Luke got an intriguing email from his landlord. It was an offer for $50 off his April rent – hooray! – but he had to something unsavory first. His landlord wanted him to go to apartmentratings.com and give the apartment complex 5-star ratings across the board. [More]
landlords
Landlord Wouldn't Fix Leak For 5 Months. This Letter Got Him To Do It in 5 Days.
By 3.7.11
Raymond and his wife had a leak in their master bedroom ceiling that they begged their landlord to fix for five months, with no result. With a baby due in a month, they really needed full use of their bedroom. Then Raymond wrote a very good complaint letter specifically citing his state’s landlord-tenant law and proposing a retroactive rent reduction for all the months the leak wasn’t fixed. That got their attention. [More]
Certified And Notarized Letter Gets Heat Turned Back On After 5 Days
By 3.3.11
Davya says that after showing her landlords she meant business with a notarized and certified letter, she finally got the heat in her apartment turned back after 5 days of no heat. [More]
Apartment Still Doesn't Have Heat After 4 Days But It Does Have Noxious Burning Smells
By 2.28.11
Dayva has written in an update about her landlord and heating issue. They don’t have heat yet, but they do have a power strip that’s been slowly melting itself into goo! [More]
No Heat, Apartment Has Smoke And Fumes, Landlord Is MIA
By 2.25.11
Dayva is fuming, almost as much as her apartment. She’s been without heat since yesterday after the cord on the heater her landlord installed melted. The landlord sent repair people who replaced the cord, but the heater still doesn’t work and its been emitting odd smells. Now she’s fighting through phone tree hell and getting hung up on by the landlord, unresponsive management company, and their minions. What’s a body to do? [More]
Repo Man Cometh For Furnace
By 1.5.11
Repossessing a car or mobile home is one thing, but a furnace? [More]
68 Families Evicted Because Landlord Owes $79,000 Water Bill
By 12.16.10
Terrible: being forced out of your home during the Christmas/New Year’s holiday stretch. Even worse: losing your home because your landlord hasn’t paid the water bill in months. That’s what is about to happen to sixty-eight families in Oklahoma because their out-of-state landlord hasn’t paid the apartment complex’s water bill in months. [More]
Know Your Renter Rights
By 12.7.10
Do you rent? Better know your rights. Here’s a state-by-state guide with links to statutes for both landlords and tenants. If you want to negotiate down your rent, get a drippy ceiling fixed, fight an eviction, or squelch a noisy neighbor, first bone up on your renter law. [More]
What Do I Need To Pay When I Break My Lease Four Months Early?
By 11.4.10
Shannon in Alabama recently got engaged, and she’ll be moving into the house her fiancé owns after the wedding in December. The problem is her current place, which she just leased in April. She wrote to Consumerist for help figuring out what to do, since her landlord doesn’t seem too clear on the procedures, either. [More]
Landlord Says He Never Got My Rent, Can I Get My Money Order Back?
By 11.3.10
Marty sent his rent in by money order and the landlord says he never got it. Marty is trying to get his money from the money order back, but is finding out that it’s not the same thing as a check. [More]
NYC Slumlords Outed By Public Advocate's Worst Landlord List
By 8.30.10
Not many renters in New York City are in love with their landlords, but only a handful of the city’s landlords deserved to be called out in public for repeated violations and ignored complaints from tenants. Starting this morning, the city’s Public Advocate has decided it’s time that the worst offenders be forced into the spotlight with a public, searchable database. [More]
Won't Pay Up Rent? I'll Spraypaint "Deadbeat" On Your Garage
By 8.6.10
Sick of her renters not paying any rent, a Charlotte landlord spraypainted “DEADBEAT TENANTS” on the garage. [More]
I Thought My Apartment Included Utilities. Now I Have A Zombie Gas Bill
By 4.28.10
Jesse has turned to Consumerist for help because he is being haunted by a relic from his past. Specifically, he writes that a debt collector has contacted him, claiming that he owes them for having a gas service account that he never used–in an apartment where he thought all utilities were included. What should he do? [More]
Should You Be Let Out Of Your Lease If Your Apartment May Plummet Into The Sea?
By 1.12.10
It’s nice to have an apartment on a cliff overlooking the ocean — until the cliff decides to stop existing. That’s what is happening to one apartment complex in Pacifica, CA. [More]
Crazy Landlord Fights Heat Wave With Air Conditioning Ban
By 8.2.09
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.
Attn. New Yorkers: How To Research Apartments Before Signing A Lease
By 6.30.09
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).
"Homeboy Hookup" Scammer Rips Off Renters
By 5.22.09
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.
"60 Days Notice Required Before Dying" Landlord Loses Appeal
By 5.21.09
The sun has set for Sun Harbour Apartments in their attempt to steal money from a dead man’s family. Court documents obtained by Consumerist indicated the landlords recently lost their appeal in a case where they tried to charge the estate of the late Arthur Zissenfor the 3 months left on the man’s lease, as well as taking his security deposit. The apartment complex have a 60 days advance notice required before vacating the premises policy and not even a swoosh of The Reaper’s scythe could break it, Sun Harbor believed, erroneously. Inside, the local newscast from when the case first went to court.
