Landlord Dilemma

I like to haggle.

Oh alright then, I'm mean.

Having called around, we think we can push for another month since we weren't given 30 days notice. That should give us a chance to find a new place if it comes to that. Of course we'd like to stay and are hoping that he's willing to negotiate. The plan is to call him later today.

Anyone have any advice (sympathy would be nice too)?

So it looks like we'll be fighting him on the increase next month and looking for a new place to live. What a cock.

From another thread:

Who knows about California landlord law? Am I right in assuming that after a tenant moves out, a landlord is required to apply a fresh coat of paint to the walls?

We painted two of the rooms during our stay. The landlord has left us with a single can of primer and said if we need anymore we should buy it. And now it appears she is out of contact. Does it seem weird for us just to apply primer and then leave? But if there was a certain color (even white) that she wanted, wouldn't she have been more specific?

I HATE THIS STUFF

That kinda wacky vagueness is totally crap, esp. expecting you to shill out for primer & possibly paint. Just burn a copy of the movie Primer & leave it there for her with your extra keys & forwarding address.

How'd the garage saley hawking things go?

It went great! Thanks for asking. Consensus here at the office is that we should just prime it and leave.

You got all your shit packed? Asides from cleaning out oven/fridge & cleaning blinds, packing is my least favorite. I have learned from stressed experience not to procrastinate it, however.

Stuff is about 75% packed. We have 4 days to paint, clean and finish packing.

srsly, landlords are scum (with some exceptions).

Haha at least you are out of that place.

just the fact that they're called lords

it prolly gives them a complex

Scumlords

Haha at least you are out of that place.

Unfortunately leaving appears to be only the begiining

Really? What's the issue? Is he not giving back your deposit?

He is not giving us back our deposit and he may even ask for more despite the fact that we left the place better than we found it. Because he is a crook.

How can he get more? Is he going to try to take you to small claims court?

Not if we do that first

Good luck! Is there a tenants' union in LA that can help you out?

We moved out of state two months ago and haven't seen our security deposit. We're getting everything ready to file in small claims court. We just heard from some current tenants that the bat bugs are back. So glad we're out.

xp

good call, I will take a look

i think you should burn his house down

Will be difficult. He spends a lot of time watering it.

he does!

admrl:

http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Calif/losangel/index.html

thanks!

i have to say, tenancy laws are total shit in the US, compared to NZ. ESPECIALLY the whole security deposit: in NZ the money goes to the tenancy tribunal, so when you move both parties have to agree on the damages or no one gets any $$ back. the tenant also has way more power, and it's way harder to get fucked over. and they can only make you pay a max of 3 weeks rent as security.

I'll survive. I'm adamrl, not just any geek off the street

I'd almost go so far as to say this experience will only make me a better husband, friend, citizen, man...any and all of these things.

Iron Admrl

good luck! i've gone through this a couple times in ny and the first time my roomates and i filed a claim. it was a complete waste of time. sometimes it is best to just write it off and move on when you are dealing with scumbags.

i don't think there's any writing it off here, because the landlord wants more than they paid for a deposit

Yeah and also, I'm not having my pocket picked by this snivelling fuck.

my rent check must be postmarked by the first of the month, which means my landlord will likely get it between the third and the fifth (he lives a few counties away).

i mailed my rent check, as per usual, around the 28th or 29th of the month prior.

i get a letter today, august 8 (that is, only a few business days after the earliest date my landlord could reasonably have expected to receive my rent) saying, not necessarily in this order, that
- he didn't receive my rent check immediately, and so i must either
- pay month's rent plus $35 late fee or VACATE THE PREMISES WITHIN SIX DAYS

wtf. i've never been late on my rent before. a courtesy call maybe? a few days' patience.

i guess i should check to see what the law is about this. this seems rather unreasonable; possibly the check was lost in the mail, is late, or they've misplaced it. but he doesn't really have any reason to suspect that suddenly i've decided not to pay rent.

oh, and also, jess OTM. fuck landlords.

He's taking a risk there. Where is he going to find new tenant and run checks etc within 6 days.

i wonder if his secretary just ran off a letter immediately.

i'm just paranoid, probably, but i worry that since i've actually been after him a fair amount the last few months because he never does repairs in the time frame he announces, he wants to get rid of me and will claim that i'm missing rent checks. so obviously i should start photocopying my checks and requesting confirm-delivery from the post office.

i moved in over a bar and its much louder than it was when we originally visited (and louder than nyc noise code some nights). were working with the bar on some improvements that should make it better and hopefully make the apartment liveable.

but i want to keep some kind of paper trail anyway just in case it comes to something more serious and we want to break the lease or something. so i was going to send a certified letter to my landlord stating that the noise is a problem thats keeping me from enjoying my apartment, etc.--but im not really sure what else to say, since were already working with the bar to mitigate the problem. do i just say the noise is making the apt uninhabitable and leave it at that?

