Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with landlord

Should I sign a new year-long lease even though I know I'll be leaving early?

josh.ev9 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:42:01 -0800

Should I sign a new year-long lease even though I know I'll be leaving early, or try to get my landlord to agree to a shorter term? This is probably a relatively straightforward question, but I want to know if I'm asking anything out of the ordinary.

My lease ends at the end of this month, but my girlfriend and I are pretty sure we'll be leaving Chicago by the end of this year. We love our apartment, and don't want to have to move somewhere else only for a few months. Is it a reasonable request to ask our landlord if we could sign a lease that would end in a few months, rather than a full year?

Our landlord owns the condo we're living in, so it's not like we have to deal with a big association or anything. But what should we expect in this situation? Could the rent go way up based on this request?

Another possibility: perhaps we could request to go month-to-month? I'm a little averse to this because the landlord could end the contract at any time.

Any advice is helpful. Thanks

Is it appropriate to thank landlord with gift?

parkerama — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:58:08 -0800

I am wondering about the appropriateness of giving a thank-you gift to our landlord for some emergency work he recently performed. The work started out with what seemed to be a minor problem--a small leak under our bathroom sink. However, when the landlord came down to take a look at it, the pipes and sink completely fell apart and crumbled, and he had to head out and find a replacement sink on a statutory holiday, come back, and install it. What we thought would be a 10-minute job turned out to be an all-day project, and it was his only day off in weeks. My husband asserts that this is his job and that our rent cheques are his payment. I think a small thank you (e.g. a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, etc.) would be a nice gesture for his efforts. I should add that we have been renters in the basement suite of our landlord's house for 4 years (he and his wife live in the top two floors); we like living here and plan to continue to live here for the foreseeable future. However, although they are both nice people, they are very slow to respond to any requests we have (i.e. if something breaks)--by "slow" I mean weeks/months, with us having to remind them at least a few times before they "get" to anything. Perhaps an extra thank you, in the form of a small gift, would let them know that we appreciate their efforts? Is it a good idea to give them a gift, or is this inappropriate (it falls outside the standard landlord/tenant relationship) or unnecessary?

Unreasonable/crazy landlord question -- I accepted a job in a new city, and he's being VERY difficult.

BobbyVan — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:45:08 -0800

Here's my situation: I live in Washington, DC. I notified my landlord about a month ago that I was offered a job in another city, and would want to either assign my lease to someone new, or sublet. This is allowed with his consent. I have one roommate who wants to stay in the 2 bedroom condo we live in. We presented a prospective tenant to the landlord with a rental application, and now the landlord is accusing us of all sorts of things... This May, we signed a new lease with the landlord. We haggled over the size of the rent increase, but finally came to an agreement.

One of the things we gave up at the end of the first lease was the parking space in the basement. There were some building security issues early on, so someone spray painted some stuff across several parking spaces including ours. When the landlord got the space back, we heard no complaints for several months (and he even started advertising the space for someone else to rent).

In July, I was offered and accepted a great job in a different city. I had no expectation that this job would ever materialize. I had been in talks about the job for over two years, and it was always a dream situation that might never work out. Of course, I wasn't going to put my life on hold in DC and not sign a new lease because of something that may never materialize.

Now that I'm leaving, and have found someone to replace me, our landlord has suddenly decided to blame us for the spray paint in the parking space, charging that we either vandalized it ourselves or failed to report it when we noticed it.

The landlord had the parking space for months, and said nothing about it to us since we handed it over, despite numerous opportunities / meetings. We honestly thought the spray paint had been in the space for as long as we had been there. In any case, I understand that under DC law, he had 45 days to make a claim against us (and use our security deposit) and he did not do that.

Also, there is this ridiculous blog that some people in the building authored that aired all the building's dirty laundry. Someone (perhaps the bloggers) spread rumors that we were behind the blog, but neither my roommate nor I were. An investigation was done, and it determined that the blog was run by a group of condo owners who were using it to push their own agenda. Of course, our landlord still used those rumors against us, and now that we've told him about the investigation, he's asking us what we've done to anger people so much that they would falsely accuse us. Talk about blaming the victim!

