Should I live with my landlord?
I'm set to move to London in about 2 weeks to start a placement for a year, now I've narrowed my options to two places, as I won't be getting paid I have quite a low budget to live on for the year.
I found a flat in a cheap area, its not rough or anything but looks a bit grim, grey tower block and nothing in my local area. Not much of an issue but its about half an hour to the nearest supermarket, I'll likely be living with some older people like working professionals. The kitchen space is a bit small but doable but like I'd probably have to eat in my room due to the lack of space. Its quite okay for my low budget, just a bit naff and dreary.
I've also happened to find an older lady looking for lodgers in her house, its around the same price but in a much, much nicer residential area in Richmond. There's a big kitchen with a big table and space for multiple people to be around. The bedroom is massive for London, plenty of storage space and what not. Its a lot closer to shops, she lives like 2 minutes from a train station. But she has a few rules, she wants everything to be kept a certain way and doesn't like overnight guests unless preplanned and if they pay rent. Although its not likely I'd have too many guests overnight as I have other friends in London who'd probably host. Also there's no washing machine.
So TL;DR: Naff flat with all the basics, inconvenient location but have plenty of freedom vs nice room in posh area of London in a big house but with landlady always around.
I found a flat in a cheap area, its not rough or anything but looks a bit grim, grey tower block and nothing in my local area. Not much of an issue but its about half an hour to the nearest supermarket, I'll likely be living with some older people like working professionals. The kitchen space is a bit small but doable but like I'd probably have to eat in my room due to the lack of space. Its quite okay for my low budget, just a bit naff and dreary.
I've also happened to find an older lady looking for lodgers in her house, its around the same price but in a much, much nicer residential area in Richmond. There's a big kitchen with a big table and space for multiple people to be around. The bedroom is massive for London, plenty of storage space and what not. Its a lot closer to shops, she lives like 2 minutes from a train station. But she has a few rules, she wants everything to be kept a certain way and doesn't like overnight guests unless preplanned and if they pay rent. Although its not likely I'd have too many guests overnight as I have other friends in London who'd probably host. Also there's no washing machine.
So TL;DR: Naff flat with all the basics, inconvenient location but have plenty of freedom vs nice room in posh area of London in a big house but with landlady always around.
the lady I would go for, you’d probably get along w her and if you don’t, you can just spend most of your time out of the house. if the price is the same then go for the lady!
Second option sounds better overall but asking overnight guests for rent is ridiculous
A bit old fashioned, but traditionally lodgers didn't really have guests, (you don't have a home to invite them to, you lodge in someone else's) slightly different to say sharing a flat, more like a hotel, where they also would raise the topic of guests (and why they're not paying)
Decided to go back to looking for a place, as the landlord said she had an issue with the smell of ethnic foods and even foods like burgers she didn't want the smell in her kitchen.
How toxic has the London renting market becoming...baby boomers who bought cheaply now pillaging into the pockets of millennials in return for scraps.
Would REALLY not recommend living w landlord, done this twice before (i.e. living in landlords house). They are very controlling, forget you pay rent to live there and I had nothing but previous landlords' good references but even as a quiet tidy student I found it incredibly hard to put up w their orders.
Original post by Anonymous
Would REALLY not recommend living w landlord, done this twice before (i.e. living in landlords house). They are very controlling, forget you pay rent to live there and I had nothing but previous landlords' good references but even as a quiet tidy student I found it incredibly hard to put up w their orders.
Yeah I've decided to keep on searching, she was very strict on what things I could use, like she had a washing machine but wanted me to to use a laundrette, didn't want people coming over and also they didn't want any spicy or oily food cooked in their kitchen, like I'm brown, that was the last straw.
Yeah that's pretty much the entire stereotype of the 'busybody landlady' best avoided,
As said, traditionally lodging is different to renting/sharing - You're essentially temporarily joining their household so what they say goes, and that tends to include words like 'Respectable' and 'Decency'. Generally younger people wouldn't go for such a thing, it tended to be older employed unmarried/divorced men who never quite got used to living completely alone and needed some structure.
As said, traditionally lodging is different to renting/sharing - You're essentially temporarily joining their household so what they say goes, and that tends to include words like 'Respectable' and 'Decency'. Generally younger people wouldn't go for such a thing, it tended to be older employed unmarried/divorced men who never quite got used to living completely alone and needed some structure.
Original post by StriderHort
Yeah that's pretty much the entire stereotype of the 'busybody landlady' best avoided,
As said, traditionally lodging is different to renting/sharing - You're essentially temporarily joining their household so what they say goes, and that tends to include words like 'Respectable' and 'Decency'. Generally younger people wouldn't go for such a thing, it tended to be older employed unmarried/divorced men who never quite got used to living completely alone and needed some structure.
As said, traditionally lodging is different to renting/sharing - You're essentially temporarily joining their household so what they say goes, and that tends to include words like 'Respectable' and 'Decency'. Generally younger people wouldn't go for such a thing, it tended to be older employed unmarried/divorced men who never quite got used to living completely alone and needed some structure.
She specifically asked for students and didnt want anyone older than 23, like she actually responded to my ad rather than me finding her. She seems nice enough but I don't think I could cope with someone deciding what food I can eat.
Original post by Dinasaurus
She specifically asked for students and didn't want anyone older than 23, like she actually responded to my ad rather than me finding her. She seems nice enough but I don't think I could cope with someone deciding what food I can eat.
Sorry, I should have specified that the Landlady terms often will not make logical sense
Again traditionally it could be common for meals to be included and the kitchen to be the Landladys domain, menu & mealtime is what they say it is, again for the benefit of people who have never really learned to do such things themselves and need the routine......as a concept the whole thing is pretty outdated compared to modern living, the rental market is frankly far more open and accessible that it used to be (previously the idea of moving out from the family home before you were married was v unusual and renting a flat would be hard) It sounds like this landlady wants the one sided perks of having a lodger over a shared tenancy without really providing the other stuff out of simple greed.Sounds like the lady my friend lived with! She had all kind of bizarre rules about the washing machine. And food. And guests.
Like he could only use the dryer during the night. Because of the expense. But she used it during the day.
And he was studying in the house and she complained because she thought he worked full time and would therefore not be in the house using her electric (he got 2 days study leave).
He wanted to borrow a bucket to fill with water to wash his car. She said it was her personal bucket for her personal use and she didn’t have another bucket. He asked if he could use the bucket next to it... that was also for her personal use and she wasn’t comfortable letting him use it.
He went into the kitchen to put a drink back in the fridge at 2330 and the landlady was in there and said it was unacceptable of him to be in the kitchen that late.
It goes on.
In short, I would say never live with a landlord unless you already know them well!
Good luck!
Like he could only use the dryer during the night. Because of the expense. But she used it during the day.
And he was studying in the house and she complained because she thought he worked full time and would therefore not be in the house using her electric (he got 2 days study leave).
He wanted to borrow a bucket to fill with water to wash his car. She said it was her personal bucket for her personal use and she didn’t have another bucket. He asked if he could use the bucket next to it... that was also for her personal use and she wasn’t comfortable letting him use it.
He went into the kitchen to put a drink back in the fridge at 2330 and the landlady was in there and said it was unacceptable of him to be in the kitchen that late.
It goes on.
In short, I would say never live with a landlord unless you already know them well!
Good luck!
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