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photomikey posted:He, the tenant is also pissed off. The landlord is not the only one holding cards in this situation. As a tenant, you're a customer worth thousands of dollars a year. They want to keep you happy, also.
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Apr 2, 2014 06:54
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A making GBS threads contest is unadvisable. Following the contract and the law is fine. Tenancy is highly regulated in the US and the tenant almost always has the upper hand.
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Apr 2, 2014 08:48
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My landlord billed me ~$350 this winter for snow plowing and I ended up paying because I thought that was a normal thing for places where it snowed. I mentioned this to a coworker and they told me it was really unusual to pay for plowing as an apartment renter and to check my lease. I'm not from a snowy area so I had no idea what's usual for this kind of thing. I checked the lease and there is a line "29. Snow / Ice. Landlord agrees to keep the driveway free of ice and snow, at a depth over 3” (inches) and to keep the grass cut." I emailed regarding this to my landlord ~2 weeks ago and he never got back to me about it. He is usually good about getting back to me so it seems to me he is just ignoring me. Does the line imply that he is going to pay for plowing?
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Apr 2, 2014 13:36
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I don't know what I'm talking about. Ignore this post.
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Apr 2, 2014 14:30
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photomikey posted:A making GBS threads contest is unadvisable.
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Apr 2, 2014 15:49
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Thanatosian posted:This varies greatly from area to area. And while you are right that the tenant in this case is legally in the right, fighting it for a month is highly likely to get you into a making GBS threads contest. This is doubly true in an area like Los Angeles, where the rental market is ridiculously loving competitive, and tenants are hella easy to replace. It really depends on whether or not it's a mom and pop landlord or a big management company. If it's the latter, it's likely an oversight (as routinely violating the procedure described in the law can get a company in big trouble) and they should be happy to fix it. Sometimes companies make mistakes, and are happy to remedy it when brought to their attention. Even though finding a new tenant may be easy, there's a lot of expenses involved in doing so. Advertising, turnover costs, bonus for the sales agent, vacancy loss, etc add up. Keeping a paying tenant who is not otherwise causing problems is almost always the best approach. I would go the landlord/management company and ask.
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Apr 2, 2014 15:54
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Thanatosian posted:This varies greatly from area to area. And while you are right that the tenant in this case is legally in the right, fighting it for a month is highly likely to get you into a making GBS threads contest. This is doubly true in an area like Los Angeles, where the rental market is ridiculously loving competitive, and tenants are hella easy to replace. You have some serious misconceptions about the way business operates.
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Apr 2, 2014 20:53
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Well I'll be damned, I received a notice today with May 1st as the effective date, and they refunded the difference for April. All with no action on my part. Still annoyed at the increase, but that soothes my frustration at least.
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Apr 3, 2014 02:46
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Just moved into a new place. Great location, affordable, older brownstone type building. Unfortunately the first day in I noticed what appeared to be a small cockroach in the kitchen. I've never lived in a bigger city, and being a tidy person this is the first time I've been placed in this situation. I've talked to an exterminator and he game me a few tips to try in my apartment. I plan on placing 12 month traps in all of the corners of my kitchen and under the appliances as well as laying out boric acid in the kitchen as well along with putting some in mop water and mopping the floors with it. I've also ordered sealed containers for all of my dry pantry goods, and plan on emptying the trash and taking out recycling nightly. Does anyone else have any suggestions or tips? I'd hate for this to ruin what could otherwise be a great place to live, and I really dont want to go through the hassle of packing and moving again as well as fighting my landlord to get my deposit back. I should also add that my up neighbors dont seem to be messy from what I've seen so far but I plan on talking to them to see if they have similar problems and can work with me on getting this fixed. The exterminator I talked to made it seem like any old building in my city will have issues like this and that I'm being proactive in ridding them from my sight but that they'll always be around. BaseballPCHiker fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 19:18
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So is the sum total of roaches you've found so far a whopping 'one'? Because unless you just omitted finding dozens more, that's kind of an overreaction. If it is just the one and you don't find many more: It's an apartment. You'll find a bug every now and again. It doesn't mean you're dirty. If the place sat vacant for any length of time (or had really filthy tenants) before you moved in as well, that's a contributing factor. If you already found hundreds of them and their nest and their queen and they're organized and aggressive, call your landlord. It's their job to spray for bugs and treat any bug-related issues.
