Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with housing and rental

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.

Can my landlord really kick me out?

krunk — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:19:28 -0800

My landlords want to kick me out and move into my apartment. They gave me the 60 days notice, but I have some questions about the validity of their notice. I was checking out the Residential Tenancies Act, and it seems that there is a clause that says they can't move in unless they have previously lived there (72 b), which they haven't.

Also, they said they would rather take over the apartment of the guys who live upstairs, but can't because they have a lease until March 2010. Since we are on month-to-month, they said they could take over our place instead.

Are either of these things true? Could they in fact take the other apartment instead?

Where to live in Santa Barbara?

wsquared — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:36:10 -0800

Where are the best neighborhoods in the Santa Barbara area for two 20-something professionals? My boyfriend will be working in Goleta starting in June and we're looking for a 1BR apartment preferably near stuff like grocery shopping, cafes/restaurants, a public library, and running/walking paths. We're hoping to not spend more than $1300 on a 1BR. We live in LA and San Diego now, so will make a trip or two to the area before we move to scope things out.

I know we don't want Isla Vista. Downtown near State St. sounds like it would be nice, but we don't really know what specific areas are good.

Goleta also would be good in terms of a short commute, but are there any good sort of mixed-use areas or is it all suburban?

Any other neighborhoods (preferably with specific boundaries) to look at or avoid?

Do all apartments look like 50s-era motels?

Any other apartment hunting advice for Santa Barbara? This previous question is really helpful, but a couple years old now.

Looking for a 3-4 bedroom house for rent in Georgetown or Tenleytown. Help?

wflanagan — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:11:45 -0800

Moving to DC, looking to rent in Tenleytown or Georgetown. But, I'm having a hard time finding good "house" rental listings. Ideally, we're looking for 4 bedrooms (3 plus an office of some sort), close to metro, some kind of yard would be nice. We're looking to keep it under $4k per month. Starting in June and we're here at least 2 years. Any thoughts of where there might be some good listings (besides Craigslist), or if you know of a good one for rent that might fit, let me know. Thanks!

Not a deadbeat but I play one on TV

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:18:42 -0800

Rentalfilter: Would you rent to me? I'm not a complete deadbeat, but I am paranoid about looking for a new place to live in the coming months. Anon because I'm revealing a little more than I'd like publicly linked to me, especially the finances bit.

This might be tl;dr, but I'll try to keep it concise.

It's me, my SO and our kid. We have an apartment but would like to move, and before I hire a Realtor and start the process in the coming months I'd like to get a feel for if this will even happen. We'd like to rent a 3 or 4 bedroom townhome and most of those in our area are done by individuals or smallish companies with a lot of paperwork and manual checking. (Ergo I won't be able to "sneak by" having a credit freeze like was done with our current complex; when they saw the freeze, they just asked for paystubs and rental verification. I did the freeze when I lost some papers with identifying numbers on them, but it can be easily lifted). Our budget for this is ~$1500/mo, and making 3X rent is not a problem, nor is job stability (7+ years at the same company). I have no issue paying a larger deposit (not too large; savings account isn't THAT big), but I have no one to act as guarantor so it's just the two of us as joint tenants. My SO has no credit, but also no bad housing debt either.

The good: Right now we're paying a little under $1200/month for our three bedroom apartment. The year lease will be up in summer and we have paid every month on time, in full and have had no problems with the complex. It is professionally managed, for whatever points that may bring. Prior to this we rented a house from an individual for $800/month and were there for about 14 months, again with no late payments or problems. Our landlord there was happy to sign a form for our current complex verifying all this. We have a couple bills (no credit, obviously) that have also been paid on time--electric and car insurance--and I can hopefully get letters from them showing this. Water is through our complex, so no go there.

Now, the bad news: I have two bankruptcies, and both are chapter 13. My SO has a chapter 7 from the same time as my first one (mid-2002) that's discharged. My first was discharged in 2005 and will drop from my credit report later this year, but before we go to rent anywhere else. The other was started in early 2008 and is ongoing. The first bankruptcy was from a lot of debt racked up early on; the second was to try to save our house. That failed so the house was foreclosed upon at the beginning of January 2009. I remain in the bankruptcy to keep our vehicles and clear other debt.

