Charging rent for guests...reasonable?
- Thread starter Hamzter
- Start date
Ha, the landlord is a girl also. Although you never know
She's jealous she isn't having her keg tapped then.
Associate
- Joined
- 23 Mar 2009
- Posts
- 2,014
- Location
- Peterborough
Yes, you have the right to see your gf. Doesn't mean you have the right to stay over 3 months of the year for free.
I'm going with annoying Landlord on this one...
I personally don't think two nights a week is unreasonable for a couple, especially if that was also Friday/Saturday/Sunday night.
What is an issue though is if you were there what you might consider a real unreasonable length of time. For example, I think back to when I was at Uni in a shared house with friends. It was a big house with seven of us in total, in our second year in that house one girl had a boyfriend who had basically dropped out of uni and was besotted with her. Although he paid rent for his own shared place he was basically never there.
While I considered the guy a friend, I also got annoyed because he was there all the time, it's then that you realize it's more than just him staying over. He is using water, electricity etc just like another person. Infact, he even brought his Xbox over which he played in her room on the TV!
So I think if it gets like that, then the Landlord is more than justified to be annoyed. Infact, I'd probably go as far to say that's also the case if you are in the house and your girlfriend isn't.
I personally don't think two nights a week is unreasonable for a couple, especially if that was also Friday/Saturday/Sunday night.
What is an issue though is if you were there what you might consider a real unreasonable length of time. For example, I think back to when I was at Uni in a shared house with friends. It was a big house with seven of us in total, in our second year in that house one girl had a boyfriend who had basically dropped out of uni and was besotted with her. Although he paid rent for his own shared place he was basically never there.
While I considered the guy a friend, I also got annoyed because he was there all the time, it's then that you realize it's more than just him staying over. He is using water, electricity etc just like another person. Infact, he even brought his Xbox over which he played in her room on the TV!
So I think if it gets like that, then the Landlord is more than justified to be annoyed. Infact, I'd probably go as far to say that's also the case if you are in the house and your girlfriend isn't.
Exactly as people have said, perhaps trying to charge you a fiver a night wasn't the best way to go about it, but you need to take the hint, you're annoying your gf's landlady at the moment, so need to do something about it (or not if you don't care i guess)
You may not be there for long, but if you stay over 2 or so nights a week then you are adding to the houses bills, two showers, not one, more toilet flushes, less space due to another body being in the house. etc etc.
It's also worth considering how considerate you are as a couple. I have house shared since I was 18 (student digs through to "professional" lets for the past 4 or so years) and I can tell you that nothing can be more uncomfortable when you are in the place you call home (especially as it really is her home!) and a couple just takes over the general atmosphere by being all over each other all the time.
This is why co-habiting when someone has a long-term partner ultimately rarely works I have found, they want to be with each other (fair enough), and cos they don't see each other every night they cant keep their hands off each other when they do, but honestly whats worse than sitting in a lounge trying to watch TV and make idle conversation with two people inter-twined with each other, it's just uncomfortable.
As a couple, with your own place, go wild, its your space. As a couple when you rent, you need to be mindful of how you make the other people in the house feel, it's their home too.
I would take a guess that the five pound thing is more than just a financial issue, assuming your GF wants to stay living where she is (and can I suggest that in fact what you really wanna do is get a place together ASAP, it really is the only way that works) she and you and the landlady need to work things out and draw boundaries you can stick to.
You may not be there for long, but if you stay over 2 or so nights a week then you are adding to the houses bills, two showers, not one, more toilet flushes, less space due to another body being in the house. etc etc.
It's also worth considering how considerate you are as a couple. I have house shared since I was 18 (student digs through to "professional" lets for the past 4 or so years) and I can tell you that nothing can be more uncomfortable when you are in the place you call home (especially as it really is her home!) and a couple just takes over the general atmosphere by being all over each other all the time.
This is why co-habiting when someone has a long-term partner ultimately rarely works I have found, they want to be with each other (fair enough), and cos they don't see each other every night they cant keep their hands off each other when they do, but honestly whats worse than sitting in a lounge trying to watch TV and make idle conversation with two people inter-twined with each other, it's just uncomfortable.
As a couple, with your own place, go wild, its your space. As a couple when you rent, you need to be mindful of how you make the other people in the house feel, it's their home too.
