bigdirty
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2013
- Messages
- 652
Hey people, I have a tough situation on my hands.. looking for insight, ideas/thoughts? This is gona be a bit of a read, just warning you...
Quick rundown here, I'm currently living i my basement and renting my house (3 bdrm, 2 bath, all appliances, laundry, huge yard, etc) to a girl and her two boys, 6 and 12. She has them about 15 days out of every month, give or take. I've known this girl for years, we actually dated a few times over the years, but are strictly FRIENDS now. I've given her a very good deal on rent, as she was in a bind (previous landlords defaulted on their mortgage, lost the house) and she didn't have a lot of cash to play with on short notice. So i waived the 'first and last' and its basically 'all inclusive' for about 1/2 of what i could potentially rent this place for in my opinion. She also has access to my shop to smoke/hang out (its a non smoking house) and the hot tub as well. Anyway, things worked out fairly well since september of last year when she moved in, but the last few months have been getting steadily worse and worse..
For starters, back in early December her idiot brother roped her into 'watching' his dog while he goes out west for 6-8 months. (I was ripped off by her brother for a boat motor/money a while back, and have no use for the guy to begin with) His dog is a 12 year old chocolate lab /wolf hound cross with next to no training, barks pretty much non stop, and is just a general nuisance. scratches at doors, gets into garbage, does his business wherever he feels like (in the house, on the deck, on my car, driveway, anywhere) just a bad dog overall.. After a week I told her I didn't want that animal here, she comes back with 'landlord tenant act' bs, and says i "can't" tell her she cant have her dog. She buys a muzzle and a crate, puts the dog upstairs when shes not home.. ok, i'll let it be for now..
Last month the hydro bill comes in.. over THREE TIMES what it was. I have a talk with her (I expected it to likely double with her here yes, but this was a bit much I thought..) and she made a few remarks about my oil-electric heater I use in my appt, and the hot tub.. either way, she gives me a bit of cash, so ok... then this month the hydro bill comes in , and its even higher. I'm talking FOUR TIMES what i used to pay. I called to make sure, and rates/delivery have not increased drastically, it is simply the usage. And so the issue comes to a head; I tell her, and she becomes very defensive and points a finger at ME saying "Well I thought you said when I moved in you had these things all figured out?" and "you know the hot tub is probably sucking a lot of power, and the furnace is running a lot because its been so cold!"
Just to be clear, yes, I realize a hot tub is a big consumer, but Ive done the math here folks, and at WORST (its a 110, running aprox 20 hours a day, factoring in peak and off peak rates), its likely costing $60-$70 /month to run. I just can't see it increasing my hydro bill by 300%.. AND she has used it, no word of a lie, almost as much as me. And at this point, if i drain it and shut it down I risk something freezing up or cracking a line or something, and its destroyed. So much for my $500 invested in it...
Just for comparison, before she moved in, my average hydro bill was under $100. after she moved in, and with hot tub running (put it in in late October) average hydro was $250. nov/dec bill was $340, latest (dec/jan) was over $400.
I should also point out that I got laid off beginning of Jan, and had already spent any and all 'savings' I had on my pos car throughout November and December, so I'm a little tight for money at this point...
Now, I tried to point a few things out to her; Countless times I have walked out of my shop, and seen her entrance door WIDE OPEN. (only the screen door shut) We are talking the dead of winter here people, wtf?!?!? Also, sometimes when her kids are here she will cook a meal and offer me a plate.. decent, thank you, but when I go into the kitchen and see the oven (electric) is still on @400F 30-40 mins AFTER she has made dinner, and its during PEAK hydro times, i get a little bothered.. not to mention the old CRT tv she has, that her kids leave ON almost 247, running the dishwasher almost every nite and doing laundry 3 times a week, usually during peak times. (electric water heater, and dryer) To top things off, she actually had the nerve to point at my LED rope light over the hot tub and say "That's always on, it has to be using hydro.." ahem, ya, just for poop and haha, I did the math on THAT one... yup, costs about $0.43 A MONTH to run that 6' string... :facepalm:
The big kicker here, is that during this latest 'talk' we just had, she brought up the fact that she is very bothered that i could 'even think she's taking advantage of me' and 'what does that say for how good of friends we are?' (which is funny, cause its probably half the reason I AM so bothered, as I don't like feeling like a FRIEND who I've helped out is taking me for a ride..) Oh, and she did say she will try to make sure the door gets shut, conserve hydro and all, but 'she's not gona be my little renter b!tc4 and do whatever i say' Those were her exact words. Now, I'm thinking, I'm the landlord, I can say what the rules are.. not the other way around. Its not like I'm that hard to get along with, but i do have to draw a line somewhere.. I guess i just expect a certain amount of respect considering its MY name on the mortgage, and i can only be rubbed the wrong way so much.. I have tried the talking like adults thing, here are the facts, but she just gets her back up, starts pointing fingers at me, and basically acts like a child.