"But wait," you cry, "I thought you began renting in mid-2007. What gives?" We did. Initially we tried to sell (both traditionally and short-sale) our house and moved out in 2007 on the advice of our then-Realtor who said it'd be easier to sell with it vacant and "staged," and who was confident a sale would happen quickly. (Why did we move? Maintenance and upkeep; it needed a lot of work from before we bought it and we were over our heads) We kept paying on the mortgage until September 07, and then stopped to try to "force" a short-sale. That didn't work, so I filed bankruptcy (house in my name only) in early 2008 to work out a deal and let us short-sale the house under court protection. Our lender wasn't willing to play ball, so it went to foreclosure. During that time, we've been renting.

If you've made it down here, thank you. My questions are from the beginning: Would you rent to me? How difficult should I expect the process to be? My thinking is that there will be more renters as a result of the housing bust, so my/our application won't warrant even a second look; am I too paranoid about this?

Oh, all of this is in Texas, Fort Worth area.

Throwaway e-mail: anonmefi771@googlemail.com

can a landlord demand more security deposit after you've moved in

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:53:20 -0800

nychousingfilter: I signed a lease, moved into my new apartment on the 1st and now my landlord is demanding an extra security deposit. Can they do this? First: I know you are not a lawyer and that even if you are, you're not my lawyer. Also this is posted anonymously because some of friends read Ask MeFi and I'd like my business to be private.

I'm taking time off to work on a startup, my family overseas is investing by covering the rent while I do and the company of a family friend signed a form guaranteeing my rent. I signed my lease, received keys, and gave the landlord's company first + last + security in the form of teller's checks which they've cashed last month, and I moved in on the first. All of a sudden the landlord has decided they want more forms from the company guaranteeing me which they don't want to provide, and have told my family that they'd like a few additional months security deposit. Can they do this? Can they cancel my lease and force me to move out or move to evict me if I don't cough up? I signed the lease but haven't received a copy of it signed by my landlord, so it's possible he's not signed it, but they cashed my checks and let me move in on the first. What are their options, and what are mine?

(And yes, I'm looking for a housing lawyer, but I'd still like to be able to know things and thus do my own research before I see one, hence this question. Thanks for help in advance.)

First/last month's rent scam?

mudpuppie — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:36:40 -0800

Yet another roommate/deposit recovery question.... The scene:
San Francisco. Rent-controlled apartment.

The characters:
Main tenant -- we'll call her Mary -- who has lived in the apartment for 14 years
Roommate 1, who has lived in apartment for 18 months (and who happens to be my girlfriend); we'll call her GF
Roommate 2, who has lived in apartment for about a year; we'll call her #2

The story:
Mary has lived at this address for 14 years and is, for all intents and purposes, the tenant of record. She has all the interactions with the landlord, pays the bills, etc. The GF and #2 rent rooms from her, not from the landlord. The GF and #2 are not on the lease. In fact, they have no lease.

When she first moved in years ago, Mary presumably paid the full deposit and first/last month's rent based on the 1994 rent.

When roommates come in and out, they pay a deposit and first/last month to Mary. What Mary does with the money, we don't know. Obviously, she should bank the deposit for when the roommates leave, but it's unclear whether she does.

Last month, #2 announced that she was moving in with her boyfriend. She's gone. Mary has not yet rented that room.

A couple weeks ago, the GF was offered an apartment in another city that considerably shortens her commute. She accepted it and told Mary that she would be moving out next month.

Mary is pissed that she now has to find two new tenants.

In the 18 months that the GF has lived there, rent has gone up. Mary is now telling the GF that she must pay the difference between the actual last month's rent, and the "last month's rent" she paid when she moved in. Her reasoning is that she's suddenly without roommates and will incur extra expenses. (My response to that, which is pretty much irrelevant, is "tough shit, Mary.")

I've never heard of this before, and it sounds pretty shady to me. I've lived in places with multiple rent increases, and I've never been asked to pay the difference. Is this normal practice? Is it allowable, even? If not, any tips on how say No, and still get the deposit back?

West London two-bed flat search.

Kreiger — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:46:23 -0800

LondonFlatSearchFilter: Ms. Kreiger and I need a two-bedroom flat in West London. Where should we be looking for leads? We know what areas we want to live in (broadly speaking: Hammersmith, Shepherd's Bush, Acton, Ealing), when we need to move (2008-08-28), what we want to pay, and what we should expect for our money in each area.
What I want to know is whether we're missing any possible sources of apartments. Right now we're getting the Loot, looking on FindaProperty.com, and browsing a few letting agencies' sites directly (Haart, Dexters, and a couple of smaller places). Craigslist hasn't turned up anything interesting for us, nor has Gumtree, so we're not actively using either of them.
Are we missing any double-super-secret search methods here?

