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Laminate soggy mold sandwich, nice. Man, prepping and leveling and putting in the underlay was about 75% of the work when I did a laminate floor once.
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May 28, 2014 06:41
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NancyPants posted:The deposit is not for normal cleaning. It's not for shampooing the carpet between tenants or throwing up a fresh coat of paint or running a vacuum. If a deposit is used for cleaning costs, it needs to be for stains (actual stains, not wear and tear), repairs, or filth. The deposit is to fix what tenants have messed up through damage or neglect, not the process of poo poo getting old. For what it's worth, two of the three apartments I've rented returned ~98% of my deposit. The last one was because I neglected to clean the oven (totally my fault, forgot about it). They deducted $15 to clean it. They also cited urine in the carpet (my cat has never missed the litter box and it was a spot behind the couch, so who knows wtf), but since I'd been there so long, they said they had already budgeted new carpet/padding. They deducted $3 to "clean that portion of the concrete slab" (for that price, probably just sprayed sealant over it). Whatever, $18 out of a $500 deposit doesn't bother me. The other deducted a few bucks for burned out light bulbs that I didn't bother replacing. Also to clean the oven. I wasn't on good terms with the property management at either of these places when I moved out either. The first one because the new property owners gave up on maintenance in general, the second because it took 3 months to get my a/c fixed (took a letter to the state AG to get that taken care of - a/c was dripping water out of the ceiling [not the overflow, it was actually dripping through the plaster], ceiling eventually collapsed in the bathroom). I had one not only withhold the entire deposit, but followed by sending me a bill for $950. They claimed I "forfeited" my deposit by not turning in the keys or having the power disconnected, except I did, and claimed all of the wear/tear/cracks in the walls/broken heater (all noted upon move-in - I gave them 5 pages worth of crap on the move-in report) plus fire damage (kitchen light caught on fire, then a downstairs neighbor had a kitchen fire that left my unit with a lot of smoke damage) was my fault. Gave up fighting with them, let it go to collections, and it's now old enough that it'll be off my credit report in a couple of months (my last apartment was rented before it hit my credit). My credit was already wrecked by then, so all it ever cost me was the cost of changing my phone #. I thought I was on good terms with the management of the above one when I left. Guess not. They have an F rating with the BBB, big surprise. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 10:22 on May 28, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 10:19
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Can places really hold back deposits for lightbulbs? I've never rented, but that sounds stupid.
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May 28, 2014 13:16
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A friend posted this to facebook, I have my opinion, but I wanted to hear yours before I taint the sample. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVLu99Ja2mA
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May 28, 2014 14:22
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Sudden Infant Def Syndrome posted:Can places really hold back deposits for lightbulbs? I've never rented, but that sounds stupid. It's not a question of what is legal, it's a question of how much can they steal from you before you decide to spend $300/hr just to talk to a lawyer. And contract law is archaic, confusing and one sided, when you signed the lease you really did give them your first born child. Not Wolverine fucked around with this message at 14:43 on May 28, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 14:24
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Indolent Bastard posted:A friend posted this to facebook, I have my opinion, but I wanted to hear yours before I taint the sample.
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May 28, 2014 14:36
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Indolent Bastard posted:A friend posted this to facebook, I have my opinion, but I wanted to hear yours before I taint the sample. Ah, TEDx, the name that stands as a warning that what follows is likely bullshit. So many sins against roofing in this video. License plates as shingles... is that carpeted roof at 7:12? Interesting concepts, though. I agree that the waste of modern building is terrible, especially given the final products in many cases.
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May 28, 2014 14:46
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Crotch Fruit posted:And contract law is archaic, confusing and one sided, when you signed the lease you really did give them your first born child. Are you at all familiar with actual contract law? If I were to sum it up in a few words, my first choice would probably be "astonishingly fair". Sudden Infant Def Syndrome posted:Can places really hold back deposits for lightbulbs? I've never rented, but that sounds stupid. They can't hold back your entire deposit (at least probably not in most places), but they likely can deduct the cost of replacing the bulbs. Which seems pretty reasonable to me.
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May 28, 2014 15:57
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Only reasonable if the renter takes the bulbs with him.
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May 28, 2014 16:04
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I lived in a place once that made you sign for a cleaning and re painting bill at move in for $250 of your $500 deposit. Funny thing is you where not allowed to clean the place yourself, you had to either pay their crazy high costs or find a professional service to do it cheaper that they approved of. The worst was when I left a place that charged me 3 months rent as penalty for not giving 2 months notice on move out when I was paying month to month. Which was really bullshit as the only place that notified me of this penalty was on the move out form, so you don't know about it until it's too late.