This is really not worth the hassle anymore to me.. what would you folks do?
Quick rundown here, I'm currently living i my basement and renting my house (3 bdrm, 2 bath, all appliances, laundry, huge yard, etc) to a girl and her two boys, 6 and 12. She has them about 15 days out of every month, give or take. I've known this girl for years, we actually dated a few times over the years, but are strictly FRIENDS now. I've given her a very good deal on rent, as she was in a bind (previous landlords defaulted on their mortgage, lost the house) and she didn't have a lot of cash to play with on short notice. So i waived the 'first and last' and its basically 'all inclusive' for about 1/2 of what i could potentially rent this place for in my opinion. She also has access to my shop to smoke/hang out (its a non smoking house) and the hot tub as well. Anyway, things worked out fairly well since september of last year when she moved in, but the last few months have been getting steadily worse and worse..
For starters, back in early December her idiot brother roped her into 'watching' his dog while he goes out west for 6-8 months. (I was ripped off by her brother for a boat motor/money a while back, and have no use for the guy to begin with) His dog is a 12 year old chocolate lab /wolf hound cross with next to no training, barks pretty much non stop, and is just a general nuisance. scratches at doors, gets into garbage, does his business wherever he feels like (in the house, on the deck, on my car, driveway, anywhere) just a bad dog overall.. After a week I told her I didn't want that animal here, she comes back with 'landlord tenant act' bs, and says i "can't" tell her she cant have her dog. She buys a muzzle and a crate, puts the dog upstairs when shes not home.. ok, i'll let it be for now..
Last month the hydro bill comes in.. over THREE TIMES what it was. I have a talk with her (I expected it to likely double with her here yes, but this was a bit much I thought..) and she made a few remarks about my oil-electric heater I use in my appt, and the hot tub.. either way, she gives me a bit of cash, so ok... then this month the hydro bill comes in , and its even higher. I'm talking FOUR TIMES what i used to pay. I called to make sure, and rates/delivery have not increased drastically, it is simply the usage. And so the issue comes to a head; I tell her, and she becomes very defensive and points a finger at ME saying "Well I thought you said when I moved in you had these things all figured out?" and "you know the hot tub is probably sucking a lot of power, and the furnace is running a lot because its been so cold!"
Just to be clear, yes, I realize a hot tub is a big consumer, but Ive done the math here folks, and at WORST (its a 110, running aprox 20 hours a day, factoring in peak and off peak rates), its likely costing $60-$70 /month to run. I just can't see it increasing my hydro bill by 300%.. AND she has used it, no word of a lie, almost as much as me. And at this point, if i drain it and shut it down I risk something freezing up or cracking a line or something, and its destroyed. So much for my $500 invested in it...
Just for comparison, before she moved in, my average hydro bill was under $100. after she moved in, and with hot tub running (put it in in late October) average hydro was $250. nov/dec bill was $340, latest (dec/jan) was over $400.
I should also point out that I got laid off beginning of Jan, and had already spent any and all 'savings' I had on my pos car throughout November and December, so I'm a little tight for money at this point...
Now, I tried to point a few things out to her; Countless times I have walked out of my shop, and seen her entrance door WIDE OPEN. (only the screen door shut) We are talking the dead of winter here people, wtf?!?!? Also, sometimes when her kids are here she will cook a meal and offer me a plate.. decent, thank you, but when I go into the kitchen and see the oven (electric) is still on @400F 30-40 mins AFTER she has made dinner, and its during PEAK hydro times, i get a little bothered.. not to mention the old CRT tv she has, that her kids leave ON almost 247, running the dishwasher almost every nite and doing laundry 3 times a week, usually during peak times. (electric water heater, and dryer) To top things off, she actually had the nerve to point at my LED rope light over the hot tub and say "That's always on, it has to be using hydro.." ahem, ya, just for poop and haha, I did the math on THAT one... yup, costs about $0.43 A MONTH to run that 6' string... :facepalm:
The big kicker here, is that during this latest 'talk' we just had, she brought up the fact that she is very bothered that i could 'even think she's taking advantage of me' and 'what does that say for how good of friends we are?' (which is funny, cause its probably half the reason I AM so bothered, as I don't like feeling like a FRIEND who I've helped out is taking me for a ride..) Oh, and she did say she will try to make sure the door gets shut, conserve hydro and all, but 'she's not gona be my little renter b!tc4 and do whatever i say' Those were her exact words. Now, I'm thinking, I'm the landlord, I can say what the rules are.. not the other way around. Its not like I'm that hard to get along with, but i do have to draw a line somewhere.. I guess i just expect a certain amount of respect considering its MY name on the mortgage, and i can only be rubbed the wrong way so much.. I have tried the talking like adults thing, here are the facts, but she just gets her back up, starts pointing fingers at me, and basically acts like a child.
This is really not worth the hassle anymore to me.. what would you folks do?