What are the cool areas to live in Melbourne?

Silentgoldfish — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:31:36 -0800

Need advice from people in Melbourne, or familiar with it about where to live. So as sort of a followup to this question I've gotten a job at the Royal Melbourne and start in June. Since I don't know Melbourne at all, geography wise, I don't really know what the good suburbs to be looking to live are.

The Royal Melbourne is in Parkville, which I understand is basically downtown (though I could be wrong), and my ideal place would be as close as possible so that I could either walk or catch the minimum of public transport to get there. Where I live right now is a 10 minute walk from where I work right now and in a perfect world I'd have the same set-up in Melbourne.

I'm looking for share-house accomodation (mostly cause I don't know anyone in Melbourne yet and it seem the fastest way to kickstart that!) and going by the share-house websites I've been looking at there's lots of choices. I just don't want to wind up with a 3 hour commute by looking in an interstate suburb! Also, I'd prefer to avoid slum areas.

Advise a SF renter?

aladfar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:20:28 -0800

Advise a San Francisco renter? I've about 6 weeks left on my current lease, and just had a new roommate move in. Rather than tack him on to the remaining time, my landlord would like to scrap the previous lease and have us sign on for a year. I've a feeling my roommate would prefer that as well. I, however, don't wish to be committed that long. So, I'm thinking I'll push for a 6 month lease - the same term as my last agreement. But I suspect I'll want to move sooner than that, perhaps as early as 3 or 4 months. I've come to realize that I'd much prefer my own place, and should be able to swing it financially.

I think the best strategy would be to tack the new roomie onto the current lease and then go month to month when it expires (I believe tenants have that right here in SF). But I suspect that will generate more than a little ill will.

Any advice on how to handle the situation would be much appreciated!

What should I know about buying a house in Japan?

zardoz — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 03:03:10 -0800

Calling all Japan MeFites as well as you real estate mavens...I'm thinking of buying a house here in Tokyo, and I need some advice. The nutshell: I've lived in Tokyo for about 4 years, and just married (a Japanese woman) last October. We live in a rental apartment close to Shinjuku, but it's both teeny-tiny and old, so we want to move.

We're paying Y90,000 right now in rent each month, so we figure we can invest in a house instead, pay roughly the same amount each month in mortgage payments, and have an asset to show for it.

We plan on moving back to the U.S. eventually, maybe 2 or 3 years from now. Here's my biggest worry--will I be able to SELL this house with no problem down the road? Of course, making a profit from that sale would be ideal, but at least breaking even is important.

Are there any pitfalls, traps, or general unpleasantness involved with buying a house in Japan? What's the best way to ensure a loan approval? (I'm American, btw)

Lastly, my wife and I looked at a really nice house today, priced at Y29,000,000. What questions should I be asking?

What to look for in a house share situation

needs more cowbell — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:22:53 -0800

Young (24) single female looking to sublet a room or share a house with strangers in a large US city. What things should I look for/insist on to maximize my chances of having a pleasant, safe, experience? (I've left the city unnamed because I don't know yet; right now I'm considering the Bay area but I may end up going someplace totally different.)

I've seen lots of nightmare roommate/housemate/rental situations on AskMe. I'm hoping to avoid falling into one of those situations. I'm not entirely naive (if anything, I'm overcautious and slightly terrified about the idea in general) but I'm sure there are things I wouldn't think of on my own. [Example: Previously, I rented a room in a house and the landlord--older man who did not live there--came over to watch TV and drink beer in the living room. I didn't expect that, but the signs were probably there, since he lived next door and still had much of his own furniture/stuff in the house's common areas when I signed the lease. Since the rooms were rented out individually by the landlord, there was nothing in the lease to prevent him from hanging out in the common areas like that. Now I know to be careful about that, but I'd like to avoid having to learn about everything like that by direct experience.]

Ideally I'd like to live in a housemate situation where people talk to each other and hang out in common areas rather than renting a room and not assimilating into the group. At minimum it's important to me that roommates don't steal my stuff, don't do hard drugs or have really unsavory guests, and don't flake out on their bills regularly.

