+1 for #5. There are many alternative ways to correct a child's behavior: timeouts, curfews, taking away toys, letting them calm down before punishing them, but there can also be positive reinforcements. There are many books, audio-books, and videos on these topics. One approach would be to just give him these resources. Another approach is to lead by example yourselves, if your own child/children are well behaved, your brother is much more likely to listen to what you have to say. — Stephan Branczyk 1 min ago

HA! Viewed 2,506 times in 5 months! I got a silver badge for this question now give me an upvote! It's obviously relevant to somebody. — leeand00 2 mins ago

As this is an IPS answer I would suggest not making the assumption that the issue of explicit rights (which is a big factor in how to resolve this as an interpersonal issue) comes down to a tenancy agreement. In some jurisdictions landlords of shared properties are required to provide certain facilities and an agreement that didn't allow for them would be unenforceable. From an interpersonal perspective, however, such regulations have the same effect as a tenancy agreement. — Will 1 min ago

I'm from east europe. — blau 1 min ago

@avazula your edit it good, thanks — HanMah 1 min ago

"shared common space" means "nobody can claim it", not "anybody can claim it" - what you did leaving your stuff. You not having enough space in your room is no excuse, you knew the size of your stuff and the size of the room, it was your responsibility to rent a room that's of appropriate size. I'm with you on the bathroom issue, but it sounds like in her mind you rented the room and the bathroom was not part of the deal. — Agent_L 9 secs ago

move out, you lost. — Steve 31 secs ago

This is by far the best answer. It ignores all previous experiences and simply focuses on the future. Get the information and make a decision. In the process of asking you may derive information about your past experiences, and as an added bonus you are passively asserting, to an observant baker, you don't want to be stuffed with stale bread. +1 — Attack68 1 min ago

+1 I feel that the closing paragraph could benefit from an important nuance being stressed with "they have to be willing" - willingness can be engendered where none previously existed. It just takes just even more personal investment than the "hell of a lot more" already needed for the view change in a willing person alone, and very hard to do if the person already knows you disagree or want to change their mind. — mtraceur 1 min ago

Please do not argue the merits of this answer in the comments. Per our site policy (outlined here), if you disagree with an answer, downvote and/or write your own answer. — scohe001 1 min ago

+1 Like the OP, I initially found these kinds of questions very uncomfortable, and felt like I was being asked to lie or forced into a desired answer. But I gradually learned to take the very approach recommended in this answer, and it worked great! 14 years later we're still married, and I still field questions like this all the time... :) — Chris Sunami 37 secs ago

@Beofett Agreed. Though even if use of kitchen/bathroom is stipulated then I would expect the question of storage to be at the landlady's discretion. — Mark Perryman 31 secs ago

@scohe001, keep in mind that when you downvote, you get a message encouraging you to leave a comment, which is very nearly at odds with the site policy. — Joe 1 min ago

@scohe001, I agree, but the nuance between saying the post can be improved vs. saying the post is wrong is subtle and easily lost on new users. — Joe 34 secs ago

I wrote an answer, but it was deleted allegedly because it wasn’t an answer. Clearly the deleters did not like it, but an answer it most certainly was. So I offer you one snippet from it, here, by way of a partial answer, and as a gentle reminder that it is often a good idea to remind oneself not to take these kind of guy-girl encounters too seriously. For more info, read John Gray’s original 1992 book. It’s getting long in the tooth now, but it still conveys what amounts to superpowers when it comes to understanding your other half. — tkp 21 secs ago

@LCIII That's a bit drastic - she just needs to brought down to Earth a little. — corsiKa 1 min ago