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May 28, 2014 16:18
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Uh, that's sounds illegal even in states that don't have lots of renter protections.
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May 28, 2014 16:21
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silvergoose posted:Uh, that's sounds illegal even in states that don't have lots of renter protections. Depends on how you word it, they included a clause in the lease that if you did not renew they would move you to the month to month lease and all the poo poo that went with that and the month to month lease ( which I did not physically sign but had my legal signature due to the transfer ), probably points to that document as a supplemental. It was also worded as a penalty giving them time to find a new renter and supposedly they would refund the money if they rented the place inside 3 months ( of course they didn't). Combine this with me leaving the state for a new job never to return made fighting it impossible.
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May 28, 2014 16:29
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GreenNight posted:Only reasonable if the renter takes the bulbs with him. If you get the apartment with working lightbulbs, you leave it with working lightbulbs. In between, you replace them at your expense.
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May 28, 2014 17:30
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That apartment is gonna go through quite a few of cheap rear end lovely bulbs.
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May 28, 2014 17:33
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DNova posted:If you get the apartment with working lightbulbs, you leave it with working lightbulbs. In between, you replace them at your expense. Eh, if they break while you're renting, what's wrong with requesting they be replaced? Especially if they're non-standard dimmer bulbs that are hard to find or w/e.
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May 28, 2014 17:34
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silvergoose posted:Eh, if they break while you're renting, what's wrong with requesting they be replaced? Especially if they're non-standard dimmer bulbs that are hard to find or w/e. Do you also request your toilet paper be replaced when you use it up? If your landlord is willing to buy you stuff then by all means go for it, of course. I've never heard of landlords replacing lightbulbs anywhere except maybe a college dorm, and even then I'm not sure.
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May 28, 2014 17:37
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Lightbulbs are like 2 dollars each unless they're super fancy LED ones or something that last forever, who loving cares? I paid for my own light bulbs just so I didn't have to deal with the landlord and have them wandering around my apartment, nevermind the fact that it let me choose the color temp I wanted. And they burn out like every year or two. I lose more than that in change that ends up in the bottom of the dryer. This is literally a non issue.
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May 28, 2014 17:43
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DNova posted:Do you also request your toilet paper be replaced when you use it up? If your landlord is willing to buy you stuff then by all means go for it, of course. I've never heard of landlords replacing lightbulbs anywhere except maybe a college dorm, and even then I'm not sure. Nope, but when there's weird dimmer chandelier bulbs that I don't even know where to find more...
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May 28, 2014 17:46
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kastein posted:Lightbulbs are like 2 dollars each unless they're super fancy LED ones or something that last forever, who loving cares? I paid for my own light bulbs just so I didn't have to deal with the landlord and have them wandering around my apartment, nevermind the fact that it let me choose the color temp I wanted. Yes, and on the same token, I wouldn't bother trying to charge an outgoing tenant for lightbulbs because I really can't be bothered to type up an explanation of why I am withholding two dollars and fourteen cents from your security deposit. edit: Don't tell anyone but I generally leave around half a dozen spares in each unit. Everything is CFL now with a few LED fixtures here and there. I'm not sure why I do that but I do like happy tenants. GreenNight posted:You mean $75 for your time replacing them too, right? Each! sleepy gary fucked around with this message at 17:52 on May 28, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 17:47
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You mean $75 for your time replacing them too, right?
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May 28, 2014 17:49
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DNova posted:Yes, and on the same token, I wouldn't bother trying to charge an outgoing tenant for lightbulbs because I really can't be bothered to type up an explanation of why I am withholding two dollars and fourteen cents from your security deposit. Yeah, if a landlord is actually dedicating any thought to light bulbs, then his/her next thought should be, "wow that was a really great tenant who left this place in an amazing condition".
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May 28, 2014 17:51
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Every time I moved into an apartment I replaced all the lightbulbs with CFLs/LEDs because they always came with cheap regular ones. When I moved out I swapped the old ones back in and took the still working nice ones to my next place, easy.
