A man in St. John’s rents office space, but he doesn’t have an office job.

He’s an electrician, driving from gig to gig all day. The office is where he sleeps at night, secretly, because he couldn’t afford to rent an apartment anywhere in the city. For two months during the frigid Newfoundland and Labrador winter, he lived in his truck. Then, in February, he found an office listed for $450 per month.

“I’m 100 per cent doing this clandestinely,” the 37-year-old told CBC News. “I basically have given up on finding anything else.”

The average asking price for rent in Canada hit an all-time high of $2,202 per month in May, according to a June report from listing website Rentals.ca.

  • Eczpurt@lemmy.world
    112·
    5 months ago

    Is there any rules against living in your office rental? In my mind, there’s always furniture to some degree in an office that can be slept on. You could probably get a shower and a change room installed. Most usually have a crude kitchen of sorts.

    Unless someone comes in after hours and sees you snoozing, I think it’d be easy to keep up appearances.

    • ValenThyme@reddthat.comEnglish
      19·
      5 months ago

      most places (in the states) have zoning laws and specific laws about requirements that make a house livable. The combination usually precludes legally living in an office space even if the lease doesn’t specify.

      It’s one of those things where if you just keep your head down you can get away with it but if you have parties and treat it like an actual residence and get complaints you’re likely to lose your lease.

      • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        5 months ago

        I could be wrong, but I think the zoning laws tend to be much more focused on stopping people from working in residential areas than on living in commercial or industrial ones.

        • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
          7·
          5 months ago

          Mostly, but there are also higher egress standards for bedrooms that pretty much any other room.

          Might also be some fire issues with kitchens. Or other things I don’t know.

          Everything is probably doable within office zoning, but there is no point of its just but as an office.

          • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            5 months ago

            Ah, good point. I was thinking about zoning codes, not building codes.