Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Rental

Next Week's AskMe: I Think My Mother Has The Hots for Me

rokusan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:19:26 -0800

Doc Brown Christmas Filter: Help me get my own DeLorean, if only for one day! (Posted for a dear, dear friend, obviously. From the future.)

My company is hosting a sci-fi themed Christmas party in Tampa this year, and it would be amazing super cool if we could find a DeLorean as a 'prop'.

I've e-mailed the local DeLorean group and posted on DMCTalk in my area's forum to no avail. I came *this close* to buying a local Delorean to meet this desire, but the price was too great for the car's condition and our ability to spend time and money on a project car for such a short-time special event: one day (Dec 19). It doesn't even have to run, really, as long as there's some way to get it there.

Does anyone have any other ideas, links, suggestions, pointers or help?

Best video rental stores?

davidriley — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:13:06 -0800

I make independent films and distribute them myself. I've started sending my movies to independent video rental stores around the country. I've sent my movies to I Luv Video in Austin, Scarecrow Video in Seattle, Video Underground and Hollywood Express in Boston, Acme Video in Providence, and others. What are the best independent video rental stores in your city? Don't say Netflix.

Rental of Fujitsu ScanSnap (or Similar) in Chicago Area? Or General Advice?

WCityMike — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:20:54 -0800

At some point in the future, I'd like to follow the recommendations of some various sites I've seen online and scan most of my paper archives to PDF. It looks like this would be the best solution (I'm a Mac user) – or, at least, that's the device I've seen recommended a few million times. However, I really can't see having the discretionary $417+ to purchase this device, not for a very, very long time. Does anyone offer this device for rental? (I live in Chicago.) Is there a RipDigital equivalent for this kind of thing (a very long time ago, they did the initial move of my music from CDs to MP3s)? Are there cheaper alternatives that are just as good?

Looking for affordable 9-month housing near Kirkland, WA

dcruzin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:55:02 -0800

Looking for recommendations for an affordable apartment/studio complex within 20min of the Bungie offices in Kirkland, WA for a 9 month lease. I'm looking for whatever might be cheaper, be it in Redmond or maybe further to the East. The workplace, from last I heard, is in Kirkland, but a ten to twenty minute commute isn't too big a problem. Of course, I would prefer to live in Kirkland, but I'm thinking with rates as high as $900 a month, I'm not sure if I could afford much else. Do you think there might be anything around the $600-700 range for a studio or maybe even a sublet? Craigslist can only do so much in terms of finding vacant apartments, whereas subletters are much easier on the wallet but only for temporary housing solutions. I'm going to be there for 9 months.

Car rental insurance: vital or scam?

cgs — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:50:14 -0800

Car rental insurance: what should I get? - I don't have any primary auto insurance (don't own a car).
- This is just in the states (NY, NJ, PA)
- I am renting via my credit card which has Master Rental Insurance (http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/gen-content/en.htm). They said on the phone that they become the primary insurer since I don't have auto insurance, that it is the same category (damage/loss... mentioned in that document as well).

Does this mean I just need to worry about hitting someone else?

I don't understand the various insurance labels and want to be as well informed as possible when I get to the counter. I hate feeling pressured or like they are taking advantage of me.

Thanks for your help-
cgs

What's a good way to collect rent online?

getupandgo — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:52:34 -0800

Would anyone have recommendations for a rent payment website? I'm looking for a good solution for simplifying rent payments for a few out of state properties. I have talked to all of the tenants and they are pretty much all in agreement that they would use it if it were available, rather than sending checks in.agreement

I need the service for 8 units currently, are there any websites that people have experience using that they'd recommend?

User friendliness is a priority; something that tenants can just enter their routing number and link it to their bank accounts for either one time or automatic payment. Additionally, cost is a factor, although not as much as reliability and simplicity (I'm guessing that the fees wouldn't be excessive, hopefully I'm correct in that assumption). I don't need anything ultra fancy, just easy and secure. It would also be great if I could expand it at a later date if I end up adding more property.

