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adytum

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noir_blood

I think you might have somewhat of a harder time than normal, simply because you're going in there as a couple. That just opens up a can of worms(what if you break up? Do I really want to hear sex noise/fight noise every night?) that some people just aren't going to want to deal with. Then there's your requirement of a master bedroom and all.

That said, as long as you're fine with agreeing to everyone paying their equal amount of rent- If five people including you guys live in the house, then everything is split five ways, rather than three ways and then you guys as one entity, then you should find something.

adytum

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Dropping Loads

I say this in just about every housing/landlord/tenant thread, so here it goes again: These types of things are highly sensitive to the rules of your local municipality and can be different even if you move to a nearby town. Where I live (Berkeley, CA), a landlord is NOT obligated to offer a residence for more people than he desires to live in a space, but if he did choose to allow more to live there, he would not be able to charge more for it. Reading your local rent control rules will help with this.

adytum

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Dropping Loads

adytum wrote: »

I'm intimately familiar with the landlord-tenant laws of my state, and for individual renters they boil down to

Landlord: Do whatever you want.

Renter: Fuck you.

So that's no help. But thanks.

This is expressly why I brought it up though. These laws AREN'T state by state, they are town by town. Maybe you'll be able to find something more favorable if you look at the city's webpage.

Other than that, I think that noir_blood points out the reasons why a landlord might not want to have a couple when they are looking for a single person, and you can probably expect even the most generous landlord to take away the "utilities included" portion of the rent. I think you'll do better with options where the landlord is not also a tenant. Housing always takes time to find the right place, so you'll probably come out just fine as long as you keep looking diligently. Having letters from previous landlords and proof that you are a hard working student-employee who is rarely around will help your case, and you should submit that with your initial applications.

badger2d

A few years ago when I was moving in with my GF we got turned down time and time again because we were a couple. It was almost a year before we got a place, and that was just because another couple we knew decided to move to our city and we found a vacant two-bedroom to sign a new lease on with them.

Never got a thing from looking for shared housing. I wish you the best of luck and I fear you'll need it.

adytum

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Improvolone

I don't know why you're arguing with people saying you're going to have a hard time and for the reasons you will.

But yes, you will have a harder time than not.

adytum

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Dropping Loads

adytum wrote: »

....multi quote snip....
Are you talking about the landlord-tenant laws, or something else?

Because the landlord-tenant information for my county says "Please see the state landlord-tenant act." There's no rent control, it's all contract based. Landlords (of individual properties) can do whatever they want.

I'm not sure what else you mean.

That is what I meant for you to check. Sorry there's no local options to help you out.


Edit: This may not appeal to you, but you could consider looking at Co-ops, if there are any in your area. It's a bit more dorm like, but you could probably live as a couple.

Sir Carcass

adytum wrote: »

What I'm asking is, if a rental is advertised as $900 for a master bedroom, utilities included, is it reasonable for us, as a couple, to expect to be able to be able to secure the lease for the advertised amount?

Whether it's reasonable or not is more suited for D&D, but you'll most likely have trouble finding a landlord that will agree to this.

khain

I don't think it's reasonable to think that if a rental is advertised at price for a single person in a room then a couple would pay the same amount as the price quoted doesn't just include the space. If utilities are included then a couple is going to use more than a single person so there's added cost and I wouldn't expect the landlord to just eat it. Presumably there is also additional living space like a kitchen, living room and potentially shared bathrooms if the master doesn't have one all of which a couple will use more than a single person. The problem then becomes how much extra a couple should potentially pay, but at the very least I think you should expect to have to cover the extra utilities used.

oldsak

Typically when someone lists a room available in a share, he's really only looking to rent it out to an individual. Dealing with roommates can be a pain in the ass, and finding someone who is willing to deal with one whole extra person at the same rate is unlikely and probably unreasonable of you to expect.

Lewisham

I lived with people who were a couple, but they had their own rooms. While having two people in a room is a fuck (usually the living space is only designed to hold as many people as there are rooms), the likelihood you will find housemates willing to deal with the aggravation is low. People are worried about you guys arguing, you guys splitting up, you guys having sex or PDA in the living area, being outvoted or ganged up upon...

It's a very hard, very difficult position you are putting yourselves in.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Many if not all states have controlling statutes governing landlord-tenant relationships.

Not to say that particular local rules are unimportant, but the big issues are normally a matter of state law.