(im worried that hell contact the bar and then it seems like were going behind their backs and they become less helpful)

i think if you mention to the landlord that you have spoken with the bar, he would be more inclined to help.

Phrase it like "This letter is to provide notice that" and then tell him about the noise. Say you are working with the bar to mitigate the problem and will keep LL informed if you reach a resolution.

if you're in communication with the bar you could tell them that to keep things straight between you and your landlord you want to keep some kind of paper trail anyway

yeah that all sounds good.

chris i dont actually *need* the landlords help, as the bar has been v amenable to changing their setup (i.e. killing the bass)--not yet--im just thinking, if the bar starts dragging its feet/if the changes to its soundsystem dont work, etc., i want to make sure i have a paper trail that shows that the landlord knows its been a problem

so wouldn't normally ask but this is a fucking tricky one.

i got a new flatmate in on 6th august, and my other flatmate had asked to move out on 6th september, in a situation where the landlord only ever worked with year long leases that included a break clause after 6 months. but since she asked, i got him to do a special one month lease for me, the new flatmate, and the old one, and planned to get a replacement in in time for 6th september.

now i'm in dublin and been getting lots of replies to an ad i put up so i emailed new flatmate to ask about when we start doing viewings. she said old flatmate is considering staying another month and wants to ask landlord tomorrow.

i basically don't want this on a number of levels, 1. i want a clean start with two new flatmates, old flatmate is v messy etc, 2. landlord wasn't happy about initial one month lease shit 3. landlord is in a narky mood lately with all the upheaval and any confusion will come back on current tenants 3. i want a proper lease, not another month long situation.

but the problem is my old flatmate planning to ring landlord direct. i'm the lead tenant and feel i should be included on this, not least since i've set wheels in motion to get new people in. that plus, when she wanted to stay another month last time, i had to ask.

i reckon he'll say no but part of me wants to ring him at 9am tomorrow to forewarn him and sort of make my case. i can guarantee getting a flatmate in on a year long lease by the 6th, the demand is huge.

should i ring old flatmate first? i'd text or email her now but i reckon she doesn't know i know, plus she's also inclined to ignore emails/texts.

i just think i've had enough hassle with the last flatmate moving out, which caused some rancour with landlord as she didn't give proper notice, and don't want to risk any more.

what would you do tho? is it bad of me to just cut her off at the pass by calling landlord tomorrow?

i also don't want him to have to be adjudicator in some argument...

No. Call ahead and ask/-warn, the LL will be glad to have the issue decided for him by you, and get what he really wants anyway, which is a long-term tenant instead of another short lease, and not to be put in the middle of something, unawares. Wd be better if you cd stop the person from calling him at all, but since they're leaving anyway, fuck it.

That's my two cents after three cocktails.

that's what i figure. i would text her and say to call me first but then she could decide to try and call him really early. which i'll do instead.

WHat I do in situs like this is have just my name on the lease, and move co-tenants in and out as suits without owner intervention. Its worked well for me before (tho does leave one legally a little exposed I guess)

yeah i always do this, even tho they are all on lease i'm the lead tenant so is up to me. this is the first time someone's been approaching the landlord directly. partly cos i'm away partly cos she might think it's an easier way of getting what she wants. it's not majorly sinister or plotting, but i think it does break the rule of things a bit and make things awkward.

Laurel OTM.

spoke to landlord and he said no way is he doing another one month lease.

We have a really great landlord, been in this place for more than two years and love it, she lives out of town and we always pay rent on time and don't ask for much. She has raised our rent once but pays our utils and is always on the level. That said, we love our house and are (unreasonably?) paranoid about having to move. She says she is arranging for an appraisal so as to lower her interest rates, but I am still convincing myself she is preparing to sell. Thoughts?

well as a renter you always need to be prepared to move!

arent there usually laws about tenants' rights when the landlord sells? may be different for single-family homes vs. apt buildings.

probably not worth worrying about until she actually says shes going to sell it. not exactly a sellers market right now.

i might have to move soon too and am really dreading it

my friends just went through this when the place they're in got sold....you do have rights as a tenant and iirc your lease must be honored. if she's really serious about selling she may try to time it towards when your lease is up or may ask you to go month-to-month at some point.

we are month-to-month. I mean, yeah, we figured the day is coming sooner or later. But she's usually honest and says she is appraising just to get a better rate and lower her payments.

hate this aspect of renting but owning/buying a house is also unappealing in many ways

if you guys have a good relationship with her i cant see any reason why she'd lie to you about this?

