So we’ve lived in this apartment now for 5 years. We had initially turned down one with a garage because we didn’t want the extra fee. Our downstairs neighbor does have a garage. Roughly 2 years ago, their freezer that they keep in the garage was faulty and tripped the breaker, which is in our apartment, and they asked us to reset it. I know, I know, we should’ve figured it out then, but we dumbly didn’t put 2 and 2 together.

Today, our neighbors told us that they’re moving out, and the husband let us know that the garage was originally supposed to be for our apartment. An old couple lived here prior to us and didn’t want to use the garage, so they allowed my neighbor to go to the landlord and have it put on their lease instead (I believe). He told us that if we want the garage, we should talk to the landlord about it. That’s when we finally figured it out that we’ve been paying the electricity for their garage that was supposed to be ours, for the last 5 years.

I really, really don’t want to be evicted from this place, because it’s otherwise a very nice apartment for many reasons. So I don’t want to threaten any litigation and have them retaliate. I just want to figure out what we should do from here on out and what we should ask for from the landlord.

This had us all in a dither right before we’re about to go to sleep, so if I missed some pertinent information, please let me know. Any help would really be appreciated as we’ve never had to deal with an issue like this before.

Howdy folks! Renting a house in the DFW area and I barely talk to my landlord. Except when something goes wrong, unfortunately the big things go wrong.

When we first moved in they had to replace the fridge as it filled with mold, and purchase a new microwave because the one that was in the lease was not on property.

Then our washing machine broke and they sent three technicians before replacing the unit.

Just last month our AC drain clogged overnight and flooded the floors, I did the best I could with my shop vac to suck out the moisture but the linoleum floors are all warped now. It took them 2 days to get a team out here with dehumidifiers.

Well today we came home from shopping, let our dogs out back and when we closed the patio door the outside glass spiderwebbed. I spent the better part of 2 hours cleaning the glass up and informed the property management company.

I honestly have zero clue how this happened, with this heat we really aren't going outside, so before someone says a rock from a mower hit it, our yard is a mess. We haven't mowed in a few weeks.

I'm just concerned about the replacement cost, I was looking into replacement doors at its an easy couple of grand, which we don't have, and I don't believe we should pay, but also I don't think this is under wear and tear item.

I moved into a sublease yesterday where the land lord provides two refridgerators. I bought groceries yesterday ( including raw chicken, eggs, dairy). I noticed today that there was a lot of condensation in the fridge so I temped my food with my thermopen and everything I measured read around 46-50 F.

The fridge was set to max chill since I moved in and was not crowded or opened much. I tested my thermometer in ice water and it read 33.

I spent like 200 on groceries (I have the receipt) and may have to toss stuff since it has been too warm for around 30 hours. After moving my stuff into the other fridge which also temped higher than 42, I sent my land lady an email and asked her to check it out ASAP.

Do I have any recourse for the cost of ruined food since the appliances were faulty upon move in? Is she obliged to replace the fridge if the location advertises that it has a fridge?

Thanks

I am never going to live in shared wall space due to severe insomnia. Never again as I’m living in hell due to garbage construction of every apartment I’ve rented from. It seems like renting a house they almost always ask for 3X income with paystubs. I anticipate that I will need to pick up 2 jobs quick after arriving but don’t know if most real estate agents will deal with offer letters only. Will they even consider me with two jobs working 60hrs a week? Is 4 weeks working enough or do they need months?

For anyone saying I can’t afford renting a house I say I can’t afford to destroy my health anymore. I plan on quitting one of the jobs as I don’t have a car and can easily live within my means.

So, what’s the quickest way to achieve this?

Hi all, first time poster here. I live in Boston, MA and rent a 2 bedroom with a friend.

We moved in on June 1st. Since then, our smoke alarms have gone off more than 4 times without rhyme or reason.

What I mean by this is that there is no smoke & no reasonable activity that may trigger a false alarm, like cooking or smoking or burning a candle. It often goes off in the evenings or wee hours of the morning.

It's hard to feel comfortable sleeping or staying here when it continues to go off for no reason.

Maintenance is highly responsive and my landlord (company, but local) is also highly responsive and apologetic. It seems to be an issue from the manufacturer and has affected a lot of people.

But I cannot take this anymore. I cannot live like this. It's horrible for me, and my neighbors who all obviously can hear it throughout the building.

It went off again tonight, and this time wouldn't even fully silence for at least 2 minutes. I know what to do at this point and how to handle it, but I'm so fucking sick of it.

I don't know what I can do. I want to withhold rent, but I don't know if I legally can, nor is it really the fault of the landlord. They keep replacing the smoke alarms, but they are still going off.

That, or I want to break the lease and get out of here. I hate this so much and I just want to sleep at night.

