House Sharing In Letterkenny

rikerdonegal

Has anyone had a bad year with new housemates?

I've been living in the same house for many years and it's been a great experience. Many ex-housemates have become close friends.

Until this past 13 months, when the house has seen no less than 5 nightmare people in a row!! We've had everything thrown at us. Money was stolen, our front door was kicked in, our ESB bill tripled, etc. "No. 5" disappeared for a month, but sublet the room to a couple without telling the rest of us. :eek:

It's been crazy and surreal, this past 14 months. Funny, really, if it wasn't happening to me/us. We've had young/old, straight/gay, Irish/non-Irish, and male/female. And every combination has been a disaster. What's left to try?

Anyway, "No. 5" has agreed to leave and the ad goes back in Dealer next week.

Is it just me? Or is it suddenly impossible to get a nice normal housemate in this town anymore?

Share your funny/horror stories...

Senna

You know what they say, 6th ones a charm:D
Just a run of bad luck which is bound to turn with the next tenant. Do you ask for references?

rikerdonegal

Senna wrote: »

You know what they say, 6th ones a charm:D

LOL

References is a good idea, thanks.

We never needed to do it in years gone by. I suppose people were just nicer or something in the good old days (2006, 2007, etc. ) and I didn't want to ask for references last year (even after a couple of bad experiences) because I noticed that there are fewer calls now after an ad goes in. So, thinking we'd be unlikely to have bad luck yet again, there seemed to be no point in giving a decent person a reason not to bother phoning. If you know what I mean.

But, in light of the fact that our most recent co-tenant moved two complete strangers into the house one Thursday afternoon, I suppose it is time to ask for references and be prepared to wait a month or two to find someone who can prove that they are, you know, nice.

digital pimp

hmmmmm

sounds fimilar,
do you watch the listener rikerdonegal? lol

just bad luck im afraid

tatabubbly

I think you had a bad run of it.

Now i have the same (kinda) problem. I'm in kildare and thankfully moving out however one of our compadres just left us stuck for the last two months rent!

As i'm moving to lk, i have to say it's pretty hard to find a house without weirdo people in them (those that you know will freak you out in the middle of the night), and those not opposed to you having any guests over... I'm talking about younger sisters here, not hoards of men..

rikerdonegal

tatabubbly wrote: »

Now i have the same (kinda) problem. I'm in kildare and thankfully moving out however one of our compadres just left us stuck for the last two months rent!

Yeah, that happened here, too. But, in a turn of events that surprised me, the person's employers (who had vouched for them before they moved in) covered all the expenses so that I, personally, wasn't left high and dry. That amazed me. It was the Friars Rest, by the way, and I don't really know them except to go in and get a bag of chips every so often, but when the person in question left town and I mentioned that I had been left with the bills, they told me to call in later that week and get the money needed. Very nice of them, I thought, to stand over their verbal reference. It was their suggestion, too, as I never would have thought of it, but I was very grateful for it, I can tell you. (The person in question made a lot of calls to a mobile number in the North. That bill was a nice surprise :eek: )

tatabubbly wrote: »

As i'm moving to lk, i have to say it's pretty hard to find a house without weirdo people in them (those that you know will freak you out in the middle of the night), and those not opposed to you having any guests over... I'm talking about younger sisters here, not hoards of men..

LOL

Yeah, the three of us that are left have been trading stories this week of nightmare people we've shared with over the years. One had a housemate who awoke at 5am to chant loudly and couldn't do it downstairs (where nobody could hear him), he had to do it in his bedroom. Everyone eventually asked him to leave, apparently.

Takes all sorts, I guess.

If you ever move into my house, I won't mind you having hoards of men round, but... I might insist that you also bring hoards of your single female friends round for tea

tatabubbly

rikerdonegal wrote: »

If you ever move into my house, I won't mind you having hoards of men round, but... I might insist that you also bring hoards of your single female friends round for tea

LOL That would be grand.............. oh and i love tea! But being younger appaently makes landlords think you're like a party maniac...
I love nothing better than to just watch a dvd, read my book in bed with a bottle of bud :pac:

Nah, i like going out but like landlords i find at home are all about the "professionals". I'm only out of college?? Am i now a professional?

But i love lk, it's so relaxed!

rikerdonegal

I know what you and we've been guilty of that, too. Some of the ads we've placed over the years have specified "professionals only" for that exact reason.

Since none of us want to share with a 7 night a week party maniac, and there's no obvious way of saying that without sounding very dull indeed, so we end up finding other ways to say it. The whole "professional" thing - which always sounds/sounded a bit pompous to me - is a way to indicate that we're a sensible enough bunch, while still being open to getting drunk and stumbling in at 3am ourselves.

It's a delicate balance. Years ago, I submitted a funny ad to the Dealer but they rejected it and asked for a more sensible/typical/boring one instead. I think my funny one would have been terrific, but they won't run ones like that.

"Professional" implies lots of stuff that has nothing to do with age or employment status, I suppose. I didn't include it this time. What I really wanted to say was "No more liars or thieves, please" but I tried the whole References request for the first time. We'll see how that goes. It'll probably mean no phone calls at all for two weeks.

For the record, none of the five nightmare housemates were students and none of our problems had anything to do with drinking or partys or late nights or any normal stuff. Indeed, I've shared with students over the years and it was never a problem.

tatabubbly

Ya that's cos us students are too boring really to do anything as adventurous as your other housemates escapades!
BTW, what is the average now for a double room in letterkenny? I've been looking and i've seen places for 80e a week! That's terribble rates cos that's what i pay in kildare (on the commuter belt for dublin)...

But housemates i tend to find are people who are very inreliable, unless you know them well. I live with 4 other girls, well 3 other girls now, nobody bothers to wash a plate, the house is filthy, and they never leave out the rubbbish.... i can't wait to get away! I'm a bit of a clean person, i like things to be clean

rikerdonegal

80! yikes, I would have thought they were all in the range of 50/60 or so. I'm not much of an expert, to be honest, and I don't have a copy of The Dealer this week so I can't check for ya.

I presume the higher ones include all of the bills, so it probably works out the same over a longer period.

digital pimp

Having been looking recently,
the average is 50 euro, regardless of the state of the house lol

ive had to live with some messy people too, nothing more annoying!

tatabubbly

digital pimp wrote: »

ive had to live with some messy people too, nothing more annoying!

Ya, fag butts in every glass in the house is what i put up with. I simply refuse to do it in lk. 50e seems the norm, was checking on daft.ie

But i didn't know people where so picky. The cheapest place in lk is going for 160e month however the pre-request is that your over 25.. I'm over 25 in my head but just not in body! Have people gone bonkers in donegal?? I don't even think in dublin that i had to show 3 references... or anything crazy like that..

rikerdonegal

tatabubbly wrote: »

Ya, fag butts in every glass in the house is what i put up with.

Seriously? Yuck. I thought I was badly off (before Xmas, there) when we had a guy who wouldn't vacuum the hall, etc., when it was his turn!