Robos A Go Go

We do not want to rent our "own" place (as, among other reasons, it's prohibitively expensive in the areas we want to live) which is what I suspect most couples do?

You could compensate for the extra expense by finding a roommate or two. It'll be more work, but I imagine you could move into a place and find roommates in much less time than it'd take to find a bunch of singles who want to live with a couple.

Monoxide

Robos A Go Go wrote: »

We do not want to rent our "own" place (as, among other reasons, it's prohibitively expensive in the areas we want to live) which is what I suspect most couples do?

You could compensate for the extra expense by finding a roommate or two. It'll be more work, but I imagine you could move into a place and find roommates in much less time than it'd take to find a bunch of singles who want to live with a couple.

This is what I was going to suggest too. It'd be a lot easier to find something like a three or four bedroom place, and pick up some extra roommates who are already aware of one of the rooms being occupied by a couple, than it would to try and convince someone looking to fill one room with one person to allow two instead.

Or, you could see if you could find a place with two rooms available, and pay for the two rooms. Depending on housing/rental prices in your city, that could still end up cheaper.

You should also let us know what city and neighborhoods you're talking about here, since that would make it easier to suggest alternatives to just renting a place for the two of you.

badpoet

Getting your own place and picking roommate(s) would probably be a better option. I know people who have more "communal" style houses, but they generally wouldn't take a couple for a number of reasons already mentioned (bigger drama if someone decides to sleep around, break-ups, fights, etc). If you think about it from that perspective, you'll understand why people are saying it could be tough. That all being said, I really would caution against getting just one room for the two of you. Yes, in a house there tends to be other areas for people to go to get away, but keep in mind this that everywhere else is a shared space. I lived in a studio apartment with one of my ex's and don't often need "alone time" as a person, but after a few weeks I was ready to jump out a window. We ended up getting a two bedroom place so both of us would have a room or two to go when we wanted to get away.

adytum

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Robos A Go Go

If $750 is what you two are paying individually, then why couldn't you afford a place at $2200 or so a month? You'd pay $1500 for your share, losing nothing, and need only $700 from a roommate to cover the rest.

Additionally, what would your prospects be if you considered renting a place with more than 2 Bedrooms? With two roommates and four people contributing a normal amount of rent to the household, you could afford to rent a place at $3000 a month, assuming you and your significant other don't need to cut your monthly living expenses from what you're paying as singles.

adytum

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Robos A Go Go

adytum wrote: »

I currently pay $500 a month in rent + utils, so $600 a month. I live with 4 other people in a 3bed/1bath converted into a 5bed/2bath. It's shitty, which is why it's so cheap. She currently pays $0 in rent and does not live in the area. We can afford to pay about $900 a month between the two of us.

Renting a 3BR+ would mean subletting. Isn't that frequently prohibited by leases? I know my current lease explicitly forbids subletting of any kind.

My old roommate sublet two rooms of his three bedroom to myself and my other roommate, and I've encountered similar arrangements in the Boston area. I don't know how things are where you are, though.

VisionOfClarity

What city are you in?

VisionOfClarity

Robos A Go Go wrote: »

adytum wrote: »

I currently pay $500 a month in rent + utils, so $600 a month. I live with 4 other people in a 3bed/1bath converted into a 5bed/2bath. It's shitty, which is why it's so cheap. She currently pays $0 in rent and does not live in the area. We can afford to pay about $900 a month between the two of us.

Renting a 3BR+ would mean subletting. Isn't that frequently prohibited by leases? I know my current lease explicitly forbids subletting of any kind.

My old roommate sublet two rooms of his three bedroom to myself and my other roommate, and I've encountered similar arrangements in the Boston area. I don't know how things are where you are, though.

This thread is starting to sound a lot like Boston to me. Especially with the September move-in time.

Robos A Go Go

If he is in the Boston area, there's a master bedroom in my apartment he might want to look at.

Esh

When I'm looking for roommates or apartments, I refuse to live with couples. Too many variables and they tend to take over the entire apartment.

You're best off just getting a nice sized one bedroom.

Grundlestiltskin

A 1BR for $900 a month could be a stretch depending on the area. I paid $1000 for a studio outside of Boston that was pretty tiny. It's definitely much cheaper when you get into the 2+ BRs and split, but that'd be tricky as a couple unless you knew the other tenants.

adytum

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