How to reliably rent an AWD vehicle when flying to the Tahoe area?

brain — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:27:20 -0800

I'll be regularly flying in to ski near N. Lake Tahoe this winter. Which airport should I fly into and which rental agency should I use to be most assured of getting an AWD vehicle? I drove my trusty AWD-equipped car from the Bay Area to Tahoe many many times last season, but now the both the car and myself are in PDX. How do I get to Truckee and the slopes when chain control is in effect? Should I fly to Reno? Sacramento? Will any rental agency make a guaranteed reservation on a Subaru or other appropriate vehicle?

I suppose I could buy some tire chains and lug them along in my luggage, but what size? Is there a size that's going to fit most/all of the common small rental cars?

thanksgiving short term apartment rental chicago

mandymanwasregistered — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:08:18 -0800

Halp! Chicago Short Term Apartment Rental for Thanksgiving Weekend? Does anyone have any recommendations for a.) 2-3 bedroom apartments in Chicago available for short term rental or b.) websites/agencies you have found reliable for such purposes? I have tried Craig's list and it seems to be a rather mixed bag (typo-laden posts with blurry pics, ahoy!). Google searches seem to bring me either super expensive "luxury" stuff or studio apartments. We need and apartment with a kitchen so that Thanksgiving dinner won't need to be ordered out. Bonus points for an apartment in a decent neighborhood and near the El. This would ideally be a Weds-Sun rental, but if a whole week's reservation is required, that is manageable. As the most internets savvy person in my family, the task of figuring this out has been given to me. Hope me, mefi!

Who can hire me a car to drive from the UK to the Netherlands?

gonzo_ID — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:10:17 -0800

I need to hire a car to drive from Bristol, UK and to drop off in Haarlem Netherlands. Avis says no, europecar says no, hertz are difficult to get hold of. Suggestions? Recommendations?

How can I make my rented flat warmer? On the cheap, if possible?

handee — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:58:31 -0800

I'm renting a flat and it's cold, and it's going to get colder (I'm on a 1 year contract in the alps). Is there anything noninvasive (preferably cheap, but I'm ok to spend if it's really going to work) that I can do to warm the place up? What sort of portable space heaters give the best performance for electricity/gas? Are there any decent renter-based guides to improving insulation? There's one mains gas heater in the middle of the flat that's supposed to cover the whole thing. I have shutters and decent single glazing. Local people who've visited have looked at the heater and laughed.

ship or rent?

nihlton — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:32:16 -0800

vacation ideas... wanna take the girlfriend on a two week motorcycle tour through the south in early january. had planned on going from texas to florida. we live in seattle. what is the cheapest way? looks like we can rent bikes for about $500-$800 a week (two bikes for two weeks = $2000 - $3200). Or we can ship our bikes for about $600 one way (two bikes, round trip = $2400), but im not sure we'd be able to get exact pick up and delivery dates.

or we could ride our bikes from seattle to texas, then to florida. how much of our two weeks would seattle to texas take up, assuming we were really aggressive about covering distance?

anyone know of cheaper rentals/shipping? alternatives im not thinking of?

general advice/tips related to the trip itself? (things to see, routes to take etc)

the dates are pretty concrete, but the locations (start/destination) are stretchy. can you think of better places? kind of wanna do this same thing in mexico/south america but air fare would get more expensive and i'd be worried about safety.

New Hampshire over Christmas

inflatablekiwi — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:44:13 -0800

Going to New Hampshire over Christmas. Ideas for places to stay and a FWD car rental question. My wife and I are flying into Boston for 4 days/4 nights over Christmas. Ideally we'd stay no more than 4 hours drive from Boston for at least three nights, and be within reach of a ski field. We are currently thinking of staying near Woodstock, NH or near Mt Washington. My wife really wants to do the whole white Christmas, so suggestions on great little inns and locations to stay would be appreciated (the cuter, the better!)

