Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Moving and landlord

Landlord does not want tenant to have the carpets professionally cleaned

lilacp — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:14:37 -0800

She is willing to pay for it. We (her friends, who are staging an intervention of sorts) feel landlord is being ridiculous. I'm asking on her behalf because 1) I'm taking this sooo personally because I don't think the situation is fair; This to me is no longer about a mouse, it's about a control freak landlord, but anyway. and 2) I also don't think it can wait for her to sign up on AskMeFi and wait the one week it takes for her to ask it herself. Way forward? My friend moved into an apartment six months ago. She seems to love it. A little over a week ago, she saw a mouse. She is not an animal person at all - and even if she was, it's a mouse, ew! - and this freaked her out. She called her landlord, who then said she would get traps. The question was, "Who will remove the traps when the mice die in there?" Eventually, they found traps where she wouldn't have to see the mouse and soon, the mouse was caught.

My friend wanted to get Orkin to check out the place and see if there were any holes in the apartment. Her landlord refused, stating that it was just one mouse. She also wanted to get the carpets professionally cleaned. This apartment was renovated recently and while it's not all that in my view, it's reasonably clean and quite honestly better than many I've seen. The landlord vetoed Orkin and the carpet cleaning. Per my friend, who decided to get pots of peppermint plants to deter any mice, the landlord said there is slab under the carpets and she doesn't want a mold situation. The landlord suggested a carpet cleaner who supposedly "don't move furniture." What the heck is the point of that, mice run along walls so they would need to get behind there, wouldn't they? (please advise if wrong.) My friend is willing to pay to get the apartment cleaned; all she needs is the landlord's approval. All her coworkers, me included, have said "Just get a rug doctor," but she says her principles will not let her go behind her landlord's back now that she knows the landlord would rather not have the carpets shampooed.

To me, this is absolutely ridiculous. The landlord seems to be pressuring her to sign a lease termination agreement and move. My friend, who is single (ie unmarried but recently started seeing someone), would have to get a new apartment, movers, etc, within 30 days which can be quite difficult out here.

She looked at the lease termination agreement and sent it to me this morning. Guess what one requirement on the termination agreement was? "Carpets vacuumed and SHAMPOOED - $75."

Is it me or is this ridiculous? I have told my friend to either just get a rug doctor or get a lawyer to mediate so that her landlord can let her clean the apartment and let the landlord pay any court fees. My friend is reasonably clean - we say her living spaces always smell like good food and a hospital. She's busy and she sent me a picture of the apartment and it is far, FAR from favorable conditions for a mouse.

Anyway. What are your thoughts on the way forward? Is my friend's request to hav ethe carpets cleaned at her own expense as complicated as the landlord is making it seem? Why do I get the feeling a lawyer would change the situation drastically? How does this work, legally?

**Update** Text from my friend: "I asked her about the shampooed carpet requirement. She said 'you have to vacuum not shampoo, I attached amended copy." [of the agreement]

Fishy much?

Roommate troubles: Spain or Bust edition.

matkline — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:26:31 -0800

Roommate is moving to Spain in 4 days. Has not found replacement. Please help. A few weeks ago I posted this rambling question that I admit was a bit melodramatic.

Basic situation is this: roommate and I are signed to a 12 month lease ending next May. Roommate decided at the beginning of this month to move to Spain. He hasn't found a replacement for himself with a credit history acceptable to our landlord yet.

Landlord has been out of touch for the last couple of days. I'm assuming he's on vacation, incapacitated, or something like that. In his absence, should I try and get my roommate to sign a document agreeing to meet certain conditions or something like that?

I've decided that I'd like to stay on in spite of having my roommate leave. I realize that this is at the discretion of the landlord, since technically having one party leave is breaking the lease. I will be able to afford the apartment alone, although it may not seem/look like that to the landlord. My basic question is what can I do to protect myself. How long is my current roommate obligated to pay rent? Given that he's going to be in Spain, how would I possibly collect on this? I'm pretty sure his parents are listed as co-signers on the lease.

For reasons stated in the past post, I'd prefer to have as much time to find a new roommate as possible. As an aside I'm wondering if it's reasonable to ask this new roommate for a month's worth of deposit money? Current roommate claims that he's willing to lose deposit in order to defray the costs/time of me finding a new roommate, but that just seems like a fait accompli.

I suppose utilities should be transferred to my name; otherwise he's threatened to turn them off. Is there anything I need to know about this? Fairly new renter here.

