Life at home

ugh. too bad E. is moving out, would be easier to replace the Young One.

the Young One is being silly, maybe some ultimatum could work.

Ok, wasting my time too. And how is it she thinks 26 years old is a good 'between' age....? And...and...and.... I had a bitch fest last night with E (One Moving Out).

A (half serious) math suggestion to arrive at a "suitable age", k. (I'm trying to be helpful here)

Work out the difference between between your age & hers.
Halve that amount.
Then add the halved amount to her age .... & you have a reasonable compromise!
Can't get any fairer than that, can you?

Good luck!
Sounds like you're going to need it.

That's too bad for the current case, but couldn't there be a lesson for the future underneath here? Maybe it would be better if you alone leased the apartment from your landlady and then sublet parts of it to others. That way you always have a deciding vote no matter how many roommates share your home with you -- yours. Plus, your landlady would have one contract instead of three, with the tenant she trusts the most anyway. It seems that she might prefer such an arrangement as well. Democracy has its place, but it can also get pretty old.

Needless to say, that's just an idea. I don't mean to make your life worse by nagging.

E is still living with you for now, right? Can she be pulled in to the discussions at all?

Great minds think alike, Thomas! I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday.

31 would be the age now, 32 in a about a month. If we open it up and add 2 years to each side we'd have 29-33. Only one female near that age has come to see the place and she never got back to us. One male in the range came by as well. We just don't have the luxury of being that picky. So, we open up a little more and we have 27 and 35. Add only one other apartment hunter to that range.

If I hold the lease (which I'd like), I am responsible for all the rent. Housemates would have no legal responsibility to stay a full year and I would have to cover their rent. So.... the lesson is brought to me occasionally, but I just shy away from the financial responsibilities. I think I should talk to my landlady anyway.

Yes, E (the one who is moving) is involved in the conversation.

Does Boston allow legal sublets? in the alternative, can you legally rent out a share of the apartment if you hold the lease? if either those is a yes, you would have a legal hold on the other residents - and you'd be boss of the unit.

Perhaps if you advertise for people specifically in this age range?
And, I guess given the circumstances, only women?

Beth, it's worth checking out.

MsO, it's more than women only. It's only women not from Boston University, under the age of 25 (apparently), who have a personality, who aren't writers and who are interested in actually living with us.

Agghhhhhhhhh!

There's no other way around this, k.

You're just gonna have to arrange for a hit man to deal with her! Sorry, but no other solution will work!!!

I guess I'm polymorphously perverse. I'd have a hard time not saying that I didn't want to live with two young people (and not saying immature along with it).

Just curious, k.

Why are women from Boston University such terrible candidates?

I have no idea! She's from BU and so is the other current housemate (who's LEAVING me). So was Dasha. So was my friend Lili. So is my brother, for that matter.

Perhaps she has somebody in mind & absolutely no one else will do?

Otherwise ..... who knows?

I know, it's hard to figure out. If she had someone in mind, wouldn't she have proposed that person by now?

Well, you'd think so, wouldn't you?

Because, well .. it sort of doesn't make sense ...

I keep coming back to the hit man solution.

littlek, at this point I would talk to the landlord/lady and see if you could
get more authority over potential housemates without having the financial
responsibility. I am sure it's also in the interest of the landlady that all parties
work well together and rents are paid on time. If she allows you to do the
background checking, payment history, etc. etc. it should be in her interest too.
Plus she knows that you're a responsible person and have lived there the
longest.
Potential housemates will have a contract of their own but you'll be the
deciding factor if they're allowed to move in or not.

I sort of like the hitman solution myself. I'm almost ready to pull the psycho-if-you-don't-like-it-then-leave routine.

CJ - I was planning to talk to her tonight, but I haven't heard her come in our out yet. I don't know what can be done at this point. I do know she feels some of my frustration (been keeping her up to date on the progress - or lack thereof).