Ruth Okarie

Reasonable assistance is the phrase that costs people their weekends. Replace it with numbers before you sign.

What I would put in: a cap in hours per month, a total cap across the period, response times measured in business days rather than hours, a defined channel so it is not text messages at 11pm, and a rate for anything beyond the cap. Something like eight hours a month for three months, up to twenty-four total, replies within two business days, everything in one shared thread, and an hourly rate after that.

The hourly rate is the important one. It is not there to earn money, it is there to make the buyer triage their own questions. Unlimited free support gets used carelessly. Metered support gets used precisely, and both sides end up happier.

Treatment, and the no-drilling thing is much less of a barrier than you think. Freestanding panels on cheap mic stands or leaned against the wall behind a bookshelf work almost as well as mounted ones, and you take them with you when you move: which you can't do with landlord goodwill.

For £350 in a room that size I'd do: four 10cm mineral wool panels in fabric, two floor-to-ceiling corner stacks, and use the bed as it is (it's already a big absorber, put it behind your listening position not beside it). That's a bigger change than swapping 5 inch monitors for slightly better 5 inch monitors, which mostly buys you a flatter top end you can't hear properly in an untreated room anyway.

The gap actually helps: an air gap behind an absorber extends how low it works. A panel 10cm off the wall behaves like a thicker panel. Leaning is fine.