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It's pretty regional, when I was renting in Atlanta people just wanted a security deposit, but in Boston First+Last+Security is not uncommon. Plus Boston is a agents market, so you get plenty of places wanting an additional months rent for the agent fee (which is more offensive than if you had to just burn the money). So you end up paying 4 months rent to move in.
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Jun 14, 2012 14:47
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Wicaeed posted:More of a rant/bitch than anything, but is it standard fare for a landlord/potential landlord to ask for the last months + first months rent PLUS a security deposit equal to the monthly rent for new renters? I would say this is very uncommon for an apartment complex, but not unheard of when renting a house since there's so much more at stake for the landlord with the house versus one unit of an apartment complex.
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Jun 14, 2012 17:17
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Compared to say an average light bulb how much power would a heated towel rack use?
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Jun 15, 2012 07:10
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A few of the Amazon reviews complain about spikes in their electrical bills, but these people also talk about having them on 24/7 so if you only plug it in when you actually want warm towels it shouldn't be a huge deal. Edit: Actually it looks like these things are wildly variable based on their size and heat output. The most gigantic one I could find operated at 2130 watts, which I'm pretty sure you can light your entire house with, and the smallest one at about 190 watts, which is about the same as three reasonable light bulbs (nine if you use CFLs). Also a website suggested connecting a simple timer to the towel rack so you can run it for fifteen minutes or whatever and then have it automatically shut off so you don't worry about cooking your dry towels all night. Stanley Goodspeed fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Jun 15, 2012 |
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Jun 15, 2012 09:15
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What is the best way to go about remove any trace that a cat once lived in an apartment? The previous tenant at our new place had a cat and my boyfriend is violently allergic to them.
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Jun 16, 2012 18:17
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Frankly if it's a leftover issue from a previous tenant, you should probably contact the landlord and ask them to take care of it - if they didn't disclose the previous pets initially, or had indicated it would be properly cleaned, it's their responsibility (also, as a pet owner, I've had enough landlords bill me to get rid of alleged pet odors that I sure hope no new tenant has to cough up for it too) That aside, what is the place like? If it's wood or tile floor, you should be able to solve it with a thorough cleaning. Carpets are a bigger problem, especially if they were actually soiled. You'd probably need to steam them. Having said that, I think that most pet allergies are related to dander, which doesn't usually permeate stuff (especially non-fabrics) as badly as other pet stuff.
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Jun 16, 2012 18:35
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Bamabalacha posted:What is the best way to go about remove any trace that a cat once lived in an apartment? The previous tenant at our new place had a cat and my boyfriend is violently allergic to them. I would actually ask in here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3169030 But also yeah your landlord needs to handle it because it should have been cleaned properly.
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Jun 16, 2012 18:49
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I'm having issues househunting. My friend and I are looking for a 2 bed flat in London on a budget of <£300 a week with good transport links to Kings Cross so we can get to university easily (if it's not walking distance the flat needs to be under budget to compensate for travel costs). Our budget is fixed because we're poor art students. Anyway we found somewhere that I thought was a perfect hit- a 2 bed HOUSE (as in, no one above us or below us, just next door) in the hipster-tastic area of Hoxton. The bedrooms were a great size, downstairs had an open plan kitchen/dining/living room, and it came under budget at £275pw. It was a bit shabby but the landlord was about to do a full refurb. We jumped on it and each put down a deposit of £150. Today I get an email from him saying he doesn't think he can live there for a year because of the location- access is round the back of some shops in what I guess you could describe as an open alleyway or loading bay, surrounded by council flats and he's worried about safety. I emailed him back saying he's being picky and indecisive, because he is! We found 1 other flat that might be suitable but then the landlord changed the terms. Every other flat is "I don't like this" or "I don't like that" or "this isn't worth that price". What the hell can I do? I've got a full time job in London starting on July 10th, in addition to my part-time work and if I commute from my parents' house (approx 1.5hrs each way) I'm not going to be able to do it. I can't live at my parents' house during term time anyway, for a whole list of e/n reasons I'm not going to into. It's also not fair that I'm going to lose £150 because my friend is a complete wimp and waaaa we might live in an area with a council estate boo hoo.
