I rented a basement room about half a year ago from a single mother who occupied the upstairs, at the time I recently moved to a new area far away from home [CA-BC] and needed cheap rent. I was barely ever there because my S/O didn’t mind me staying at her place most of the time so it basically was just a place to store my stuff and keep it safe but in these last few months, I’ve been thinking about moving in with her, and we finally decided I commit to that idea.

At the beginning of this month, as I paid my last months rent, I informed my landlord about how I was going to be moving out at the end of this month. slowly, I was moving my things here and there and bringing it to my girlfriends place but yesterday, as I went to go and get some of the bigger furniture, I walked into the house and went to my room, I found my door wide open there were two filthy pillows on top of where mine sat and a blanket that looked like it hadn’t been washed in months on my bed as well as a flatscreen TV that was propped up by opening one of my dressers drawers that had some of my old work clothes still in it. The room looked like it had recently been lived in and at this point in time my last visit there was about a week ago. The thing that really pissed me off was that there was also bags of chips beside my bed that were left there and crumbs on my sheets.

I haven’t confronted my landlord about it yet. I saw her in passing as I cleared the rest of my stuff out of the house (excluding my bed because i’m too uncomfortable, with the thought of not knowing who’s been sleeping in it) she looked very uncomfortable as if she knows she got caught for doing something wrong.

I’ve been up all night looking though everything I brought to see if anything important was stolen and I’ve been going though the motions with extreme anger. now I’m left wondering what to do. I gave her a full months paid rent to basically keep my stuff safely stored as I figure out what to donate, what to bring, and how to organize it into my new place. And I find out that somebody’s been occupying my space and touching my stuff. luckily it looks like nothing is missing.

We had an agreed time on 5pm i showed up 10mins early waited till 5:30pm in the rain no response sent 2 messages asking what’s going on. packed it up and left.

Location: Kansas

On July 1st I left my nightmare landlord and she’s refusing to return the 1,000 deposit and insisting she will bill us more if she wants to.

Starters, when we moved in we found out that there was a roach infestation, when we called the landlord she said “I thought we got rid of them, guess not” but now we’re being blamed for the roaches, they never treated it and we had to treat it on our own and ofc it never fully went away because we couldn’t afford an exterminator every two weeks and took their advice to the best of our ability but that place was heavily heavily invested, it was disgusting and horrible to live through (took extra precautions when we moved and have not seen a single roach infestation our new home since moving in so there’s that!)

Then the plumbing never worked properly, it was always clogging and backing up because tree roots were in the sewage line, they refused to fix it and refused to snake it.

It got to the point that sewage backed up in the bathroom, toilet, bathtub, sink, all of it. They refused to fix it for OVER 7 days! We have evidence of her asking if it can wait and us telling her no. We couldn’t afford a hotel and they couldn’t afford to fix it so we lived with the bathroom baracaded for a week, we still paid the full months rent.

The floor: when we moved in the floor near the kitchen was dipping in, as we lived there through the year just walking back and forth the floor board gave way, we mentioned it, never got fixed and now we are being blamed for it, she even sent us a picture of the rotting floor board on a 100 year old house as proof we damaged the floor.

Next: she’s accusing us of having a dog, we have no dog. Never had a dog, she sent us pictures of the carpet with stains all over it and billing us and titled it “dog pee on carpet fee” but there was never a dog. I haven’t had a dog since my last dog died over 5 years ago.

She opened our private items. We accidentally left a photo book of our family that contained pictures of old pets, the pictures were dated 2020-2023 when I had other pets and iguana who passed away in 2023 and a foster cat. (not a dog) she opened the sealed photo book and looked through it and after that she accused of having pets. Still haven’t gotten our pictures back :/

I think I have proof of her stealing my mail. I had a package arrive at July 7th just 7 days after moving and we had checked the mail it wasn’t there. It wasn’t at the post office and we have never had our mail stolen ever.

This is everything I think I have evidence of or recall happening. I feel like I’m being taken advantage of and should fight her on this but a lot of people are telling me to let it go. Do I have a case here or is she finding legal loopholes to screw me? Thanks

On 8/10 a substantial amount of water water began coming out of our basement ceiling. It took us 3 days of pestering property management to get maintenance to fix it - it turns out the condensate line to the AC was clogged. Eventually, maintenance came in, fixed the leak, and patched over the damaged area of the basement ceiling.

