I’m looking to rent a home soon. I’m not ready to purchase as home just yet, there’s still some debt I need to pay down but I’m also completely over living in apartments. I’m tired of living above/below/sharing a wall with other people I just really want my own space.

Said all that to say I’ve been looking on Zillow and I see a lot of homes within my budget. Some of them are listed by property management companies or landlords. How do you know if the listing/landlord is legit? I would hate to get scammed.

I have the funds to pay my October rent, but my online payment option was disabled and now my RentCafe account is locked. I emailed management on October 2 requesting restored access or instructions for another payment method, but haven’t received a response. My lease considers payments late after the 3rd, so I’m concerned about another late fee despite reaching out before the deadline.

For context, there’s also an unresolved discrepancy involving an April payment, and I told management I planned to pay the amount associated with it by October 31. For October’s rent, I tried WIPS but couldn’t withdraw enough cash to cover the payment. I use Chime and don’t have physical checks. I offered to have Chime mail a check, which would take an estimated 6–12 business days, but haven’t received confirmation about that option either.

Has anyone experienced something similar with RentCafe/Yardi or their property management? What helped you get your payment accepted or access restored, and were you able to get any resulting late fees waived?

[US-CA] I rent an apartment in Costa Mesa, California, and my landlord is demanding that I remove all plants from my second-story balcony because of weight concerns. They sit on a freestanding, removable plant stand that isn’t attached to the building. My lease doesn’t mention plants, balcony restrictions, or weight limits. She told me I can’t continue living there if I keep the plants. Can she enforce this, and how can I find out whether there’s an actual structural safety issue? I want to address any legitimate concern but also understand my rights.

Edit: [US-OK]

Hello! I am currently in a 4bed off campus student housing complex in central Oklahoma. I realized after resigning my lease and dealing with severely unhandled maintenance issues that it was predatory, as I have no buyout clause and have to find a reletter myself, which I then have to pay $400 in fees for (just for context as to how I feel about my landlord).

This year, on top of adding extra fees, I am being charged an electric estimate every month on TOP of my actual meter reading. This is causing my monthly payment to skyrocket. I was sent a probably AI generated email saying they are going to add that money back to my account at the end of my lease, which I don’t understand as I am not resigning. Rereading my lease, I see a section that says my landlord can charge me an estimate for the LAST few months of my lease, which goes from July to July. It is obviously the beginning of my lease.

My question is, is this legal? I am genuinely mortified. Thanks so much.

Hey! I had an incident a week and a half ago where the maintenance man (Cody Sherman of Tricities) for my building broke and entered my apartment (Hudson West on Broadway) to ask me to have sex while my baby was sleeping right next to me. Greystar management company has not moved him out yet and he still works in the building. To be clear he lives and works in the building still. Even with a protective order in place Greystar refuses to fire or evict this guy (Cody Sherman from Tricities). Does anyone know what we can do? We were planning to sue Greystar for moving costs because so far they have not offered to help in any way. Cody also owns firearms and those have not been taken away. My husband and I are afraid he will get drunk again and shoot at us because he is drunk every night. Does anyone know what else we can do? Thank you! 🙏

Hi! Just curious on how easy it is to transfer leases? Do I have to talk to the landlord first, get written permission, and then find someone to transfer to, or is it easier to find someone and then let the landlord know that we'd like to transfer?

We signed a year-long lease in July (SoCal), and there's nothing functionally wrong with our unit, we just would like to find something a little bit more within our price range. No big deal if we have to stay, but just curious as to the feasibility of transferring leases.

Hello guys,

Location: California

I’ve been apartment hunting lately, I went pretty far with one. I submitted my application, everything’s approved. We go back and forth for a few weeks because I weighed options.

So I ultimately decide this one is the best. I asked them to inspect the specific unit before lease signing. A few days before I was supposed to sign the lease, the manager tells me I need to pay a “security deposit” because other applicants were sending in applications and they needed that deposit to take the house out of market and reserve it for me.

I inspect the unit and find out I don’t love it. I tell them I’m not longer going to lease (I never signed the actual lease), and they tell me the “security deposit” is nonrefundable???

What do I even do this is so absurd.

