Renting out rooms - Good or bad experiences, pitfalls and traps
 

Looking at possibley renting out a couple of rooms. Would like peoples experiences on how to avoid the pitfalls.
What did you do to not end up with Dahmer or Bundy as a room mate.
Any formal contracts re evicting,bonds etc etc or come home and find your stuff gone and your toothbrush not in the usual spot.

Most people will probably be fine as long as there is a clear understanding from the start of what is expected from both parties (not a bad idea to put this on paper).

Things like giving notice before having people around, fridge/beer rules, use of items like DVD's, car parking, partners staying over, who does what chores etc. will probably be the most annoying and cause the most tension so sort that shit out from the start.

I have a couple of mates boarding...

Set the ground rules at the start, and make them pay 2 weeks up front - this covers you if they screw you round.

Not too sure about bringing people I don't know to live in my house... but you can test their honesty by leaving a $50 note on the floor in one of the rooms for them to find...

And +1 on the parking and chores...

"If one friend gets super powers, he will name the other one as his sidekick"

“Roommates shall give each other 12 hours notice of impending coitus."

big bang theory rules ... hahah

[url=http://wiki.the-big-bang-theory.com/wiki/Roommate_Agreement]Roommate Agreement - The Big Bang Theory Wiki[/url]

firstly if its not your house, make sure your allowed to sub let or you need to put them on the lease.
Otherwise, Im renting and sharing rent with a freind and sister. I'm a bit of a neat freak so i like everything being spotless, but as for my sister and friend they make a total mess of the house.
Since theyve moved in with me the house has fallen apart, just something to look forward to and think about. noone will look after it as well as they would if it was their own place, but then again some people just dont give a shit either way.
So you need to find the right people really, or just expect the house to be run down and be prepared to be fixing it up, of course with their bond money but your time :)

This is the one rule of the house.
Don't EVER touch my drumset.
DON'T TOUCH IT!

Never rent to family and friends; been there, and have really only just sort of kinda become friends again, and that was over 2 years ago.

I placed an ad on a well known website a few years back looking for a housemate. A seemingly nice young girl who was studying to be a teacher applied, so i gave her the gig.

- She put alfoil in my microwave
- Her boyfriend 'swanny' came round and drank a 6pack of my coronas in a half hour, while moaning about it being 'over-priced yuppie beer'
-Swanny was a real wine conneiseur, except he had expensive taste and never brought his own wine to my house
- She lost the only electric key to the garage door, $120 for a new one
-Her other boyfriend (not swanny) helped himself to my DVD collection one night on a sleepover, and decided to stick on Saving Private Ryan at 4am, knowing i had to be up for work in a few hours.
- Once i came home from work on a public holiday to find 16 people, none of whom i knew having pre-drinks in my brand new apartment.


House mates blow. If you need more money, get a second job, if you're lonely buy a cat.

Depends on the state of your house and how much you care for it.

I've lived in sharehouses for about 10 years now and have seen some rather interesting situations and they are never resolved easily.

Most common things you need to know;

- Can/will they cook? and what sort of food will they be dining on. Vegos never fit in anywhere.

- Can/will they clean and what are their standards? Never have a house with only blokes. You will need to burn the house down after a year to sterilise it. If there are chicks there, the blokes will still need to either clean or contribute to hire a cleaner.

- Are they a party animal and expected to come home late every weekend or play loud music duing predrinks? - Not neccersarily a bad thing. Some houses this suits everybody.

- Garage / parking rights. Current house, my only care was we had a gargage. However once we got the house it seemed everyone wanted to park in it and expected me to park on the street and leave my keys on the table when I flew to site so people could move it around... A couple of years later and new flamates, current ones finally bought a nice ish car. It got hail damaged whilst mine was safely parked in the garage, now the debate on who gets the only space is open again for debate. Also should I be contributing to the premium for the hail repair...

- Are they employed and can they keep a job? Nothing worse than living with someone who is flat broke and is always making you late for rent / bills. Then sitting around the house all day stanking it up, eating all the food, drinking all the beer and never replacing it etc.

- Shared food shopping or individual stashes? People eat whatevers in the fridge regardless of the arrangement so I prefer joint shopping.

- Phone bills... I refuse to have anything to do with any home line rental ever. There is always a bunch of calls that no one owns up to (even though its a call to adelaide where one housemate came from) and ends up in an argument over how it gets paid.

- Then most importantly you have to know you'll get along as friends. When people come to check out the room for rent, treat it as more of a potential date so to speak. See if your personalities match, if you can have a decent chat with them and general social ettiquetes. If you feel uncomfortable around them, it will always end in tears.

- Friends staying over. Usually not a problem, until it gets taken advantage of. One place had a 2 night rule that girl/boy friends were only allowed to stay over a maximum of 2 nights a week. Worked well until the owner got serious with her boyfriend and 'forgot' about the rule. Also the deal with parents coming to visit. I feel uncomfortable when my parents come over and a housemate sneaks into his room for a sly bong.

As for contracts, one house I was in used a contract (forget what it was called) that you can get from the post office.

You put the basics in i.e. rent, 2 weeks advance, bond, 4 weeks notice to leave and that was it. There was always a 4 weeks clause that within the first 4 weeks, the owners could kick you out with one weeks notice. This was used a few times when people moved in and you realised they were drop kicks.

If you do go ahead and get some room mates, get individual locks for every room. You may not be able to stash your stereo, tv cd's etc, but it does give you somewhere for those things you just can't afford to lose. Housemates will also appreciate having a bit of security.