What's it like living in an owner occupied house?

Tommy_Pickles

Finished college and might be moving.

Do they usually treat you as equal? I'd feel pressure to have everything clean all the time.

How different is it from non owner occupied?

StillWaters

It is impossible to say. Some will be clean freaks, some chilled out. The real difference is that you have very little rights. You are a guest or licensee rather than a tenant.
This can work to your benefit in that you can move out if it's not working out, obviously the converse is you can be fired out too.

djimi

If you live with the right person it can work out fine, however in the wrong house it can be a nightmare. I have seen friends live with owner occupiers in situations where they were made to feel like they were almost intruding. Some OOs can be very restrictive in what they will allow you to do (a previous girlfriend of mine was told that she would have to pay €20 extra for every night she wanted to have me stay over...). Unfortunately its a gamble that you have to take, because short of finding a previous lodger to have a chat with there is little real way of knowing what it will be like prior to moving in.

The lack of security is the other big issue. A lodger has no rights; for all intents and purposes you are a guest in the OOs home and can be asked to leave at any time with little or no notice. For the most part it is unlikely that you will be asked to leave at the drop of a hat unless you end up in serious dispute with the owner (after all, you are there because they need your money and they wont want the hassle of having to replace you unless its necessary), but it is something that will always be in the back of your mind.

Pawwed Rig

Tommy_Pickles wrote: »

Do they usually treat you as equal? I'd feel pressure to have everything clean all the time.

They are people, so no two or the same. There are some very successful cases discussed on this forum and there have been absolute disasters discussed on this forum.

Tommy_Pickles wrote: »

How different is it from non owner occupied?

Very different, a little different, the same, better, worse.

I know the responses above are silly but you are dealing with people here and all the diversity and quirkiness that entails. The best judge of the situation is you. If you get a good feel for the property you are viewing then you should base your decision on that.
Personally I have lived with both and have operated as both and all I can say is every case is different.

fricatus

I lived with an owner occupier for 7 years! :eek:

Nicest lad you could meet though - we're still mates even though I'm gone as long again now.

The main thing is to suss the person out and don't make any assumptions. They're renting out a room because they need the money, and are probably in a position where they would rather not be living with strangers any more. If you get on well and have similar enough expectations around cleanliness, having people stay over, staying weekends, sharing the main TV room, etc., then you should be OK.

My landlord was quite insistent about keeping the place clean, so I was expected to clean up my own mess, hoover the whole place every second weekend (alternating with him; though we did our own rooms ourselves whenever we wanted). Certainly it was not acceptable to retire for the night without having washed up, or leave the house without having dried up and put stuff away, but that was fine as we were both on the same wavelength.

As regards TV, he paid the TV licence and the Sky subscription because he wanted final say if there was a dispute about what to watch. Fair enough, as I'm not hugely into TV, and I could have my own TV in my room if I wanted.

Weekends were no problem and neither was having someone stay over. We agreed on one night a week, staying in my room, and keeping any noise down, but as he got to know and trust me, I could basically do what I wanted. He just didn't want groups of my mates sitting around in his sitting room watching soccer when there was an episode of the Sopranos on in 5 minutes, so when he knew that wasn't going to be happening, he was more relaxed.

Definitely owner occupiers will expect a higher level of cleanliness than you would normally get in a shared rental. I certainly would not tolerate someone in my house who would leave dirty dishes in the sink. Hint: find somewhere with a dishwasher! :pac:

drunkmonkey

Don't do it, move into a place where everybody is equal, the last thing you want is some ****ty home owner busting your chops for not cleaning your plate.

quietsailor

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Don't do it, move into a place where everybody is equal, the last thing you want is some ****ty home owner busting your chops for not cleaning your plate.

and the opposite of that is living with a group of strangers where no-one cleans up. See I can make dumb sweeping generalisations too.

OP I'm an owner occupier at the moment where I usually rent to Masters/Erasmus students - max 6 month stay usually. I've one lady stay with me for 2 yrs now and we're friends.

I'm hoping to travel over to Munich in October to meet 3 more lads who used to rent off me as they've invited me for Oktoberfest. Maybe drunkmoney had a bad experience with an OO, I don't know as they didn't bother telling us if they have/haven't been in the situation.

The best advice you can get is to go meet the person, ask if they have any rules about cleaning, maybe you have ideas/rules you'd like in place, ask them what do they think. Your own instincts will probably be good enought o tell you if you'd like to live with this person

A friend of mine lives with a OO in Dublin, they use a cleaner and all 4 equally contribute to the cost so there is no argument about who's turn it is to clean. Most differences can be worked out.

ask for a trial period - if they're a relaxed person they'll agree to it as they will see it gives them a chance to get rid of you if they don't like you and it gives you a chance to see if you'll like it there.

Tommy_Pickles

I see, thanks for the advice!

Mrs OBumble

I've been an OO who had flatmates. The flatmates moved in with me when I purchased the house, and one was and is my best friend.

I got the biggest bedroom. Apart from that, relationships were pretty much the same as when we lived together in the rented house. Ditto standards of cleanliness.

And when things went wrong, I was solely responsible for getting them fixed, rather than just being able to ring the landlord and make it his problem. So in that respect, it was worse for me 'cos I had to take time off work to let the plumber in etc.

Eventually they slowly moved out (changing jobs, towns etc), and I didn't replace them 'cos I planned to do major redecorations that would be easier with only one person living there. Really was no hassle at all, IMHO.

YMMV.

Gael23

Its the luck of the draw really. I looked at one a while back and it was a lovely house but the guy was an absolute clean freak.

gaius c

My experiences of it were negative but it worked out well for some of my friends.
Luck of the draw really. Make sure you have a good chat with them beforehand to see what they are like.

Foxychick

Lived in two different houses that were owner occupied, both were perfect. Lived for1 year wit one no probs or issues, and lived for 4 years wit OO and another girl and loved it. Like said previously everyone will be different I've looked at one or two places in the past that were OO and stayed well clear as with other places that weren't OO. Good luck with the search.

Agent Smith

Lived in one before, was grand. He was quite sound. when i moved in it was just the two of us, his g/f stayed over the odd time, i could have people over. I'm not a huge telly person anyway, so there never was much disputes over that. he had the room done up when i moved in with upc, which was sound of him.

another guy moved into the box room, and i shared the main bathroom.

If you get the right person, it can be grand. if you get the wrong person, it can be a nightmare....

odds_on

I currently live in an OO and have been since beginning of March. landlord has his own living room / Office so don't see much of him. There are two other lodgers as well.

I have also lived with other OOs and never had any trouble.

I have also live in a shared house and personally I prefer the OO in spite of the lack of security.

If your going to live with an OO, check his/her rules as regards visitors, overnight stays, frequency; smoking (especially if you don't smoke and others do - and any other things that might upset you.

longhalloween

Lived with one elderly woman who expected me out of the house for most of the day so she could have 'personal space'.

athtrasna

Lived in one..ended up marrying the OO

Viewed a couple of others..got bad vibes from the owners, like the last poster, they didn't want a lodger around the house, you were just an inconvenience conveniently subsidising their mortgage.

So it totally differs from person to person, trust your gut instinct.