Also, I've seen this previous thread about winter rental cars in Boston, which seems to suggest a FWD drive car + safe driving practices would generally be okay, but really wanted to confirm if the same holds true if we venture out north from Boston city and suburbs into New Hampshire. We'd like to be able to get to the local ski resorts (without too much hassle), and I doubt we'd be straying too far off the interstates at that time of the year. Is a FWD drive rental generally going to be okay in this situation?

New owner/old lease

ian1977 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:38:59 -0800

Does my new landlord have to honor my old lease? I live in an 8 unit building and I am 6 months into a year lease. About a week ago I had a note on my door saying my building is now owned by Such and Such Company and to please send my rent there.

Now tonight I come home to another note saying that the new company wants 2 things from all tenants. One is whether or not we have a garage. Fine no problem.

The other is....since the previous owner didn't give the new company any of the original paperwork (huh?) could we please kindly fill out the rental application by Friday. This includes basic stuff (name, employer, etc) but also signing off on their right to do background check, credit check, etc. It also has a thing you fill out for a rental reference that they would send to an old landlord. The letter does state that this info is 'simply for our records and files.'

I looked at my old lease. Its typical boilerplate generic lease....it does have one paragraph about 'Lease is Subject to Mortgage' and says that, for example, should the property be foreclosed on, the new owners rights are superior to the rights of the tenant.

So here are my questions:

Why am I filling out the rental application? Ostensibly its just so they have one on file. Thats fine and dandy if thats all it is....but is that really all it is?

The whole 'lease is subject to mortgage' thing. Does anyone know what that means in practice? Is the new owner likely to void my lease because i don't fit their idea of a perfect tenant?

Do new owners typically honor the remainder of old leases?

Any other advice? It seems like the company is just doing pretty standard stuff, the place is going from ma and pa ownership to McRental Corp...so it makes sense that the company wants everything on THEIR paperwork. But then why I am giving them permission to do a background check, credit check etc? I already have the apartment, I am not applying for one. I guess I am just asking, is this a red flag situation?

How to handle a goober for a landlord?

mr. remy — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:49:32 -0800

I've got eleven months to go on a lease, and a whole slew of problems with a new (to me) apartment, and a cheap, possibly negligent landlord. How do I remedy them? LOTS of details inside. But if you don't want to read the whole kit-and-caboodle inside here are the Cliff notes: (a) Landlord took more than weeks to fix the unusable bathroom sink; blamed the repairman. (b) Landlord expects me to find/select/transport the washer/dryer he’s obligated by lease to provide, and was missing on our move-in, and for less than $200. (c) Landlord flat-out refused to clean disgustingly smelly carpets we encountered on moving day (d) Landlord reneged on verbal agreement to replace crappy kitchen linoleum (e) Landlord made repeated, guilt-trippy and borderline abusive calls about first month's rent, and (bonus) (f) makes (super odd) references to lesbians. [Way too many details inside; you probably don't need to bother reading unless you want specific specifics] After long and futile summer craigslisting, my girlfriend and I went to a realtor to find us an apartment [Boston area] for one year, beginning 9/1. The realtor found us a fair (not exceptional) apartment for a fair (not exceptional) price. Since it met our needs (though not, as I’ve said, exceptionally) we took it. I forked over a lot of money up front (first month, last month, month security, and half-month’s fee to realtor) totalling about 5K. Since then we’ve had a number of issues with the landlord. In order of occurance:

[The sink] The landlord was unable to do a walkthrough until September 5th, though we moved in on the 1st. On the 5th we informed him the sink was unusably plugged. Stuck full of hair. Wouldn’t drain. Landlord said he’d take care of it immediately. He blamed the issue on previous tenants; “butches, lesbians; don’t know where to wash their hair, always washing their hair in inappropriate places.” But he didn’t do anything. We still couldn’t use the sink two weeks later… at which time I called and asked the landlord what was happening. He said he’d already sent the handyman over, who’d said there wasn’t a problem. After consulting the handyman, Mr. Landlord called me back to tell me the handyman had visited unit number 3, instead of our unit, number 2. Within 24 hours the handyman came to fix the leak, so we considered this issue closed. Until…

