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If a point on a lease gets clarified in subsequent correspondence, do I need to bug them to fix the wording on the lease, or am I good?
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Jul 14, 2016 19:47
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There's about 220 units in my complex. There is the option to install your own washer in the bathroom, in most units, but IMO it really limits space so I don't. All units have a single shared washing room with 5 machines and 3 dryers, and an electronic/online booking system. It's never a problem to get a time if you just book 1 or 2 days ahead, and usage is billed along with the rent.
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Jul 14, 2016 19:50
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PhysicsFrenzy posted:If a point on a lease gets clarified in subsequent correspondence, do I need to bug them to fix the wording on the lease, or am I good? I would just save the correspondence. It's unlikely they're gonna write a new lease for you just to fix something. If it ever goes to court, the correspondence will help settle it, not to mention the benefit you get from not being the one who wrote the lease in the first place.
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Jul 14, 2016 19:55
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I would just save the correspondence. It's unlikely they're gonna write a new lease for you just to fix something. If it ever goes to court, the correspondence will help settle it, not to mention the benefit you get from not being the one who wrote the lease in the first place. Awesome, thanks! Time to leave apartment-hunting hell 
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Jul 14, 2016 20:14
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Having my own laundry is great mostly because I don't have to deal with quarters. The last place had enough machines, but no change machine. And then I get a roll with 1 or 2 Canadian quarters in the center, and the machines don't take those.
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Jul 14, 2016 22:46
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PhysicsFrenzy posted:If a point on a lease gets clarified in subsequent correspondence, do I need to bug them to fix the wording on the lease, or am I good? If the change is significant and to your benefit, I'd ask your landlord to mail you a signed lease addendum. Was that subsequent correspondence a signed letter(s), or a few emails back and forth? In my experience as a tenant and now landlord, small claims magistrates/judges hate text messages and emails.
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Jul 15, 2016 04:57
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goku chewbacca posted:If the change is significant and to your benefit, I'd ask your landlord to mail you a signed lease addendum. Was that subsequent correspondence a signed letter(s), or a few emails back and forth? In my experience as a tenant and now landlord, small claims magistrates/judges hate text messages and emails.
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Jul 15, 2016 06:25
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When I first went to see our new place, it smelled like cat pee. I figured there was a cat and its litter box didn't get changed enough. Now that it's time for move in, the smell is still there. There's stains on the carpet despite alleged steam cleaning. I'm in Colorado, and bad smells aren't covered in any state statutes I can find. Am I basically SOL if the landlord refuses to do anything about it? Since the answer is probably yes, is there any way to get cat piss smell out of a carpet short of tearing it up and putting new carpet down? I'm really hoping she makes it right, or that it's something else. I don't think it smelled as strong the first time, which is weird.
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Jul 19, 2016 03:35
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If you moved in, you are kinda stuck. If you haven't moved in yet, and you don't move in, you may have some legal remedy. Steam cleaning will not get rid of cat piss. Removing and replacing the carpet will help, but if the cat piss got down to the subfloor (which, frankly, is not a lot of cat piss), the subfloor will need to be sealed somehow and it's arduous. Depending on how bad it is, letting some time go by would make it better. But it would be a long, slow journey.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:57
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Get someone to do hot water extraction with an enzyme chemical. Steam cleaning really doesn't do much of anything especially for cat piss or mold or stuff really in the carpet.
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Jul 19, 2016 15:04
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When I signed my lease we made (small) corrections by hand, with pen, and both parties initialed by the corrections. My lawyer wife seemed to think that was appropriate (not that she handles contract or rental/housing law as her job). I think the big correction was verbiage that stated they were not responsible for appliances like the fridge and washing machine, when in fact they promised us they would be. Apparently they own some properties in more sketch areas that end up costing them a lot of money in miss-treated appliances and they enforce that clause there.
