Consumerist
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oregon
Crazy Landlord Fights Heat Wave With Air Conditioning Ban
An Oregon landlord refuses to let his tenants install air conditioners because he thinks they "look tacky." Tenants of the Arbor Creek complex in Aloha who choose to sacrifice aesthetics for comfort have ten days to correct their mistake before facing eviction. One tenant's kid already landed in the hospital thanks to heat stroke. More » -
rental apartments
Attn. New Yorkers: How To Research Apartments Before Signing A Lease
Looking for an apartment? If you live in New York City, there's an easy way to avoid buildings with lousy track records (peeling lead paint, chronic rodent problems, fixtures that never get fixed, and the like). More » -
videos
"Homeboy Hookup" Scammer Rips Off Renters
Apartment scams are the new hotness. Can't do housing scams anymore because no one can afford a house, so it's on to rentals. Insert "Merce," a guy is ripping off renters saying he's got the "homeboy hookup" and can get them into a rental cheap and with free gas an electricity, but he doesn't actually own the properties. Fox NY investigates in this video. More » -
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landlords
Landlord And Service Tech Call Tenant A Nerdy Dipshit
The wireless Internet connection at Ari's new apartment isn't very useful. Neither is his landlord, or the support tech who's supposed to troubleshoot this kind of stuff. More » -
early termination fees
Landlord Asks Mother To Pay "Early Termination Fee" After Son Fails To Honor Lease By Dying
Debbie Eckert cleaned out her son's apartment after he died in a February fight, but the landlord, CCRT Properties of Brookfield Wisconsin, thinks she should pay several months rent and an early termination fee. The Wisconsin Department of Consumer Protection says that CCRT can pursue the 24-year-old teacher's estate, but that they have no right to heartlessly badger his mother. More » -
credit scores
Four Unexpected Situations Where Bad Credit Hurts
If you aren't planning on getting a big loan in the next couple of years, you probably shouldn't be worried about your credit score right? Wrong. More »
2:32 PM on Sun Feb 15 2009
By Bargaineering.com
34,378 views, 61 comments -
crime
Landlords Drop Demands For Murdered Woman To Pay Back Rent
The landlords that sent a demand for unpaid rent and citing "insufficient notice to vacate" to the estate of a mother who was murdered in a Christmas kill-spree say they will not go after the rest of the rent after all. They say the request for payment was just the management company's standard procedure and they didn't know the woman was a murder-victim.
Covina landlords unaware tenants were victims of massacre [Daily News] (Thanks to Heidi!) (Photo: mainfr4me)
PREVIOUSLY: Landlord Orders Ex-Husband To Pay Murdered Wife's Rent -
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crime
Landlord Orders Ex-Husband To Pay Murdered Wife's Rent
The ex-husband of a woman who was murdered at a Christmas party along with 8 other people has been ordered by her landlord to pay her rent. The landlord says she gave insufficient notice to vacate the premises, and broke her lease. Apparently they require 60 days notice before being shot dead by your sister's ex-husband in a Santa suit. More » -
renting
Fannie Mae Lets Renters Stay
Good news for renters who've been dutifully paying their rent while their landlords failed to make the mortgages, and were facing eviction as a result: Fannie Mae will sign new leases with them. [NYT] -
landlords
When Your Landlord Won't Refund Your Security Deposit
What do you do if you were a perfectly fine renter, left the place in great shape, but your landlord won't refund your security deposit? More » -
bad consumer
How "Serial Evictees" Game A System Meant To Protect Renters From Abuse
There's nothing we dislike more than people who scam a system put in place to protect vulnerable consumers from abuse, but the sad fact is that they do exist. SF Weekly has an article that tracks the exploits of a serial evictee, a "renter" who leases apartments with no intention of paying rent, and then games the system in order to stay rent free for as long as possible. More » -
landlords
The Worst Landlords In The World
If you thought your landlord was bad, check out this story. This San Francisco couple is facing several felony counts after conducting a campaign of terror against its tenants in an effort to get them to to leave the building. The crazy things they did include:- Cutting a giant hole in one renter's floor
- Breaking into a tenant's apartment and pouring ammonia on their clothes, bedding, and electronics
- Cutting the support beams to a renter's apartment
- Illegally entering a renter's apartment and dismantling their furniture
- Turning off the water,power, and electricity to tenant's apartments
S.F. landlords charged with tenant terror [SF Gate] (Thanks to Paul!)
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ask the consumerists
Landlord's Crappy Boiler Costs Us Big Time
Marcie writes:I live in a 750 square foot apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Per the lease agreement, my roommate and I signed to pay the heat separate from the rent. The first gas bill we received was $750, and the following gas bill was roughly the same amount. We knew that the price of gas was expensive, but for two people who make great pains to use the heat only when absolutely necessary, and occasionally use the stove to boil a pot of water, this seemed ridiculous. For all of 2007, we owe roughly $2000 in gas costs.
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landlords
After Weekend Controversy, Wisconsin Landlord Releases Man From Lease On Murder Scene Apartment
This morning, WKOW in Madison, Wisconsin, reported that Wisconsin Management Company had refused to let a University of Wisconsin student out of a lease a year and a half early. What was surprising about the story was that the man had found his fiancĂ©e murdered in the apartment last week. Even worse, the company wouldn't confirm that it would replace the carpet or re-paint the walls until it had completed "further investigation" of the situation. Before we posted the story this evening, the management company had posted a press release on its website saying the whole thing was a misunderstanding and the lease has been dissolved. Download the press release here (PDF), or read it below. More » -
ask the consumerists
When Roommates Attack: How Can I Get Out Of My "Lease Break" Fee?
Reader Steve's little sister has a problem. She keeps getting attacked by her roommate. She called the police and now there are charges against the roommate. The psycho roommate's parents say that they will only pay the "lease break" fee if she finds a way to get the charges against the roommate dropped. More » -
renting
Answers To NYC Renters' Questions
How do you get your landlord to require the upstairs neighbors to put down carpets? A lawyer who "has practiced in the landlord-tenant arena for more than two decades" has been answering these sorts of questions on the New York Times' "City Room" blog. The advice he gives, while helpful and specific, is mostly based on what we imagine are NYC-specific problems and cites New York statutes, but it still might be helpful for renters elsewhere with similar problems. More »
