Listen, we know gas costs more than $4 a gallon, and may go even higher, but that doesn’t mean you should start stockpiling gas. Two Dartmouth natives learned this the hard way when the 45-gallons of gas they were hoarding in nine plastic jugs ignited, nearly burning down their eight-unit apartment complex.
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After Weekend Controversy, Wisconsin Landlord Releases Man From Lease On Murder Scene Apartment
By 4.15.08
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 fiancée 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.
Answers To NYC Renters' Questions
By 1.30.08
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.
The Best Big Cities For Renters
By 1.19.08
Do you love big city livin’, but you’re tired of spending 65% of your monthly salary on a 45-year-old studio apartment with a bathroom that feels like it was transplanted from an RV? (Yeah, we’re talking about NYC.) BusinessWeek lists the results of a recent survey of rental prices in cities with populations larger than one million. The best deal is (drum roll): Oklahoma City, with an average rent of $520 a month!
Liberate Your Security Deposit By Acing Your Move-Out Inspection
By 5.27.07
Restoring an apartment can be easy, if done methodically. Thankfully, wikiHow has a useful room-by-room guide to help get your apartment spick-and-span.
Send Us Your Apartment Hunting/Negotiating Tips
By 4.17.07
It’s that time of year: With the budding trees comes a feeling of optimism coupled with intense cabin fever. The result? Apartment hunting.
Read The Fine Print Before Buying From A Floor Plan
By 3.26.07
•If all else fails, make the fine print work for you. Loopholes may allow a penalty-free escape from disappointing properties. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
UPDATE: Landlord Auto-Deducting My Life Away
By 3.13.07
Despite being a broke fool who let his landlord auto-deduct from his bank account, Mike was able to get all his money back from his landlord, using two of consumers most important tools: persistence, and sheer force of will.
American Express: What's An Apartment Number?
By 3.9.07
American Express truncated Ted’s address and sent his account to collections when he never received or paid his bill. The card in question was a backup card Ted used once in May 2006. He called Amex when he didn’t receive a bill in June. They told him a bill would only be issued if there were charges. He asked for one anyway, but they refused. Company policy.
Jump forward to December 27th. 8:30 AM. I get woken up by a collections agency telling me a) that I owe American Express for a charge from August, that b) I was obviously defrauding them, and that c) I was, to put it mildly, not being cooperative.
Ted never received a statement. Ted never received a late-notice. Ted never got a call from Amex. So why was a collections agency on the phone?
Clean Up Your Tenant History With The FCRA
By 2.22.07
The Fair Credit Reporting Act doesn’t just regulate the Big Three (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). It also regulates tenant screening agencies that report things like late rent payments, evictions, and other tenant information. Tenant-related information may show up in traditional credit reports or in tenant screening agency reports. If your rental application is denied, get a copy of any reports that were used in denying your application and, if anything is inaccurate, challenge it.
HOW TO: Re-Up Your Lease, Keep The Same Rent
By 1.5.07
We and our girlfriend’s 12 month apartment lease ran out and so we signed another lease, but our rent stayed the same.
Carmel Partners Sticks Flood Bill to Tenant
By 7.20.06
“Though I have doubts about whether or not this will appear as anything of importance to anyone but myself, I still feel inclined to at least attempt to get this information out there. “
Apartment ‘Painted’ With 100 Gallons
By 5.15.06
Rent-stabilized apartments in New York are the bane of their landlords, gnashing their teeth like the rats they unleash to drive out unwanted tenants.
Hipsters Speak: Stupid Rent!
By 1.27.06
basically i’m considering blowing off my rent for the last two months on my lease and saving the money on a new, nicer place. i’m just trying to cover the stupid broker fee that i would otherwise not be able to come up with in time.
