Would you rent next door to your landlord

Lemoncurd

We have done, they were up front about it from the start and it didn't bother us, neither did it bother us when we found the landlord worked for the same company as us. She called and asked to meet us at work straight after we'd said we would like to rent the house!
It worked out well in our case, they were really lovely and never imposed on us, hopefully we didn't bother them too much either. They certainly sorted out any issues immediately.

tunnel

thanx lemoncurd,i'm not worried who rents next door,in fact the cul-de-sac we live on is most welcoming,thing is can you be a friend and LL at the sametime

skintandscared_2

We've lived in our rented flat for 18 months and I have absolutely no idea who the owner is!! He COULD live next door for all we know... The letting agency do half-yearly inspections and always give us about a month's notice.

I previously rented a room in my aunt's house, together with my brother and another flatmate. She expected me to monitor everything, be secretary of the management company in her absence and it was expected that her son (my cousin, who behaved really badly and ran up all sorts of debts at the property which WE had to deal with) could stay on the sofa whenever he was in town. I would NEVER rent off a relative again!!!!

missbargain

I would probably avoid to rent next to my landlord if I was to rent a flat/house.
It is just the sense of privacy, nothing else, because I would know that he would have interest in how I live and what's going on, as it is his/her property. Not that I have anything to hide, it is just some unexplainable discomfort about knowing that the landlord is next door. But I know people who live next door to landlords and couldn't care less, it all depends on the person.

I also have this weird thing when I see policemen on the street. When I was little, my parents used to scare me that, if I was not good, the police will come and take me away. Even today, every time I see policemen walking toward me, my heartbit increases, I become stiff and uncomfortable, for totally irrational reasons.

Hmmmm, perhaps I should go and see the therapist...

JayZed

I did this twice. The first time, we lived in the basement flat and the landlord lived upstairs. He was a thoroughly unpleasant individual who gave us a lot of grief when we moved out.

The second time was brilliant. Our landlord lived around the corner, would pop round right away (if it was convenient with us) whenever we needed something fixed and was a very nice guy. No problems at all.

So it really depends on who your landlord is.

sooz

missbargain wrote: »

I would probably avoid to rent next to my landlord if I was to rent a flat/house.
It is just the sense of privacy, nothing else, because I would know that he would have interest in how I live and what's going on, as it is his/her property. Not that I have anything to hide, it is just some unexplainable discomfort about knowing that the landlord is next door. But I know people who live next door to landlords and couldn't care less, it all depends on the person.

I also have this weird thing when I see policemen on the street. When I was little, my parents used to scare me that, if I was not good, the police will come and take me away. Even today, every time I see policemen walking toward me, my heartbit increases, I become stiff and uncomfortable, for totally irrational reasons.

Hmmmm, perhaps I should go and see the therapist...

Yes! Or the policeman will come & take you away..............

OP - if you live next door there is no need to use an LA, unless you really want to. However, do set up some ground rules with tenants, particularly about how they communicate with you & you with them. Only via phone or email.

That way they know that you won't be knocking on their door unexpectedly to have a chat, nor will they do the same to you.

Whilst I no longer have properties to let above my own (I'm now in a house, so would be worried if there were ), I still have properties near my own home. None of my tenants would pop by with a problem, as they'd be very unlikely to actually find me at home. The postman certainly never does....must go & pick up all those parcels! It's much easier to reach me by email. Why pay a LA to be the middleman?

Dazi

We are on a long term let and I sometimes feel my LL lives next door lol. He built the whole close we live in and still owns three properties here they are let through a local agency who do an inspection every 3 months.

LL is always round here, only doing outside stuff, ie painting fences. Open curtains and there he is, sitting in the garden, on my patio chair, drinking coffee. Usually take cake out to him.

Don't understand why he has letting agency managing the place whe he is always here! He's great though, we had a prob with boiler and rung agency over and over again, mentioned it to him when he was here and next day it was fixed.

It does give me the feeling I don't really belong here though, think between them they sort of forget that although LL owns the place it is our home. (Agency are NOT flexible with the inspections and we are supposed to be there, causes hell when we say, you have the key, come in and do it. Do they not realise if we don't work, we cannot pay the rent lol

Geenie

Dazi wrote: »

We are on a long term let and I sometimes feel my LL lives next door lol. He built the whole close we live in and still owns three properties here they are let through a local agency who do an inspection every 3 months.

LL is always round here, only doing outside stuff, ie painting fences. Open curtains and there he is, sitting in the garden, on my patio chair, drinking coffee. Usually take cake out to him.

Don't understand why he has letting agency managing the place whe he is always here! He's great though, we had a prob with boiler and rung agency over and over again, mentioned it to him when he was here and next day it was fixed.

It does give me the feeling I don't really belong here though, think between them they sort of forget that although LL owns the place it is our home. (Agency are NOT flexible with the inspections and we are supposed to be there, causes hell when we say, you have the key, come in and do it. Do they not realise if we don't work, we cannot pay the rent lol

Not sure about the LL turning up and sitting in your garden!!!! :eek:

missbargain

Dazi has expressed what I think much better than me.

That is exactly what I was saying, it is about the sense of privacy and space. They can be the most wonderful people in the world, but if they are always around, it is not a good feeling.
Even if they don't sit in your garden (I mean, that is reeeeally OTT!), they own the place and of course they are going to wonder what's going on, who is coming and going, etc. And, as Dazi said, it makes you hyper aware that it is not your place.

When I used to rent, I never rented immediately next to the landlord, however, I was told once that they lived on top of the large block of flats where I lived at the time.
That did not bother me, as there were many flats in the building (about 24), so this gave the sense of anonimity, the landlord was not adjacent to me. Also, I was told that the landlord were "a very old couple", but I never saw anyone "very old" around ever, so there was another reason why it did not bother me, they were not very visible. Hehe, a rather dark thought just came into my head, but I'd rather keep it to myself .
But if I rented a terraced house, and the landlord was next to me (and sit in my garden LOL), I think that that would really bother me.
So all depends on the situation, too, but generally, I would prefer to live further away from the landlord, but still close enough in case of emergencies.