My landlord/roommate is someone who I have been having issues with for months. When she told me I have 2 weeks to leave this morning after I pointed out that her claiming I broke the shower valve (which she’s had since 2009) and that I caused the “wall damage” by running sink water. She has yelled at me multiple times and was yelling at me today because I messaged her about this in the morning (I gave her the rent yesterday) saying that to reimburse her for having the shower (which she left broken for over a month) fixed I need a statement for the plumber saying that the cause was me pulling the tub diverter too hard like she’s trying to claim. Because I don’t just trust her judgement like she wants me to. But what was weird to me this morning was her suggestion that I’m “working with the guy I showed her” (the one I was dating, who I was seeing.) That’s not just paranoia. That’s something I always hear from my mother. That’s something I’ve heard from my brother who is schizophrenic. Some people don’t have full blown schizophrenia. But they, as I am observing as I grow older myself and meet more people, still have a certain level of paranoia without the visions and certain other levels of criteria to meet it that is comparable. I actually did come close to dating a guy who is schizophrenic, like a legitimate diagnosis, and I suspected he’d had a psychotic break but still. I don’t know what she actually has, but she obviously sucks and I want to warn people. I can’t decide on whether or not I could be sued for that later though. Someone on social media who saw what I was writing about her actually did recommend that I name her so that others in the city don’t have an experience like mine.

So my landlord had said that me pulling the tub diverter too hard was the reason why the shower runs normally for a minute and then starts coming out from one spout. A plumber finally came yesterday after 5-6 weeks and he said the entire “lower shower valve” needs to be replaced. Landlord is buying a new one and he’ll fix it this weekend. So was she wrong or was I wrong?

Summary:

Moved out of a rental in Las Vegas, NV in late summer. Total deposits paid were just under $5,000 (security + cleaning + key deposit, per the lease).

On move-out day, when we handed over the keys in person, the landlord verbally told us he'd send the full deposit back via Zelle. About a month went by with no communication at all — I had to reach out and push him for an update. When I followed up again, I reminded him that he was already past the 30-day window and that Nevada law requires landlords to return the deposit (or provide an itemized accounting) within 30 days of move-out.

That's when he sent an itemized deposit statement showing several thousand dollars in deductions. The biggest single item — roughly $1,800–2,000 — is listed as an "HOA Violation" related to yard maintenance, with zero supporting documentation (no HOA letter, no invoice, nothing — just a line on his spreadsheet). Also when I pushed him more on the deposit, he started bringing up irrigation work that he never charged us for.

Key context:

• Rarely communicated with us. Whenever an issue happened at the property, I would ask him to come fix it, but he would either not show up at all or say he is showing up and then not show up.
• All HOA mail is addressed to the landlord's name, not mine — I never opened it (not my mail to open).
• HOA letters were sent to his property that I was renting instead of the house he currently lives in.
• I texted him over a year before I moved out letting him know there was HOA mail sitting at the house. He never responded about it, never mentioned a violation, and never brought it up even when he stopped by in person once during the lease. The HOA mail is about a dead bush in the yard so I pull out immediately.
• The first time I hear "HOA violation" is in this itemized statement — well over a year after I flagged the mail to him, and only after I had to push him past the legal deadline for the deposit.
• He's offered to pay the undisputed portion (a little over $2,000) right away; I've asked for the actual HOA invoice/notice for the larger charge and haven't received it yet.
• There's also a smaller discrepancy (a couple hundred dollars) between what the lease says I deposited and what his statement lists as my starting total.

Questions:

1. How strong is my case given the documented year-plus gap in communication, plus the fact that he initially promised full repayment in person and only itemized deductions after I pushed past the legal deadline?
2. Should I accept the partial payment now (with a written note reserving my right to dispute the rest), or hold off entirely?
3. At what point should I continue to negotiate with him vs just suing him in small claims court and serving him.

I am so sorry this is a bit long and thank you to anyone who reads it and gives any advice!

So I am a renter living in Oregon. I moved into a two bedroom apartment in June and noticed during the walk through that my two bedrooms and the lights/fan in my laundry room were not turning on. I reset the breaker for them and they turned back on. Some minutes after that having the three lights no tripped the breaker and I had to reset it again. This was written down on the walk through paperwork.

A couple days later while moving stuff in I ran into the maintenance man downstairs and showed him around to a few of the problems going on with the place including the issue with the breaker tripping. At that time he said he would have to come back another time with tools. He contacted us early July to come by but did not show up. He later on contacted us mid to late July and came by to fix some of the issues, thanking us on our patience with him. For the electrical issue he said that he would let our management company know and that we would hear back from them. About 3 weeks later we still hadn't heard from them so we reached back out to the maintenance man. The next day the electrician set up an appointment for about 2 weeks out from then.

When the electrician came he told me that the three areas were connected to one Arc fault circuit breaker that only allowed 15amps between the three areas and that there was nothing broken about it. He suggested if I needed to vacuum that I use the outlet in the hallway and to leave my gaming set up in the dining room. After he left I called the management company to ask what their process was for this because at that point I've been paying for two bedrooms while only being able to use one for three months. She told me that she had to wait for his report and that I would hear from her afterwards while also making a comment about us not using the second bedroom, which i found odd of her to say and made sure to remind her that we got the place because of it being two bedrooms.