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Jun 16, 2012 19:28
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madlilnerd posted:I'm having issues househunting. My friend and I are looking for a 2 bed flat in London on a budget of <£300 a week with good transport links to Kings Cross so we can get to university easily (if it's not walking distance the flat needs to be under budget to compensate for travel costs). Our budget is fixed because we're poor art students. Tell him to suck it up or you'll find a new roommate. His idea of the "perfect" place is going to be way out of your budget.
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Jun 16, 2012 23:40
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That's what I said to him and he just replied with "I'm sorry, I guess I had a different idea of what moving and sharing would be like." I think the main thing is that in his first year of uni he actually had a pretty great flat, in a perfect location, but because the rent went up a tiny bit and he didn't like his flatmate, he gave it up and moved back home. Now having seen all the properties that are in his budget he's throwing a tantrum because he used to have something better for the same price. I've told him that I think he would get used to the compromise after a while, and that living somewhere vaguely dodgy is part of student life, and reminded him how enthusiastic he was about the area when we looked round, but he's having none of it. I don't know what to do now. I've looked at studio flats on Gumtree and even those are technically over my budget. I don't want to have to work myself to death in my final year of uni to be able to afford to live in a room so small that I can shower my legs while sitting on my bed cooking breakfast.
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Jun 17, 2012 12:03
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Find another roommate. It's easier when you already have an apartment on the line. Your friend can go suck eggs.
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Jun 17, 2012 13:25
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Seriously, tell him that this place works for you and you can't afford to give up the deposit and keep looking. Then start looking for someone to take his place - if he doesn't want to live there with you, I doubt he'll have any issue with this. Seeing as you already have a place lined up that seems fine for most students, you should have an easier time locating a roomie than looking for someone without. If he is being like this before you are even in an apartment, it will probably only get worse. Remember that this is someone you are going to have live with and share space with for the whole year, if they aren't willing to compromise and negotiate from the getgo it will be hell when there is an actual problem between you.
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Jun 17, 2012 14:03
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Find another roommate. It's easier when you already have an apartment on the line. Your friend can go suck eggs. My roommate has lived within a block of a main subway line his entire life and started throwing fits when the perfectly good places we looked at were more than five blocks away from a subway. We luckily found a place that is a few minutes away from two different stations that each have two lines, so it's not a big issue, but he still kind of pouts about it. Really, like posted above, if he's complaining about this kind of stuff now it's only gonna get worse.
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Jun 17, 2012 16:30
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Okay, thanks for the advice. I've no idea how long the agent is going to hold the flat for me, especially as I'm not even sure if my friend paid the deposit. Already asked another friend if she wanted to move in but she'd locked in her crappy flat until February. The only other person I know is looking for somewhere to live doesn't want to live in East London and is planning to move back to Elephant and Castle. I'll put out a call on Facebook anyway, there might even be some girls on the cheer squad who are looking. It's funny because we just had end of year assessments and my friend got slated in his- the tutors said he wasn't working hard enough and that's because he commutes from home so he waltzes in at 4pm, works 2 hours, and goes back. Enjoy your 3rd class degree, you flaky bastard! EDIT: Just got a phonecall from the agent, apparently my mate texted him on Friday. They've already had another 2 people put down a deposit on the place. I've lost it, and my £150 along with it  Really upset. madlilnerd fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jun 17, 2012 |
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Jun 17, 2012 17:06
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Sounds like your friend owes you £150. And if they agent has already rented it out in 2 days again, without confirming with you if you don't want it, I don't see how he can keep the deposit
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Jun 17, 2012 18:34
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Do not move in with this kid. You will seriously regret it.