[The washing machine/dryer] Our lease specifies we’ll be provided a washer/dryer, though if either breaks they will not be repaired. Due to some miscommunication, the machines vanished with the previous tenant (Mr. Landlord: “girls have no respect for property, got no respect at all, take anything isn’t nailed down, even took the bins in the fridge”). He did not provide replacement appliances at move-in. Girlfriend and I were understanding, and said we could even do without a dryer, as long as we got a washer soon. Mr. Landlord asked if I’d do the legwork and get a washer for him. Stupidly, I said yes. But now he’s asking me to find one for under $200, used, (including, presumably, delivery). I’m not sure I have the time/information to do this on my own. Not to mention, issue number 3…

[The bedroom carpet/THE STENCH!] The previous tenants (Mr. Landlord: “butches, lesbians, who hate men – like some of ‘em Catholic nuns I know I went to school with”) moved out on the last day of August, letting us move a little stuff in before they were totally gone. There were no in-between days for Mr. Landlord to do work on the place. It was left in decent condition, with carpets vacuumed. Not spot-clean, certainly not as clean as I’d leave the place, but adequete -- barely. However: the bedroom stank. Stank like stagnant poop residue in the corner. Or a dead animal in the wall. Or a pet’s tank overturned on the floor. Badly enough that girlfriend and I had to buy an air purifier, and have to air the room out all the time. During the walkthrough (9/5), girlfriend and I told Mr. and Mrs. Landlord that we were bothered by the stench, and wanted the carpets professionally cleaned (nothing in the apartment had been touched by landlords at all, remember). Mr. and Mrs. Landlord flatly refused, on the grounds (a) they claimed not to smell anything (b) “that is definitely the tenants’ responsibility.” Since then, we have been trying to live with the smell (which has abated a bit, but is nevertheless unpleasant...) and would probably have just rented a steam-vac, but for…

[The kitchen floor] Prior to signing the lease, when still considering the apartment, I remarked to the realtor that the kitchen linoleum was in terrible shape: cracked, scratched, buckled, patched, broken, beat-up. [Pics on flickr here]. And still before signing the lease for the apartment, I asked the realtor if he'd relay to the landlords that we wanted the linoleum fixed. He picked up the phone immediately and called the Mr. and Mrs., asked if they'd be willing to make this repair. They said they hadn't seen it in a while, but that conditional upon it being in bad shape, they'd take care of it. Satisfied, the realtor hung up the phone, we signed the lease, paid the money, and we got the apartment. I did NOT get a clause about the linoleum put in the lease; the realtor said that it would diminish my chances of getting the apartment if I appeared too needy up front. During the walkthrough on 9/5, Mr. Landlord said he ‘could get around to replacing it sometime’ but not immediately, or soon, or (I’m guessing) during my tenancy because expenses were tight. Honestly, I wouldn’t have moved into the place if I’d known he’d be so disagreeable. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was…

[The rent check issue]
(i) (9/29) I got a call yesterday morning, from Mr. Landlord saying he didn’t get my half of the rent. I explained that my girlfriend would be paying all of the rent this month, because I’d paid all of the fees on the place before move-in, and cash was a bit tight. He was irritated, and said he expected rent by the 25th (as it says in the lease). I explained that my girlfriend had sent him two bank checks on the 20th, and that he should take another look around – at least one showed as ‘delivered’. This actually took three phone calls, because landlord does not have his ‘money girl’ on hand.

(ii) (9/29)Another call from landlord, yesterday afternoon, saying the checks /did/ come in the mail. Followed by a tirade about how expects it on the 25th, as outlined in the lease. I explained that it was mailed on the 21st, and that, frankly, 4 days was ample leeway for something to arrive by mail from one end of town to the other. And that next month I will send it earlier.