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Jul 20, 2016 14:40
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22 Eargesplitten posted:When I first went to see our new place, it smelled like cat pee. I figured there was a cat and its litter box didn't get changed enough. Now that it's time for move in, the smell is still there. There's stains on the carpet despite alleged steam cleaning. I'm in Colorado, and bad smells aren't covered in any state statutes I can find. Am I basically SOL if the landlord refuses to do anything about it? Nature's Miracle and a lot of it
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Jul 20, 2016 14:47
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She says she's going to have the carpet replaced, hopefully that does it. We have some boxes over there, but aren't properly moved in yet, and won't be until the carpet is replaced.
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Jul 20, 2016 16:41
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Hey Goons, figured this might be the thread to ask for some pest control advice. I've been living in my current apartment(top floor of an old, think 1915, building) for about 3 years now and never saw any roaches until this May when we had an extended period of rain. There were two large ones each on separate days and both were easy to catch and get rid of. I put down some cheap bait I bought at the grocery store and figured it was just a fluke. Two months later, this weekend, I found two more, again both big and slow and on different days, easy to catch, etc and this time it was during a bit of a heat wave in the area. Are these just random roaches looking for water/food or is it more of a problem? I've already bought some higher quality bait from Amazon that I plan to put down, but I figured I might ask some opinions.
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Jul 22, 2016 19:48
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Terminus posted:Hey Goons, figured this might be the thread to ask for some pest control advice. Are you a filthy slob? Do you leave food/dishes out for days? If not, they're probably exploratory roaches. You can put diatomaceous earth around your baseboards for cheap. Buy a bag and pantyhose and use it like a chalk bag around the entire perimeter of your place and it will help. (also dust some inside wall plates, window sills/seals, and inside the back/top of cabinets/sinks and stuff if you're extra paranoid). Pest control guys still use it but their formulas have added polymers and poo poo so it stays longer and can be sprayed higher up surfaces. You'd just wanna re-apply every 60-90 days. Alternately, a yearly pest control contract isn't that bad, something like $50 a quarter for small places.
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Jul 22, 2016 21:52
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toplitzin posted:Are you a filthy slob? Do you leave food/dishes out for days? The gel stuff you are buying is nuclear. Nothing else works. It's all old wives tales. Cockroaches can withstand anything. Except that gel stuff. A little dime-sized dollup behind the stove, the fridge, under the sink, under the bathroom sink - anywhere a roach can get (and you can't). Roaches love tight squeezes - it's a roach massage. So anywhere that is a tight squeeze (that 1/16th inch space between your baseboard and the drywall, the tiny space between the cabinet toe-kick and the tile) gets a little dollup of gel. In an average apartment I'd use about half a tube of the gel. Then save the other half for six months from now. If you don't have anything else attracting the roaches (the above mentioned slobbery), you will not have roach problems. Do note, however, that someone in an adjacent apartment has a roach problem, and until you convince them to fix it, or convince the landlord to fix it, or convince the local authorities to convince them to fix it, you will continue to get explorer cockroaches.
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Jul 22, 2016 22:34
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I'd say it's somewhat cluttered, but not filthy. I'll probably make the effort to straighten up just so they won't have as many places to hide if/when more show up and since the gel is already on it's way I'll use that too. Might also try the diatomaceous earth since that sounds like it would be better at keeping out exploratory roaches. If neither works I'll contact an exterminator, $200 a year sounds like a reasonable price to keep me from dying of the plague.Thanks for the advice!
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Jul 23, 2016 00:27
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http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/german.htm P much it's the gel bait mixed with an IGR and roach problem be gone. German roaches are the loving worst
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Jul 23, 2016 16:59
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The ones I saw didn't look like German cockroaches, as they didn't seem to have wings and were all very dark colored, almost black. Looked more like the Oriental roaches on that page, which would be better since according to that page they seem to be more mild in numbers and prefer lower levels(I'm on the 3rd floor).
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Jul 23, 2016 20:12
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Upon the advice of the thread, I bought this light to use as swag lighting overhead in my living room. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VTRI3E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Next question: How do I attach it to the ceiling? I think it's just basic plaster up there. Drywall screw?
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Jul 24, 2016 20:26
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Defenestration posted:Upon the advice of the thread, I bought this light to use as swag lighting overhead in my living room. It looks like it comes with instructions and hardware for attaching it to the ceiling. If not I would say drywall anchors should do the trick.