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May 28, 2014 18:15
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Zhentar posted:Are you at all familiar with actual contract law? If I were to sum it up in a few words, my first choice would probably be "astonishingly fair".  When is the last time you read an EULA? Have you read a full 10 page rental agreement and understood every word? Hell even simple english terms become a complex matter. My lease has a clause which specifically says "Rent shall not increase except if you and the manager come to agreement, or if the increase is acceptable". Doesn't sound too bad until you find out that jacking the rent up an extra $75/month (almost 10%) was considered "acceptable", naturally when I tried to challenge that the only response I got was that if I did not agree I would be evicted in three days. According to their contract, I could not move out either. I have to give 60 days notice of intent to move out or pay a huge fine, or get automatically transferred to  month-to-month rate, and they only had to provide my a 30-day notice of the increase in rent. By far, the best part of all this was a result of the cats. When I originally moved in, I paid a one time fee of $700 to keep the cats here. I would have to pay $60/month at any other apartment in town or $720 per year, so paying a one time fee of $700 was going to be a good deal after the first year. Except they decided to change the pet rent, so in total I spent $700 under the old contract, and another $250 for the new contract. That is $950 loving dollars worth of non refundable deposits that I will never see just for two cats. During the signing, every time I asked them about the old deposit they just quickly changed the subject.All of this bullshit is for just one of my six apartments. I don't know how much of this crap is legal or not but I don't have the funds to hire a lawyer. Even if I was rich, I cant get a lawyer thanks to arbitration agreements (which conveniently go unanswered). gently caress landlords and their "contracts". My problem with light bulbs is that landlords will charge ridiculous amounts to replace them. Somehow, my landlord managed to find a "Generic *edit* Forgot which bulbs are the cheap ones Not Wolverine fucked around with this message at 14:01 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 19:35
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I'm replacing all my bulbs with LED's as they burn out, and I'm drat well taking them with me.
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May 28, 2014 20:05
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Contracts can be pretty bad, yes, particularly in cases like leases where you have a huge power disparity and one side is unlikely or unable to involve a lawyer. But the law that governs them is generally quite good.
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May 28, 2014 20:14
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Has anyone been watching "Catch a Contractor" on Spike? It's a reality show that is kind of cheesy but really interesting to see. It's about people who get completely shafted by their contractors, and they usually pay close to 100% up front and then the contractor bails halfway through the job. The show tracks down the contractor and tells them to either come back and work under supervision to fix their lovely unfinished work, refund the money, or the show will help the family sue them. Really worth watching at least one or two to see if you like it. I can't believe what these assholes do (and probably usually get away with because the owners are usually so passive).
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May 28, 2014 20:24
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My apartment was newly finished when I moved in and had only capped wires hanging from the ceiling. Nevermind the bulbs, you bet your rear end I'm taking the fixtures.
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May 28, 2014 20:34
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My Lovely Horse posted:My apartment was newly finished when I moved in and had only capped wires hanging from the ceiling. Nevermind the bulbs, you bet your rear end I'm taking the fixtures. This is a thing in parts of Europe and I find it really bizarre. Apartments can come without any kitchen cabinets or a sink or anything, as well. So sometimes you find an apartment and the previous renter wants to sell you all that crap that THEY had to buy, so you have to pay a transfer to them to buy it all. Then when you move out, you have to try to get the next sucker to buy all that crap from you. I'm sure landlords love that but what a hassle for renters.
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May 28, 2014 20:43
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Zhentar posted:But the law that governs them is generally quite good. Unfortunately fighting the good fight costs more in time and money more than it is worth. Most property management companies have figured out nobody is going to take them to court over a few hundred bucks. And even then they have nothing to lose beyond giving the money back. It is not like you can prove they are doing it in bad faith instead of incompetence.
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May 28, 2014 21:13
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DNova posted:This is a thing in parts of Europe and I find it really bizarre. Apartments can come without any kitchen cabinets or a sink or anything, as well. So sometimes you find an apartment and the previous renter wants to sell you all that crap that THEY had to buy, so you have to pay a transfer to them to buy it all. Then when you move out, you have to try to get the next sucker to buy all that crap from you.  I once looked at an apartment where the company lady told me, no, they didn't rent units with furnished kitchens, but they could get me a great financing deal on one with a local shop! I bet that works out great for the landlord and that shop but now if you move out and you haven't paid it off yet, you're not just selling the next guy your physical kitchen, but also your deal. And if he doesn't take it you still get to pay off everything in full.
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May 28, 2014 21:36
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DNova posted:Has anyone been watching "Catch a Contractor" on Spike? Hadn't heard of it, but I certainly am now.