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Jun 17, 2012 20:17
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Have you looked to see if there's anywhere in the area you like that's already rented out to people who are looking for a roommate? You won't have to go through the apartment hunting bullshit and can drop your useless friend.
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Jun 17, 2012 21:01
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Nuntius posted:Sounds like your friend owes you £150. And if they agent has already rented it out in 2 days again, without confirming with you if you don't want it, I don't see how he can keep the deposit This. You only don't get your deposit back if YOU change your mind - in this instance, the landlord should have contacted you to pay the additional L150 deposit and continued to hold it for you, not take your money and run. COMPLAIN. MAKE NOISE. THREATEN TO TALK TO THE CITY/WHATEVER. You should get your money back. Also, dont move in with finicky people, they are hard to househunt with and even worse roommates. I once had a friend sign a lease with me on a cheap duplex under the freeway by the homeless shelter in a cul-de-sac full of feral chihuahuas and then complain that the backyard had deficient fencing and not enough parking. 
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Jun 17, 2012 22:05
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Have you looked to see if there's anywhere in the area you like that's already rented out to people who are looking for a roommate? You won't have to go through the apartment hunting bullshit and can drop your useless friend. yeah that's what I did at New Years when I had to move out of my family home at very short notice (oh it's all very e/n) and I regretted it because the people I chose turned out to be absolute twats. They were really messy- a cleaner came once a week so they left the kitchen and bathroom in a state all week long for her to clean up, but always had a go at me for any mess I left, and I'm pretty finicky about hygiene in kitchens so by mess I'm literally talking about a tiny piece of garlic paper. They also lied about how many people lived there- I was told it was 3 guys (2 brothers and friend), but one of their girlfriends lived there 6 out of 7 days so it was 5 people sharing 1 bathroom and 1 tiny kitchen. The girlfriend was obsessed with cooking shows so loved to spend hours in the kitchen cooking for every other member of the house. She would also spend a full hour in the bathroom every morning. Oh and they had a band and lied to me, saying that they practised in a studio when in reality they practised in our living room 3 times a week. They never saw me as a flatmate, but as a rent check- the oldest brother owned the flat and had bought it just before the crash so was in negative equity and needed a lodger to pay the mortgage. I had the box room (fine whatever), the tiniest cupboard in the kitchen next to the cat's poo poo box (loving gross), and no designated space in the fridge. Every so often I'd make something to take to a party- a cake, lasagna etc- and open the fridge door to find someone had squished it into pieces with beer cans. I ended up being kicked out because I got home one night after working a double shift (after being kept up the night before by them coming back drunk from a gig for the nth time) and found they were having a house party and had invited the whole neighbourhood but not bothered to even drop me a text. The younger brother jumped out at me while drunk and I slapped him a)in self defence and b) because I was just sick of his bullshit and c) because I was having a bit of a reaction between some medications I was on. They completely overreacted and told me I had to be out by the end of the week and I left because I was sick of them anyway. The older brother said I'd get my deposit back because I hadn't wrecked the room but I haven't seen any of it so I'm planning to take them to small claims court. So I'm slowly learning a lot of horrible life lessons, the hard way: -don't live with bands -don't live with your landlord -people a full 10 years older than you can still be immature twats -some people expect that if you are a lodger you will be deaf, anorexic, and invisible and not impact their home life in any way -don't mix anti-histamines, painkillers, and alcohol -never rely on anyone else ever Trilineatus posted:This. You only don't get your deposit back if YOU change your mind - in this instance, the landlord should have contacted you to pay the additional L150 deposit and continued to hold it for you, not take your money and run. COMPLAIN. MAKE NOISE. THREATEN TO TALK TO THE CITY/WHATEVER. You should get your money back. Apparently because the deposit to secure the flat was £300 and it was our choice to split it, I can't have my £150 back. But my friend is going to give me £150 and I don't doubt he will because one thing he's pretty good at is paying back debts (I bought a piece of artwork for him at an exhibition once and by the time I'd got home he'd transferred the cash over)
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Jun 17, 2012 22:58
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Ok, I couldn't find any "ask me about being a landlord" thread... responses from actual landlords are quite welcome. I've been living at my current place for a tad over 3 years now. I'm a good tenant, and in fact let my landlord know about a couple lovely things that had gone down with a previous tenant (it's a 3-unit row home.) Not like we'd ever go out for a beer, but he seems to like me is what I'm saying. He recently renovated the first, and then later the second floor, as people moved out respectively in the last two months. I tend not to complain and just fix little poo poo (leaky sinks) as I can but I did see the amazing job they did on the other 2 units. Everything in my spot is at least a decade (or 2) old, and I know since I took the lease over from a friend. I know renovations cost money, but what are opinions on asking for a bit of a rehab (maybe not even the whole place, just the worst offenders)? Should I wait a few more months since it's a lotta dough out of pocket? Biggest gripes would be the bathroom sink/fixture, and trading disgusting industrial carpeting in one 8x8 room and one 6x8 room (he put in the generic Ikea, but nice looking, harwood in the other units).