I'd appreciate any advice anyone has. The ideal situation is for the landlord to agree to accept the new tenant and have my current roommate stay behind.

Failing that, I'd like to have the lease broken and get our security deposit back.

I think the landlord wants us out and wants to put the condo back on the rental market for a lot more money. But of course he's not admitting that.

Should we get a lawyer? Should we break the lease? Has the landlord's outrageous behavior/accusations broken the lease?

What should we do?

(I know, what an awful, awful place this must be to live in.)

Is the carpet-cleaning clause in this lease shady?

Cogito — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:11:35 -0800

I'm about to sign a lease with a peculiar clause about carpet cleaning. I have had a lot of leases before and I don't recall ever seeing anything quite like this. I'm wondering if it's just a standard thing I haven't seen before, or if it's unusual or even unlawful. The term goes like this:

"Carpets must be PROFESSIONALLY CLEANED by a Landlord approved cleaner at the end of the lease term. All belongings/furniture must be removed prior to the cleaning. Carpets may not be cleaned with rental cleaning equipment or any unauthorized cleaning firms.
CHARGES: $50.00 service charge plus carpet cleaning expense. Hard surfaced floors must be swept, then cleaned with proper cleaners.
CHARGES: $35.00 per hour."

Those last two lines are referring to what will be deducted from the security deposit if the term isn't satisfied by the tenant.

Is this just a case of the management company pushing costs onto the tenant? I'm used to having the management company do a professional cleaning between tenants rather than making the outgoing tenant responsible. I seem to remember when I was living in Michigan I read something about it being illegal for a landlord to require a tenant to pay for cleaning services, but this is in Iowa, so it may be different. Here's the response I got from the management company when I asked about it:

"Yes, we do require that you have the carpets professionally cleaned at the time you move out. We also require tenants to clean the carpets at least once each year that they reside with us. This is standard practice in this area with all the property management companies that I have come into contact with.

"Most tenants who have lived with us for an extended amount of time usually have their carpets done once a year, on or around the date that their lease would normally expire. We do require a copy of the invoice from the cleaning company as proof that the carpets were cleaned, otherwise, we would charge the tenant a service fee for setting up the service plus the tenant would be charged the actual cost of the carpet cleaning.

"I am surprised that this is the first time you have come across this; this is not uncommon in this area."

Central air conditioner issues on a rental house in Texas.

Ufez Jones — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:45:38 -0800

Air conditioner puts out more water than cool air. Ideas on what two renters can do? The Texas summer is obviously too much for our new rent house to handle. With the thermostat at 78 degrees, it puts out at least 28 quarts of water per day (14 gallon bucket emptied twice, sometimes three times each day). While that's good for the herbs in the front, it's not so good for the internal temp of the house - the cooling cycles are long and do little to bring down our 80+ degree house to the thermostat setting. It also makes a loud noise when starting, almost like someone is kicking the housing unit. This is a central air-unit, not a window-based.

Being renters, there's not much else for us to do other than replace the filter (done when we moved in) and call the landlord to send someone out to inspect it, which we have already. The technicians said the Freon level was fine and cleaned debris out of the unit and while that helped somewhat, it obviously wasn't sufficient, as our most recent electricity bill was $lots.

To hone it down to something specific, we'd like to look for terms/questions to pinpoint to our (granted, a bit batty) landlord. The leakage is a major concern, as is the cost of the electric bill.

Getting the fuck out of Dallas isn't an immediate solution.

30 days or 60 days, that is the question...

djpyk — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:14:57 -0800

Landlord/Security deposit/renting filter: GA State law requires the security deposit to be returned within 30 days. My contract says after 60 days. Which wins? For GA state law, I referred to: this tenant/landlord info here.