(iii) (9/29) Received another chiding call from landlord about an hour after (ii) concluded, telling me that I had seemed initially like a nice person and he didn’t expect this kind of thing from me. Told me I had him over a barrel, and how was he supposed to pay his bills if our bills weren’t paid on time. And how is he supposed to pay his mortgage on the place if we don’t get him our rent by the 25th (or 17th for an out-of-state check)? I tell him I don’t know… my girlfriend sent him two checks on the 20th, mailed on the 21st, etc., etc., etc….

(iv) (9/29) I ignore a call at night from the landlord. I’m sick of talking to him.

(v) (9/30) I ignore a morning call from the landlord. I’m sick of talking to him.

(vi) (9/30) I call the landlord back, feeling guilty and a little harassed. Landlord starts in on my ‘irresponsible behavior, because it turns out my GF’s checks are from an out of state bank (though they was a cashier’s check sent directly from Bank of America), and that as explained in the lease, out of state checks are due on the 17th, and that we’re ‘off to a bad start’ and that I’m causing him ‘a lot of stress and anxiety, stress and anxiety, because how am I gonna pay my stuff if you pay your rent late?” Yet again, I explained I had not sent any check, that he needed to talk to my girlfriend, but for what it was worth we’d get him everything on time next month. [[This means that if we’re going to pay with out of state checks, and need to allow him ample time to process the paperwork, and need to mail them more than 5 days in advance we will need to post the checks around the 10th of the month prior to the month for which we are paying. Am I nuts? Is this incredibly high maintenance? ]]

Metafilter, what do I DOOOOO? How do I get my issues fixed? Do I stand a chance at getting this resolved?

Which of these vehicles will give me the most luggage space?

gfrobe — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:29:02 -0800

What vehicle should I rent from the airport if I need to transport 4 people and a load of luggage (at least 8 big suitcases)? We're a family of four that will be landing at Newark with 8 large suitcases. I then have to go back to Newark the next day and pick up around 15 small and medium sized boxes so I'm essentially looking for a vehicle that will fit at least four for the first trip but then allow me to fold down all unneeded seats for the next day.

I'm looking at the airport vehicles and I see Dodge Caravans, Chevy Trailblazers, Chevy Express Passenger Van (seats 12) and Jeep Commanders. The vehicle listings do estimate how much luggage will generally fit but I'm assuming that is with all seats upright.

Does anyone know which of the above vehicles will allow the most seats to fold down for the most cargo space?

Pay my mortgage for me while I'm gone.

milinar — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:32:45 -0800

If I move for 6 months to a year, what do I do with my condo? I'm in the los angeles area, but considering relocation to London or NYC next year for work and a change of scenery. The rub is that I'm paying a mortgage on a condo right now. Renting it is problematic because the spare bedroom is used on a regular basis by my parents, who are co-owners of the property. (It is also their temporary residence when/if they need to evacuate because of wildfire, so it needs to be available on short notice.)

What are my options, then? Can you craft an agreement that would require tenants to leave the spare bedroom off-limits? Or does anyone have an experience with something like a short-term rental agency that would handle all the details of renting for a few days at a time?

Thanks in advance!

Landlord unwilling to return cleaning deposit

monkeystronghold — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:00:15 -0800

My former landlord returned substantially less money from the cleaning deposit than expected. Should I bother with small claims court? I've left my rental home of two years, and I'm now having trouble with the landlord. At the time of move in, I paid a $500 damage deposit, and $125 pet fee, and a $500 refundable(?) cleaning deposit/fee. Check in condition agreement documented the home problems pretty thoroughly. Now, 30 days after move out, she sent a refund that kept the entire $500 depost for cleaning. It stated that she had paid $12 for 99 hours of cleaning.