I would take a guess that the five pound thing is more than just a financial issue, assuming your GF wants to stay living where she is (and can I suggest that in fact what you really wanna do is get a place together ASAP, it really is the only way that works) she and you and the landlady need to work things out and draw boundaries you can stick to.
Jesus i would tell her to go stuff herself. I would be embarrassed to even bring it up for £5
in fact I cant even see what it has to do with you, your GFs rent should be raised a few quid if its such a major issue. Landlord seems like a 4 letter word.
What do you do when you are there id run all the hot taps and charge all your batteries, do you get breakfast too ?
If they have an ulterior motive they should speak to her/you not hide behind £5
in fact I cant even see what it has to do with you, your GFs rent should be raised a few quid if its such a major issue. Landlord seems like a 4 letter word.
What do you do when you are there id run all the hot taps and charge all your batteries, do you get breakfast too ?
If they have an ulterior motive they should speak to her/you not hide behind £5
Last edited:
I'm thinking that she's perhaps just too possessive over her house, just the thought of someone being there that she didn't invite is enough to annoy her (hence why this is being applied to all guests). She's not even there most of the time so I don't think I could have personally annoyed her. Only way to not annoy her then is to not come around, in which case I'd barely see my girlfriend.
Totally agree, as such I've already offered to pay for any energy and water I use, I'm very careful not to use anything though (e.g. don't use the shower, or the oven unless I'm cooking a group meal, don't touch the heating etc).
I also don't think we act like a couple when others are around, we're both kinda shy about it, and generally just act like friends.
Unfortunately moving in together isn't really an option at the moment, neither of us can really change jobs, and it's unlikely I'd be able to sell my house to move nearer the girlfriend (not that I would anyway, it's a great house
). She's looking at moving out now though, there were a load of other 'house rules' which were announced at the same time, which I won't go into, but it's put too much strain on everything and it's just not a nice place to live any more...
You drive, you are 25 mins away. Go get her and take her back to yours? Surely you see each other away from her place, you go out together?
Totally agree, as such I've already offered to pay for any energy and water I use, I'm very careful not to use anything though (e.g. don't use the shower, or the oven unless I'm cooking a group meal, don't touch the heating etc).
I also don't think we act like a couple when others are around, we're both kinda shy about it, and generally just act like friends.
Unfortunately moving in together isn't really an option at the moment, neither of us can really change jobs, and it's unlikely I'd be able to sell my house to move nearer the girlfriend (not that I would anyway, it's a great house
Sounds like she is trying to get rid of unwanted people tbh.
I'm going to side with the landlord, even though its annoying from your point of view your gf is a lodger, not a tenant and IIRC the rights are more limited.
The landlord lives in the flat and might be uncomfortable with you, its fair enough asking for £5 a night as she could just state no overnight guests.
At the end of the day if you are not happy paying 5 quid a night, then she should probably find a new flat where they are more accommodating.
The landlord lives in the flat and might be uncomfortable with you, its fair enough asking for £5 a night as she could just state no overnight guests.
At the end of the day if you are not happy paying 5 quid a night, then she should probably find a new flat where they are more accommodating.
I'd also have to drive her back home and then back to work in the morning though, not really practical, and would cost more than £5, making it somewhat pointless. It's only really practical to have her round mine on weekends. Oh and it's 25 miles, not 25 mins, although it only takes about 35 mins to make the journey unless it's busy.
This reminds me of another friend back in uni, who used to charge her boyfriend rent to stay round, but refused to pay rent when she stayed at his (this was back in student halls). Unsuprisingly, they didn't last
As I said in an earlier post, it's not really possible at the moment (girlfriend doesn't have a car, would take her 2 hours each way on public transport to get to work). I also can't move out of my house at the moment because of the house market, it would never sell (it took the previous owner 3 years to sell it!).
Somehow I doubt that would go down well, I'd expect the landlord would insist on paying the same as the other housemates. She actually said she would charge 'at least' £5 a stay, suggesting she still doesn't think I'd be paying enough...
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Nov 2006
- Posts
- 2,752
- Location
- Yorkshire
ask them if they wanna join in when it gets a bit saucy, they'll soon forget about the £5 a night!