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Apr 3, 2014 19:26
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Thanatosian posted:You will also piss off your landlord. If you're planning to continue living there, probably best off just paying it, though it is loving bullshit. goku chewbacca posted:it probably isn't worth upsetting the management over the small difference for 1 month. Is this a thing people actually worry about? Upsetting apartment management? lol They won't be upset unless you sue them or move out.
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Apr 3, 2014 19:35
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ExtraFox posted:So is the sum total of roaches you've found so far a whopping 'one'? Because unless you just omitted finding dozens more, that's kind of an overreaction. One yesterday when I first moved in and two today. They look pretty small thankfully, not the mouse sized behemoths of my nightmares. Just want to make sure they dont ruin anything I own or get into my food. Also dont want them to latch on to my items and spread around.
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Apr 3, 2014 19:39
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The gel bait is the only thing I've ever seen work for roaches. Everything else is window dressing. In my experience, your exterminator is right - they live everywhere, but inside the walls. If you keep the place clean, they'll stay there.
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Apr 3, 2014 19:40
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BaseballPCHiker posted:One yesterday when I first moved in and two today. They look pretty small thankfully, not the mouse sized behemoths of my nightmares. Just want to make sure they dont ruin anything I own or get into my food. Also dont want them to latch on to my items and spread around. I have bad news for you! The huge, terrifying cockroaches you have nightmares about? Those are American cockroaches. They almost always live in basements or sewers, and very rarely infest homes. You usually only see them when the cold weather drives them inside or they get lost and wind up in your living room. Because they are enormous, they are relatively easy to purge The little ones? Often German Cockroaches, which reproduce at a terrifying speed and squeeze into all sorts of spaces. Once they are situated in a building, particularly a large one like a brownstone, it's virtually impossible to get rid of them. What you have to do is focus on being clean and tidy, and they'll either stay in the walls or prey upon the messiest of your neighbors. Unfortunately, this is largely something you just have to cope with in old buildings and big cities.
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Apr 3, 2014 20:05
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Ashcans posted:I have bad news for you! The huge, terrifying cockroaches you have nightmares about? Those are American cockroaches. They almost always live in basements or sewers, and very rarely infest homes. You usually only see them when the cold weather drives them inside or they get lost and wind up in your living room. Because they are enormous, they are relatively easy to purge Well that sucks. So will the traps and boric acid make any difference at all? I guess I could stay there if they were out of sight but it would be a deal breaker for my girlfriend if she saw them with any regularity. Makes me miss the country life.
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Apr 3, 2014 20:45
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It's not a huge deal. Where did you move, to New York? If you've only seen three so far, if you're diligent about being clean, you'll probably only see a few a year. Use gel bait, throw boric acid anywhere it won't be visible, keep every scrap of food and trash on lockdown, wash your dishes, don't leave standing water around. Look into caulking seams of cabinets and any tiny gaps in the wall, like the spaces around plumbing pipes. When you see any, obviously kill them, flush them, and use a bleach wipe on the surfaces they were in contact with (including your shoe). Also, if you are in New York, your landlord is legally obligated to get you an exterminator -- if it's a big management company, they probably just automatically send a guy around once a month. But don't worry too much. If you had a serious problem, you'd already be seeing many more.
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Apr 3, 2014 20:48
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i like nice words
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I think the boric acid is a long term solution. When I replace drywall, I sprinkle some in the stud bay. I have dumped whole boxes of the stuff around on the floor, and it never seems to slow the flow of roaches. But the gel bait... works.
