Rent Holiday's

conorhal

I'm on the horns of a complicated dilemma here!

So my flat mate has asked the landlord for a 'rent holiday'.

I share a three bedroom flat with one other person at the moment. Shes spending the summer abroad and wants to take three months off paying the rent. Now she has taken the summer off before but paid the three months rent in in advance before leaving, and of course I don't charge her for any bills for that period, so I don't see any reason to change that arrangement.

I have a good relationship with the landlord and he tends to consult me on any given flat mate situation as I'm his longest serving tenant and never give any trouble and have the responsonsibility of filling any vacancies for him.
He has only 3 rules, 1) that I rent the other rooms to people that will take care of the place, 2) if a person rents a room they pay the rent, no exceptions and 3) no-subletting or room swapping.

Now my flat mate has a friend that was supposed to be taking up the third room (the landlord’s not too bothered about the third room, if it’s rented that’s nice but the place is a bricks an mortar asset to him rather than a cash cow), but out of the blue she asks me if her friend can rent her room instead while she's away and then he can move into the third room when she gets back. I direct her to the landlord.

The landlords says no.... She says fine so, I'm moving out (and now it looks likely that her mate won't move in at all).

The landlord's opinion is simple, she's taking the piss and pulling a fast one, if all her stuff is there then this guy is subletting from her. If he wants a room, he can rent the one he agreed to, if she wants’ a rent holiday she can leave and move all her stuff out.
He just feels like she is attempting to walk all over a rental agreement and he has no time for that, he’d rather take a financial loss then have somebody pull a strong arm negociating tactic and take the piss.

He's a smart guy that tends to ask the pertinent questions when making a decision, so he asked me, "What kind of flat mate is she, do I owe her any favors?"
I'd have to describe her as a carbon neutral flat mate, she's easy to live with and does no harm, but adds nothing either. She's not messy but at the same time she never does any heavy duty cleaning either, nor does she bother with basic maintenance. In three years she's never cleaned the oven or hob (that she's made a grimy burn't on stained mess of) or defrosted the fridge, cleaned out cupboards or so much as change a light bulb in any common area of the house and she’s pretty shy with the hoover, so generally, I do most cleaning in the house. Telling him this, the landlord's opinion was simple, "I don't owe her any favors then” (he is a stellar landlord BTW, when her mattress was deemed lumpy it was replaced, when the shower went out there was a plumber there that day and she gets a pretty reasonable rent for a large double room)

Here’s my dilemma (sorry this post is so bloody long) I could if I wanted to convince the landlord to change his mind and concede the three months rent and let her mate move into her room if I said look, even though you’d be understanding about it, finding another flat mate is a lot of hassle, (a flat mate in the hand is worth 10,000 on daft.ie so to speak) you don’t owe her any favors, but you could let it slide for me, otherwise it’s just cutting off both our noses to spite our respective faces, you’re out rent and I need to find new flat mates.
The thing of it is, I’m not inclined to do that. The reason is simple, a while back I had rented the other two other rooms in the gaff to two blokes, then one day the girlfriend of one of my flat mates came to stay… for three bloody months. When I had finally gotten pissed off with her lounging around all day contributing nothing and after I had given my flat mate an ultimatum to get shot of her within two weeks, the guy in the other room texts me to tell me that he is moving out, and of course 2 mins later the guy and his girlfriend text me to say they hear a room is available and could she take it? Yeah, I was stitched up behind my back by a cosy back room deal.
To add insult to injury, the girlfriend that moved in turned out to be a nightmare that made a mess of the place before she eventually moved out. a short while after she hadmoved in, she broke up with her boyfriend who then felt compelled to move out and my current flatmate moved into his room. Hence landlord's rule number 3, no subletting or room swaps. The landlord felt that rule had to be added and enforced because I had lost control of the process by which I could vet who moved in, and rules 1 & 2 had been flouted as a result (she didn’t pay rent for the three months she was staying there and she trashed the place).