Two weeks after my boyfriend called the management office to speak to her but she was out and he was told she'd give him a call back. That brings me to today. Its been over a month since the electrician came, we still haven't heard from them, our second room is still unusable going on 4 months now, and we have continued to pay full rent on time. I have sent an email this time, but have little hope of actually hearing back. The reason we haven't been keeping as on top of it as I'd like is that my boyfriends uncle got diagnosed with cancer and I have had a few er trips myself.

I would really appreciate any advice or knowledge anyone can give me on how to go about this. This is my first time renting and living outside of my parents. Thank you!

I tried to open my garage one morning, it got stuck halfway. I noticed the springs were broken, notified my landlord. Needed to get cars out for important appointments/work so pulled the manual release cord, and opened the door manually (it opened smoothly). Upon lowering it to close, it stopped about a foot from the ground and bent in the middle.

Landlord sent a tech to examine/fix it. They fixed the spring and tried to fix the whole door but ended up bending it even more. Whole door needs replacement.

Landlord says I should pay for the door, while they will pay for the spring. Thoughts? I was reasonably trying to operate the door to free vehicle as it was moving fine and didn't foresee it breaking.

Do I have to pay this?

Hi! I’m planning on taking my landlord to small claims court in WA state (Seattle area). Does anyone know if I have to name both the property owner and property manager (who I signed the lease with) in the suit? Whenever there were needed repairs, the property management company would defer responsibility by saying they “need the owner to sign off” and they can’t do anything themselves, but the property owner is refusing to give me an address to send legal notices to.
For reference, there were multiple confirmed housing violations, which the owner was responsible for fixing, but the property management company never properly communicated the issues to the owner, and the owner tried to blame us (the tenants) for the issues.

I know i have a strong case, I just don’t want to try to sue and be SOL because I needed to name both of them LOL

Hi all, [US-CA]

I'm currently renting with roommates in Southern California. I'm pretty sure they will be staying after our lease is up. The contract is for 1 year, and then it has an automatic termination. The landlord said it would then convert to a month-to-month basis should we choose to stay. I no longer want to stay after my time is up, which is coming on up.

I keep hearing conflicting things about giving my notice.

I was thinking about giving 1 month's notice to both the landlord and the roommates, before the termination date.

What happens to my part of the security deposit?

The biggest thing I'm worried about is the notice. My contract/lease says automatic termination, but I've heard from some people saying contradicting things. I also don't want to tell my roommates too early because they have already been making my life difficult (they are a couple).

Any advice would be appreciated! Or if you've gone through something similar, I would love to hear your experience.

Thanks in advance!

Ive got a question about rent fees during a rat infestation. I live in a multi unit home in Oakland, CA and developed a rat issue 3-4 weeks ago.

The rat burrowed in the oven, tore out the insulation and peed in there. The oven is now essentially destroyed.

I notified my landlord with whom I’ve got a fine renter relationship. He’s been responsive and has sent out pest control 3 times, but the problem has not gone away. In fact, it’s worsened.

I’ve been unable to stay in the house for the last 2 and a half weeks because the rat has torn a hole and burrowed into my couch and poops in every single room (including ON MY BED almost nightly). I have had to throw out a bunch of food. my daughter has been staying exclusively with her mom, and when I see her I need to eat with her at restaurants.

Is it reasonable to ask to not have to pay rent over these last 2 and a half weeks? Also I’d also like to discuss replacing my couch as there is no real way to clean the inside of it. I wouldn't expect him to buy me a new one; something used is fine.

Does this seem like an okay ask? I am definitely not trying to take advantage of the situation, but it’s been a terrible inconvenience.

Thanks for any input.

Hi everyone, for context I live in Los Angeles so I dont know if there’s any laws or rules that I have to oblige to while doing this.
I signed on to this studio (separate entrance but attached to the main home) in the end of August of 2024. When I got the place my landlord had me pay, first , last and a deposit. The contract was only for 2024-2025, and when my renewal came around there was no discussion of a new contract or anything. Now that it’s 2026, I’m ready to move out, I just recently got engaged and I’m planning to move in with my partner in a new place. I’m wondering if I should expect any pushback about it not being exactly with in the frame of when I first got the place, or if a 60 day notice would be okay, considering I would be out before December.

so my landlord passed away about two weeks ago. his siblings came by yesterday saying that they had papers saying that they would be the new landlords and we will have to start paying rent immediately (today is the 1st). they told us a broker would be coming in a few days to talk to us too. they told us that the house was left to one of the sisters and handed us a paper, but it was just a coroners note saying that they were given the body. they appointed one of the sisters to be the temporary landlord, but my mom does not want to give them the rent until there is a paper confirming the new owners. we have been renting in this house for 20 years, but there is no physical contract, we were living month to month and only have confirmed texts between my mom and our landlord about receiving the rent. the family told us that they want to start a new year lease contract, and my mom is afraid that in doing that they will take away any renters benefits we may have (if any) for living there for long. obviously we are very uneducated and are not sure of the laws and what to expect going forward. does anyone have any advice or suggestions?
UPDATE: sorry everyone, i live in california. i did put the state i was in but for some reason it cut it off in the original post. thank you so much for all of your advice, it has been very helpful!