What to do about surprise cockroaches on day 1 of our lease?

cakebatter — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:05:31 -0800

We just signed a year long lease on a very nice house but haven't moved in yet. The lease started on Tuesday, the checks are cashed by the landlord, and the walkthrough in the bright light of day was fine. The landlord assured us that there were no bug problems (except termites in the past, which have been treated). However, yesterday evening when we were moving the first load of stuff to the new house, we spotted multiple cockroaches (outside, but against the house/diving into cracks in the foundation). NOOOO!!! How to proceed when we would have not signed the lease under these conditions? Cockroaches are somewhat uncommon in our area. My last few places have not had them, and i am kind of messy. We would NOT have signed the lease if we had any idea that there were cockroaches. Even though we haven't seen any inside yet, there is no way they won't infiltrate once we provide the traces of food and moisture and human stuff to lure them in, right?

From what I have read online, this breaks the reasonable habitability clause, but we need to ask the landlord to correct the problem first. After that, can we break the lease? Can we opt out without having him try to fix the problem? We don't want to live with roaches, even temporarily, and feel that since he specifically told us there wasn't any cockroaches, and that we haven't occupied yet, that this may be reasonable. Is it?

I feel TERRIBLE, because the owners and landlord are really nice, and breaking the move seems like a dick move. But, cockroaches!!!!! UGH.

How much notice is required when leaving a month-to-month apartment?

zerbinetta — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:40:27 -0800

I've been living in a NYC apartment for six years without a signed lease. Now I want to leave. What are my obligations about giving notice to my current landlord? My husband and I live in a two-family house in Queens, and this is the only apartment we've had since moving to this city. When I got the apartment, I was ready to sign a lease, but my landlords (who own the house and live on one of the floors) balked. This area is very old world, where deals are made with a handshake. So, fine, I was OK with a gentleman's agreement, seeing as how I wasn't sure, at the time, that we wanted to stay here for very long.

Now we want to move, and the management company of the new apartment wants us to start a lease on the 15th of this month. If we give the old landlords 30-days notice from today or tomorrow and only pay for half the rent of next month, does that fulfill our legal obligation? Or is there a law I'm missing that says that we have to pay for the rest of this month and all of next month despite not having any sort of written agreement? And would they be entitled to withhold our deposit if we just pay through the 15th of next month?

I know YANML, but any links to relevant laws would be very helpful. Thanks!

I hate moving

ttyn — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 09:57:07 -0800

What rights do I have as far as a landlord not letting me move in, at the last minute, on the scheduled day? I'm furious, inconvenienced, and am spending new year's trying not to trip over boxes. I'm scheduled to move tomorrow morning 150 miles away from where I have lived for the last 5 years. The deposit on the new house was made on Dec 17th and cleared a few days later. I was assured the place will be ready for me to move into tomorrow.

I called today to make sure everything was done and after I got a call back I was informed they just got the paint in today and will paint and afterwards (tomorrow?) replace the carpets. Should be ready to move into January 3rd. 4 days late.

My current landlord is cool with letting me stay until Jan 3rd.
I rescheduled the moving company.
I still need to call the utility and cable companies (here and there).
All my pots and pans are packed.
I was planning on spending new years at the new place.
My mail forwarding was set to begin tomorrow.

I'm furious and can't believe I had to call them to find out that they are incompetent and was told "there's nothing we I can do. Sorry."

Is there really nothing she can do? Are they not on the hook at all to reimburse me for their own mess?

Keep the evil motherfuckers away from me.

mellifluous — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:38:48 -0800

I just found my apartment building listed on the Bedbug Registry. How freaked out do I need to be? What can I do? It's a small, old building with four stories. The post didn't specify which unit the bedbugs were in. They left the comment a week ago. I find the report credible - I have noticed a few mattresses cast out on the curb lately, and recently the guys in the next house over discarded an armoire with a "Warning, bedbugs" sticker on it. The author writes that the landlord has not been taking the infestation seriously ("won't pay for professional treatment") - and based on my past interactions with the landlord, I have no trouble believing that.

I'm moving out on Sept 1st. I'm reasonably sure I don't have them yet - I haven't noticed any bites, and neither has my live-in boyfriend. So:

1) Given that the bedbugs have only a two-week period in which to infest my stuff, how worried/vigilant do I need to be? How fast can the motherfuckers multiply, spread, and move through an apartment building?

2) I'm going to do the diatomaceous earth and caulk regimen recommended here. Are there other ways to keep nearby bedbugs out? (I would detonate a DDT bomb if I could.)

3) The landlord is coming by tomorrow to show the place to prospective tenants. When they're done, I want to take him aside discreetly, ask him about the rumour, and (attempt to) convince him to hire a professional exterminator. I am not hopeful, but I want to maximize the odds of success. As a landlord, he is diligent, responsible, and no-nonsense - but only when his own bottom line is at stake. When it comes to the concerns of his tenants, he is completely apathetic. Therefore, appeals to his own self-interest seem like the best possible tactic. Any suggestions on what I should say?

How do we swap houses with our landlord as smoothly as possible?