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Jul 24, 2016 22:02
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Terminus posted:Hey Goons, figured this might be the thread to ask for some pest control advice. Aside from the gel, deltamethrin (Raid BugBarrier Max) will absolutely annihilate roaches. It's a liquid spray that you put at the base of doorframes, garage doors, etc. In my experience, they make it about 4-6 feet after touching the stuff before they die.
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Jul 25, 2016 05:52
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:It looks like it comes with instructions and hardware for attaching it to the ceiling. If not I would say drywall anchors should do the trick.
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Jul 25, 2016 13:22
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How big is big? If you are finding huge roaches (and I mean like 2 inches long) they are generally ones that are lost and have wandered inside - they tend to live in crawlspaces and foundations, maybe basements, but are not usually living in kitchens or anything. If you find them regularly, then chances are you have some sort of gap/entry to a habitat that they are coming through while wandering. In a real infestation you are not just going to find occasional huge bugs, but also juveniles and growing ones. That is when you have a problem. If you are just seeing the occasional adult and no evidence of others, you're probably ok. But still go ahead and blast your house with treatment, because it can't hurt to be aggressive in removing them.
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Jul 25, 2016 18:58
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Terminus posted:Hey Goons, figured this might be the thread to ask for some pest control advice. The small ones are the ones that you need to worry about infesting your kitchens. The large ones are usually outdoor ones that accidentally wandered in. If you live in a city, especially in an old apartment in a city, then roaches are inevitable in the summer no matter the variety. You will see one occasionally, and during heat waves may see several a week. This does not mean you have an infestation. Roaches are solitary and only group up if they're in a harborage with easy access to food, water, and shelter. You can reduce the number you see with spray barriers, sealing up gaps (especially heating/cooling vents that aren't being used, those are basically highways for them in the summer), getting air conditioning/keeping air moving in your apartment, and putting out sticky traps to monitor them. Everyone says "for every roach you see there are 500 you don't" but that's an urban legend. Solitary roaches are usually just solitary roaches, especially in apartments.
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Jul 25, 2016 23:05
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Speaking of air conditioning, I have a question of my own. I have a portable air conditioner in my apartment and got a notice today demanding that I give the landlords $250 per air conditioning unit "for the summer" and that if they don't get the money they will "inspect apartments" next week and "remove them at my expense" with charges to be determined "at the time of removal." The lease does say that they can charge me for air conditioning but the lease says they will charge half that. This whole thing seems really fishy to me and I don't see how they could possibly enforce this. Not only are they charging more than the lease stipulates but they are also planning to conduct "inspections?" They can't enter my apartment without 24 hours notice (plenty of time for me to wheel my AC into a closet) and the building is too tall to be able to determine who has AC from the outside. And if they find AC and I haven't paid, what, are they going to straight up confiscate my $500 portable AC unit? I'm pretty sure they aren't allowed to do that either. What's more why wait until the end of July to "remind" everyone of this? I am in Toronto btw.
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Jul 25, 2016 23:10
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What does this A/C fee cover? Is electric included in your rent?
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Jul 25, 2016 23:16
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Guy Axlerod posted:What does this A/C fee cover? Is electric included in your rent? Yes, my utilities are included in the rent. Nominally it's for "extra electricity" and I don't think that an AC unit will incur an additional $250 in electricity costs for the season. The only reason I haven't straight up ignored this is because the lease does say that they can charge me ~$130 or so for the use of an air conditioner in summer. They have been giving these notices out for years now and I haven't ever seen them enforced either (I got my AC unit a year ago, have never been "inspected" once for 3 years) likely because I don't see how they could be enforced. Fojar38 fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Jul 25, 2016 |
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Jul 25, 2016 23:18
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Fojar38 posted:Yes, my utilities are included in the rent. Nominally it's for "extra electricity" and I don't think that an AC unit will incur an additional $250 in electricity costs for the season. Wheel it into a closet, and wheel it out when they are done. Or show them your lease and pony up the $130.