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Apr 4, 2014 05:25
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Jerome Louis posted:My landlord billed me ~$350 this winter for snow plowing and I ended up paying because I thought that was a normal thing for places where it snowed. I mentioned this to a coworker and they told me it was really unusual to pay for plowing as an apartment renter and to check my lease. I'm not from a snowy area so I had no idea what's usual for this kind of thing. I checked the lease and there is a line "29. Snow / Ice. Landlord agrees to keep the driveway free of ice and snow, at a depth over 3” (inches) and to keep the grass cut." Looks like no one really got to you on this. Unless there is something in your lease explicitly allowing for him to charge you a fee for this, the charge sounds rather bogus. I rented in coastal New England for about four and a half years and was never billed for snow plowing at any depth. He is not going to get back to you about the $350.00 charge if you email. If you're really interested in following up on this, send him a letter by certified mail. I'd like to say "don't pay another snow plowing fee," but only you know your stomach for conflict. Your landlord can certainly make your tenure as tenant miserable if he likes. According to the lease, he is responsible for plowing, and I'm betting there is no payment clause at all--therefore you are not contractually bound to pay an extra fee for the service (you are already paying for it through your regular rent!). Whereas he, as property owner, is likely bound by the municipal codes or state laws to do minimum maintenance (mowing, plowing, shoveling sidewalks) or face trouble from the authorities if he is reported. (It's a good idea to take a look at your local landlord/tenant laws--your city or township may have a helpful website on the subject, or a nonprofit in your area might be able to give you more, reliable information.) Personally, I'd be counting the days to the end of my lease, or calculating whether it's worth the agreed upon fee to break the lease.
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Apr 8, 2014 01:01
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What are my options for adding a door/blocking noise without doing any permanent damage to a door frame? Right now i'm waiting to hear back about sliding doors which would just be a few screws in the existing door frame, if that isn't going to fly my last resort is a tension rod, heavy curtain and hope my white noise machine works well enough.
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Apr 10, 2014 02:54
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If the door doesn't seal, noise will come around it - if its not getting through it. Sound absorbing paint/materials combined with objects in the room or on the walls to absorb waves works, along with earplugs , white noise , etc.
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Apr 10, 2014 05:05
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What is the noise, and do you need to be able to still use the door, or can you block it completely?
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Apr 10, 2014 08:51
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The house we just moved into has 2 closets in each bedroom, but none of them have a light. There's a bathroom closet and it doesn't have a light either (strange, I know). We got one of those round LED touch lights to see how it worked, but it's just not bright enough. Any recommendations for a light source we can use in the closets? The "As Seen on TV" Instabulb ones have pretty mixed reviews online. The closets are pretty big so the light needs to be fairly substantial.
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Apr 11, 2014 02:44
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I'm trying to find a canister vacuum for my apartment. Everything but my kitchen and bathroom is carpeted, so that's my primary concern. Bagless would be nice, and as cheap as possible while still being decent quality. I was trying to stay under $100, but that doesn't seem likely.
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Apr 12, 2014 22:38
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Deeters posted:I'm trying to find a canister vacuum for my apartment. Everything but my kitchen and bathroom is carpeted, so that's my primary concern. Bagless would be nice, and as cheap as possible while still being decent quality. I was trying to stay under $100, but that doesn't seem likely. I have a Dirt Devil Featherlite and I think it's awesome. I've had it for ~3 years and never had an issue with it. It's really lightweight and small. It collects dust like CRAZY, so the only thing is when you dump out the canister it's pretty... dusty. I have actually never changed the filter, I just knock it on something outside to get the dust out every couple of weeks. Still works like a champ, has great suction, and deals with our long-haired shedding-like-crazy cat pretty well for a ~$75 vacuum.
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Apr 13, 2014 03:00
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Deeters posted:I'm trying to find a canister vacuum for my apartment. Everything but my kitchen and bathroom is carpeted, so that's my primary concern. Bagless would be nice, and as cheap as possible while still being decent quality. I was trying to stay under $100, but that doesn't seem likely.