What things are red flags? What things should I make sure to have (like lease specs) or ask about? I realize there are no guarantees in this sort of situation, but I'm sure there are rules of thumb. I'm worried that being too uptight and distrustful will make it hard to get along with roommates, but I also don't want to be overly trusting and then get really, really screwed. I'm open to any sort of advice about this.

How should a renter deal with foreclosure?

rezaman — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:46:54 -0800

What do renters do when their landlord's property goes through a foreclosure? I saw this post on the Consumerist and want to see what the hive has to say. How is someone renting a place affected by their landlord's lender foreclosing on the property?

Do they stop paying rent to the landlord?

Do they have any chance at getting their deposit back?

Will they get evicted when the foreclosure finalizes?

Will they be notified of the foreclosure ahead of time?

Should they get an attorney?

FYI, I live in California, but I'm just speculating so feel free to respond with info about your state as well.

Living in the Lower Mainland

tiamat — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:37:04 -0800

Can you recommend online resources for apartment/condo hunting for Richmond BC (or area, including Surrey and Vancouver). Or, Can you recommend an agent in the Vancouver/Richmond area that I can hire to do this for me? Need to find a place to stay for a Jan '08 arrival, to lease/rent rather than buy (if at all possible).

Basically my problem is that I can't go to inspect something first, so I need to find a listings site with good depth for the Richmond area. Craiglist has some stuff, but are there other sites I should be using?

Any general advice for the Vancouver/Richmond housing market would be much apprecaited.

How much is your w/d worth?

hattifattener — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:17:36 -0800

How much is it worth to you to have a washer/dryer in your building? All else being equal, how much cheaper would an apartment have to be to make up for not having laundry facilities in the building? There's not a laundry in the immediate neighborhood, but you do have a car (and there are plenty of laundries in the city).

I'm asking because I find myself in the awkward situation of having sublet half of my space and, halfway through the lease, losing the w/d the sublessors are using. So, assuming I can't fix that, I'm thinking of offering to reduce their rent a bit to compensate. How much is fair?

$100k to spend on vacation home. Where?

wflanagan — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:47:15 -0800

$100k USD to spend on a "vacation home". Ideally, great activities nearby (skiing, beaching, etc) on a lake or mountains. North America or Europe. Where should we buy? Through extenuating circumstances, I'm coming into about $100k. For that cash, I'd like to find a "vacation home" to buy. Ideally, I'm purchasing this thing outright, as I'd like to avoid a mortgage.

I'm a ski & beach person, my wife is a mountain person, or a beach person that doesn't like heat. So, if there's a blend that works that would be fantastic.

Obviously, there's the traditional ways you look for property. We're doing that. But, I thought the hive mind might be able to come up with some places or ways to get more bang for the buck, and get something that we'd love to have in our family for years to come.

We have ties to Germany in Europe, Texas and Oklahoma, and the DC area. Doesn't need to be in these places necessarily, but if something was good in those areas, that might make the deal easier (or harder).

If it was rentable as well, so that it could generate positive cash flow, that would be even better.

Is there some perfect, secret place that you would buy if you had the money? Point me in it's direction!

I ma sick of knowing my neighbours sex frequency.HELP

plumberonkarst — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 19:27:18 -0800

Resources for finding rental houses in Northern/ Eastern Or Southern Ontario.Anyone have some good sources or leads? I am looking for country type settings under a $1000 a month.My experiment with apartment life has given me a profound respect for those that enjoy it and impetuous to get the %^%& out of this noisy concrete box.My Google Fu is bringing little in results.MLS has little listed of interest.

I slept like a baby in my house,now I am woken an average of 10 times a night.Why close your apartment door when you can slam it at 3 am etc etc.Apartments are NOT for me.

The easiest way you can help me move!

Navelgazer — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:47:22 -0800

Moving to D.C. for grad school! Need help with the rental market! Okay, so I've read through all of the stuff here, but it doesn't fully help (and I imagine a lot has changed in the last 3 years.)