Now like I said, I could ask for the rules to be bent, but after the last scenario, I’m feeling a bit “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” if you know what I mean. I don’t care for somebody taking the piss anymore than the landlord, clearly this dangling a flatmate in front of me for the third room, then trying to sub let to him was the tactic that had been her plan all along, then she pulled a petulant nuclear option, if I can't get 3 months off paying the rent to go to the burning man festival and hang out in San Fran, I'll leave and you will have no flatmates.

What really ticked me off though was the fact that my flat mate doesn’t pay the rent, she gets a student grant that pays it in full, she just wants the landlord to take the hit so that she can spend it on holidays instead. Her fees are grant paid too, she has a nice car, takes endless holidays, goes to endless concerts and drinks like a fish Furthermore I’ve never asked her for a contribution towards the NTL or TV license bills (the TV’s mine), she has free broadband and free phone calls on our landline because my work pay for that and in my opinion, if she can afford the lifestyle she leads (which is far better than most students and she has a decent deal, she can afford to pay the rent and not whine. After all, she does very little about the house and I feel like I don’t owe her any favors either.

Now I’ve never been the kind to cut off my nose to spite my face, but this time I’m thinking, sod it, every now and again you should proudly walk around without a nose, just so that people know they can’t walk all over you when they feel like it.

So the question is, am I just beeng petulant rather then practical? Should I fold and give her the deal she wants, thus ensuring the place is rented to people that at least I know I can live with and I don't have to go into the uncertian waters of finding a new flatmate, of do I just tell her to sod off?

ztoical

A 'rent holiday'? What planet is she living on? If she wants to head off for the summer but keep her room in the flat then she has to pay the rent for the 3 months wither she's there or not. If the landlord doesn't want her subletting the apartment for the 3 months then tough to her.

Kimia

I'm sorry but what are you asking? Your post is rambling and I don't understand.

jomc

i think op is asking whther they should tell landlord to give this rent holiday?

imo no way. she has a grant to pay the rent so there is no reason why she can't pay. she's pulling a fast one.

in my experience people rarely get holidays from paying bills but never ever rent, if you don't want to pay for the room then another tenant can be brought in

ronano

No

The idea of rent holiday is absurd,it's not student digs,she can like it or lump it,you were burnt before there is no point taking the risk again. The only thing i can see that the landlord has to consider is if he kicks her out would he find someone in 3 months maybe there is more im tired

not even wrong

conorhal wrote: »

if her friend can rent her room instead while she's away and then he can move into the third room when she gets back. I direct her to the landlord.

There is no such thing as a "rent holiday". If she can find someone who's willing to take her room for the three months and then move out then that would be fine. But she's effectively asking you to reserve her room for her for three months without paying anything for it (never mind the bit about her friend living in the room and then moving to the third room when she returns , that's just a red herring. You won't be able to rent the third room out for just three months while she's away.).

monkeypants

No way. She can stay if she pays. But never, ever let anyone give you a ultimatum of any sort. Call her bluff immediately.

conorhal

monkeypants wrote: »

No way. She can stay if she pays. But never, ever let anyone give you a ultimatum of any sort. Call her bluff immediately.

Yeah, I did. What cheesed me off was the fact that she wasn't up front about it.

She asked about a month ago if her friend could rent the third room, then a week ago this arrangement just occurs to her? I know it was her intent all along and the deviousness of that annoyed me. She dangled the prospect of a flat mate and then tried to use him as a bargaining chip and when that didn’t work tried to use an ultimatum. It was sneaky and disrespectful, so I figured I’d call her bluff.

LittleBook

conorhal wrote: »

Here’s my dilemma ... I could if I wanted to convince the landlord to change his mind and concede the three months rent and let her mate move into her room if I said look ... you don’t owe her any favors, but you could let it slide for me, otherwise it’s just cutting off both our noses to spite out respective faces, you’re out rent and I need to find new flat mates.
...
So the question is, am I just beeng petulant rather then practical?

TBH, sounds like an ideal opportunity to get shot of a flatmate you don't have any particular affinity for. And if you co-operate with her plan you'll like her even less and you'll be living with her and her mate.

Having said that, I don't know how difficult it is to find tenants nowadays but it's not costing you anything (other than your time) and you might strike flatmate gold with the new ones.

conorhal

LittleBook wrote: »

TBH, sounds like an ideal opportunity to get shot of a flatmate you don't have any particular affinity for. And if you co-operate with her plan you'll like her even less and you'll be living with her and her mate.