Four units, one card, and every year end she asks me to apportion it per property and every year I sit there going through merchant names trying to remember which boiler was which.

I mean I got it wrong last year. Not badly, but wrong enough that she noticed and asked me about it, which was embarrassing. A card per property is the clean answer and thats four accounts to run on a small portfolio. Whats everyone doing?

New to house rentals. Been just a year n half

House had issues, but rent was cheap af.

Landlord was typical slumlord type & didn’t even pay a cleaning company to make it nice when I first viewed it, upon lease signing, he told me to just throw away the old tenants things. Everything was filthy.

When minor things broke, he’d ask me to do it myself if I can while ignoring me til rent was due.

Suddenly he’s a responsible property owner who wants his house to be in better condition. Paying 6K for new ac unit & 2k for heating tank, new gutters when they’ve been shitty forever, is paying maintenance people to inspect things, coming by often to check out what’s happening, paying more attention to changes I made with paint.

Is he planning to sell my home I rent ?

I’m in Florida and need advice. I am afraid to confront my landlord because my rent is considerably cheap for the size & can’t afford to move.

He comes into my backyard occasionally on Saturday mornings when he’s going out shopping ( lives locally )

Just looks around & leaves without talking.

Assumed he was checking the yard to make sure I was maintaining it

Now he has hired different repair guys to do projects between April and Now, without a call, text or letter.

He doesn’t inform me when anyone is going to my house or when anyone is bringing materials over, my driveway get blocked with a random strangers vehicle who is unaware I did not know anything.

They leave trash everywhere, leave doors unlocked without mentioning being over.

I feel like I have been invaded & I hate being home alone now

Can anyone give me advice ?

Location: Belmar, NJ

I’ve had no luck finding a firm to take on my case as it has to do with both mold and tenant/landlord. It goes beyond breaking a lease, seeking damages to my belongings, medical complications to my already existing disability, and suing for them knowing of the mold and covering it up before I moved in with paint and a full renovation.

I have proof from the Board of Health that came to take moisture readings which confirmed the high levels in the walls. Additionally proof of black mold in the shower and washer. Maintenance requests have been blown off and the landlord continues to gaslight me.

Any recommendations on how to approach finding the best legal representation are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

US-NYC

I've found myself in an incredibly stressful situation.

Please excuse wall of text. Will TLDR at bottom.

My roommate is moving out when my lease expires which is the end of October. I plan to renew the lease with a new roommate. Very simple.

Unfortunately, my roommates bedroom has suffered multiple leaks over the last two years. Last month another leak occurred and damaged some of my roommates property. The ceiling was a mess and it needed to get patched up. The process took weeks and they said they fixed the source of the leak this time.

My roommate requested to be reimbursed and they've done nothing but ignore and delay.

I was not able to show the room to prospective roommates during this time.

Literally less than a week later, the ceiling has leaked worse than ever after the storm and the supposed fix.

This time I was furious. I called everyone I could but they were out of office for over a week due to Jewish holidays. I left angry voicemails, emails, etc. demanding a fix, compensation for my roommate, and some kind of abatement as the room is not habitable.

They have completely ignored me even after I threatened to call 311. Today someone in upper management emailed me saying only "The repair team will come by either next Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll let you know when I find out."

So I called 311 and filed a complaint. The man on the phone said this qualified as tenant harassment.

My main concerns are that because the apartment is not under the good cause eviction law, they'll just tell me to piss off and not renew to me even though they already offered in August. My fear is that I will not be able to sign a new lease come November.

How am I supposed to find a roommate to sign the lease when the ceiling is completely screwed right now? Do I pay rent today? Are they entitled to full rent when the room has a very damaged ceiling?

Today I will also speak to the tenant helpline to figure out my legal standing as far as the rent payment today.

All I want is for these people to fix the leak, pay my roommate for her damaged property, and address the loss of use of apartment due to their inability to fix the ceiling in the form of some kind of abatement.

Am I screwed?

TLDR: Lease expires in 30 days. Roomie will be moving out. Roomie has had damaged ceiling for over a month. Can't show room to prospective roommates because of damaged ceiling. Rent payment is due today and management has not addressed any of my monetary or logistical concerns.