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Jun 18, 2012 05:09
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It's really hard to do any sort of renovation with tenants still living in the unit, lots of liability if the contractors break something belonging to the tenant or the tenant could just be uncomfortable with strange people in the unit all day. Not to mention that when you put in new floors there's a period of time where you can walk on them while they set, which would be problematic if he's redoing your main room's floor. However, if your landlord isn't a huge leasing corporation and a reasonable guy, I'm sure you could just ask him when he was planning on renovating and maybe work something out where you go to a hotel for a week while he fixes the place up or something. He probably will want to do the whole place at once so all of his units match, and not piece by piece.
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Jun 18, 2012 12:32
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Tangentially on-topic: I bought a cordless vaccuum with no attachments because I'm an idiot. My couch/bed are absolutely coated in pet hair. What's the best standalone device to fix this problem, hopefully on the cheap?
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Jun 18, 2012 13:19
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:It's really hard to do any sort of renovation with tenants still living in the unit, lots of liability if the contractors break something belonging to the tenant or the tenant could just be uncomfortable with strange people in the unit all day. Not to mention that when you put in new floors there's a period of time where you can walk on them while they set, which would be problematic if he's redoing your main room's floor. Thanks, this definitely gives me a different perspective (especially the piecemeal aspect). Yeah, he's totally a nice guy, just owns two buildings(that I know of) so maybe I'll just bring up the topic in general like you said. We basically keep to a "I won't complain" and he won't raise the rent (from my friends rent like 5 years ago - knock on wood) so renovations also might change that $ aspect.
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Jun 18, 2012 14:22
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Kasonic posted:Tangentially on-topic: Hit it at the source: FURminator!!1 I have two cats and it helps a ton. Srsly, 5 minutes you will have a secondary animal made up of loose hair.
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Jun 18, 2012 14:29
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Interstitial Abs posted:We basically keep to a "I won't complain" and he won't raise the rent (from my friends rent like 5 years ago - knock on wood) so renovations also might change that $ aspect. I was going to say, if you have been living there for three years with no rent increase then getting the place spruced up will probably involve him wanting to raise the rent. Which would be justified, considering he would have just put some cash into the place for your comfort and basically raised the standard of the place. So partly you should think about how much you want those floors and if you'll be willing to pay an extra $$ a month for it.
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Jun 18, 2012 14:39
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Ashcans posted:I was going to say, if you have been living there for three years with no rent increase then getting the place spruced up will probably involve him wanting to raise the rent. Which would be justified, considering he would have just put some cash into the place for your comfort and basically raised the standard of the place. So partly you should think about how much you want those floors and if you'll be willing to pay an extra $$ a month for it. Yeah, this is why I wanted to bounce the idea of a gaggle of strangers (hey thanks internet!) The problem is just that almost every surface (tub, tile, even the lovely kitchen countertop) you can scrub with any cleaner or magic eraser and it still won't look "clean". At some point someone literally used the kitchen counter as a cutting board. I was thinking of just putting one giant wood cutting board over the counter. I might take some pics later to see if anyone has ideas for DIY fake-fixes for these issues. You might be wondering why they hell I got the apt then, but again the price, but also I was half-living here already because of a hellish living situation and it is the best neighborhood I've lived in (hey yet to witness a homicde here, woo).
