In the past, Coachella concert-goers interested in getting a bit of a taste of the hotel life would have had to trek away from the music festival to an actual hotel. Now, Marriott is bringing its boutique hotel flare to the festival’s field with a handful of luxury tents. [More]
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After 25 Years, Chicago Landlords Continue Rampant Illegal Discrimination Against Section 8 Vouchers
By 10.14.15
Under Chicago law, landlords are prohibited from discriminating against families who pay all or part of their rent using Housing Choice Vouchers – most commonly referred to as “Section 8.” But a new report shows that thousands of listings for rental properties in the city blatantly disregard the 25-year-old law, showing bias against low-income, minority residents. [More]
Apartment Complex Claims Copyright On All Tenants’ Reviews & Photos Of Property
By 3.10.15
When you move into an apartment building you may face all sorts of rules about noise, public areas, trash collection, and paint colors, but one Florida management company tried to go the extra mile by including a “social media addendum” telling tenants that not only will they be hit with a $10,000 fine for griping about their living situation on any social media platform, but that the apartment owners automatically hold the copyright for anything tenants write about — and any photos they take of — the place. [More]
Should Your Landlord Be Able To Decide If Your Significant Other Can Stay The Night?
By 9.10.12
Remember the days of Three’s Company, when the only way a man could convince the landlord to let him stay in an apartment with two single women was by pretending to be gay? Even when I first moved to New York in the mid-’90s, more than a few landlords told me I could only have male roommates and that female overnight guests were frowned upon. But times are changing and most people just expect their landlord to butt out, so long as they aren’t knocking down walls or installing hot tubs in the bathroom. But there are still some people out there that don’t want any unwed hanky-panky going on under their roof. [More]
Protesters Get Boiler Fixed In Harlem
By 11.11.11
Those good-for-nothing bums down at Zuccotti Park put down their free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for one minute and became quite good-for-something. Instead of occupying Wall Street, they occupied 142nd Street, and got a new boiler installed in a building where the heat and hot water has been spotty for years. [More]
Planting Trees Increase Value Of Rentals By $21 A Month
By 10.18.11
A new study by the U.S. Forest Service found that planting trees along the perimeter of a rental property increase the rates the landlord could charge by $21 a month. [More]
Landlord Refuses To Rent To Single Mother Because There's No Man "To Shovel The Snow"
By 9.9.11
A Wisconsin landlord has been sued by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development after refusing to rent a property to a single mother. The landlord, who is a woman, said it was because the renter didn’t have a man “to shovel the snow.” [More]
Landlord Suspected Of Releasing Thousands Of Scorpions To Get Tenants Out
By 8.9.11
A man named Chen woke up recently to find a scorpion crawling over his body. Snapping on the bedroom light, he found his bedroom to be full of scorpions. He gathered his family and worked to capture several hundred of the arachnids. When they left the apartment, they found their neighbors had been battling the poison-tipped beasts, and their landlord, who wants them out to make way for a construction project, is suspected of letting them loose. [More]
The Slum Lord Garbage Tree
By 7.15.11
Greg was pretty ticked off. After two weeks of complaining to management, the tall tree outside his apartment complex still had garbage hanging from its branches. It looked like some sort of foul Christmas Tree for hobos. He couldn’t use the parking spot he pays $94 a month for because the building staff had removed all the “Tenant Only” parking signs and not put up the new ones. People who didn’t live in the building were parking in his spot. Only after sending a string of admonishing emails to the building manager, his bosses, and the board of directors did Greg finally get The Tree Of Garbage cleaned up. Here’s the chain of emails: [More]
Apt. Complex Using DNA To Find Who's Not Curbing Their Dog
By 6.28.11
Call it CSI: Timberwood Commons. WMUR reports the manager of the apartment complex there is making all the of the dog owners in the building submit DNA samples from their dogs. Then she will compare it with the DNA of the dog poop that’s been left around the grounds to find out who hasn’t been cleaning up after their dog. [More]
Man Lives In Awesome 258 Sq Ft Transforming Apartment
By 5.11.11
There’s those who bought too much house, and then there’s this guy, who lives in a fabulous 258 square foot apartment. Even in this tiny space he manages to cram in a full kitchen, refrigerator, bed, dining room table, balcony, and more. It’s all about hidden compartments and things that fold in when you need them, get stashed away when they don’t, and furniture that converts into multiple purposes. The primary inspiration was boat design, which manage to pack a lot of amenities into small space. And, of course, the Japanese! [More]
Landlord Offers $50 Off Rent To Tenants For Leaving Positive Ratings
By 3.28.11
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]
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]
Experian Adds Rent Payments To Credit Reports
By 2.17.11
In what could be a boon to renters looking to build a credit history (or bad news if you have a roommate who always delays your rent), credit reporting agency Experian has begun incorporating data on rental payments into its reports. [More]
Pretty Circles Tell You Whether To Rent Or Buy
By 1.27.11
For those who don’t like math but do like colored circles, here’s a graphic visualizing which cities it’s cheaper to buy in and which it’s cheaper to rent in. The redder the circler, the better it is to rent. The greener, the better it is to buy. [More]
Travel Reporter Gets Burned On London Vacation Rental Scam
By 1.26.11
New York Times “Frugal Travel” reporter Seth Kugel thought he got a great deal when he rented a London flat for a pittance, only to have it disappear along with his wired deposit. [More]
