Are you renting a room or house? How you deal with your Landlord?

Philippines
October 30, 2009 4:27pm CST
Renting a home or room is quite difficult. You need to adjust into the attitudes of your housemate or roommates. And should I say, you should also need to adjust to the attitude of your landlord. Sometimes, tenants and landlords do not coincide to each other. If the tenants are good enough, their landlord is their opposite, or vice versa, if the landlord is alright, the tenants are sometimes unreasonable. If you are a tenant, how will you handle a landlord that sometimes not being reasonable in dealing with you, in such a way, you need to refund the deposit you have previously paid?
1 person likes this
14 responses
@jalucia (1431)
• United States
30 Oct 09
Ummm, well, in my experience landlords do not like to give money back - even when it's due to the prospective tenant. You're right, the relationship between tenant and landlord is a tricky one. It's hard to find the right mix of attitudes. Landlords don't seem to get the fact that the tenant has rented living space and deserves to live in that space with a reasonable amount of privacy. The best kind of landlord is the one who doesn't show his face much unless there is an issue with the property that needs to be addressed. If I wanted my refund depostited by the landlord I would try to talk to them and be totally honest about my reservations. I would hope that this works, even though I have very little faith, and I don't have to get a third person involved. Or, I would live out my deposit and, then, move.
1 person likes this
@biman_s (1060)
• India
31 Oct 09
I now live in my own house but when I was in college I rented 4 rooms with a bathroom for $50 per month. I shared this with three other friends of mine. The landlord was a very good person and he help us a lot when we were new in that area. He was unlike other landlords. There has been no occasion when he was unreasonable. I think we were really lucky in our case. I hear a lot about arguments and quarrels with landlords and tenants.
• Philippines
31 Oct 09
I use to live with my brother before for two years and he is renting apartment then have to pay the landlord in advance with 2 months deposit and 1 month advance even though one have not yet consume the proceeding month. It is the strict policy of every owner to their tenants. if on fail to pay the monthly dues they are given a warning to pay its dues. After the lapses the renter should need to find another house to rent or else the landlord would be going to file a cases against the renter. It is also hard to find a cheap dwelling that is decent as they are always expensive. Then, if you opt to find a cheaper one it could be like a boarding house where you have other companion. Then, their is also other option to rent a room and the comfort room is shared also by the other people, as it is call a common toilet. All could used it is call unisex bathroom and comfort room in one. Then, if you really are sensitive then have to rent apartment which really cost high which are of better quality and more safer to live. I could say that nothing beat the comfort to live in your own home as you could do what you like as renovate or improve it with no disturbance from other settlers. Thus,one could have your own house if you are working then apply for housing loan which is payable depending on the square foot areas of your house and lot. Then, some people prefer to borrow money from the bank which they also pay monthly, or quarterly depending on the contract which could be payable within 5, 10 or up to 20 years.
@agv0419 (3022)
• Philippines
31 Oct 09
Yes I agree it is very hard to rent a house most especially it is difficult to deal with your landlord. We also experienced that for 12 years our parents renting a house and we hate our landlandy because sometimes they intervening with our life. She don't want us to use radio or tv longer because that time we don't have electric meter of our own so she divided the bills among her tenants. I hate her because everytime our mother is not around she gets angry with us I don't know why.
@doryvien (2284)
• United States
31 Oct 09
After selling my townhouse a year ago my family has been renting an apartment. I have a good business relationship with the owner, probably because I never missed any payment. I must say she's a good landlady because she is attentive to her tenants' needs and complaints. As for me, as much as possible I stick to the provisions of the contract to avoid conflicts.
@nojazz (28)
• Philippines
31 Oct 09
Before, I used to rent a room because of my work. There was no problem at all with regards to my relationship with the landlord. The secret... just pay the rent on time. If not, well they will treat you badly, just what the other tenants have experienced.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
31 Oct 09
hi airasheila well mine is a bit different ,I am a resident of Gold crest a retirement center. here we pay with our social security checks and ss i checks, and I get back one hundred' twenty five dollar from that for personal expenses.one reason why I mylot a lot so I can make extra money to pay for my internet and so far I have only had to pay an extra couple of dollars as mylot earnings have covered all the rest. whoohoo. We pay rent and board monthly from our checks that are sent directly to Gold Crest management. I have had to adjust to two roommates as one passed away. my roommate now is a very nice lady so no problem at all.
