suppleasthewind Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I own a two unit house with upper and lower apartments. There is a shared front door and entryway. It is a beautiful 4 feet by six feet space with woodwork and stained glass windows. My first tenant completely decorated it with tons of curtains, carpet and fragile antiques. I told her that my twins are two and get into stuff. She was outraged and moved everything. My next tenant completely took over the space as well and actually blocked my apartments access to it with furniture. I never said anything. Now it is empty and before we find new tenants I would like to set new rules. First of all, do a lot of people do this? I never did this as a renter and find it quite bizarre. How can I word the lease to keep new tenants from filling this nice shared space with tons of stuff? I need this to be a nice clean space that my clients can enter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suppleasthewind Posted December 8, 2011 Author Share Posted December 8, 2011 I know the title sounds boring but I can add some drama! I have a lot of baggage about this space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I had kind of a similar situation. I have twice taken in a boarder wherein the boarder exchanged cleaning services for rent. My first boarder was painfully shy and kept to herself or the kitchen. Sometimes if we were not home she might read on the couch, but would disappear the instant we arrived home. I was fine with that. Our second boarder, on the other hand, treated her kitchen access and access to my home as carte blanche. She always expected to cook a nice dinner at the same time that I was cooking dinner for my family, AND she expected to have her fiance over for dinner every. single. day. Yes, every single day. In that particular house we have a formal dining room as well as a breakfast nook in the kitchen. She and her fiance would sit at whatever table my family was NOT sitting at. It was like eating in a restaurant, and really kind of weird. She and her fiance also regularly took over our living room to watch movies or the dining room to work on wedding stuff, without ever once checking with me ahead of time. I didn't like it much, but knew that her time with us was only for the year until she married, so we just put up with it. For your shared foyer, I would add to the lease something like this: "Foyer access will be shared by tenant and landlord, providing access for both to their separate living areas. Foyer area will be under landlord's control and jurisdiction, and tenant will keep foyer free of possessions unless given explicit written permission by landlord." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suppleasthewind Posted December 8, 2011 Author Share Posted December 8, 2011 I really like the wording. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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