This may come as news to absolutely no one, but being a renter sucks.
You’re spending money every month on something you will never actually own, even if you spend years shouldering the costs for it.
You practically tiptoe around the house for fear of bumping into a wall and leaving a dent that could knock $50 off your damage deposit return.
You are restricted to whatever retina-scorching hue your obviously colour-blind landlord chooses to paint the walls with.
When something, like, say the water heater, breaks down, you count yourself lucky if you have a landlord who actually comes over and takes care of the problem and doesn’t take four months to fix it.
Most frustratingly of all, your landlord (or potential landlord) assumes things about you based on the actions of tenants who came before you. This is the aggravation I have been faced with for the past three months.
Since relocating back to Calgary from Crowsnest Pass in April, I have been staying with three friends at their house in southwest Calgary.
The plan was for me to stay with them briefly until two other friends - one of whom I lived with during both college and my time in The Pass - and I could find a place of our own.
We conducted our search within Calgary’s inner-city communities, with a heavy focus on Bridgeland, Sunnyside and Inglewood, as we want to be close to downtown and in an area where you don’t have to drive for 20 minutes to do something fun. Plus, we spend a lot of time in these communities and it would just make sense to live somewhere we love.
In the past three months, we have been to roughly 20 viewings for houses and main-floor suites that meet our wish list and would accommodate the three of us.
On average, there are at least 30 other prospective tenants who attend open houses or set up subsequent viewings at each of the properties, pushing us further and further down the list. Calgary is a boomtown and people need places to live.
As far as we can surmise, there are three main factors that contribute to our inability to find a place to live: there are three of us, we are under 30 and we have a dog. The reality is that a 30-something couple with no children and no pets is just more appealing.
This is where my frustration with landlords making assumptions comes in.
Because we are “young” (23, 24 and 27, to be exact) that obviously means we are irresponsible and won’t bother to pay our rent. We will also throw nightly raucous parties to which the cops are called.
Our dog will destroy the house by scratching the hardwood, tearing up the carpets, gnawing the walls and urinating and defecating in every room. He will also bark constantly and bite the neighbours.
One person who declined to take us on as tenants told us that because there are three of us, we would run up the utility bills like we’re trying to break a record, have tons of people over at all hours of the day and night, and treat the property as a landing pad instead of our home.
What these people don’t know is that we are baby boomers trapped in Generation Y bodies. While we are social and enjoy having friends over for dinner or drinks, we don’t throw raves with blaring techno music and go-go dancers in cages. We would much rather listen to CJSW and read a book, watch reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix, or put in the DVD of Pulp Fiction or The Hours for the 87th time.
The one who owns the dog is also one of the most responsible pet owners I know. Furthermore, the dog himself is arguably the best behaved, most well-mannered, quiet and calm dog I have ever met.
The reality is, and not to toot our own horn, but we are pretty awesome people and any landlord would be lucky to have us taking care of their house.
So until we are fortunate enough to find someone who can see that, we are going to live in a property owned by the dog owner’s parents. You have to take the hand-up where you can get it, especially when no one else is offering one.