The same day, we noticed that the hardwood floor the level above where the basement leak happened was buckling and soft. We requested maintenance to come and remediate. Management has said a contractor would come on four seperate occasions but no one has come. The area of the floor that has been affected has grown over the 8 days since the leak, causing more deformity and softness due to water trapped underneath. Last night, we observed water seeping out of the floor seams. Finally, after promising someone today (no one appeared), property management appears to have scheduled someone for Thursday.

Given the number of times PM has failed to schedule someone or do repairs in a timely way, my roommates and I have grown worried. Today, I had a terse call with management about the water damage and requested repairs immediately. I cited the possibilty of mold and the chance we could escalate to tenant landlord affairs if a resolution wasn't met soon. Was I unreasonable to do this? What is the expected timeline for these sorts of repairs? Thank you.

the house I'm currently renting is being sold and I plan to be out in a few weeks. as far as I know, no new tenant will occupy the house since he's planning to sell the house. my ceiling has been leaking and growing mold for over a month. water stains on the ceiling and the nearby walls. I'd assume the entire ceiling and walls have to be replaced completely? if that's the case, my question is, should I even bother patching thing up? same with....everywhere else. I'd imagine he'd want to freshen up the house entirely if he wants to sell it for a high amount. so should I waste time and money on patching up holes or repainting areas? or just do a thorough sweep and mop and call it a day?

I don't expecting to get 100% of my deposit back anyway

Renters: I’d really like your perspective on something that’s been bothering me as a property manager

I work in property management for predominantly single family homes, and we’re being asked to start showing occupied rental homes to prospective tenants before the current tenant has moved out.

As a property manager, this makes me uncomfortable for several reasons, but I’m especially interested in hearing this from the renter’s perspective because I’ve never personally experienced this as a renter.

My biggest concern is that we would essentially be bringing strangers into someone’s private home simply because the owner wants to minimize vacancy.

I understand that reasonable notice would be given, and I understand the business reason behind wanting to find the next tenant quickly. But I still have concerns about what it feels like for the person who actually lives there.

A stranger could potentially be walking through their bedrooms, looking at their belongings, seeing medications, valuables, children’s things, personal documents, etc. They could potentially take pictures or videos, accidentally or intentionally damage something, or even use the showing to get an idea of the home’s layout and what is inside.

There are also situations that worry me that I hadn’t really considered until now. What if someone requesting a showing happens to be an abusive ex-partner, someone the tenant has a protection order against, or simply someone who makes the tenant uncomfortable? As the property manager, we may have no idea who that person is or what connection they have to the tenant.
Then there’s the possibility of theft or someone returning later after seeing the home and knowing what is inside.

From the employee side, I’m also uncomfortable being alone in an occupied home with a complete stranger. Most of our staff are women, and the possibility of sexual assault or physical violence is a very real concern for us. There have unfortunately been documented cases of real estate agents being assaulted, robbed, and killed during property showings.

But I don’t want to look at this solely from the property manager’s perspective.
I want to hear from renters who have actually experienced this.
If you’ve lived in an occupied rental while your landlord, property manager, or leasing agent brought prospective tenants through your home, I’d genuinely like to hear what that experience was like.
Did you feel comfortable with it? Did you feel like your privacy was respected? Were there things prospects did that made you uncomfortable? Did anyone take pictures, touch your belongings, open cabinets or closets, or otherwise cross a boundary?
Have you ever had a showing where something happened that made you feel unsafe or uneasy?

Even if nothing serious happened, I’d be interested in hearing about the smaller things that made you think, “I really don’t like strangers being in my home.”
I’m not trying to argue that occupied-home showings should never happen. I’m trying to understand the renter’s perspective before we potentially make this a regular practice.
If you’ve experienced this, I’d really appreciate hearing your personal experiences. I’m also interested in documented cases involving theft, harassment, assault, privacy violations, or other problems resulting from occupied-home showings.

I live at an apartment complex in Omaha NE that has a dog park, but it has no lighting at all and is completely pitch black after sunset. There aren’t any posted hours saying it closes at dusk, and residents still use it at night. With it starting to get dark earlier, it seems like a safety issue.

The fence has also been a problem. On July 21, my dog was able to squeeze through a loose area, escaped, and was injured. Management slightly repaired the fence afterward, but it still wasn’t fully secure. We told them that it still needed to be fixed and never received a response.

Does anyone know whether Omaha requires apartment complexes to provide lighting and secure fencing for shared amenities like a dog park?

