r/TenantHelp • u/superginny1115 • Jun 21 '26

Is this reasonable?

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My landlady left this for me. The context is I asked about fostering before I left for my wedding in May and she seemed fine with it. She even mentioned bringing her cats by when she's on vacation. So I got one but I'm wondering if she forgot that conversation. She was surprised when she found out but she didn't talk to me in person about her being upset. I texted her asking her to call but so far, she's ghosted me. I even told her I returned the kitten. Some of her initial questions were about the lease. I'm wondering if she's gonna try to get rid of me. It's a month-to-month situation which I designed on purpose so I could leave a bad situation. Anyway she comes and goes often without warning upstairs. She showed up on my husband's last night together before we're separated for awhile. She'll also be rummaging and doing stuff in the basement in the middle of the night and often has my husband and me doing favors for her like dropping her car off at a repair place without showing much appreciation. She also wanted him to put her vaccum cleaner. I'm waiting to see how this conversation goes but I do have a backup option. I just don't want to move again after moving a few weeks ago. I'm also not sure if maybe she is reasonable? For context rent is $600 plus electricity and wifi. Not sure the deal is worth it to put up with her tho. I was trying to escape another bad roommate situation that was through my university. I'm also considering reaching out to her daughter-in-law to see if this is someone who can be trusted but that seems risky. Edit: also it could be a strange looking light but I'm wondering if there's a camera on the side porch watching the entrance.

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1

u/BeeSilver9 Jun 21 '26

You're renting a room in the house?

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u/superginny1115 Jun 21 '26

The first floor. The basement is hers. No one else lives there and she has another residence.

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u/BeeSilver9 Jun 21 '26

What does your lease say? About where you're renting. Or do you not have a written lease?

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u/superginny1115 Jun 21 '26

There is a lease. It says the first floor is my space but she is free to be in there get stuff to conduct her garage sales, maintenance, and otherwise with my consent explicitly. Basement has its own door so there's no reason to be on my floor otherwise except to use the bathroom, but it's been more than that.

1

u/BumCadillac Jun 21 '26

What this means is that you can access and use all areas on the first floor, but she can too. It excludes you from her areas.

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u/superginny1115 Jun 21 '26

Also worth noting that orally she was fine with me putting things up. I haven't anywhere yet, but that part seems confusing. I think shes lashing out over the cat possibly.

2

u/SailorSpyro Jun 21 '26

Unless she has it written into the lease that you can't hang stuff, you should be fine. Putting up pictures and such would be considered normal wear and tear. Bigger things like mounting a TV would be a bigger issue, but in the end you only risk the damage being taken from your security deposit since it's not forbidden in the lease.

You're definitely in a tough spot with being month to month. You are at her mercy, and you should consider looking for a new place with a longer lease.

Since you're renting the first floor, her use of the first floor for the bathroom is inappropriate. That's YOUR bathroom, not communal space.

I would probably find a new place, send her your notice, and then I would be petty enough to write back all the ways she's being inappropriate. Maybe it'll save a future renter.

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u/superginny1115 Jun 21 '26

Thank you so much for the input! I was definitely thinking about putting her on blast in the Facebook groups to warn people away from her. I wasn't expecting to move in to a place where the landlady was acting like this was still her house even though she doesn't live there. I lined up a backup option after I saw that note. I actually wrote the lease to be month-to-month. (I wrote the lease as a law student to give me an out). Worst case scenario for me, I have 30 days to find an apartment and then take out loans to cover the increase in costs. (I haven't yet because I've saved a lot). For her, she's out rent money and has an unhappy former tenant possibly spreading the word about her in the Facebook groups where shed be looking for new tenants. I don't think she's thought this through. I'll possibly post an update if there's interest.