How do I evict for unpaid rent?

lost_cause — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:45:54 -0800

EvictionFilter: How do I evict a tenant for unpaid rent in Tennessee? As of June 5, for 2008, the tenant owes $5550 in rent (6 mos X $925/mo), and he's paid $2425. Mostly partial payments, one small overpayment in April, and no payments in March or June. I know you're not a lawyer and not my lawyer, but first, I'm looking for legal *information*. In Hamilton County, TN, do I give 14-days notice (TN 66-7-109) or 30 (TN 66-28-505)? Also, there is currently no formal rental agreement -- I assume it's assumed to be a month-to-month arrangement. I know, that's stupid, but to further complicate things, it's a house my Mom owns, and she's asked me to handle it. Can I handle this without the expense of an attorney?

On top of the mechanics, how do I tactfully do it? They seem like decent people; they just can't or won't pay the rent. Things went well for the first two years, but they were down about $1500 last year, and now they're down $3125 in 2008. The husband changed jobs in late 2007, and that was the excuse then, and now the excuse is that the wife worked for some Ponzi scheme operator , and she was never paid in full. Times are tough for these folks, and I feel bad for them, but they're also making things tough on my Mom. The reality is that they need something they can afford, and I have to push them there. Plus, I'd be nice if they didn't leave the place trashed, and even though it's a pipe-dream, maybe feel obligated to make good on some past rent.

Any advise is most appreciated.

Help! I found the perfect apartment!

Julia F***ing Sugarbaker — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:45:39 -0800

Is my new apartment too good to be true? Is there some scam I'm not seeing? Detail-ridden story:

My husband and I are doing the big insane New York apartment hunt this month. We answered an ad on Craigslist today and arranged to go see a 1 bedroom apartment. The place is undergoing serious renovations; it was gutted, and construction workers were putting in new walls and fixtures as we looked around. But we could tell from the size and layout that it was perfect for us.

So, we called the owners and told them we wanted to apply. Having our papers and financial info in hand, we went straight to the office, where a kindly older Greek gentleman sat down with us across a handsome wooden table and asked us a few basic questions. As we started pushing our papers at him, it became clear that we were providing way more info than was even being asked for. He didn't seem too concerned about anything. He let us know that there was no broker's fee. Not once was a credit check mentioned. After this getting-to-know-you chat, he took copies of our papers and told us he'd let the other people who had called that day know that the apartment had been rented. He said he'd draw up the lease tonight, and we could return to sign it tomorrow. He said that at the signing he'd accept a 1-month's-rent deposit, and a post-dated check for the rent for July 1st (post-dated checks are pretty common with landlords here). He said since no one was currently living there, we'd be able to move in our stuff a few days early if we wanted to. And when he sensed my disbelief at how easy it was, he said, "Don't worry, you're getting this apartment."

Then his son (about our age, who will soon be taking over the business) offered to drive us home in the company car.

To recap:

*No application fee
*No broker fee
*No credit check
*Only one month's rent down payment
*Early move-in date
*On-the-spot acceptance of our financial records with little scrutiny.

All of this seemed so weirdly simple and friendly that I have to say, we're a little freaked out. Can it really be this easy? Have I been in New York for so long that I simply can't accept fortunate circumstances for what they are? Did we manage to fall into one of those wormholes where things just turn out easier and cheaper than you expect them to? As long as I don't give them any money until we have a copy of the lease, what could go wrong?

Our reigning theory is that they're in the mafia, which is not an uncommon quality among Brooklyn landlords, and that the stakes are low for them w/r/t the real estate end of their business. They're just glad to accept a nice-looking, decently successful couple who they see as non-problematic tenants. (And of course, if problems ever arise, they certainly won't feel threatened by the likes of us.) Weirdly enough, if this is the case, we don't really mind. It's the lesser of so many evil landlord scenarios!

Okay, folks, what am I missing? And what should I make sure of when I go back to sign the lease tomorrow?

All around, people looking half dead/Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

SassHat — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:40:35 -0800

Yet another air conditioner question...please hope me. So I buckled today and bought a window air conditioner after a week straight of near-sleepless nights in my second floor apartment. Bought a 5000 BTU window unit, the kind meant for a window to shut down on top of it. My neighbor (in my building) has the same windows, same window a/c unit, and said it didn't cause him any problems. So I lugged the stupid thing home, nearly got heat stroke installing it, then hit a brick wall. Well two.

