House-share problem

who what when

Hi my friend (female) is currently sharing a house with 2 guys, one of whom is the owner of the house and shouldnt even be there.

Now she has a pretty nice room complete with jacuzzi. Thing is she goes home most weekends and locks her room everytime.
However while she's away she suspects the landlord lets himself into her room to use the jacuzzi. In fact she doesnt suspect, she knows. Lets just say he doesnt clean up very well after himself!

Question is how do we catch him in the act? Is this allowed?
What should she do?

Keptic

who what when wrote: »

What should she do?

Talk to him - honestly and calmly.

the_syco

Have a sh|t in the jacuzzi. Photograph it, and close the door. When your friend comes back, check is the sh|t still there, or if it has been replaced with another sh|t. If replaced, ask the landlord why he had a sh|t in the jacuzzi?

questionmark?

the_syco wrote: »

Have a sh|t in the jacuzzi. Photograph it, and close the door. When your friend comes back, check is the sh|t still there, or if it has been replaced with another sh|t. If replaced, ask the landlord why he had a sh|t in the jacuzzi?

After Hours is this way http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=7.

OP you have to talk to your landlord stating an intrusion into your rented room will be seeing as a breach of your tenancy agreement, of course said in the nicest possible way first.

who what when

Keptic wrote: »

Talk to him - honestly and calmly.

the_syco wrote: »

Have a sh|t in the jacuzzi. Photograph it, and close the door. When your friend comes back, check is the sh|t still there, or if it has been replaced with another sh|t. If replaced, ask the landlord why he had a sh|t in the jacuzzi?

Oddly enough i wasnt expecting either of these replies to be honest.
Might just suggest the first one, cheers.
The second not so much.....

ArtSmart

jacuzzi in her bathroom? -so not fair!

who what when

questionmark? wrote: »

OP you have to talk to your landlord stating an intrusion into your rented room will be seeing as a breach of your tenancy agreement, of course said in the nicest possible way first.

Yeah well again its a valid point but he can always just deny it!
Ideally i'd like proof. What i was thinking was to put a glass of wine just inside the door so when he comes in he would knock it over and leave a stain on the carpet. Therefore he absolutely cant deny it!

questionmark?

who what when wrote: »

Yeah well again its a valid point but he can always just deny it!
Ideally i'd like proof. What i was thinking was to put a glass of wine just inside the door so when he comes in he would knock it over and leave a stain on the carpet. Therefore he absolutely cant deny it!

Thats a cracking idea leave a glass of red wine behind the door, that stain will only come out with some serious scrubbing!

who what when

ArtSmart wrote: »

jacuzzi in her bathroom? -so not fair!

Yeah nice alright. Oddly the fact that the landlord and his girlfriend spending their saturday nights in it somewhat takes from it!

jenny jinks

There are two things you can do. One is take the lock out of the door to your room and replace it with a lock of the same size but with a different key.
The other option is to put a sign on the wall of the room with the jacuzzi stating that there is a hidden camera monitoring the jacuzzi.

HardyEustace

If she hasn't signed a lease then I'd just tell her to hand in her notice and move.

It's creepy and invasive and shows a very distinct lack of respect for your friend and her privacy and her rights.

I remember a few people have made the comment on a few points that when you get to the stage where you're keeping toilet roll in your room, that's a flag to move. Ditto with locking your room, though I can understand why people do at the start. However, in an ideal situation, you should have enough comfort and trust in your house mates to mean this isn't necessary.

who what when

HardyEustace wrote: »

If she hasn't signed a lease then I'd just tell her to hand in her notice and move.

It's creepy and invasive and shows a very distinct lack of respect for your friend and her privacy and her rights.

Yep fair point that she should probably move however the thing is the landlord isnt even supposed to be there. When she moved in 8 months ago he said he was going to be there 2 weeks, that he was waiting for people to move out of another place so he could move in. Fair enough she said.
She's brought the subject up with him 3-4 times since and every time he says he'l be gone in 2 weeks.

Compulsive lying aside he's actually not a bad guy and she doesnt really mind him being there but surely its not unreasonable to expect him to stay out of her room!

Oh no theres no lease. Everybody involved is pretty easy going and up 2 now have been working on the basis of good faith.

the_syco

questionmark? wrote: »

After Hours is this way http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=7.

Well, as

who what when wrote: »

one of whom is the owner of the house and shouldnt even be there.

I don't think talking to the landlord will do much good. I would like to know what the OP means by "and shouldnt even be there"?

As for the spilt wine, etc, the landlord could say that the window, etc, was left open, and he had to close it. He could still deny it, and say that the OP had spilt it.

/edit
Just saw your new post. Can't see the guy ever leaving. I'm thinking the other tenants may have decided to stay, and he's hardly going to throw them out.

convert

If the landlord is living in the house, then it is likely that your friend will be deemed to be renting under the rent-a-room scheme (i.e. living with the owner) rather than renting a property, and so has less rights than if she were a tenant renting a room in a non-owner occupied house. However, on a plus side, if she did choose to leave, she wouldn't have to give a full 28 days' notice (but it would be common courtesy to do so).

