I just checked the rents in my area and I could rent a large commercial space for only $1k when absolutely tiny studios here are $1.5k minimum. I checked the building has 24hr access and I will be asking if it has a water hookup. Is it too risky?

  • Feinsteins_Ghost [he/him]
    hexbear
    22
    5 months ago

    Be real surprised if the hallways/common areas arent surveilled. Likely to lead to trouble when it comes time to bring in the china hutch and the bedding.

    • the_itsb [she/her, comrade/them]
      hexbear
      14
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Could maybe have things packaged up like they were sent in the mail and carry them in? That doesn't help for a lot of existing furniture, but it could get clothes, toiletries, bedding, a mattress, and some storage through? And chests of drawers might not necessarily look weird getting moved into an office.

      Idk, I think it could work?

      • xi_simping [comrade/them, any]
        hexbear
        15
        5 months ago

        Biggest risk is like fire inspector, city inspector or someone coming in and seeing residential use in a commercial building and an eviction following suit.

        Might get away with an "artist studio" like user above aaidwith a work space in one corner and maybe a futon, basics in one corner and minimum appliances (mini fridge, microwave, kettle) it can't look permanent, which is hard.

        • the_itsb [she/her, comrade/them]
          hexbear
          14
          5 months ago

          I think if it had break room vibes and were kept spotlessly clean all the time, that could build some plausible deniability maybe? Super ultra tidy doesn't look lived in.

          • YearOfTheCommieDesktop [they/them]
            hexbear
            4
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            yeah this. You're totally allowed to have a kitchen in your office (though if it isn't already equipped for one you probably won't be hauling in nice appliances, no sense in building anything decent when you can get kicked out at any time), and you can probably get away with "hmm this seems like someone is just living here" with inspectors as long as there's no smoking gun (having a bed, mainly) and its not just super blatantly obvious. Even being a little messy can probably be gotten away with but it would raise less suspicion if cleaner (especially the more living oriented parts)

            Honestly having a lot of the area dedicated to obvious desk/work space would cover a lot of other red flags. if you have a 3d printer and a computer setup, and any other hobby workspace you might want all in there it's going to draw attention away from a break room style kitchen or a futon area that looks a little too lived-in.