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May 28, 2014 21:39
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In quebec it's normal for the landlord to not provide a fridge or stove, so come moving time people have to scurry around moving their entire kitchens from place to place and if they don't fit, buy new ones.
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May 28, 2014 22:17
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Where the hell do you guys live that dont have proper tenant laws and a proper ombudsman service to deal with issues without racking up legal costs?
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May 28, 2014 22:25
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Nutsngum posted:Where the hell do you guys live that dont have proper tenant laws and a proper ombudsman service to deal with issues without racking up legal costs? Most people don't know that they can call their state AG's office for help with this kind of thing. For free. You just have to file the paperwork and pay for the cost of that as well as a for a constable if you get a judgement you're having problems collecting on.
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May 28, 2014 22:32
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Nutsngum posted:costs? Even with tenent friendly laws and free legal advocates getting a $250 judgement isn't worth taking a few days off work. There is a big property manager in town I'd love to stick it to, but I can't prove bad faith if they give some deposit back. Back on topic: I went to change the exterior lights flanking my garage and found they were just togglebolted to the stucco. No backbox, the wire was just poked through a hole. I found this suprising, as there is 1/2" emt conduit in the garage feeding them. Now I'm more suprised they were able to pull solid romex through it.
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May 29, 2014 00:28
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Nutsngum posted:Where the hell do you guys live that dont have proper tenant laws and a proper ombudsman service to deal with issues without racking up legal costs? All of these posts just made me so happy to have always lived in places with proper tenants' rights. I've rented 7 different places over the past 15+ years and never lost a single dollar of deposit. General wear and tear, including the need to re-paint, is not a valid reason to lose deposit where I've lived. loving light bulbs?!? You gotta be kidding me.
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May 29, 2014 00:39
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Where I live, by law the landlord must return the deposit within 15 days of ending your tenancy and deductions can only be take place with your written consent or when ordered by arbitration.
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May 29, 2014 03:54
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I took all the cheapass 10 cent incandescent bulbs out of all the fixtures when I moved in and stored them away in the closet for when I move out and replaced them all with fancy and efficient LED's  At my last apartment plumbing costs ate the entire deposit plus another $600 because there was a clog in the shower that we didn't know about until move-out day.
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May 29, 2014 05:01
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As a tenant I once had a toilet cistern fall off the wall. The problem was that the cistern was just screwed into a bit of drywall behind it, and I know it was only drywall because you could see the screws come out the other side (missing any bits of wood) by poking my head into the cupboard on the other side of the wall. The person they sent out to fix it just propped it up again and screwed it back in. This time he was aiming for a stud but completely missed, declared the job done and left. The wall still had a hole in it from where it originally ripped out. In the same place the kitchen benches had started coming away from the walls, which had been fixed by stuffing polystyrene in any gaps big enough for it to fit. The laundry sink's drain pipe was missing a section (just before the U bend) and the landlord had fixed it by cutting the bottom out of a plastic bag and stuffing in to the pipe, and securing the top of the bag to the top bit of pipe with rubber bands. The shower also would occasionally fill with ants because they had chewed through the grout for some reason. I wish I still had the photos of all this stuff. In the end they tried to charge me $300 out of my deposit for a missing key but they dropped it when I threatened to escalate it. Edit: Where I'm currently renting the carpet sometimes gets wet outside the bathroom door when you have a shower. We had a engineer come by to inspect it and he said that every apartment in the building is the same way. Jamus fucked around with this message at 05:38 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 29, 2014 05:34
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I'm a landlord for a single property in the uk. I didn't want to be but I couldn't sell and had to move. The tenants are superb, we've gone through the contract together and agreed everything, including stupid poo poo like carpet cleaning: if they ask I'll come and clean them up to four times a year, we both have copies of the full photo tour I did before they moved in, they know to do simple stuff like bulbs etc themselves, if there aren't bulbs of the same or better type in when they move out they'll be charged agreed prices etc, all that crap. They've been in 9 months and called me straightaway when strong winds took a couple of tiles of the roof, I sent someone round to fix it that afternoon. No other calls. I've sent my wife round to do a (with a weeks notice) look-see and she says it's better than when we lived there  I was dreading being a landlord, this family have been perfect remnants, I only hope I live up to that, and that I can sell it when they leave, I can't possibly be lucky enough to get another set of good tenants.
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May 29, 2014 13:25
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