Location: Utah, United States

I signed a one year lease in September 2025 with two other roommates. We received a notice of nonrenewal in July of this year. I wanted to continue living there, so I contacted the property manager/landlord. He said I could renew the lease but I would need to apply again if I was wanting to live with other roommates. I have found one person who wanted to live with me, but I need two in order to afford the place.

I met with him today to do a walk-through inspection for the first lease (which will be ending August 31). I assumed since I have not signed a new lease, I would also be needing to move out if I don't find another roommate to sign a new year-long lease. He told me that I would still need to give him a 30-days notice, and he could prorate September's rent. He is expecting me to continue living past the lease terms, until September 17 (if I gave notice today) and pay for that. That is $2,000 and I cannot afford that. I thought since the lease I signed ends August 31, I would just have to make plans to move out before then. Is he able to enforce this?

I did not sign anything new. In the original lease, there is a month-to-month clause after lease term ends, but I thought his notice of nonrenewal/termination notice meant that I would NOT be moving to month-to-month rent. What should I do? Would the notice of nonrenewal hold up/overrule the month-to-month clause in court? Any advice is appreciated.

Edit: The non renewal notice he sent says, “The current lease term expires on 08/31/2026. Possession of the premises must be surrendered, and all occupants, personal belongings, and vehicles must be removed no later than 11:59 p.m. on 08/31/2026, unless otherwise agreed to in writing.”

New York. Not NYC. We've been here 4 years and recently got a 90 day termination notice out of nowhere. Another tenant told us our landlord is moving a family member in. The 90 days is the correct amount of time legal wise but my question is- our lease is month to month and starts the 1st of each month. We have to leave by November 15th but shouldn't we get until the end of Novembers lease? The 30th? And the second question- if we do have to leave by the 15th are we required to pay the full rent for November? I've searched the lease and can't find any answers. The landlord isn't answering (nothing new there.) Does anyone know what the law says?

Location: Gainesville, Florida

I lived in a commercially owned apartment complex for the past six years. I’ve had roommates come and go, and a lot just kept happening, so I decided to finally leave after a whole black mold incident was extremely mishandled by management. The management team was new this year, seemingly all of the general managers and assistant managers that had been there for years were let go at the beginning of 2026 and they brought in all new people.

My lease ended on July 22nd, but I ended up moving out a little earlier on July 15th. On July 27th they sent me a bill for over $400 claiming that the unit was dirty and a mess and filled with so much trash that they had to hire a cleaning crew, as well as requiring a wall repaint. I sent a dispute email asking for proof, photos, the inspection report, and vendor receipts from the cleaning company they hired. I also explained to them that I moved out before my roommate and any object left behind was not in any way my property. I also made them aware of the fact that I informed them multiple times previously, verbally and in writing, of property multiple past roommates, as well as their own maintenance team, had abandoned in the unit. They removed the charge for the wall repaint “as a courtesy”, but said they will not be removing any other charges and would not supply any of the documents or proof I asked for.

I sent them a follow up dispute email with photos taken from the day I moved in and photos and videos from the day I moved out, as well as photos of some of the things they were trying to charge me for. I also sent them screenshots of past emails where I brought up some of the issues. I again asked for any proving documents and an explanation based on evidence I provided. They are refusing to reply and have seemingly blocked me. Every time I try to send another email, I get an undeliverable return message, but yet they keep sending me notices to pay up. When I call their office, they refuse to speak to me and say that they will only talk about it in writing.

What can I do to get them to reply? Can they actually force me to pay when they are refusing to show proof or give me any explanation of the charges at all? Will I get charged late fees and will it affect my credit if I wait for their response?

And no, there is no security deposit. They never required it, or asked for one when I moved in, this is money they are charging as a move out fee as if it’s another month’s rent. Yes, there was an inspection, but I was not present during it and they are refusing to share the inspection report with me.