The first (and most important) thing is that the outlet nearest the two windows which would fit it (incidentally, in the kitchen) does not seem to have sufficient power to make it work. To test it, I set it on the edge of the counter and stretched the plug across to the outlet the fridge is plugged into...worked. This was fine to make sure the unit itself worked but there is no way the cord will reach that far, and if it did it would span the length of my kitchen.

So now I'm stuck with a unit that I can't power. I live in a bachelor apt and vaguely remember my landlord explaining to me that there wasn't an oven because there wasn't an outlet to plug it into and that she was going to have an electrician in some day (this was last sept). So now what? I put in a peeved voicemail with the landlady, she will likely take her sweet time on this, to the tune of me getting air conditioning some time next fall. My neighbor suggested an extension cord but that seems like a sketchy proposition at best. I've read the previous air conditioning askmes, but they were mostly about playing with wiring (something I will not and am not allowed to do). Any other workarounds you can suggest?

Secondly, should I ever get the power source issue taken care of - the window is a slide-sideways kind of window, the panes of which pop right out for easy cleaning. So while the unit fits in there, it's got about five or six inches of "head room" which covered up with cardboard for the time being. What's the best way of permanently (or at least seasonally) blocking off this area? And how to seal it up so cold air stays in and warm air/hornets/squirrels stay out?

Thanks in advance!

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.

Am I really paying $90 to cook dinner twice a week?

blueskiesinside — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:34:07 -0800

Paying for gas to light the boiler pilot lights in a NYC apartment? So, we've been having a lot of issues with Con Ed. They've been reading our gas usage at 44 therms a month. That's a lot for just a gas stove, even they say that. Their explanation is that the gas meter for the boiler and furnace pilots are not separate from our meter (there are only two meters in the basement, and two apartments) and that we're paying for gas every time the boiler is used. The landlord says "Oh no no no, we have oil heat, you're not paying anything." This is the third month in a row with this level of gas usage. What do we do now? Go to the broker we got the apartment through? In New York City, have a lease that says that we don't pay for heat or water.

Help me deal with this horrid landlord

pinksoftsoap — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:34:36 -0800

Please help! My landlord management company refuses to let me terminate my lease early. What can I do? I need to move from a studio to a 1BR due to a severe lack of space which is affecting my mental well-being. I have lived here for 2.5 years and my landlord will NOT let me out of my lease early unless I move into another one of his apartments. (He owns many buildings in the neighborhood.) I have offered every option I can think of - from finding a tenant to take over the lease to not moving until they have secured someone for the apartment. They do not seem willing to budge at all. The property manager has told me NOT to post any public ad on craigslist or anywhere and that they themselves will find a tenant; only then will they consider letting me out (and probably only if I rent another apt from them). I doubt that they will even look. Is it just me or does this not seem reasonable at all? Is this even legal? They said that if I leave they will sue me for the rest of the rent until my lease ends. Can they do that if I find them a more than suitable replacement tenant so that they do not incur ANY damages? At this point, I do not even care if I lose my security deposit. Why would a landlord want to keep a tenant who wants to leave so badly? What can I do?

What are the tax benefits of being a landlord?

Capri — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:05:18 -0800

What are the tax benefits of being a landlord? A couple of MeFi threads have mentioned that there are tax benefits to landlords. What are those? (U.S. federal taxes) (I know you're not my tax lawyer. I'm just looking for places to start my real investigation of the tax laws.) Thanks.

My landlord is a slime bucket and I need to break my lease. What kind of repercussions might I face?

Sloop John B — Wed, 14 May 2008 09:28:31 -0800

My landlord is a slime bucket and I need to break my lease. What kind of repercussions might I face? Over the last year and a half, I've had some problems with my landlord. Leaky roofs, heat and hot water that randomly stop working, mice, roaches, and, most recently, bedbugs. Although it turned out that we didn't have a full-on infestation, the landlord has refused to have the whole building inspected, and I don't trust him to stay on top of the problem. In short, I want to break my lease and leave the apartment. I have a feeling that he'll let me out of the lease, but his security deposit policy is a bit whacked out. His policy is to release the security deposit a full 30 days after you move out. Plus, in order to break my lease, he may try to get me to sign something that would allow him to take my deposit. Basically, he's a slimy, slimy man, and I don't trust him to actually give me my deposit back. What I want to do is move the hell out and tell him to keep my security deposit in lieu of last month's rent. If I do this, what can he do to me? Can he mess up my credit? Can he sue me? Would he sue me? Do I have any recourse, other than spending lots of money on a lawyer?