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Jun 18, 2012 14:47
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Kasonic posted:Tangentially on-topic: I agree with hitting the source with the furminator. What kind of pet is it? A smooth coated dog (like a lab, chihuahua) would better off have a Zoom Groom (those small rubber brushes. Also considering furminators can be pretty expensive. As far as removing, just wash off the sheets, and take a large lint roller over the bed. Same with the couch. I have a brush like this http://petmaxi.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/hairbrush-300x300.jpg That's pretty great for getting the hair off the couch. Sorry for not fancy linked, just woke up and on my phone.
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Jun 18, 2012 15:20
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Kasonic posted:Tangentially on-topic: This thing is pretty good: Bissell Pet Hair Eraser. The Furminator is a good idea too. Just be sure to buy it online because it's like $40+ in Petco for no reason. Depending on the vacuum you might be able to buy attachments separately. Also definitely definitely get one of those sticky pet hair roller things. One for house, one for car, one for workplace. You never know when you need to not look like a crazy cat person. Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Jun 18, 2012 |
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Jun 18, 2012 21:28
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Eggplant Wizard posted:This thing is pretty good: Bissell Pet Hair Eraser. The Furminator is a good idea too. Just be sure to buy it online because it's like $40+ in Petco for no reason. I honestly thought I was linking the wrong product since 1) my brain was calling it the FURliminator and 2) I paid $25 on it, half off at a mom an pop store since that model was discontinued. But whatevs, that store is nice and finds new kits and dogs new homes, so they can have what would have been shipping anyhow. e - I have an oriental rug in the living room and I use it on that too. Works great on super low pile rug to get the stray hairs.
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Jun 19, 2012 06:09
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I'm beginning to plan to move out on my own for the first time. One thing I'm concerned about is the cost of utilities. How to I begin to budget this? I don't want to just make guesses about how everything will cost. Yeah, I know to ask if there is anything included in the rent. But beyond that, how can I know what to expect? Will the apartment complex know this information and give it to me?
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Jun 19, 2012 15:56
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Revol posted:I'm beginning to plan to move out on my own for the first time. One thing I'm concerned about is the cost of utilities. How to I begin to budget this? I don't want to just make guesses about how everything will cost. Yeah, I know to ask if there is anything included in the rent. But beyond that, how can I know what to expect? Will the apartment complex know this information and give it to me? It's impossible to say without knowing where you're going to live. The apartment complex will know, though. I would expect them to give a conservative estimate, though.
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Jun 19, 2012 16:12
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Revol posted:I'm beginning to plan to move out on my own for the first time. One thing I'm concerned about is the cost of utilities. How to I begin to budget this? I don't want to just make guesses about how everything will cost. Yeah, I know to ask if there is anything included in the rent. But beyond that, how can I know what to expect? Will the apartment complex know this information and give it to me? You can also get the information about which utility companies service the places you are looking at, and the utility company can tell you what the last tenant averaged.
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Jun 19, 2012 16:55
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ExtraFox posted:You can also get the information about which utility companies service the places you are looking at, and the utility company can tell you what the last tenant averaged. Also, if you live somewhere with wild weather extremes (for example, mild most of the year except for the 100F summers, so you only use your AC for three months), some utility companies will arrange it so your bill is an average of your year's utilities rather than monthly usage. So instead of $5 - $5 - $100 -$100 - $5, it'll be $43/mo. It's not a perfect system (sometimes they have to refund you money, or you have to pay more at the end of the year if it's super unusual) but it's more steady than paying by usage every month.