SugarAndSass — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:24:04 -0800

We have two months to plan a house switch. My housemates and I currently live in a fairly nice three bedroom, two and a half bath row house. Our landlord and his family live in a much nicer four bedroom, three and a half bath row house about half a mile away. At our landlord’s request, we are switching houses around September 1.* We want to make this transition as painless as possible, how can we do that? Some questions/things to consider:

1. We are definitely going to hire movers. Should we see if we can get two moving trucks and movers from the same company in order to allow better coordination?

2. We need to thoroughly clean our place. We will probably hire someone to come in and do this. Is it possible to do a deep cleaning before we move our stuff out? If not, how do we deal with cleaning when we won’t have much (if any) time between when we move out and the landlord moves in?

3. We have a dining room that we barely use, and there isn’t much in it. Would it be reasonable for us to suggest that they could move some things here ahead of time, and perhaps we could do the same? They have a much more complicated setup so I’m sure they’d like to be able to move some boxes ahead of time, but I’m not sure they’d be able to let us do the same.

4. What is the best way to try to arrange to meet potential housemates to fill the fourth bedroom when we aren’t living there yet? Should we ask our landlord what he would prefer (ie, would he and his family be able to go out to the zoo or something for a few hours one day while we have interviews and show the house, or would he prefer that we find someone we like and then set up a specific time for them to look)?

5. Our landlord wants us to sign a one-year lease. We’re completely fine with this, but might even prefer a 16-month lease because moving in September is harder than moving over the last week of December/first week of January. Is there a tactful way to request a slightly longer lease?

Any other tips or tricks or anything related to making this situation as easy as possible would be greatly appreciated.

We're in DC, if you have recommendations for movers or a cleaning service.

*Our landlord has a child with disabilities and needs to adjust his budget to afford some in-home help. Though we’d prefer not to move, he’s completely within his rights and is even giving us extra notice (we’re on a month-to-month lease). He suggested switching houses to minimize hassle for everyone involved, and he’s giving us a great deal.

Will we have the itch?

kaudio — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:50:33 -0800

We've already agreed to move in to a new apartment in two weeks, but we've received some insider information that the unit had bedbugs. What should we do? The apartment is in the same building that we're currently in, but on a different floor. We've never had a problem with any pests in this building before, and the management company has a pretty good reputation. However, there has been some information passed to us by a former employee that the previous tenant was evicted, and when they cleared the apartment of his stuff they found bedbugs.

They have completely re-done the apartment and, I'm assuming, treated the problem. But how can I be sure of that before I move my stuff in? Location is Toronto, Canada.

How feasible is renting out a condo while living in another city?

the jam — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:48:09 -0800

I am thinking about buying a specific apartment (condo) in Brooklyn, NY. For this question, let's assume that this apartment is a smart investment / better than renting, financially. While I don't have plans to leave New York in the immediate future, I'm not 100% committed to staying here, either. So my question is about contingencies: if I got this apartment, then in a few years needed to move to a different city, how much pain would I be bringing upon myself to keep the apartment and rent it out? A few things about the place:

The apartment is located in a neighborhood where it would be very easy to find tenants.

The monthly payment is 75% of the current monthly rent for a similar apartment.

The building is brand new, so maintenance issues could be less than average.

Moving without much notice to landlord

white light — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:02:54 -0800

I have a verbal month-to-month lease in Chicago, IL (there is no signed paper lease). I want to move out by March 1st (a few days from now). So there will be no 30 days' notice possible. What happens in this situation, with the deposit, etc? (more inside) and how do I deal with the landlord? The landlord took one month security deposit when I moved in, and never had me sign a paper lease.

Now I need to move with just a few days' notice, so I can get the new place March 1st. I want to make sure everything happens by the book, and that I know what I'm talking about when dealing with the landlord.

I'm planning on calling him tomorrow to let him know what's going on.

I'm expecting that he will be allowed to keep that one month security deposit as payment for the next month, since I didn't give 30 days notice. Then if he finds any flaws with the apartment (needing new paint?) he will bill me for that stuff.

Is this pretty accurate? Anything else I should expect from him?

Is there any danger of him trying to evict me or changing the locks on me tomorrow when I tell him this?

How long does it take to rent out a place?

ignignokt — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:51:52 -0800

Is there a good way to estimate how soon I'd be able to rent out my place? I'm considering getting a job in another city and moving. If I did get an offer from an organization in another city, I'd need to rent out my condo, as I doubt I'd be able to sell it in this market at a reasonable price.

The thing is, I don't know how to guess at how long it would take to find tenants. Are there any rules of thumb for figuring this out? Something along the lines of "three weeks, minus a week for every $100 under the average rent for the area"?