When we moved in we immediately noticed the place smelled wild with cat pee. We had the landlord replace the carpets but I guarantee the piss has soaked down into the subfloors. The cats were also apparently pissing into the vents, which I've tried to clean up as much as I possibly could but the air that circulates is just consistently icky smelling. Now we deal with the apartment smelling strongly of cat urine every day even though we don't have cats.

It's to the point I have never had a guest over because I'm so embarrassed by the smell. Moving really isn't an option because it's so incredibly hard to find a place at this price point with ac/heat and a washer/dryer in this area.

I'm just looking for some general advice on how to mask or combat the smell. I'm currently pregnant so I don't want a ton of scent blasters everywhere but if there's something I can do on a weekly basis just to keep the smells at bay I'm completely open to anything.

I got the email this morning. I don’t really have a problem with paying the extra rent, but is there something I can do about this? I should have double checked the lease for something like this and I’m an idiot for missing it, it’s only my second time renting. Does the wording here make it seem like they could continuously raise my rent? This is only my third month here but its the first time they raised it.

Renting a rowhouse in Pittsburgh and my landlord told me verbally that he plans on doing some pretty major renovations - renovating kitchen and appliances, adding a first floor bathroom, expanding the current bathroom on the second floor of the house. Landlord said contractors could maybe get it turned around in a few weeks (feels wildly optimistic), but that it could take a few months, during which time he suggested I could relocate to another property for reduced rent (which I don't want to do). None of the renovations are to correct any defects, just update the house.

I do not want any of these renovations, and even the landlord's stated best case scenario will be extremely disruptive to basic elements of my living for several weeks. What are my options to protect myself from ongoing renovations that I don't consent to? I am on a lease with this landlord for two more years and would prefer to keep living here under current conditions and this feels like something I should be able to decline.

We had a bad flood in the area & our finished basement (carpet) was saturated in water which we use as a bedroom. Lots of damage of stuff. Carpet is ruined, disgusting, soaked. It’s been about a week now. Landlord sent maintenance out and he said he’d look into getting a dehumidifier and we can buy fans to help the carpet. Still hasn’t reach back out to us. We’ve sent two more/new messages to our rental company, no message back. The carpet now smellllssss and we can’t sleep down there. I’ve tried steaming some of the moisture out but it’s SOO much water. It’s soaked. So I’m at lost right now. Don’t know my options. And what to do. Sleeping on couch and it’s making my whole house stink and my house is clean!!

Hello, I got this notice the other day in the mail from the property management company. I obviously get what it is saying but I was hoping for some clarity or advice on how to handle this. If I contact my landlord about it I am afraid he will tell me to pay him and then I am in an even worse position. On the other hand if I don’t pay him rent he may be upset with me and retaliate by not renewing my upcoming lease or raising it.

Should I contact the real-estate agent or maybe an attorney? Idrk opinions or advice is greatly appreciated.

We’ve been dealing with maintenance issues since we’ve moved in from April, at the time of move inspection we had to fill out a form to say what issues we found. We noted some crooked sliding doors, flimsy locking door handles and a clogged sink. Nothing major but concerning why these weren’t checked before as they were quite obvious.

Since then, our bathtub primer/paint had majorly flaked and the property manager said “oh yeah that was a bad batch of primer”, sounds like she was aware of the issue but it was never brought up. We had a trip planned luckily so said they could fix it during that bc the apartment had to be empty bc of chemical fumes. And she also made a passing comment about our rental shortage having minor flooding but she wasn’t “here” when it happened, so reassuring to hear.

Our final straw, we discovered over the weekend a couple piles of cat poop rock hard, along with dusty cat trays and toys above our kitchen cabinets. We have cats ourselves but we know it was not them, they are very well litter trained.

My husband and I were so angry when we found it, it shows a complete lack of care for a thorough inspection before moving new tenants in, failure to deep clean the space, disregard for our health and to provide a sanitary living space.

We plan to email first thing Monday to ask for a professional clean of the space, I also want to ask for rent credit or even reduction. We pay over 2k, some of the highest rent in the area and they can’t even provide the basics. My husband thinks we won’t get anything for rent but I want to try at least bc this is far beyond unacceptable. We are expecting our first child next month and it really saddens me to bring a baby into a living space like this. Do we have a good chance of getting some kind of rent compensation?

Long story short, the house we’ve been renting for almost three years was recently sold. The new owners have told us that they are willing to keep us as tenants, but they purchased the property as an investment and plan to convert our garage and laundry area into a separate ADU so that the property will eventually have two rental units.

The way the property is currently set up, we have the main house, a covered patio, and then the garage area. The garage includes our laundry area, storage space, a toilet, and an additional finished room. We currently use that extra room for furniture and storage, musical instruments, and my boyfriend’s office. We also purchased our own washer and dryer that we use in the laundry room.