Having said that, I don't know how difficult it is to find tenants nowadays but it's not costing you anything (other than your time) and you might strike flatmate gold with the new ones.

Hey Hon!

The girls pretty nice and we get on well, good country girl ya know, friendly and chatty, but you're right. That she would screw me over so that she can go on a government sponsored holiday across America seemed self entitled and it ticked me off and soured my attitude towards her, so she might as well go.

I just hate the prospect of having to find a new flatmate because I know exactly how those poor shlubs that have to audition the 10,000 X-Factor hopefuls must feel, the 'jesus, not another nutter factor'!

myxi

conorhal wrote: »

Hey Hon!

The girls pretty nice and we get on well, good country girl ya know, friendly and chatty, but you're right. That she would screw me over so that she can go on a government sponsored holiday across America seemed self entitled and it ticked me off and soured my attitude towards her, so she might as well go.


I just hate the prospect of having to find a new flatmate because I know exactly how those poor shlubs that have to audition the 10,000 X-Factor hopefuls must feel, the 'jesus, not another nutter factor'!

I think if I was you I'd be the one moving out. It sounds like you spend a lot of your time looking for new housemates to fill empty rooms etc. If the landlord isn't prepared to do this himself it should be up to the person moving out to show the room etc. You must have some patience or else the property is gorgeous and worth the effort!

LittleBook

myxi wrote: »

It sounds like you spend a lot of your time looking for new housemates to fill empty rooms etc. If the landlord isn't prepared to do this himself it should be up to the person moving out to show the room etc.

That was my first reaction too but then I thought well if the landlord is happy to let the tenant choose who moves in and doesn't complain about losing rent in the meantime, well that's great for the tenant!

conorhal

myxi wrote: »

I think if I was you I'd be the one moving out. It sounds like you spend a lot of your time looking for new housemates to fill empty rooms etc. If the landlord isn't prepared to do this himself it should be up to the person moving out to show the room etc. You must have some patience or else the property is gorgeous and worth the effort!

TBH I haven't had to look for a flatmate for about a year, I end up doing the flatmate search on average once every 2 years. And yes, the property is gorgeous, 2 story duplex, huge rooms, I have the bedroom with the ensuite bathroom, the place has a massive balcony overlooking the Liffy that's great for BBQ's in the summer and it's right opposite the Phoenix park and close to town.
Plus I'd rather have to look for flatmates and thus excercise some choice over who I live with rather then have sombody dumped on me, the landlord's easy going and I have a sweet deal. I've just has a bad run of luck with some of the people I've shared with, but mostly I've lived there with friends or pretty sound tennents.
I'll get sombody, I'll just take my time to get sombody that strikes me as easy to live with.

Sand Wedge

Hi Op. Long post so not sure if i have got a handle on it. Is the situation, Flatmate wants rent break for 3 months, while they are gone someone else is going to move into her room. Then when she comes back the other person moves into a different room.

If this is scenario don't see the problem, landlord not loosing out on rent when flatmate is on rent holiday as someone else will move in and pay it and in 3 months time landlord will have an extra tenant!

Blizzard

Sand Wedge wrote: »

Hi Op. Long post so not sure if i have got a handle on it. Is the situation, Flatmate wants rent break for 3 months, while they are gone someone else is going to move into her room. Then when she comes back the other person moves into a different room.

If this is scenario don't see the problem, landlord not loosing out on rent when flatmate is on rent holiday as someone else will move in and pay it and in 3 months time landlord will have an extra tenant!

That all sounds ideal, Sand Wedge - but I think the OP is feeling she's getting such a good deal already that she should just suck it up & pay up for the 3 months she's away instead of getting a 'rent holiday' and a friend of hers to move in as well. This could be the beginning of the end. If it's bugging you enough to post here, can you imagine how you'll feel after she returns from her 3 month rent holiday and her friend moves from her room to the 3rd bedroom? You'll be pulling your hair out.

JUST SAY NO! If the duplex is that great, you should hopefully not have too difficult a time trying to find a replacement tenant. Good luck.