I'd also appreciate any advice about the feasibility of relocating while leaving behind a property. I figure that plenty of people have already done this, and that you can take care of your tenants by calling for whatever professional service they need when problems occur, e.g. electrician, plumber.

Renting without a signed lease. Can I still move out?

noahdubya — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:44:06 -0800

I have been renting a room in a house for 2 months, but did not receive the lease until a few days ago, and want to know what my rights are. The situation is complicated, see extended explanation. I came to California for a couple days to find housing in the summer, and needed to leave with a place to leave.I found a house with two people living in it, and 2 more were going to move in eventually. It seemed like I was not interacting at all with the landlord, and the roommates were looking for someone to move in, but I wasn't completely sure. I gave rent and a deposit to one of the roommates to hold my spot, but never signed a lease.

When I moved in a month passed before I met the actual landlord who came for me to sign the lease. I asked for a copy and it took a couple weeks for him to deliver it.

Now I have found out it is a year-long lease, and was expecting month-to-month. I never talked specifics with the landlord. What are my rights?

Help me make a list of questions for prospective Chicago landlords!

c:\awesome — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:17:50 -0800

I'm compiling a list of questions to ask prospective landlords when viewing their properties in Chicago next week. Help me make sure I'm asking everything I should be! Here's what I have so far:

-Total cost of monthly rent
-Is heat included?
-Pets allowed? (I have a cat)
-Can I install a satellite dish? (I have DirectTV)
-Central air conditioning?
-What's the laundry situation? (in unit, in building, free/coin-op?)

I see some apartments list "cable ready" -- does this mean some places aren't wired for cable? (In case I can't install a satellite, or decide to go with cable for Internet.)

What else am I missing?

FWIW, I'm moving from out-of-state and have only a few days to find a place. I'll be craigslisting/walking it for the first two days, then going to an apartment finder as a last resort. Budget: <$1200/m.

How do I approach apartment hunting with a dog?

actionpact — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:45:23 -0800

What's the protocol for when you are moving a long distance with a dog w/r/t apartment searching? I'm in the (very early) stages of planning a big relocation, from Phoenix to most likely Chicago. I am fortunate not to have many huge things to have to take with me and will probably go pretty bare-bones to start. I have one fairly major thing to deal with-- a dog whom I don't want to give up at all.

Now of course, I know that there are a fair share of apartments that say 'dogs ok' or ask for a deposit or extra pet rent, I'm cool with that. My dog won't have a huge problem making the grade sizewise, as she's a midget and only weighs 6.5lb. She is a bit of a freak, being a 2y.o. minpin who was rescued and has some separation issues, but I'm working on it with a dog trainer friend of mine and will put more effort into helping her along with that before I move. But what I'm wondering is how do you go about getting an apartment when you have a dog? I mean, since this is not a nearby move, I would rather not shell out the $200 or so I'd have to pay for a flight to take her along apartment hunting. I'm pretty clueless about this because I'm not very well versed in apartment searching-- I don't know if landlords would want to screen your pet before they choose to rent to you (I noticed some craigslist ads saying 'dogs considered'), or would I have to put together a resume for the little mite with references and such?

If anybody can point me in the right direction that'd be incredibly helpful. I know this move is going to be months away, but I'd rather be well-versed ahead of time!

Cheap but livable Chicago two bedroom

ztdavis — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:35:29 -0800

I'm moving to Chicago with my fiancé in August. We're looking for a two bedroom that we won't regret. Oh, and we're poor as hell. Is it even possible to find a two bedroom for less than $1,000? Inside is a list of more particular criteria. We want to find whatever meets the most of the following criteria:

--Two bedroom, but a one bedroom is a possibility
--Allows a cat and a bunny
--Near a grocery (preferably a local one with international selections)
--As close to $1,000 a month as possible, preferably less
--As safe as possible
--Within 30-45 minutes of the loop
--Near public transportation
--Being able to bike to a park or the lake would be a bonus
--Near restaurants / cafes etc. also a bonus

Comments about what to avoid are also welcome, as we know little about Chicago aside from the touristy stuff.

The goal is to meet as many of these criteria as possible, but with our budget we're used to not finding exactly what we want.

Many Other threadshave had good answers, but nothing that quite answered my questions for me.

Renting a Montreal Apartment

Succa — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 08:17:51 -0800

Renting an apartment in downtown Montréal [plus à l'intérieur] Is the rental market as bad as people say? I need to find a one-bedroom place by the end of October, preferably in the Plateau area, or somewhere within walking distance to the Peel metro station. I've been fed a lot of anecdotes about the place -- that it's impossible to find a lease starting on a date other than July 1, that the apartments in the Plateau are mostly crappy, that French landlords sometimes don't rent to the Anglos, demand in the Plateau is extremely high -- and am wondering which of these are true. Also, neighbourhood recommendations are welcome. Thanks.