Sharing an apartment is actively being discouraged here…

[Nix]

I live in the Netherlands and like in many places right now, there is a shortage in places to live and whatever is available is really expensive. So a lot of people try to rent a place with a friend or two, but I am reading in this (Dutch) article:

https://nos.nl/artikel/2479368-woningdelers-niet-gewenst-dan-maar-als-stel-naar-de-bezichtiging

that it is actively being discouraged by both muncipalities and the companies that rent out the apartments. Some places restrict the amount of people that can share a place to four, others to two. The reasons that are given for this is that groups of friends are rowdy, they party a lot and when they decide living together isn’t working out for them, one (or some) of them leave. Meaning the remaining person(s) will have trouble paying the bills. So the only way to get an apartment with your friend is to pose as a couple, which a lot of people are doing right now.

Because couples are never rowdy, throw big parties or decide that living together isn’t working out for them… Right…

 

[SimonB]

9 hours ago, Nix said:

So the only way to get an apartment with your friend is to pose as a couple, which a lot of people are doing right now.

It sounds like how Spaced started, only it's less funny because it's real life 😕

[abaco]

sounds like most uni-cities apartment owners act here (but i guess everywhere). basically rent is super-expensive and if the owner accepts students renting, they usually ask for girls only (bc of old/wrong concept of <girls are quiet> and <boys are messy>)

i never heard about this thing of couples though

[HelloThere]

11 minutes ago, abaco said:

sounds like most uni-cities apartment owners act here (but i guess everywhere). basically rent is super-expensive and if the owner accepts students renting, they usually ask for girls only (bc of old/wrong concept of <girls are quiet> and <boys are messy>)

i never heard about this thing of couples though

That’s just… very sexist, and generally just isn’t really true. Guys definitely do dumb stuff but I can’t say that girls are quiet.

[abaco]

4 minutes ago, HelloThere said:

That’s just… very sexist, and generally just isn’t really true. Guys definitely do dumb stuff but I can’t say that girls are quiet.

yeah (i live in a student building for females only and theyre messy af)

[DeltaAro]

In my housing co-op, "rent sharing" has been banned with some vague exceptions like for "life partnerships" 💞. I believe this weird construct isn't really legally binding if you'd go to court. But it still works in deterring people.

I voted against this resolution,  because I'm for aro rights, obviously. 😅 But a shocking two thirds or so of the members voted for banning rent sharing. Their main argument was, "ooh, the rent is already sooo cheap in comparison to for-profit landlords". Yeah, but with rent sharing it would be cheaper, and you can't save enough money right now as cost of living has exploded.

[HelloThere]

1 hour ago, DeltaAro said:

In my housing co-op, "rent sharing" has been banned with some vague exceptions like for "life partnerships" 💞. I believe this weird construct isn't really legally binding if you'd go to court. But it still works in deterring people.

I voted against this resolution,  because I'm for aro rights, obviously. 😅 But a shocking two thirds or so of the members voted for banning rent sharing. Their main argument was, "ooh, the rent is already sooo cheap in comparison to for-profit landlords". Yeah, but with rent sharing it would be cheaper, and you can't save enough money right now as cost of living has exploded.

One more reason to marry platonically I guess? There whole plan is just stupid but that’s like the only way I’d see to get through that.

[Jot-Aro Kujo]

This is ridiculous. Even outside the discussion of whether this is fair to aspecs or blah blah, like... Humans are a communal species. We've been living in groups for thousands of years. In my culture, it's very normal to have multiple generations of a family living in the same home, or to have many roommates, or to have friends and neighbors coming around on a near daily basis; Living solo or exclusively with a romantic partner, while not exactly unheard of, is fairly uncommon. And there are plenty of reasons for people to share living spaces: Splitting the bills, splitting housework, helping to support people with disability needs, or even just companionship. To ban this practice is ridiculous.

In my opinion, restricting the number of people who can live in one space is just classism. No matter what excuses they use, as multiple people have pointed out, there's still plenty of problems (couples can be rowdy; single people can throw parties; small groups can skip out on rent, etc). All it does is make it that much harder for poor people to be able to afford a place to live.

[HelloThere]

On 6/19/2023 at 4:39 PM, Jot-Aro Kujo said:

This is ridiculous. Even outside the discussion of whether this is fair to aspecs or blah blah, like... Humans are a communal species. We've been living in groups for thousands of years. In my culture, it's very normal to have multiple generations of a family living in the same home, or to have many roommates, or to have friends and neighbors coming around on a near daily basis; Living solo or exclusively with a romantic partner, while not exactly unheard of, is fairly uncommon. And there are plenty of reasons for people to share living spaces: Splitting the bills, splitting housework, helping to support people with disability needs, or even just companionship. To ban this practice is ridiculous.

In my opinion, restricting the number of people who can live in one space is just classism. No matter what excuses they use, as multiple people have pointed out, there's still plenty of problems (couples can be rowdy; single people can throw parties; small groups can skip out on rent, etc). All it does is make it that much harder for poor people to be able to afford a place to live.

Oh absolutely, that just screws with poor people trying to make sue with what they can.