I'm starting Georgetown Law in late August, and am looking for a place in the city that's close to school (The Law Center is actually in the Chinatown/Capitol Hill area) and big enough so that it'll fit both myself and my girlfriend once she moves down 2nd semester. I imagine this won't be too difficult, but I'm freaking out a little bit because:

1. I've lived in NYC the last eight years, my entire adult life, really. Everything I know about getting an apartment, moving, applications, etc. is specific to New York. Also, it's not easy for me to just keep bobbing down to D.C. as the date gets closer, looking for the perfect place. However, I need a decent place, as I plan to live there for the next three years.

2. I really don't know Washington at all. In total I've spent maybe nine days there, and at no point was I able to go exploring on my own and get a feel for the place. Essentially my entire knowledge of the town comes from West Wing. Where should I be looking, and what should I be looking out for?

3. As I'll be a student while living there, my application will be a little different, I imagine. What should I expect as far as providing guaranteur letters, etc.?

Thank you, hive mind!

Rental Househunting in Philadelphia

SansPoint — Sat, 12 May 2007 05:30:24 -0800

Why is it so hard to get a rental in Philadelphia? Here's the story. We're a group of three Temple Students (obviously, that's one strike against us...), all employed, with good credit. We've had nothing but trouble trying to find a rental, sadly. Searching through Craigslist, We've had Realtors and owners cancel appointments, not even bother to call back, and one even simply hung up on us. The places that we have seen rarely work out either:

The first house we managed to look at, a small, but nice rowhouse near LaSalle University, was snatched from under us before we even had a chance to fill out paperwork. We also saw a Duplex in North Philly, and were all set to sign a lease when my father found out the heating and electric systems hadn't been split yet, and wouldn't be finished before our desired move-in date. Most recently, working through a local property management agency, we had one owner simply pull his property completely off the market rather than rent to us (even after providing the co-signer he asked for).

We've tried working with Temple University's office of off-campus housing, but all they did was hand us a few printouts of listings from their website, almost all out of our price range (the one that wasn't was the first place mentioned above).^1. We've tried Craigslist, tried classified ads, and now this property management agency: in fact, I have an appointment to see a place at 12:30 today.

What the hell do I have to do? Can it really be that hard to find a place that's less than $1000, in a safe neighborhood? We're desperate, here, and running out of time. Help.

^1. The general price range for 3 and 4 bedroom houses was $1200-$1800 a month. There was even a listing for a 3 bedroom place in Old City for $3250/mo. What student can afford that!

Relocating To Pomona, CA : rental housing and general advice?

lalochezia — Thu, 03 May 2007 07:54:54 -0800

Pomona/Claremont/Inland Empire Filter. I have just landed an academic job at Cal Poly Pomona. Does anyone have advice about where to live, in rental housing, NEAR as possible to campus. Advice on apt/househunting in the inland empire in general also requested. General advice about Cal Poly and the Pomona/Claremont area sought too. So, I've gone and got me a tenure-track job at Cal Poly Pomona. I'm going back there next week to negotiate and to meet with real estate realtors/agents. I'm trying to avoid the classic inland-empire commute, and rent a place for a couple of years before I (probably) buy. When I was there for interview, downtown Pomona appears diverse and a little sketchy, and nearby claremont seems a little sterile & white, but safe.

Is there any way I can live a biking distance to work (<5 mi) in a safe but relatively interesting area?i know i'll probably drive, but the option of walking/biking is something i think is hard to let go of. failing that, is there anywhere nearby with a b>minimal commute that has a town-ish culture (i.e. as unlike suburbia as possible)? Any suggestions on particular neighborhoods to avoid?

Any suggestions in general about real estate and agents - things to look for in apartments/houses, prices etc. Suggestions on things to avoid? Furthermore, any suggestions about Cal Poly Pomona and the area in general gratefully received: especially aimed at an 8-yr New Yorker.

For those of you who want to see where Cal Poly Pomona is, here's a link.

How can I find housing in a city I've barely visited?

moooshy — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:20:22 -0800

[Chicago Filter] Moving to Chicago in June. Start work 2 days later. No time to go to Chicago before the move. What's the best way to find an apt? (Everyone on CL wants to meet me first, which isn't possible.) I just found out that I have to move to Chicago for a full time job. The job starts approximately 2 days after I move there, and there's no way I can get to Chicago before June to scope the joint, so to speak.

I know nothing about Chicago, aside from what I've read online -- and I've posted/read Craigslist ads, but everyone wants to meet me first, understandably. I'd like to meet them first, too -- but I can't. This makes securing housing somewhat difficult, and I can't afford a hotel.