Some additional information:

- The Rental Agreement is a standard form and says "Non-Refundable Fee". She crossed out the "Non-Refundable" part at the time of signing, changing the text to read "Cleaning". All other correspondence refers to this as a "Cleaning Deposit". Verbally, she said this money would be used for cleaning if the house was not cleaned upon vacating.

- I sincerely believe that I left the house as clean as when I moved in

- The house had been abused by the previous tenants. Carpet riddled with cigarette burns. The hardwood floors are untreated wood painted with wall paint. Holes in doors. Etc. This was not a house of refinement. I have emails to her documenting things we found to be broken, in addition to the move in report that accurately assesses the condition of the house.

- I requested a move out walkthrough on multiple occasions, and she never responded. The assessment that she sent stated that she paid for 99 hours of cleaning. The gap between my opinion (clean as when we moved in) and hers (99 hours of cleaning?!) is vast.

I tried to call to discuss it with her, calmly, and she got very upset and hung up. All correspondence since that time has been in writing.

I've lived in many rentals and never had a problem, so I have no idea what I should do next. Is small claims court worth the trouble? I'm in Oregon if it matters.

Should I rent a car during my week in Denver?

TheManChild2000 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:20:29 -0800

I'm going to be in Denver for a seminar. Arriving Saturday, leaving Thursday. Staying a little east of the city center. Should I bother renting a car? I'm pretty outdoorsy but also pretty cheap. Does Denver have sufficient public transit to easily (and without taking hours) get out of the downtown area into natural places for hiking and swimming?

Where to throw a party in San Francisco?

roxie110 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:03:30 -0800

Suggestions for birthday party locations to rent in San Francisco? I'm thinking about throwing a party for my 40th birthday in October and have been racking my brain for ideas for places to go or to rent. My best guess is about 30 people (could be less or more, probably depending on how cool the event is!), preferably an evening/night event, and those thousand-dollar-and-up uber-swanky places are definitely out. It's quite likely I'd want to have a couple bands I know play, and have some sort of music going (probably from an ipod playlist) the rest of the time. I could set up some sort of bar if the venue doesn't have one--quite a number of my friends are big drinkers, so availibility of booze would help grease the rails!

Every year on my birthday I just have friends show up at a bar (Zeitgeist, Casanova) so I don't have to bother with planning. This year I'm open to trying something a little more special--but ideally I'd like the venue to be cool enough that it will do some of the work of making the party successful. (I don't want a bunch of people standing around just *looking* at each other. Horror!)

Any suggestions would be gratefully welcomed. From looking at past Metafilter postings, it looks like art galleries are a possibility--does anyone know one or two in particular that might do the trick? I'm also open to suggestions for places or party ideas that are very cool but that are outside of what it seems I'm looking for.

My rental was hit by a taxi

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:30:23 -0800

I rented a car and a taxi hit me while I was parallel parking. The car was not dented, but there is a bit of yellow paint on the bumper. Unfortunately, I declined all coverage. What advice do you have before I return the car (in a few hours) to the company? I'm not sure yet if my credit card or driver's insurance covers rental cars. I havent seen the police report yet --- of course the taxi said it was my fault and I said it was his (it was). If it matters, it is Thrifty car.

Thanks for your help and advice. Anonymous so as not to help the car company. Throw away email: M8R-ddtycs@mailinator.com

Rental Car Scratch

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:55:49 -0800

Ever scratch a rental car in Europe? Relatively minor bumper scratch. Looking over the paperwork, it appears I've screwed up and not purchased the coverage I intended to, so I'm assuming I'll have to pay (and there's no need to discuss that further, lesson learned). Credit card coverage not active. I do have US insurance, no access to the policy wording right now.

How much did it cost you? Online travel forums have interesting answers, but they tend to attract the most unhappy examples. Question anonymous just in case there's a dispute pending. Thanks.