Thanks for the help.

Seattle-area Property Management?

kanuck — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:13:56 -0800

Seattle property management company recommendations? Looking for recommendations for a Seattle-area property manager / management company. This would be for renting a single condo unit, not multiple properties or an entire multi-tenant building. Warnings and negative reviews would also be useful so I know who to avoid.

How do you cope with a crappy landlord?

Listener — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:57:33 -0800

I need help for coping with being a renter for a year. I just sold my house out of town and moved back to the Lower Mainland. Because I had no cellphone, it was hard to shop for a place when I was in town for a few days, and I think that`s why I ended up with something of a disappointing place, but anyway, how do I cope with it for the next year? We`ve already had problems, and we`ve only been here a couple days. We arrived well after 1st of month, but a bunch of things were not fixed -- a toilet that runs constantly, windows that do not lock at all or even shut properly, a fire alarm that is nonworking. Supposedly he`s coming tomorrow to do it, but he yelled at us and was horribly rude on the phone when we want to know when this will all get done. He said they were not essential, but I think the windows are essential security issue, even on 1.5 flights up.

He`s exaggerating, claiming we called him 13 times in a day, but we just called trying to reach him (no voicemail) because he said `Call any time.` Sheesh. There was no heat when we got here and by morning (with drafty windows) it was 60F in the place. So we called! Is it reasonable to have the heat off for the season already? He claimed they provide `reasonable heat`but he should have told us it`s off now and we wouldn`t have panicked. He lied, instead. It`s a rough start.

How do I let this go and feel okay in this place as my home for the next year? We made this change because we needed to move and we sold at a very good time, but don`t want to buy now. Renting sucks and I don`t know how to cope. Tips and resources are welcomed. I wish I could reframe this in my mind and feel okay going forward. Or maybe that`s not even the right thing to do.

The place has some good things -- southern exposure, fairly quiet, 850 a month for a huge one bedroom in Burnaby very near Boundary -- but it lacks a lot because I am not ready to pay more right now.

communal apartment laundries...making you hate laundry even more since 2008

sararah — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:34:19 -0800

The communal washing machines in my apartment building are worthless. They don't remove any sort of stain or spill, regardless of solubility or severity. When I remove the wet clothes from the washer, nasty stripes and splotches of lint cover my clothes (especially obvious on darks). Is there a specific complaint I can make to my landlord, or should I just give up and go to a laundromat? I can't believe I have to pay $1 per wash for these totally worthless machines. I use liquid Tide Coldwater (and wash in cold, always) and currently it is the "old" Tide that is not super concentrated, so I would say I use about 1/3-1/2 cup per wash. I try not to overload the washers, and I usually fill the tub partially before loading. Based on the results below, is there a specific complaint I can make to my landlord? I don't just want to call and say "the washers suck, fix them..." I feel my unresponsive property management might be a little more on the ball if they knew what the problem was. (And no, I don't think I'll be trying to do all my laundry in the bathtub)

Some examples of the laundry awesomeness:

-Just last the other night I attempted to wash a pair of khaki pants with small splotches of whipping cream on them. I poured a little detergent on them and rubbed the pants together near the spots in an attempt to pre-treat...not only did the spots not come out completely, today in the sunshine I noticed a huge spot that was lighter in color where the detergent did not completely rinse out.

-My mom tossed a few of my clothes in the wash when I was home visiting, and had to wash them twice because they had so much soap residue left in them.

-I pretreated a stain with some Stain Stick (the deodorant-like gelly stuff) and the frickin' Stain Stick didn't even wash out. I had to rinse out the garment in the sink.