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Apr 13, 2014 03:01
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Thanatosian posted:There's a Hoover Windtunnel that's $100. It's pretty widely considered the best value vacuum out there. Seconding this. I own a Hoover Windtunnel and I own two double-coated dogs who shed like crazy, plus I have long hair and also shed like crazy. Thing's been trucking along for years and hasn't lost suction. It's only ever needed minor maintenance like when the beater brush belt snaps or the hoses get clogged, but it's a 5 minute job and the vacuum is real easy to take apart and reassemble.
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Apr 13, 2014 04:13
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That Windtunnel is an upright, right? I have stairs and it seems like an upright would be awful to use there.
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Apr 14, 2014 00:42
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Wouldn't a canister vac be a pain in the rear end to use... basically everywhere? I have that $100 Hoover, it's the best vacuum I've ever owned.
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Apr 14, 2014 01:33
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I grew up using a canister, and hated the upright my college roommates had, so it might just be my weird preference. It seemed like the hose was easier to get into small corners. This is the hoover you guys are talking about, right?
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Apr 14, 2014 02:06
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The Goon standard model is this one: Hoover WindTunnel T-Series Rewind Upright Vacuum, Bagless, UH70120
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Apr 14, 2014 05:13
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I saw someone ask about sofas a few pages back, but I'm specifically looking for sofas for small apartments. In particular, I'm looking to save as much depth as I can. Most love seats are fine, width-wise, but are just as deep as a normal sofa (~40"). This apartment sofa from CB2 is along the lines of what I'm trying to find, about 65x35". I was wondering if anyone knew any other US retailers that sell similarly-sized sofas. I'm looking for more variety.
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Apr 15, 2014 00:23
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Ikea sells some less-deep sofas, but they all have that Ikea look to them.
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Apr 15, 2014 18:34
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Kobayashi posted:I saw someone ask about sofas a few pages back, but I'm specifically looking for sofas for small apartments. In particular, I'm looking to save as much depth as I can. Most love seats are fine, width-wise, but are just as deep as a normal sofa (~40"). This apartment sofa from CB2 is along the lines of what I'm trying to find, about 65x35". I was wondering if anyone knew any other US retailers that sell similarly-sized sofas. I'm looking for more variety. If you're not opposed to going to a non-chain local store, they'll probably be able to show you a bunch of catalogs and point you to ones that can fit your needs, otherwise, I'm seeing some Coaster pieces that aren't as deep. There's the Coaster Jasmine collection that's 33.5" overall depth. I'm sure there's probably more that are just as skinny in their other collections. We just went through the process of finding a couch (except we aren't limited on space in that room), and I ended up going local (although some of the stuff I could find on places like Amazon). They did free delivery in a fairly wide radius, and the better bonus was that you can actually negotiate. They had a mattress set for $899 ($799 without box spring), and they were willing to drop down to $460 for just the mattress after I had mentioned that the store we were looking at an hour down the line sold (what looked to be) the same set for $550. And when it came to the sofa I was able to get them down from $699 to $550. I also found out later that I was talking all the pricing out with the owner, but even the managers had leeway on negotiating (just not as far). That was probably the only good part of moving so far; the fact that I got decent furniture for less than I could get it anywhere else, and its free delivery so we don't have to figure out a way to lug it here. Outside of that we've had a leaky pipe, a busted tub faucet, and a roof leak...and we're renting. Maintenance and the plumber that was sent have both done shoddy non-repairs and seem to have a thing for caulk by the looks of it. The plumber came to fix the trap on the sink since it leaked, and when he replaced the pipe, he cross-threaded it, so it still leaked & my husband ended up having to re-fix it later. Same thing with the tub faucet, you could wobble the whole thing up/down by 1-2", which made it a pain to turn the shower on. The plumber decided to fix it by just caulking it up, and it broke again a week later. We pulled it apart last night, welded up a new pipe the proper way, bought a new faucet head, and fixed it the right way. Maintenance was in the building 4 times before even asking about the roof leak we reported, only to be smug and condescending when I said it hasn't rained again yet for me to know if it's still leaking, "oh it rained pretty good the other night. was it leaking then?" How am I supposed to know if it was dripping when I'm asleep, the