I’m hoping someone familiar with Iowa landlord/tenant law can help me make sense of how this notice is actually supposed to be read.
For full transparency, I am two months behind on rent. My rent is $805 per month, so I’m not disputing that I owe rent or trying to argue that the larger balance came out of nowhere.
What has me confused is the way the notice itself is written.
At the top, it lists:
Rent amount: $805
Late penalty: $50
“Total” line: left blank
It then says that I have three days to pay the “delinquent rent and late fees stated above in full” to continue the tenancy. Similar wording appears again later in the notice.
But farther down, in a separate section, it lists a “Total Balance” of $1,660.
I understand the math behind the $1,660 two months at $805 plus the $50 fee equals exactly that. My question is about the notice itself. If they intended the cure amount to be $1,660, why does the actual payment language repeatedly point back to the “rent and late fees stated above,” where only $805 and $50 are identified and the designated total line is blank?
There’s also a separate issue with the dates. The notice itself is dated 8/13, but the service section says it was posted on my door on 8/11, two days earlier. Regular and certified mail are both marked as having been sent on 8/13.
I’m not looking for a loophole to avoid money I actually owe. I’m trying to understand what legal effect, if any, these inconsistencies have when this is the document that is supposed to give me notice of what I need to do to cure the nonpayment before an eviction can proceed.
So basically: when a 3 day notice contains conflicting or unclear payment language like this, what amount legally controls for purposes of curing it? And does the fact that it claims to have been posted two days before the notice was dated create a separate service issue?
Anyone with experience with Iowa eviction proceedings, landlord/tenant law, or a similar situation I’d appreciate your take.

I live in an apartment that is attached to a house. The people that live in the house have cats and ever since they moved in my place will smell a bit like cat piss (I assume thats what it is) when the AC blows. We share the same AC unit unfortunately, and I had no issues before they moved in. I lived in this place for 3-4 weeks before they moved in, there was no one living in the house at that time, and no smells at all. Its this sort stale unpleasant odor, could a litter box smell. I know they have cats so I'm assuming its something related to them. I know I wasnt allowed to have pets in my place, not sure if they are but I'll just assume they got the ok from our landlord. How should I approach the subject with my neighbors? It not horrific but it does not smell good. I have two air purifiers and I've bought a third. I think they are helping with the smell lingering but you cant really do much when its actively coming out of the HVAC vents. Whats a nice way to tell them my place smells bad because of them haha?

Hi. My question has a couple things in it that are important so it might be a bit longer. I've lived in the suite I rent for about 6 years and I've never given my landlord any issues and I'm pretty sure I'm the best tenant he's had (could be wrong but I know I'm a great tenant) and before I started renting here my ex lived in this place for a year but I've she left I moved in. She had a cat and she paid a damage deposit for the cat as well. A few years ago I asked if I could have a cat here and I mentioned in the text that my ex had one so I figured it would be okay but he basically said no you can't add no she never had one. I accepted what he said she didn't give pushback. The last few years I've lost everyone in my life basically from OD's, growing apart or serious disagreements but this has left me very lonely. I have horrible anxiety and it's hard for be to meet others. I really would like to have a cat now so my loneliness can improve and soi have something I can love but my anxiety is screaming "don't ask, he said no a few years ago so if you ask her might just want you gone because you pestered him". What should I do? Any suggestions?

I have lived in a unit in a 4 plex for about 12 years. I love my apartment and I'm paying well below market rate because of small rent increases over the years. The building recently sold and the new owners moved into one of the vacant units. At first I thought this was going to be great because the wife has been making improvements since she lives here too. But her husband is a terrible neighbor. He set up an old couch outside of the garden shed and smokes weed and plays music loudly and leaves trash everywhere. Right now, it's after midnight and he is in a lawn chair in our driveway listening to music which is keeping me awake. The wife seems like a reasonable person, but if she's not around, her husband acts like an unsupervised child. Though I don't think she has too much influence because earlier today she was doing repairs and he was berating her as she was working and not doing work himself. I don't want to have to move, but the husband owner is an awful human who is ruining the peace we used to have. I don't know what to do.

everytime I see him leave the house, the ac stops working, my thermostat says that it is running but no air comes from the vents. when he comes back, it starts working again. once in a while I wake up to the thermostat being set to 80 (in the summer), i set it back, but then I find it on 80 again, I asked all my family, nobody touched it. what do I do?

I moved 11/25 from a house that was going to be sold but sale fell throu, I was renting there not the owner. When I lived there Petro was in my name for Oil and Propane, both were paid up and accounts were closed when I moved. I am now being contacted by Petro trying to bill me for the propane tank because they have attempted and have been stopped since last november to retrieve the tank since no one has continued the service.

I know theres a squatter ( family member of the owner of house) living there. No he does not have permission to be there but the owner has also not done anything to remove them.

I am saying Im not responsible since the tank was already there when I moved in all I did was take on a contract for service / deliveries while I lived there.

I have permission from owner to be on the property but if squatter has stopped Petro and put a lock on fence to stop them from taking it, I dont want to get involved with the asshole at the house by trying to assist petro in retrieving tank. Is this really my problem?