-Since I line dry ~3/4 of my clothes the white lint crap stays stuck to my shirt and is especially nasty on dark shirts.

-Stupid crazy bizatches that live downstairs complain when I remove their laundry because they left the washer unattended for an hour while they had an "important phone call" and felt the need to be all dramatic and scream and me about it and proceed to re-wash their husband's clothes. (Well, that's probably out of the scope of this question, but it just adds to my LAUNDRY ANGST)

Needless to say, I was quite depressed this weekend when visiting a married friend's new house and seeing her brand spankin' new LG front loading machines....forget the yard, I just want a washer that works!!

Landlord demands rent after evicting

JujuB — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:01:09 -0800

How do I find this case to show a landlord that he can not collect rent after an eviction? I found this cite in Louisiana Landlord and Tenant Law. "The landlord should not be able to claim rent for the period after a tenant vacates the apartment pursuant to an eviction notice. McGrew v. Milford, 255 So. 2d 619 (La. App. 4th Cir. 1971). " In Louisiana some young friends of mine were evicted April 15 from their apartment. They did not fight the eviction. The eviction was for noisy behavior, neighbor complaints, run of the mill stuff for 18 year old guys. The lease would have expired in November of 2008.

The landlord has sent them a letter demanding full payment for the remainder of the lease, a total of $6300. I feel that this landlord is trying to take advantage of their naivety.

I would like to print this case out so they can include a copy with their response. My google-foo is failing me tonight.

Maintenance left paint on things. What now?

djpyk — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:55:02 -0800

While fixing a problem with my bathtub, maintenance guys got a nice mini-layer of paint all over everything in my bathroom, and some stuff in my bedroom. What do I do now? I queried my apartment building management to fix a crack in my bathtub from wear-and-tear. After a week of no communication, they finally showed up today without notice while I was leaving for a dentist appointment. It turned out to be 2 guys I couldn't understand and they couldn't understand me--an unfortunate the language barrier. I had to leave, so I left my apartment. Note that they had entry to my apartment either way (i.e., they locked the door when they left, a deadbolt). They seemed to know that the tub was the problem, however.

When I came back this evening, there was a nice white-paint soot over everything in my bathroom. They threw everything I had in my tub into the sink (I could have done this for them if I had known they were coming in advance) as well as on me and my girlfriend's contact cases, glasses, her hairdryer and straightener, my weight scale (a nice frosted look now), among other things one would find in a bathroom. Also, outside of the bathroom door, within ~3 foot radius there is also a nice white-paint soot on things. For example, my black chair had a book sitting on it, and the chair now has a nice outline of where the book was sitting.

I've taken pictures, documented things that would need replacing and I would never use again (a new toothbrush I just opened...). My girlfriend and I calculated up everything that has one-side of paint on it now, and it's around $300-$400 with the glasses included.

So my question is what is my recourse? Can I just tell the landlord to cut me a check for the stuff? Can I threaten small claims court? Is what they did legal (I hope not, but you never know).

Details: I'm in Atlanta, GA and am a tenant in an apartment.

Renting an apartment on Craigslist - 4 very similar applicants. Is this a scam?

bradn — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:44:46 -0800

Renting an apartment on Craigslist - 4 very similar applicants. Is this a scam? I have had a 2 bedroom apartment listed for rent on Craigslist for one week today. So far, I have received 4 emails from interested parties that are suspiciously similar, but in every other way seem legit.
All are currently living out of town and are moving to the area to attend an area university. All are couples with a dog (our listing says "dogs allowed"). Two say they will be in town in a week or so and wish to see the apartment. One will rent sight unseen, but asked to have her brother look at the place beforehand. I spoke with this one on the phone, she was very nice and normal, seemed legit in every way. The fourth just said she will be in town next month and to keep her in mind if the place is still available.
Is it possible that this is a coincidence or is this some kind of scam? Does anyone have experience with this? Am I being overly cautious?
We rented the upper apartment 2.5 years ago via Craigslist, and we did get some scam replies, but they always involved a 3rd party that would be paying us, sometimes WAY over the asking price. Also, the interested party was usually overseas.
Have the scammers just gotten more clever and convincing? We need to rent this place soon, so I don't want to waste time on scam inquiries.
Thanks in advance.