Regarding the landlord entering her room (we'll leave aside the jacuzzi for the moment), well, that's an invasion of privacy and, as has already been mentioned, is breaching her rights. The best thing she can do is to try and discuss it with her landlord in a matter-of-fact manner.

For a more childish action, putting vaseline all over the door handles and taps, etc. should give him a little unpleasant surprise and might make him think twice about using the jacuzzi! (Please note: I do not condone such childish behaviour, but it can be fun!) However, it would be better to mention it to the landlord and see what he says.

HardyEustace

While playing silly tricks might make the OP's friend feel better short term, ultimately, I don't think she'll benefit in anyway from it.

In the same way that you can have bad tenants, this does to seem to be a case of a landlord that views it still as "his house" exclusively and has little or not respect for his tenant.

As has often been mentioned here before, it's a renters market right now. Why not take advantage of that?

The best thing she can do is just hand in her notice now. I'd be 99% certain that the same landlord isn't going to ask why she's moving out as they're just not interested.

If she does decide to move out then I would caution against mentioning. Better to keep the landlord sweet and get the deposit back without any hassle.

Ms. Chanandler Bong

You say she has 2 housemates. Can the other hm keep an eye out for her when she's not there?

If she does move out, she could tell the landlord that it's because she thinks the other hm is going into her room. Gets her point across without p'ing off the landlord & jeopardising her deposit...

spaceHopper

If I understand this the LL had sex with his girl friend in the Jacuzzi. We’ve all used showers and baths in hotels that have seen lots of action, the problem is that he’s showing her no respect. If he’d cleaned up properly it’d still be a problem because he’s entering here room.

Otherwise she’s in a nice house , it’s not like he’s perverting her in her room or hassling her in someway so simply let him know nicely he’s been caught and ask him not to do it again, keep an eye out and if he is still going in move out.

RoryW

Discreet web cam and then you tube !

fe1ready

Firstly get 3 ping pong balls and place them just inside the door. Write numbers on them and put them in a mix order.

Then, If you have a laptop with a camera you can put it on the floor pointing at the door. You don't necessarily have to have it on but you can claim that it was on.

When you come home, open the door very carefully and slowly. You'll know if he was in your room if the ping pong balls have been put back in the wrong order.

You can claim you saw him on the laptop webcam.

Or, just leave your laptop turned on, on a friday and come back saturday morning and see what turns up.

japjap

Google "how to turn your laptop into surveillance camera". There is plenty of software out there. Your webcam will then detect movement and start recording. Not only do you have evidence but you'll know exactly what the landlord is doing in your friends room.

BingoMingo

Here one I used once.

Get an egg and sign it. Put it on something and position it a few inches behind the door as you close it carefully behind you. If the LL opens the door the egg will fall off and break. He can't replace it cos you signed it.

Sneaky!!

djimi

BingoMingo wrote: »

Here one I used once.

Get an egg and sign it. Put it on something and position it a few inches behind the door as you close it carefully behind you. If the LL opens the door the egg will fall off and break. He can't replace it cos you signed it.

Sneaky!!

It also means you have broken egg all over your floor!

Those suggesting things like the above and putting a glass of red wine behind the door would do well to bear in mind that if the landlord denies being in the room they will then blame the OP for the egg/wine stain in the carpet and try and charge them accordingly. Right or wrong it will lead to a lot of hassle.

The best approach is to talk to the landlord first. Ask them calmly and politely to stay out of the room. Only if you get no joy from this should you consider taking further action.

I had a similar problem in a rented accomodation in college where we lived beside the landlord and her son. We suspected that the son was using our house when we were gone for the weekend but when we casually asked the landlord she denied it. Luckily enough for us I was there one Friday evening when he thought we were gone and I caught him in our kitchen cooking his dinner after just using our shower. I flipped the lid with the landlord, told her that he was using electricity that we were paying for, which resulted in us living in the house bills free for the last two months of college

goat2

ArtSmart wrote: »

jacuzzi in her bathroom? -so not fair!

get her to throw her laundry steeping in jaccuzzi over the weekend, it could be just towels and blouses and underwear, putting in plenty water, if he touches that then, she will know he is up to no good, and when she has the bath filled with the items and water take a picture, as if he take them out and leave them back in again, she will see the difference in arrangement in the bath

woolymammoth

japjap wrote: »

Google "how to turn your laptop into surveillance camera". There is plenty of software out there. Your webcam will then detect movement and start recording. Not only do you have evidence but you'll know exactly what the landlord is doing in your friends room.

+1

Have used Yawcam before http://www.yawcam.com/ but there are others. Just have it save the images in a DropBox folder. Once you have the evidence, then you can have a nice adult chat. If he confesses, work it out and delete the photos. If he denies, produce the evidence!