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Jun 19, 2012 18:38
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So we decided on renting a truck and moving our furniture ourselves, but I don't really know how to pack the truck the right way. We were thinking of hiring these Mayflower guys to pack it but they charge a lot. Where should I look for someone to help pack our moving truck the right way?
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Jun 19, 2012 18:56
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Doghouse posted:So we decided on renting a truck and moving our furniture ourselves, but I don't really know how to pack the truck the right way. We were thinking of hiring these Mayflower guys to pack it but they charge a lot. Where should I look for someone to help pack our moving truck the right way? What's there to know? I don't mean for that to sound as dickish as it does, but if you BOX all the stuff up in a good way, and don't leave the TV or a mirror loose near a rock collection you can figure it out. That being said, there are often independent moving people, on down to CL people... but I know someone who had a fairly expensive instrument go missing with the independent movers route, so I'd be so worried I'd not get any work done.
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Jun 19, 2012 22:37
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Interstitial Abs posted:That being said, there are often independent moving people, on down to CL people... but I know someone who had a fairly expensive instrument go missing with the independent movers route, so I'd be so worried I'd not get any work done. I've actually had really good luck with independent movers. We just moved last week, and found these guys thanks to some Google-fu from my girlfriend. Great feedback, ratings, and good prices. None of our poo poo was stolen/broken, and I'm pretty sure the guy who runs the company was actually one of the guys doing the work, too. On top of that, we moved a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen (in-town) for $200. Independent movers I think have a lot more riding on getting it right than the national brands. Just check out their reviews on Facebook/Google/etc. first.
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Jun 19, 2012 23:31
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I'll be moving from Jacksonville, FL to Houston TX pretty soon. I don't have much stuff, and actually the only thing I can't fit in my car is my mattress. It's a fairly nice one, I think it cost about $600. I don't have any quotes on shipping it yet, but a preliminary google search seemed to reveal it might cost a few hundred dollars to ship. Has anyone shipped a mattress before? How much did it cost, and did you use a shipping company or a moving company? Any advice? Thanks.
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Jun 20, 2012 00:22
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:I'll be moving from Jacksonville, FL to Houston TX pretty soon. I don't have much stuff, and actually the only thing I can't fit in my car is my mattress. It's a fairly nice one, I think it cost about $600. I don't have any quotes on shipping it yet, but a preliminary google search seemed to reveal it might cost a few hundred dollars to ship. Has anyone shipped a mattress before? How much did it cost, and did you use a shipping company or a moving company? Any advice? Thanks. Sell it and buy a new one when you get to Houston? If it's not old and gross and nice like you say it is it'll be an easy sell on craigslist and you can use the money you make off it towards a new one. Alternatively, how big is your car? Do you have a roof rack? It'll suck but you can probably strap it onto the top. if your car has a tow hitch you could probably rent a little trailer from U-Haul and put it on there too. Otherwise you're kinda outta luck unless you can bribe a friend with a bigger car to caravan with you.
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Jun 20, 2012 01:12
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Doghouse posted:So we decided on renting a truck and moving our furniture ourselves, but I don't really know how to pack the truck the right way. We were thinking of hiring these Mayflower guys to pack it but they charge a lot. Where should I look for someone to help pack our moving truck the right way? Just a quick tip if you are packing and unpacking yourself. Pack everything in the truck in the reverse order you need it. So if for instance your bedroom is all the way in the back of the house, you'll want to pack it last so it's first off the truck. This will help you from having to carry things past a bunch of living room furniture or someone elses stuff that is taking up valuable walking space.
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Jun 20, 2012 03:31
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Sell it and buy a new one when you get to Houston? If it's not old and gross and nice like you say it is it'll be an easy sell on craigslist and you can use the money you make off it towards a new one. I sent in a quote request with transitsystems.com, a moving company, so we'll see what comes of that. Good idea on the trailer hitch though. Otherwise, yeah, might be wise to sell it.
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Jun 20, 2012 03:33
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