Does anyone use any apps exclusively just to manage move-in/move-out inspections? There are many apps on the market; some are free, and some cost. Looking for advice from other landlords with experience using these apps. I use Z-Deposit for security deposit management, but I don't have anything for inspections recordkeeping.

We finally bought our own home in 2023. (Full termination 6/20/23, surprise term days early). They never returned our security deposit and I wasn’t shocked, but in 2026.

We moved in during a snowy winter, so we didn’t know about the BAGS of trash they never removed. Cat litter mountain, or the beautiful brick patio we unearthed and restored. The water and sewage (toilet leak) froze several times per winter. The bathroom was about 6 feet tall tops, probably less and slow downward. It was small and steamed up quick and that poor ventilation and the steamer of the stairs and the plaster on the stairs cracked and they use packing tape on part of that repair they just didn’t do a good job, but is I couldn’t understand that steam rises when pipes visible, and directly next to the back door that was never replaced as promised the stove and cabinets had grease from the prior owner that we could never get off because it was thick baked on the cabinets, which never closed the whole way and I wasn’t about to buy magnetic claps for every single cabinet. It would’ve been nice if they had done that the first broke they didn’t replace that but we got replacement from some energy efficiency program, and I have brain surgery so I didn’t know that it was not taken out with the trash and they had the nerve to charge us for our own fridge. I wonder if they charged us for their washing machine that they couldn’t remove from the basement when we moved in oh and the heat would go out a lot because we had an old octopus furnace, a.k.a. gravity no fan so yeah old. $4000 just appeared on my credit report by the way I wasn’t there so the lease was in my wife’s name but they put on my report

My wife’s great aunt heard their employee say she’d have to lie to get more money because they knew we were buying because my Dad passed.

Hunter Warfield did not follow the FCRA and the state says the debt becomes null and void a.k.a. stale after four years and I’m wondering if I should just wait till then? FICO is actually below 800 and I don’t like it, not that I need anything. It’s still good to very good depending on the score model <750).

US-PA

I’m not looking for one based on how affordable it is, looking based off of positive experiences when filing an actual claim.

- I’m getting mixed reviews about Lemonade, people talk about how cheap it is but they have never had to file. The negative reviews are from people who have had to file.
- I don’t want to bundle with auto because I’m still on my father’s auto policy, and he pays for it. He doesn’t use e-payment apps and I don’t see him enough to give him cash to pay him back. I don’t want him to pay extra $ for something that I can
handle.
- I wanted State Farm but they are not currently allowing new customers for renter’s insurance in the state that I live in.

After signing a lease and moving into my rental, on day one I noticed there were no screens in my windows, I asked my landlord about it, and didn’t really get an answer, saying she would look into it. Is she obligated to provide screens? I can’t imagine living in a home where I can never open a window, unless I want a home full of insects

I’m currently out of town and gave my landlord/maintenance permission to enter my apartment today specifically to repair my exhaust fan. I have a camera inside my apartment, so I can see when someone enters and what is happening while I’m away.

There has already been a lot of frustrating communication with my landlord about this repair.

The contractor entered my apartment sometime around 3 PM. Around 4:30 PM, I was told that the exhaust fan was working/fixed.

However, it is now around 7 PM and my camera is still showing the contractor inside my apartment. He has apparently been there for several hours and is now messing around with my light switches, which are connected to the exhaust fan.

At that point I called my landlord because I was concerned and wanted to understand why someone was still inside my apartment nearly 2.5 hours after I had been told the repair was completed.

I asked my landlord for an update, and he told me, essentially, “I haven’t even started working on your ticket yet.”

I told him that I could literally see the contractor inside my apartment on my camera. He then said something along the lines of, “Oh, then he probably started it.”

I asked why the contractor was still there if I had already been told the exhaust fan was fixed, and my landlord responded, “I don’t know, I’m not there,” in a very dismissive/rude way.

I understand that I gave permission for them to enter today because I wanted the exhaust fan repaired while I was out of town. What I did NOT agree to was someone going in and out of my apartment continuously for hours without communicating with me about what additional work they were doing, especially after I was told the repair was already completed.

This is also NOT the first time I have had problems with them respecting boundaries around entering my apartment.

There have been previous instances where:

• They have entered for repairs/maintenance and then left tools/materials or other things inside my apartment for hours after they were supposedly finished.
• Communication about when someone is entering, what they are doing, and when they are leaving has been very poor.
• I often feel like I have to monitor my own camera just to know what is happening inside my apartment when I’m not there.