Subleasing tenant cosmetically damaged my table. How much, if any, of her deposit should I keep?

evadery — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:54:35 -0800

Subleasing tenant cosmetically damaged my table. How much, if any, of her deposit should I keep? I am in my late 20's and I had a tenant stay at my place for 4 months in the summer as I subleased another place with my fiancee (in town for the summer). She paid her rent on time, was courteous, kept the place in good condition, and all in all a good fit. Unfortunately, she left hair products on my antique wooden dining room table (passed from generation to generation) and left a large black waxy stain on it around the size of two fingers held together, but in an irregular pattern.

It was very noticeable, and compounding the problem, as I tried to remove it, I stripped some of the red from the previous refinishing of the table several years ago. So, before it it was pretty obvious and bad, and now it is very obvious and bad.

I have received a handful of quotes pricing out the cost of fixing the table, and the general guesstimate is around $300-$350 (not including transport of the table top, which may or may not fit in my car, and would cost $130 round trip at my favourite place). All parties say that touching up the area would be visible and not ideal, and the entire top of the table should be redone, but none of the legs, etc. The entire top would need to be redone regardless of whether I had removed some of the colouring, as the removal of the wax would necessitate the full work.

Other relevant facts:
-The tenant gave me a deposit of $825.
-The room is shared with a roommate, but I don't think there is any debate about who caused the damage.
-There are very slight discolourations on the table from resting glasses, etc, but before the wax I would have not considered getting it refinished under any circumstances.
-I will get it refurnished due to this problem, either now, or when I move out of my apt into a house (estimated time-10 months from now). I would not have gotten it refurnished otherwise.

So, hivemind, what should I do, and what is fair under the circumstances? If I did the work now, what percentage of the final cost should the tenant be charged? Thanks.

Am I legally entitled to a buzz?

vegetableagony — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:15:02 -0800

After signing the lease and paying the deposit, the owner is asking me to sign a release saying that I know that the door buzzer system does not work and will not be fixed. Is a buzzer something that I'll wish that I had, or will I be fine just having people call when they need to be let in? The buzzer wasn't mentioned either way before I signed the lease (but I saw that the building had a buzzer system without thinking to check it). I wouldn't want to try to get out of the lease and have to redo my apartment search, but it does seem a bit weird not being warned about this in advance. Do I have any recourse? Can I force them to fix it or to give me some sort of discount on my rent, or should I just let it slide? If it matters the apartment is in Boston and is maybe 4 units in a non owner occupied building.

I tried looking through the tenant rights documents for the state and couldn't see any requirement that the apartment have a buzzer.

I am sharing the apartment with one other person who has no need of a buzzer system (since he is deaf).

CK-THUNK goes the lever of justice

Lucinda — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:06:24 -0800

Can individuals rent voting machines? I'm a member of a group that is having an important vote in a few weeks. We can do it with pen and paper, but were wondering if we could rent one of those lever voting machines (we're in New York State; they still use them) for more anonymity (and, well, the coolness factor).

I remember using one in high school 15 some-odd years ago for student elections; I don't know if the school owned it outright or not.

Google's not turning up much on the subject.

Do bunnies make good tenants?

metahawk — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:36:54 -0800

As a new landlord, what should I consider when a prospective tenant has two litter-box trained bunnies? We just bought a house which includes an unfurnished rental unit. We have started to put the word out among circles that we have connections with (school, work). The first person to show interest wants to know if we will consider her friend (described a nice and reliable) who has two rabbits who are "litter box trained and live in a pen"

I read in a previous post that bunnies mostly chew and poop. Since it is unfurnished, my concern would be mostly carpets, floors and wires. Am i foolish to consider this? If I do consider it, what should I ask the owner or what rules might we need to have? (Example - if the person tells me that the rabbits are used to being in their pens when she isn't home and we put that in the rental contract, is that sufficient?)

My husband thinks we should just say no pets but I would like to be open to situations that don't really cause us any problems. (the contract the previous owner used said "pets only with permission".