rain before bed was barely misting, and the drips are landing on the ducts/etc above the drop-ceiling tiles. The time it leaked was two days of steady rain, enough to pool up and come through by way of the visible crack in the actual concrete ceiling above the drop-ceiling. It had nearly disintegrated the one tile from all the water (we had to throw it out, so now there's a hole where it was) and required buckets to catch the water on the days of the rain, and for the next 2 days after. That leak renders the entrance closet unusable (for storage of cleaning stuff and coats & whatnot) since it leaks both directly inside & outside of that closet. I feel like we bought a place, rather than renting, what with having to fix things ourselves just to get it done (or get it done right). Half the window screens are gone (frame included), and one is shredded. We live on the top floor with cats, so it'd be nice to be able to open the windows. The dishwasher trays are rusty, so when you do a cycle, any water droplets on the dishes are brown from rust. The stove is super old, beat up, and one burner was detached. We had to flip the fridge door to be able to open one of the drawers in it (because the wall stopped the door from opening far enough). I'm tempted to talk to the owner about letting us get cheap (but still much nicer than current) craigslist replacements & deducting it from that month's rent in exchange for letting them stay with the apartment when we move in the future. That was a longer than I intended, but I just have so many complaints, and at this point I feel like we are overpaying (not that I didn't feel that way beforehand, just to a lesser extent). I do have one bit of advice for anyone who has an ant problem...go with the Terro traps. They're the only things I've ever gotten to work, and they work fast. I guess they're basically borax, but when you have pets, you can't really just go sprinkling stuff around, so the traps are nice to have.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:04
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photomikey posted:Ikea sells some less-deep sofas, but they all have that Ikea look to them. Aye, some of them aren't that bad, but I just bought a Pax system through them and goddammit, I thought I was past Ikea. IdeoPhanthus posted:If you're not opposed to going to a non-chain local store, they'll probably be able to show you a bunch of catalogs and point you to ones that can fit your needs, otherwise, I'm seeing some Coaster pieces that aren't as deep. There's the Coaster Jasmine collection that's 33.5" overall depth. I'm sure there's probably more that are just as skinny in their other collections. Sorry to hear that your new place is a shithole. I actually checked out a local place already, for much the same reasons: Local delivery, customization, etc. I didn't really find what I was looking for from them, but there are a few other places to try.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:44
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I had a similar problem getting maintenance to do anything at my last apartment over a roof leak: Maintenance asked me if I would like a bucket to collect the water. I finally got them moving after emailing the management company's head office and sending my maintenance request certified mail with a return receipt. That building was also full of black mold, probably due to years of poo poo maintenance.
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Apr 16, 2014 00:37
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Kobayashi posted:I was wondering if anyone knew any other US retailers that sell similarly-sized sofas. I'm looking for more variety. Crate and Barrel sells a 36" deep apartment sofa that I want, but cannot afford.  http://www.crateandbarrel.com/davis-apartment-sofa/s108246
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Apr 16, 2014 15:56
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photomikey posted:Ikea sells some less-deep sofas, but they all have that Ikea look to them. You can always buy replacement legs for Ikea furniture that will make them look completely different.  
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Apr 16, 2014 19:42
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Straithate posted:You can always buy replacement legs for Ikea furniture that will make them look completely different. Wow, that actually makes them look way less... Ikea. Where do you get those legs? I don't see them on the Ikea site, but I didn't really look very hard.
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Apr 19, 2014 09:45
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http://www.unclebobsworkshop.com/product/furniture-legs/ He also has an Etsy page...
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Apr 19, 2014 15:17
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Moatman posted:Wow, that actually makes them look way less... Ikea. Where do you get those legs? I don't see them on the Ikea site, but I didn't really look very hard. There's a company called Pretty Pegs that is pricey but makes some really cute legs specifically for Ikea furniture. We tufted our Ikea sofa in addition to some pin legs, and it made a huge difference. People always think I have some expensive West Elm or CB2 sofa. All the little upcycles make a big difference, and they're so cheap to do.
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Apr 19, 2014 16:02
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