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Jul 25, 2016 23:25
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Nobody's apartments (including my own) are metered, if that changes anything. In order to determine AC usage literally their only option is to physically walk into people's apartments and look for air conditioners. Edit: And it's a 25 story building. That is a lot of 24 hour entrance notices Fojar38 fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Jul 25, 2016 |
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Jul 25, 2016 23:31
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Are you in a lease or are you month to month? I'm with ilkhan. Pay the $130. Don't sweat the rest.
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Jul 26, 2016 00:12
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Month to month at this point. I can pay the $130, I just found it fishy that they mass produced these slips of paper demanding $250 per unit "for the summer" independent of any individual lease agreement.
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Jul 26, 2016 00:29
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Fojar38 posted:Month to month at this point. I can pay the $130, I just found it fishy that they mass produced these slips of paper demanding $250 per unit "for the summer" independent of any individual lease agreement. Ontario's housing laws are different from most places. It would be legal if they charged a set amount each month during the summer months but charging as one lump fee for the summer is not legal. You also have the argument that they did not charge you previously, and they have to go to the landlord and tenant board to change anything. Things like no security deposits beyond last months rent, rent increase only once a year, restrictions on the landlords access to the home, and all no pet clauses are illegal unless the pet is dangerous. It would be worth meeting with a local tenants rights group for free legal aid to see if the AC fee is allowed.
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Jul 26, 2016 01:41
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Fojar38 posted:Month to month at this point. I can pay the $130, I just found it fishy that they mass produced these slips of paper demanding $250 per unit "for the summer" independent of any individual lease agreement. They're fishing. If they do give you a notice of entry just wheel the a/c unit into a closet and cover it with some stuff. Or pay them, up to you. Some people will just pay the $250 and that's what they're banking on.
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Jul 26, 2016 16:28
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If you are under rent control, tread carefully with the lies and deceit. I don't have any idea what evictable offenses are in Ontario, but lying to screw your landlord out of rent you have agreed to pay in your lease may be among them. If you are going to follow the advice here and lie, you should at least know what the penalty is before you do.
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Jul 26, 2016 21:13
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Not exactly sure where to ask this, but what are good resources/websites to consider in making a budget cross-country move with a roommate? I'm looking to move from the Midwest to Seattle and will realistically be able to save $1k-$1.5k between the two of us by January. Any idea on whether traveling in winter makes a damper on things? Should I just push it back to March or April? I'll probably be using my car plus a trailer hitch for what little things we disassemble and bring with us. Teriyaki Koinku fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Jul 27, 2016 |
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Jul 27, 2016 01:51
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Your Dunkle Sans posted:Not exactly sure where to ask this, but what are good resources/websites to consider in making a budget cross-country move with a roommate? I'm looking to move from the Midwest to Seattle and will realistically be able to save $1k-$1.5k between the two of us by January. Have you towed in winter downhill? If you're serious, invest/plan on spending money on proper winter tires for the drive.
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Jul 27, 2016 02:20
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 Build a few extra days in your travel plan just in case the passes get shut down. Investing in tire chains might be a good idea too. If you can push it back to April, things will probably be just fine, but even in March it can sometimes get hairy. March can sometimes be even worse due to the wet snow that thaws during the day and refreezes at night, and wet snow also means more avalanche danger which means the passes getting shut down for controlled clearance. Though the last few years have been fairly mild in March, yay climate change I would strongly suggest waiting until April if you can, but maybe I'm a big ole ninny.
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Jul 27, 2016 05:39
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If you take it easy, you can make it just fine in January. How budget is your move? You can rent a trailer from U-haul, which, as far as I know, is the only place that rents trailers that you can rent in once place and return in another. Trailering is the cheapest way to move. Make sure to adhere to the weight limits of your vehicle. In the photo hailthefish posted, you'll notice several feet of snow on the ground, but the road is plowed and there is plenty of sand down. They certainly do close highways sometimes, but it's usually for a matter of hours until they can catch up with the snow. And, it's rare.
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Jul 27, 2016 06:02
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Your Dunkle Sans posted:Not exactly sure where to ask this, but what are good resources/websites to consider in making a budget cross-country move with a roommate? I'm looking to move from the Midwest to Seattle and will realistically be able to save $1k-$1.5k between the two of us by January.
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Jul 27, 2016 07:35
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