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A RENTER'S DILEMMA

 

I had a couple of friends over my house recently, which was a first, because, I never have people over.  I never want anyone around my sacred haven.  It’s my little beautiful serene piece of heaven that isn’t open to the public.  Anyone willing to visit ought to make at least a month’s appointment, which more often than not get rain checked to a non-existent date.

 

You know how it goes with ladies.  They want to know where you got the TV and the sofa and the carpet and the drapes and décor pieces before pointing out they know a place that sells them cheaper and in better quality.  They enquire how much you pay for rent and exchange glances because they can’t make sense how much you can afford that.  When one tries to compliment your tasteful style, others jump in pointing out how the sofa should be in that corner, the dining set in the kitchen, TV mounted, the bed not touching the wall, the office turned into a nursery…


Ooh…I must also mention how insane I am for renovating a rental space. I always get that.

 

“There’s no way you’re ever getting back your deposit.” They always say.

 

See, I’ve been renting since I was 20.  That’s a decade plus of making short-term homes out of people’s houses.  After my first, second and third moves, it finally dawned on me that the landlords and landladies of these properties never surrender back your deposit.  They always find faults even in the most perfectly maintained houses.

 

Once, I had to move out in less than a month yet the landlord kept over 80% of my deposit for he had to repaint the house, pay the painter, fix some electric and water jargon, handle some trash nonsense and other security hullabaloo.

 

Since, once I move in to a rental property, I remain certain that I’ll never get my deposit back.  So what to do?

 

I have to turn that house into a live-able home.  The walls shall be transformed from the everyday dirty cream-ish beige paint into a beautiful welcoming blend of pastel alongside some wallpaper, light fixtures have to re-done and classic chandeliers adopted, floors got to be upgraded, locks replaced, kitchen cabinets opened up, balcony brought back to life.  The small fortune invested in this is what will make yours not just some rental unit but a home, for the next couple of years you’ll be residing in.

 

The most interesting bit about this is, while I never get back my deposit, I always find someone(s), usually a neighbour, begging that they move in when I move out, at a price of course!

 

Security deposit aside, there’s always the other side of facts.  The fact that most of us will be renters for much longer than we will be home owners.  For some, they will never get to Own. We then spend most of our time in people’s houses than we will in our own.  These are the spaces where your children’s first memories and concepts about a home will be formed.  So why not personalize them while you can and maybe, you can learn a thing or more about what you’ll want in your own house, and how you’ll want it?

 

******************************************May My Landlord Never Read This*************************************

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