@jeiay41 (674)
• United States
31 Oct 09
We've been renting an apartment for decades now and we have seen multiple attitudes of different kind of people. Some are nice, some are rude and some just don't really care at all and all it need is a shelter to live in. But to be able to act right to a landlord you should know as tenant what the landlord rules he tell you. If you follow his guidelines their will no reason to have an complicated relationship between the two of you.
• United States
31 Oct 09
We rent the house that we are in now, we just moved in here 13 months ago but we have had the same landlords for 6 years and they are great. The old house we lived in was decent but it didn't have much of a yard and since the kids were getting older we wanted a place that had a bigger yard so we could all have a place to play. This place was coming empty so we asked the landlords about it and we were about to just go ahead and move from the old place to this new place. Our landlords here are great but we also make sure that we are decent tenants in the fact that we always pay our rent on time and we respect the house. I think the renting and being a landlord can be risky on both parts because there are both slum tenants as well as slumlords.
@lealuvy2j (1986)
• Philippines
31 Oct 09
During my college days, I have to rent because the school I went to is far from our home and I have encountered different landlords and most of them are irritating and greedy. I guess the best way to deal with them is to not let them get to you. Be cool and relax when you talk to them or try to reach a compromise with them.
31 Oct 09
I am renting a room in a block at the moment but will soon be moving into my own place which will be much better. I have dealings with my Landlord every week and a half or two weeks. Basically the Landlord or Manager comes to check my room every weekend and I pay my rent every two weeks.
• Philippines
31 Oct 09
We have our own home. I live with my three children and a house helper. I have rented a room with other people before when I was still a student. We were four in a room and we pay per person. It wasn't hard for us to adjust to each other. Everyone in the room was likable and we blended with each other well. The landlord lived at the other house. She was not hard to deal with and we did not have any problem at all. Maybe she had problems with the other tenants in terms of collecting our monthly rent. But she was very understanding.
@swezax (5)
• United States
30 Oct 09
The first thing we have to accept is that other person is a LANDLORD and we have rented his/her residence for our short term need. And hence we are supposed to follow normal rules and regulations agreed upon, although both of us need each other equally. It is also true that we have to adjust to our LANDLORD as well as other TENANTS, if there are any to live peacefully. Landlords and tenants are both equally important and both must co-operate with each other and also adjust with other tenants. Have you ever thought existence of a tenant without a landlord and vice versa? Regarding legitimate refund of your deposit, the landlord is legally bound to refund you promptly without any delay before any demand or complaint from your side once you have fulfilled your obligation/duty of handing over possession. In most of such cases, repeated polite requests or intervention by some commonly known good persons solves the problem amicably. However, in spite of you being patient, if your landlord does not refund your deposit, unfortunately, only course open to you is approaching local legal authority, which I presume, is reasonably functional in your esteemed country. Wish you early happy refund without involving any third party.
• United States
31 Oct 09
The most important thing is to "interview" your future landlord while he is interviewing you. Even then, when they seem like a great person, you never know. One of my landlords seemed like a great guy. Decent place for a decent price. I put the deposit down and he said that the person living there would be gone in 2 weeks and I could move in then. We agreed but the person living there did not leave and the landlord had no problem with that and told me to share the room with him (there was barely enough room for one bed). In the end, I had to stand my ground. I asked for my deposit back and he avoided me for 2 months. Eventually I had to wait on his doorstep; as I needed the money back for another deposit - yes, I was still looking for a place 2 months later because of this guy. I finally caught up with him and he threatened to call the police on me. When I started dialing myself, he offered half the deposit, which I of course refused. Long story short, I left with 75% of my deposit and was glad to be done with this sad excuse of a man. Thankfully after him, I found a landlord that seemed very weird and suspicious, but he ended up being the best landlord I could ever ask for. In the end, you just need to stand your ground and do what is best for you. Just because they are your landlord doesn't mean they can boss you around. Always get everything in writing in case something goes wrong. If you need a deposit back, get it back. If they couldn't keep their side of the deal, then you deserve all your money back - but don't forget that time is the most valuable asset.