Poopdrops keep fallin' on my head...

Madamina — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:51:46 -0800

What can I do to prevent a toilet falling through my ceiling and crushing me, and how do I finagle the end of this (literal) mess? For the past six years, I've lived in a medium-sized apartment building owned by the most wonderful family of landlords ever. They are very responsive, see me often, and do everything themselves. As they built the building themselves 50 years ago, they are very close with all of their tenants, some of whom are older and have lived here for many years. The building is in very good condition for its age.

The lady upstairs from me apparently has some unspecified... problems... going to the bathroom, and she has made various mechanical modifications to her toilet to make it run in a way more suited to her needs. This means that the bathroom ceiling above MY toilet cracks and leaks. It hasn't been a huge deal thus far, but it certainly looks bad, and so I tell my landlords about it so I won't get charged myself. They very kindly come in and plaster over it, thank me profusely for letting them know, and very kindly ask the lady to quit doing whatever she's doing, whether it's messing with the tank or simply gripping the toilet so hard while she goes. (I can only imagine how embarrassing it must be for both her and the landlords to have a pooping problem affect an apartment. Yikes.)

And she says she's sorry, and she stops doing it.

And then she starts again, and it gets worse, and they have to come over and plaster it again. Which they did maybe three weeks ago.

And ten minutes ago I was sitting on the loo reading my New Yorker and felt drops on my shoulders, and here we are again with a cracking, bubbling, brown, blistering, DRIPPING ceiling. It was perfectly fine yesterday apart from a few minor cracks, but I shouldn't have to deal with that shit. In fact, if nothing is done about this, literal shit will probably come through my ceiling.

I know that it is my landlords' responsibility to deal with this lady, but this is getting ridiculous. I can't help but think that the structural integrity of the ceiling can't be that great if it is continually subject to water damage and replastering. Furthermore, this lady is clearly not listening to them, as the problem only seems to be getting worse.

I really, really, really don't want it to get worse.

Any ideas as to ways I could get away from this situation or at least maybe have some leverage? I don't want to exploit their niceness, but I also don't want a ceiling that drips bathroom water on me.

Reality of Realty

oflinkey — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:33:12 -0800

Landlords are selling the house we are in and we would like to know what to expect from the coming months. We are renters in a house and the landlord is selling. We have never been involved in selling or buying, so we want to know what are rights are in this situation. A few specifics:

1) Can we request that we be present when the house is being shown? That is, can we let the realtor know when the house would be available for showing?

2) What can the landlords/realtor require of us, aside from a clean house?

3) We never really unpacked many things and would rather not do so. Everything is clean and neat, but there are boxes. Will this be an issue?

4) How long, approximately, are houses on the market before they are taken off and re-listed? How long, on average, are they "rested" between being taken off and re-listed (if any time at all?) This house went up for sale before about 4 years ago and did not sell.

Any other pearls of wisdom are much appreciated. I would like to go into this informed. We do not want our lives to be turned upside down by living at the ease of the realtor, but we DO want the house to sell, as we are in a long lease and wish to leave.

Good property managers in Boston MA or Calgary AB?

cybercoitus interruptus — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:27:59 -0800

Tenants or owners, please rave or rant about recent experiences with property management companies in 1. Boston, MA, or 2. Calgary, AB. Tenants or owners, please rave or rant about recent experiences with property management companies in 1. Boston, MA, or 2. Calgary, AB.

1. We're moving to CA and want to rent out our Back Bay condo. I'm particularly interested in peoples' experiences with NextGenRealty, Jacob Realty, or Boardwalk Properties, Century 21 / Shawmut Properties, Boston Choice Properties, and Brownstone Real Estate Co.. These are the companies that we have either had preliminary meetings with, or had recommended to us.