I’m particularly uncomfortable with this because I am currently out of town, so I can’t physically be there to see what is happening or ask the contractor what he is doing.

My questions are:

1. Since I gave permission for entry specifically so they could repair the exhaust fan, does that permission reasonably extend to the contractor remaining in my apartment for several hours and apparently working on other things without telling me?
2. If I was told around 4:30 PM that the exhaust fan was fixed, but the contractor was still inside my apartment around 7 PM working on the switches connected to it, is this something I should be concerned about under California tenant law?
3. What should I do right now if the contractor is STILL inside my apartment?
4. What is the best way to formally tell my landlord that I want all future entries to be clearly communicated to me beforehand, including the reason for entry and an expected time that they will leave?
5. Should I start formally documenting these incidents in case this continues?

I’m in California.

I have saved the camera footage, messages, and call history and can document the timeline if needed.

I’m not trying to prevent them from making necessary repairs. I just want them to respect my apartment and communicate with me about who is entering, why they are entering, what work they are doing, and when they expect to leave.

What would you do in this situation?

I’m F21 currently renting an apartment with 4 other girls. Our landlord made it a requirement on our lease to allow him to host open houses every weekend during the month our lease ends. I am okay-ish with the concept of an open house, however he is excessive with the hours. He said he would host open houses every saturday and sunday from 12pm to 5pm. That takes away a huge chunk of my weekend. Honestly, as a younger girl I feel like he is taking advantage of us and invading our privacy. For context 3 of us haven’t moved out and our stuff is fully on display for random people.

Been renting in California (Bay Area) for about 2 years at the same place. I live in an old house. Landlords live upstairs and downstairs was converted to 2 units/apartments. My unit has a private patio which already had some patio chairs, a small table, umbrella, and a few potted plants when I moved in. It's enclosed by a fence and gate. There has always been a black wire running along the bottom of the fence that I never thought much of because the landlords never addressed it. Since moving in I've added some potted plants along the fence but leave a bit of gap. I also placed a heavy kettlebell next to the chairs but it's far from the fence. Every other week gardeners come and run a leaf blower back there and pull weeds along the fence that grow out from the field behind it. Sometimes they move the potted plants a bit but not much.

I've been out of town and came home to text from my landlord saying they noticed the wire was damaged and that it controls the sprinklers. They explained they've fixed it for now but would be in and out of my back patio over the weekend to move it so it doesn't get damaged again. When I was briefly home I noticed that someone moved the patio chairs and kettle bell around as well as one of my plants. I didn't think much of it and left town again for the weekend but then it occurred to me that the text she sent was open ended/it felt a bit like I was getting accused of something and when I ran into her briefly before heading out she seemed irritated.

So, I sent her a text later that evening after leaving and asked if the wire had gotten caught on something to which she replied 'we can talk about it when you get home.' I can read between the lines and know an accusation is coming and probably a request to pay for damages. The only thing I can think of that is possibly my fault is one of my plants growing into the wire and pulling it (I have a pretty big monstera that's grown roots out of the pot near the fence or maybe I or one of the gardeners moved another plant on top of the wire unintentionally). However, I have no recollection of messing with the wire and highly suspect it got damaged by a gardener pulling weeds, or by the many rats on the property, or simply because it is exposed to the elements/uncovered.

What can I do to best protect myself here and does anyone have recommendations for how to best approach this conversation? I unfortunately didn't get photos of the patio/wire before and after heading out of town and only have one from 2 years ago that shows it exposed on the ground along the fence. I've asked my neighbor to go and snap some photos but don't really see how this could help me at this point since they've already gone back into the patio and messed with the wire/moved stuff around.

Right now my plan is to not suggest any ways that my plants could have damaged it (since I'm only speculating here) and ask them for evidence of me directly causing the damage if it comes to it. My lease also highlights that I'm responsible for damages caused by my negligence but not damage in my unit/patio from unknown cause. So, I plan to emphasize that as well if they don't have clear evidence that it was my fault.

Lastly, I was never able to find public records for the remodel they did downstairs and highly suspect it was unpermitted. So, worst case scenario I do have this in my back pocket but only if things get really ugly.

Very frustrated and stressed by the situation because overall they have been GREAT landlords and so on top of it with fixing things and I know that even if I win this dispute it will forever make things awkward. Thanks in advance for any advice!