A piece I submitted for a negotiation course over a year ago, which I think deserves its place here. Also an attempt to regain familiarity with something that used to be my refuge – writing.

My first stab at independence was off to a bad start. It was my first week at a new one-bedroom apartment I had rented for myself.

Or so I thought. 

I quickly realised that I was not the only tenant.

The apartment was infested with cockroaches.

I informed my landlord of this startling discovery. He was dumbfounded. He had not received such complaints before and his inspection of the apartment during the handover process with the previous tenant did not raise any cause for concerns.

As the problem continued unabated for another week, with my unexpected party of flatmates growing larger in size and in numbers, things between me and my landlord got so heated that he exasperatedly suggested that I find another apartment and move out so that he could put his apartment up on the market for another (poor, unsuspecting) tenant.

Thankfully, I put my lawyer hat on and got to resolution-seeking mode.

To me, the apartment was unhabitable and extremely disruptive to my mental health and day-to-day life. I could not eat, sleep or relax in peace. (Unbelievably, at one point, I had a cockroach crawl up the underside of my thigh while I was slurping spicy ramen.) What I wanted was for the pesky, uninvited guests promptly removed so I could live in my apartment peacefully, quiet possession, if you will – that was my interest. To the landlord, this was an irritation that I had to resolve, not him. He simply wanted a tenant to pay for his mortgage and enjoy some profits – that was his interest.

I suggested, since this issue arose during the first month of my lease, which was well within the cure period under the “repairs” clause of my tenancy agreement, that the landlord engage the services of a pest control company, at his expense (the ceiling of such repairs to cost not more than $200 notwithstanding). If the pest control company successfully removed all the unwanted guests before the first month was up, I would continue my lease as his tenant. If the other guests remained in the apartment beyond the first month, I would forfeit my deposit of the first month’s rent and move out, at my expense, so he could put his apartment up on the market. 

I may or may not have also gently reminded him that no prospective tenant would be interested in living in a roach-infested apartment anyway.

He agreed.

The pest control company did a great job of exterminating the uninvited guests in two weeks. As a parting gift, they left little souvenirs in dark corners of my apartment which would, every now and then, feature an unsuspecting trespasser on the throes of death by sticky poison.

I was pleased with myself. This was probably the first time I had ever put my law degree to use by advocating for myself outside of the confines of my family’s dinner table, even if this was a straightforward, open-and-shut non-controversial case.

It has been a year since that incident and I have just renewed my lease for another year.

Negotiating with interests first leads to a win-win outcome for all.

I guess my first foray into adulting wasn’t so bad after all.