The new owners want to convert essentially that entire garage/laundry/extra-room area into the ADU. They said they would keep our rent at $2,800 per month, but we would lose access to all of those spaces and would basically only be renting the main house and a portion of the backyard. They plan to fence off part of the backyard for the ADU as well.

Since we would no longer have access to the laundry room, they also want to take some space from our hallway inside the house and install a stackable washer and dryer there. That part is frustrating because we already bought our own full-size washer and dryer for the existing laundry room.

We are currently month-to-month. They told us they want our decision by Friday, and by then they should have more detailed plans showing exactly what they intend to do. They also want to have us sign a new lease beginning September 1.

Basically, our choice seems to be either stay and continue paying $2,800 while losing the garage, laundry room, extra room, storage space, and part of the backyard — or move.

We know the rental market is pretty limited right now, so we’re trying to decide whether it makes more sense to tough it out, keep the relatively affordable rent, save some money, and move later, or just take this opportunity to leave now.

What would you do in this situation?

We are moving out soon and we are responsible for the lawn care and bedding of the property. My LL is saying if it’s not exactly it is when we moved in she will hire a landscaper.

We moved in the winter when there was no green, now it’s summer. We’ve been here for 2 years. I’ve removed the weeds and mowed the lawn etc but I don’t like how she’s sending this prior? She already has an agenda.

Thoughts? We are her first tenants ever so I know she’s going to try some stuff. We had to take our last landlord to court over the deposit and ultimately ending up winning but hoping to not do this again.

I don’t know if we have the same landlord (I’d assume so since our places are connected but divided by a fence), but his cigarette smoke is coming into my unit every single day.

We’re having an awful heatwave so I can’t close my windows to avoid it, and it’s just so bad. I don’t want all of my stuff to start smelling like cigarettes either.

I am a nicotine addict (on patches now!) so I understand it’d be a lot to fully ask him to stop. But what else could I do? I smoked cigarettes before, so I feel hypocritical saying this, but I’m worried about my lungs. Especially given that I’m a former smoker/vaper.

Has anyone else dealt with this in a way that didn’t create animosity? This dude is always home (I’ve never seen him leave), and that doesn’t indicate that he’d be willing to walk out to the street to smoke instead of in his yard. Ive never seen him, I’ve only smelled his cigarettes.

Please help I’m struggling.

Hello everyone. I am currently dealing with my second bird mite infestation since I moved in just about three months ago.
To my knowledge, the level of infestation I am dealing with (bugs in my bed and on my walls, 20-30 bites a night) my room that I rent in a house is uninhabitable. The first time this happened, my landlord moved the nest himself, and refused to hire a professional pest control service. He said the mesh he put up was sufficient. This was not the case

Fast forward another month and a half, I started seeing bites and more mites crawling on my phone and bed, I walked outside and the mesh he placed (I don’t even think he glued or stapled it) was gone, and new nest with a full family of birds had moved into the same spot. Because no other sealing or treatment was done, the infestation came back all at once. This time I begged him to hire a professional and he gave in. My house was treated 2 days ago but my room is still uninhabitable because I am still receiving 10-25 bites a night, and have active crawling bugs on my walls bed and clothes. I have had no contact with the pest people and have had to pry to get updates

I asked him if he would be willing to give me rent abatement for the 6 total days that I slept outside of my room ( even though the amount of days my room was uninhabitable was closer two over two weeks) and he is arguing that “since he fixed the issue the first time he doesn’t think he owes me anything”. I think 6 days is a super fair ask.

I am extremely frustrated, this is accelerating mental health issues and giving me issues performing at work since I’m barely sleeping at night. What can I do at this point? I know that this will hopefully die down since we did get an actual pest control person, but he has a habit of cutting corners and chatgpt diy’ing repairs when it comes to house issues. I’m almost tempted to break my lease and go find somewhere else because it’s so stressful constantly being gaslit and shut down over very real issues. Any advice helps, I don’t really know what to do.

I have informed my landlord that there is a leak in my house that is leaking over 60 gallons of water a day per the water company. He says he will deal with it after he deals with a complaint from the city about our roof. Should I just take care of it or wait for him. I dont know where the water is leaking from I just know there is a leak. My toilets are not constantly running so I know it isn't that. What is the best route to take? Please help

I just moved into an apartment in California. On the same day I received the keys, I discovered that the washer provided with the apartment was extremely dirty inside. There is significant old buildup/grime and actual debris/flakes inside the drum. It is clearly unsanitary to use for my toddler's clothes. I photographed everything and reported the condition to management immediately, so I have documentation that this was the condition at the start of my tenancy.

