentage they are paying.

True, but if the person I'm renting the bedroom from tells me, in so many words that this is the rent per month and we are splitting that 50/50, I would be quite angry if it turns out I am paying $90 more per month than half the rent.

At the very least, I would lose all confidence in that person's honesty, and would move out as soon as reasonably possible. If they lie to me about money, what else will they lie about?

[miranova]

Yes I agree with you, the lying would be a problem for me as well.

[rose red]

I think he's just a college kid and think this is normal. He also probably didn't reveal that tidbit in the ad since he may think details are better handled one-on-one when he gets a response.

I think I'd call this one (youthful?) clueless rather than malicious.

[blarg314]

I think it is an issue that he (and others like him) are 'amateur landlords'

I like that term.

I don't think it would be a totally unreasonable condition if it were listed in the rental ad (or mentioned the first time you contacted him), and there was a corresponding decrease in the rent to cover the inconvenience. For some people, that would be worth the hassle.

I still wouldn't touch the situation myself unless I was desperate, because I think it would be really annoying, and the end result would be me feeling like I was visiting someone else, rather than vice versa.

[siamesecat2965]

Well technically.....I think if someone is the only name on the lease and legally responsible for it, and they are renting out a bedroom, they can charge whatever they want.  The other person can decide if it's a good deal or not.  I don't think there is any rule that says rent must be split equally, especially if the 2nd renter is not on the lease. 

Now if everyone is on the lease, they deserve to know the full rent and what percentage they are paying.

True, but if the person I'm renting the bedroom from tells me, in so many words that this is the rent per month and we are splitting that 50/50, I would be quite angry if it turns out I am paying $90 more per month than half the rent.

At the very least, I would lose all confidence in that person's honesty, and would move out as soon as reasonably possible. If they lie to me about money, what else will they lie about?

Exactly. That was my thought. Now if I had been looking, and an apt had a better bedroom, bath, etc, and whoever was looking for a roommate said up front "the rent is x total, but for this better room it's half of x plus y" no issue. At least I know up front. But generally speaking, in my experience, most were a 50/50 split of the rent. And due to my inexperience, never occurred to me to ask what it was; I just assumed it was half the total

[Winterlight]

I guess I'm finding misleading ads really frustrating because I'm in the process of trying to move and it takes time and energy and then the tenants mention weird conditions or important information that should have been in the original advert.
I think in this specific situation, if the flat is listed as having only one roommate but the other roommate is planning on sleeping over and hanging out, it's a bit misleading. For me personally, having less housemates is my goal so I was pretty excited to find a place with only one other housemate.
I agree with PPs saying that if someone was going to be sleeping on the couch there should be a reduction in the rent. He works at a bar or a nightclub so he would be coming back quite late so I would wonder if he wouldn't be gone by the time I woke up.

I ran into this when I was looking for a place. I was emailing with someone who wanted a housemate. Then she mentioned she already had one and I'd be the third person. She did not put this in the ad. Like you, I was looking for fewer housemates, so I passed.

[Victim Of Fate]

I'm not sure if I find this that weird, because as someone else pointed out, this was a two-bed flat with a roommate. So it would be no different to subletting one room of a two-bed apartment and mentioning that you have a friend who sometimes crashes. I assume the guy renting out his room was friends with the existing housemate?

[scotcat60]

Don't take the room. It could lead to embarassing situations. A relative and her then new husband rented a house from a lady who came and went as she pleased, and one evening when relatives were feeling in the mood for love, she walked in on them.

[Cali.in.UK]

This is a random update and I almost thought it should be a new post but it is another odd person who wanted to sublet. I'll call him Subletter2. SL2
So SL2 offered an en suite  room near the campus and it seemed like a good deal so I contacted him. He was very eager for us to move in and offered to change the move-out day to accommodate us and offered his kitchen supplies if we needed, so he seemed nice and helpful. I asked a few more logistical questions and he answered in a friendly and prompt manner. I asked to do a viewing of the room and he said that he wouldn't be able to do that because he wasn't going to move in until after us (it's his house for the upcoming school year), and he also didn't have pictures. I said that that wouldn't work for us, and his compromise? To tell the landlord that we (SL2 and I) were dating or siblings because he didn't want the landlord to "get suspicious".
So I asked him if his landlord was not okay with subletters and he gave me the "well not exactly but it's fine!" which was not fine, but I thought it was worth talking with my BF about. We discussed it and decided it wouldn't work so I logged on to my computer the following day to tell the guy and he had blocked me!
We had had a pretty friendly exchange before that and he hadn't said he filled the room or that he was mad at my "slow" reply, it just seemed so dramatic and unnecessary. But on the plus side, I'm even more happy we didn't end up subletting from him.

And the couch guy: we definitely were not planning on living there

[ladyknight1]

I hope the third one is the charm!