2. I have a house in Calgary (NW, close to the university) that has been managed by a relative for the past several years, but current circumstances require hiring a different company. I'm considering Residential Leasing Group, RealtyEdge Group, Hope Street Real Estate Group, Emerald Management & Realty, and Amhurst Property Management.

For both locations, we'd like to hire a property management company that screens tenants appropriately, does preventative maintenance as well as responds promptly to tenants' requests for repairs, and as much as possible, meets the standards laid out in this comment and these answers about good property managing. All of the companies above claim to offer superlative service. I have checked online reviews (bearing in mind that some companies give themselves glowing reviews). I'd just like to know, from people who've actually dealt with them, whether they practice what they preach.

How do I best navigate through a bad landlord/tenant situation?

SeizeTheDay — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:07:32 -0800

Complicated, messy NYC roommate/landlord question: 4 roommates share a 3 bedroom converted into 4 (with permission). One roommate signed a lease for a new building without getting permission from current building to transfer name on lease to new roommate. Said old roommate now refuses to pay six months of rent (remainder of lease). Much, much more inside. So three out of 4 roommates want to get out of current lease by assigning the lease to new people. This was never a problem in the building before, but now building has new ownership, and they’re making this difficult/impossible.

Two roommates are unemployed and need to get out. One of two refuses to pay remaining 6 months of lease (even though he lied about his income and signed a new one year lease in NJ). Third roommate that wants to leave has signed a one year lease (in another building) starting in May.

Leasing agent for landlord will not give us a straight answer about assigning lease to other candidates. We gave management 3 very viable replacement candidates, including all application material. This morning one of the candidates was explicitly rejected by management because it was for the converted room (despite giving us (the current tenants) no notice of this). They refuse to comment on the other two applications.

I am one of the three that wants to move out. I am willing to pay my 6 months remainder of the lease to avoid credit problems, court appearances, etc. but (as I said earlier) one roommate refuses to pay the next 6 months and other two roommates refuse to cover the deadbeat’s share (and eventually sue deadbeat). Important note: landlord refuses to accept partial payments of rent, so if deadbeat doesn’t pay and we don’t cover his share, leasing agent won’t cash our checks.

Leasing agency refuses to break the lease. Deadbeat refuses to pay. And the third roommate that wants to leave (who signed elsewhere) is starting to think that he should refuse to pay as well and let them sue us all.

I don’t want to be sued. I want to pay my 6 months and get the hell out of this situation. Ideally, I want management to take the applicants we gave them to replace us, but if that’s not going to happen, I need to know what my best option is. Should I: 1) Refuse to pay and let them sue, knowing full well they’d sue anyway because deadbeat won’t pay. 2) Pay my rent and pray that they cash my check and understand the situation (I’m going to camp out in the office on Monday until they at least hear my case). 3) Promise the landlord a check for the full amount of my share if they leave me alone. 4) Something else?

What happens if they sue me? Will I be on the hook for the entire unpaid amount (which may be up to $30000, assuming no one pays ever from now until lease end)? Can I use old checks to prove I only paid x dollars/month and the judge will only require me to owe x? I really have no clue here.

I’m in NYC. I have contacted legal aid and lawyers. I will be speaking with a lawyer that specializes in this on Monday. But I don’t want to pay $300/hour given how ignorant I am of this situation, because that consultation would end up costing me hundreds alone. So before I go to the lawyer, I’d like some anecdotal and street advice about my options. Sorry for the length. ANY help at all is unbelievably appreciated right now. Thanks.

What do you wish you knew before becoming a landlord?

smitt — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:25:58 -0800

I've been thinking a lot about buying a property and renting it out. I have a good grasp on a lot of the essentials, but I was hoping for some input from hive mind as to what I should be prepared for, what I should have ready, and how best to handle being a landlord. I have already coverred a lot of the basics. I'll be doing this in the southern Ontario region, where I live. I have been spending hours upon hours on the CMHC website, and they have a ton of information, statistics, and more.
I am not worried about the mortgage, as I am involved with mortgages in my career and am very familiar.

What I'd love to hear is what sort of things you wish someone had told you before you bought a rental property.
I'd love to know what you wish you'd had ready ahead of time?

Thanks!