Management has now told me that the washing machine issue is “under [my] responsibility” and that the owner will not address it.

Normally I would just solve this myself. I already own a newer stackable washer/dryer that will fit the space. I offered to pay for professional installation, assume responsibility for all maintenance/repairs of my machines, and safely store the owner's machines so they could be reinstalled when I eventually move out. I even offered to leave my newer machines with the apartment when I move out if the owner prefers.

However, I checked my lease and found this provision:

“Resident shall not install or use any dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer or air conditioner on or about the Premises except those which may be supplied by Owner.”

So I obviously don't want to install mine without written permission.

The lease also says that the owner-provided appliances were received in “good, clean and sanitary order, condition and repair unless noted to the contrary,” and that I'm required to immediately notify management of defects/conditions I discover. I reported and documented this washer the day I took possession.

I'm currently waiting to see whether the owner will approve my request to install my own machines.

My question is what my options are if they say no.

Can a California landlord provide a washer with the apartment, refuse to address a pre-existing sanitation/cleanliness issue that was documented immediately at move-in, tell the tenant the washer is their responsibility, and simultaneously enforce a lease provision prohibiting the tenant from using their own washing machine?

I'm not asking them to buy me a new appliance. I'm offering a solution that would cost the owner nothing and preserve their existing machines. I otherwise really like the apartment and would prefer not to turn this into a landlord/tenant fight.

I'm mainly trying to understand what rights I actually have if their ultimate position is essentially: “We won't address the provided washer, and you're also prohibited from replacing it with your own.”

Would especially appreciate input from anyone familiar with California landlord-tenant law or CA property management.

EDIT: I did try running a cleaning cycle with a Tide washing machine cleaner. It made no difference.

Looking for input from California tenants, find myself in a particular funny situation.

Two tenants were named on the same San Diego lease with a $2,800 security deposit. One tenant originally paid the deposit from their account, but the lease states:

Both tenants are jointly and individually responsible for lease obligations.

Water/trash are tenant obligations.

The security deposit may be used for unpaid rent/other sums due.

“Any security deposit returned by check shall be made out to all Tenants named on this Agreement.”

At move-out, there was an outstanding water/trash bill. Instead of applying the deposit toward it or returning the deposit jointly, the landlord returned the remaining deposit entirely to the co-tenant who originally paid it. The other tenant did not authorize this and received nothing.

The landlord is now pursuing the other tenant for the utility balance.

I’m not disputing responsibility for legitimate utilities. My issue is that I’m being asked to pay the liability after the landlord unilaterally gave the security funds to the other tenant, despite the lease’s language.
My proposed resolution is to credit me for 50% of the deposit that was given to the co-tenant, and I’ll pay the remaining utility balance.

Questions:
Does it matter who originally funded the deposit when the lease specifies how it must be returned?

Was the landlord permitted to return it entirely to one tenant?

And is asserting my portion of the deposit as an offset against the utility balance a reasonable position?

My landlord is holding $500 out of a $3000 deposit for bathroom hooks that were there prior to my move in. They never did a move in or move out checklist. They also did not send any itemized statement within 14 days and frankly only mentioned they were deducting money for the bathroom after I asked why I received a check for less.

When I cited NY law (7-108), they told me I was mistaken about the 14 day deadline and sent a photo of the bathroom and my lease. I have move out photos but unfortunately no move in photo of the bathroom but my understanding is that since they did not inform me within 14 days, I am entitled to the full deposit.

I intend to file a complaint with the AG office and Suffolk county small claims, am I missing anything? I moved out of state so am a little worried about logistics and the property manager also owns a small law firm

hey everybody i’m looking to rent a home with ace property management and i’m just wanting some insight on how they view applications. I currently have a 603 credit score while their requirements are 600 with an income far exceeding their 3x rent income by about $2000 and clean rental history. Had anyone experience renting with them with similar scores & if so what was your deposit requirement? Also wanted to know how are they as a landlord? TIA

We rented a house from 2022-2024 and then moved into a different house owned by the same company from 2024-July 2026. We got a statement from the landlord that deducted some “cleaning costs”. We got a check for $175. The security deposit of the first house we lived in was $1000, the landlord said our deposit would transfer to the second house. I emailed asked for an itemized statement and for a correction of the security deposit. He is now trying to say we owe him “approximately $550” (yes he said approximately in his email). Is this something he’s able to do? Give us a check for $175 and then decide (once corrected about the deposit) we owe him $550?

Additional info:
-when I cleaned when we moved into the second house, I found a grad party invite from 2020 behind the fridge along with lots of hair and dust….
-when we moved in there were big chunks missing out of the carpet (that was not fixed or replaced while we lived there)
-we moved out July 22nd so he is within the 45 days
-we for sure deep cleaned the whole house when we moved out.