Woman finds 'beautiful' room to rent but is floored by bizarre rule

Finding a place to rent can be quite a stressful experience and even when you're locked into a new home, landlords could decide to sell with little warning.

But renting is a great way to find a place to live in an area you're unsure of as it lets you test it out. It's even better if you're only planning to stay in that location for a short period of time.

Now one woman expressed her concerns over on Reddit after finding a 'beautiful' room to rent in Cambridge. In a post online, the 28-year-old female is hoping for advice after revealing she's on the market for a long-term rental property.

She said: "Hello all, I (28F) am in need of some advice. I am on the market for a long-term rental property and came across this beautiful room in central Cambridge, nice and safe area, en-suite, plenty of natural light and storage."

But the woman was floored after hearing the landlord's bizarre terms.

She added: "However, it has a rule of no visitor 'for peace of mind and security', the landlord has a room on the ground floor but is 'rarely there', assuming so this policy is not completely unreasonable.

"I met with one of the tenants and it seems that making the absolute minimal amount of noise is a great priority in the house, to quote her: 'the only noise we really make is phone calls to our parents' (caveat: English is not her first language)."

Speaking about the room, the woman said she adored it but couldn't get her head around the 'no visitors' rule.

"I love the room and the area but can't shake the feeling that if I go for it I might be getting myself in a very difficult situation with militant style housemates and landlord," she admitted.

The woman concluded: "I actually don't mind if it's just the no visitor, but everything else about it is giving me second thoughts. Am I being paranoid? Is this normal? Is this house a secret Mormon temple?"

Since she shared her query on Reddit, people flocked to the comments section to warn her. One said: "Noooo this sounds awful. Avoid."

Another added: "Don't do it!" While a third chimed in: "Sounds like a nightmare to me, no thanks."

In the UK, a landlord cannot enforce a 'no visitor' rule if you have exclusive possession of the property. So if you rent an entire home, you have the right to decide who enters it, so a landlord essentially can't restrict your guests.

However, if you are a lodger living with your landlord, they can make rules, including restrictions on guests.

It's advised to check your tenancy agreement for any clauses on visitors or guests, but if you have a standard tenancy, a clause forbidding all guests is likely an unfair term.