Ideally, I'd sublet for the summer before making an attempt to get a longterm lease in the fall -- but if I could find something longterm and decent now, I'd be a happy camper.

I have never moved across the country, nor have my parents -- so we're kind of in the dark about this. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for such a move, and what might be the best way to proceed (My employer is small, and all of the employees live in the suburbs, so they're not going to know...)

TempeApartmentFilter

Alterscape — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 13:29:20 -0800

When and where should I rent an apartment in Tempe, AZ as a new ASU PhD student? Teach me about the Tempe rental market! I need to be living in Tempe by August of this year and I need to find an apartment. I'm currently on the east coast and I don't really have the travel budget to fly out, rent a car, visit apartments, etc.

My priorities are affordability (looks like 1br apts can be had for ~$500-$650/month, I'd like to stay in that range) and location (I'd like to be in walking distance or easy bus-ride from the western part of the ASU campus). I'd prefer a quieter neighborhood to one with a lot of undergrad partying.

Looking at Google Maps, I probably want to be living in the block between S Mill Ave and S Priest Dr, to the immediate west of the ASU campus, but I have no idea how realistic that is. I've been checking Craigslist Phoenix, TheBackPage's Phoenix section, and ASU's Web Devil classifieds.

So, my question to current or former Tempe/ASU-ites: Is the Mill Ave/Priest Dr/University Ave area where I should be looking? If so, can I expect there to be more leases opening up as summer approaches, or has the big boom in lease-opportunities for next academic year already passed? Is my price expectation unreasonable? Is there anywhere else I should be looking, either location-wise or apartment-listing-wise?

Help for a rental refugee?

zarq — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:46:00 -0800

Can anyone provide advice, suggest tenant rights resources, courses of action or even refer a good pro-bono lawyer for a friend of mine who's getting screwed by her landlord during the conversion of her apartment complex from rentals to condos in Studio City, CA? Everything's being documented on Flickr.

At Christmas, all tenants were given notice that they had 180 days to vacate. CA state law requires (among other things) that the landlord help current tenants find new housing, pay for up to $500 in moving costs and compensate them with $1000 cash. Hers has refused to do any of that.

In February, construction began months early and created many ongoing hazardous living conditions, such as a six-foot deep moat around the building and exposed nests of metal and electrical wires. But even though the management company is blatantly violating their end of the agreement (and breaking the law) and the tenants are dealing with unsafe living conditions, not one of the numerous lawyers they've called will take the case on -- either individually or as a class action suit. They all say that the case would be winnable, but there's no money in it because no one has been seriously injured or killed yet.

Anything y’all can suggest would be greatly appreciated.

What's the deal with Santa Clara?

jewzilla — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 10:24:29 -0800

Why is Santa Clara so much less expensive than Mountain View or Sunnyvale? I'm looking to rent a place in the South Bay. The rents in Santa Clara are more attractive than Mountain View or Sunnyvale. The crime rate appears to be comparable if not lower [link]. The weather in Santa Clara appears to be (very) slightly better [Link, Link].

The only reasons I can think of are that 1: it doesn't have a cute downtown like Mountain View, and 2: Mountain View is in a more prestigious location due to its proximity to the peninsula (which doesn't mean squat to me). Am I missing something here? I don't want to move there only to discover that it has some terrible or annoying affliction that's not obvious to me right now.

Has craigslist really destroyed the local paper's rental listings? What now?

croutonsupafreak — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:14:23 -0800

Is craigslist now the only place to search for apartments in urban areas of the U.S.? What does this mean for the significant share of the population that is not computer literate? Four years ago, I did all my apartment hunting through the local alternative weeklies and the Sunday section of the daily paper.

I need to move again, and I've discovered that one of our local alt weeklies doesn't even have an apartments section any more. The other seems only to list places way out in the burbs. The Sunday paper mostly has big complexes, and very limited selection. I've only been able to find nice-looking close-in stuff by going to craigslist.

Fine for me. But I spend enough time around people from other cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds to know that there are a LOT of people who don't have a clue about computers, the internet or craigslist. It seems that people in this demographic are the ones who would most benefit from quick, easy access to information about inexpensive rentals and rentals accessible by public transportation.

What am I missing? Are computer-illiterates being screwed on the rental market? Have the listings migrated somewhere else that they can find?