Relatives moving in for short-term. Need some ground rules advice?
Recently a younger relative asked my husband & I to rent out one of our rooms for a short time. She, her fiance, & their baby need a place to stay as their apartment is falling apart with mold, etc. & they had to break their lease as the super. has been missing for a month. We are close to this relative & agreed to rent out a room to them. We’ve established the amount of rent & some basics – how groceries will work, our schedules, etc. My husband & I are young, but we don’t get much company so we kind of compare ourselves to old people. We’re particular about things – everything in it’s place & we do things a certain way, etc.
I want to make sure there’s nothing I’m overlooking because this is new to us. Any advice? Here’s just some of the ground rules.
-Estimate your length of stay.
-We take off our shoes at the door.
-Certain rooms of our home are private & offlimits
-Let us know before inviting a guest over
-We aren’t live-in babysitters
-We all clean up after ourselves.
Related posts:
- Considering a short term move to Hawaii, need some advice? I am going to be graduating college in May, and am planning on moving temporarily to Honolulu (3-12 months). I plan on renting a room month to month, I noticed...
- advice for renting short term apartments in new york? hi im planning on going for a 2 week trip to new york for our grad thing.theres six of us and we thought hotel but it costs so much money....
- Short term renting and then buying a house.do real estate companies offer this? The time my husband joins me obviously dont want to be moving to new state months before my husband joins me know how long until will find house so was...
- Is it wrong for married men to use chat rooms weather they are long term married? or short term married and that does include sites like music sites etc Not just general chat rooms. am just asking as I would imagine if I were married long...
- Can my landlord force me to pay for the entire month when we are moving out mid-month? We live in the state of OH. My husband’s mom 3 yrs ago found the rental house we are living in as she was friends with the landlord. I don’t...
By Patfish, May 11, 2010 @ 8:58 am
Since you’re dealing with relatives, you should add these ground rules:
- No pooping on the carpet.
- Don’t spill beer on the furniture.
- No playing frisbee with the dishes.
- No downloading of erotica on our computer.
- Don’t pee or spit in the corners.
- etc…
By no1familiar, May 12, 2010 @ 6:22 am
I think your rules are fairly clear and up front…but I am warning you, you will wish you NEVER did this. This type of set up ruins relationships, whether it be friends or relatives. At some point, you will feel like your life and home is no longer your own. I like my privacy and more than a few days of invasion sends me over the edge. Honestly, if I were you, I would HELP them arrange other living arrangements. And a baby in your home that isn’t yours will drive you insane.
By Trav'ler, May 13, 2010 @ 4:46 am
Don’t re-arrange or move anything.
Take complete messages if you answer the phone or door.
Keep music at a moderate level.
If something breaks, replace it.
If you’re not sure about anything, ASK.
By keeperofusedshadows, May 15, 2010 @ 9:05 pm
It will be a slight expense on their part and a little inconvient on you, but I would suggest you have them pay to have a seperate phone line installed in their room. You also aren’t an answering service. The built-in babysitter rule will have to be strictly enforced, even if they’re just running up to the store for a minute. A small fridge (you can pick them up second hand cheap) in their room would be a good idea too. Another problem I have run into before is the thermostat, you all need to agree on a temp that it STAYS on. Noise contol is sometimes an issue as well. Set up a firm time when things in the house should be quiet. If you have a washer and dryer, you may need to set up laundry times aswell. If need be, put it all in writing.