Yeah that's what I think. And we do, she's great. Just don't want to move but if it comes down to it, we'll find somewhere else.

have never dealt with a sneaky landlord before, can anyone tell me if i have a right to be angry/protest? situation:

-lived there for a year with three other guys, two of whom lived there prior
-before i moved in, three other guys had just moved out
-those three left a shitload of stuff: furniture, closets full of things we never touched, etc
-i originally thought the house being furnished was a plus and pushed up rent. last winter we replaced the crappy burnt couch with a much better one. i actually thought i was pushing my luck when i asked the landlord if i could come in and move the couch a couple weeks after moving out, when my friend was going to have a moving truck for his new place (this fell through so i left the couch)
-have had a generally good relationship with this landlord
-few months ago he says he won't be renewing our lease because he wants to get in and work on the house top to bottom. it wasn't in good shape. we were all planning on leaving anyway, so that wasn't a problem.

so he's apparently angry at us for only leaving with our own possessions. charging $50 an hour for each hour he spent cleaning it out (8, he says). i expected he wouldn't be happy having to clear out all the miscellaneous crap in the closets, but i don't think any of us expected him to be annoyed with our leaving decent furniture there (in shared spaces, not our rooms obv). and i don't think any of us expected to be charged for stuff previous tenants left. is this normal? the thing is, if he had just renewed the lease like every other year and i moved out anyway, none of that would've been pinned on me. it should be pinned on the previous tenants that left it all there. should we have been expected to clear it all out/am i right to be annoyed?

another thing: he's charging us all equally for carpet cleaning ($60 each). my two housemates who lived there longer than me paid the security deposit two+ years ago and this is the first time they're getting any of it back. it feels like we're getting charged for general house cleaning things that weren't coming out of security deposit returns before. if so, wouldn't my two housemates owe more because they lived there twice as long? am i right to be suspicious of this at all?

if so = "if they were [coming out of previous tenants' deposits]"

Yes it is reasonable for him to charge you to clear out stuff you left behind (if you had an issue with previous tenants leaving it behind you should have taken it up with him when you moved.)

It is less reasonable for him to deduct normal upkeep costs from your deposit (in fact I don't believe this is allowed in SF) but this may depend on your particular rental agreement and municipality.

That's absolutely normal in my experience. The landlords I've dealt with were mostly really scummy people when it comes to money. I can't even remember the last time I got all of my deposit back (which is more my fault for not doing due diligence ahead of time rather than my fault because I, like, trashed the place or didn't clean it to within an inch of its life before moving out). I had a landlady who tried to charge us additional costs beyond simply keeping our deposit. Which I laughed at heartily.

All I can say is, if it's worth the hassle in future, take lots of photographs before you move in (with the landlord present, natch) and make sure everything is documented in one way or another on the lease. Give them as little wiggle room as possible. Also, depending on where you live, there may be tenants' rights that are enforced by law.

about 10 years ago i moved out of a house at the same time as all the other (5) tenants, and it was the first time the house had been untenanted in maybe.. 15 years? longer? it was a horrible nightmare, and since i was the only vaguely responsible give-a-shit person out of the 6 of us, i ended up having to get rid of an entire house of shitty used furniture (i was moving into a tiny one bdr), and clean the whole place. i was lucky in that my landlord actually really appreciated it but it still sucked big time. i only lived in two other shared places after that and i made a point of moving out singly so as to avoid the same situation ever again.

damn. thanks guys.

I only moved in 2 months ago and now we've had a letter saying the landlord wants to renovate the house and we've got 2 months to move out. I got a landline and internet installed and everything! So frustrating. Anyone know if I can transfer internet to my landlord's name?

Not sure he can do that if you have a standard 6 month contract.

Are you on a lease? If so, your landlord may not legally be able to pull such a douchebag move. Or, at the very least, he may be required to provide you with another place to live.

Once I started actively doing the research, I realized the shocking extent to which many landlords are ignorant of or actively flaunt the law.

uk shorthold tenancy law is quite favourable to landlords but i would suggest dog latin has a look at their tenancy agreement and queries the notice given because asking for possession 2 months into a tenancy is absurd

also a large proportion of s20/21 notices or whatever they're called are poorly drafted and legally unenforceable

Mmm... yeah I think our agreement is on fairly breezy terms.

The date on which the notice requires possession to be given must be at least 2 months after it was served. The Fixed Term Notice (Section 21(1)b) can be served at any time during the fixed term (from just after the agreement is signed up to and including the last day of the fixed term) but must not require possession during the fixed term.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/section-21-notices.htm

is your contract for a fixed term initially?

Ha, I had a landlord who asked me to go back and clean the apartment some more - floors and toilet - after relocating me to a cleaner and safer apartment that was up to standard.

It was like, the plumbing had serious issues and the locks needed to be changed...so he relocated me then called after I moved and said, "could you sweep and mop this that and the other".

BTW I spent two entire days cleaning.

Another landlord flat out LIED, I spent an entire day scrubbing the kitchen - all the appliances and stove and oven, bleached the crap out of the thing...then they took $250 off my security deposit, saying "kitchen was filthy". That was their sole reason. Which was really creepy because every time I move, I prioritize whatever YUCK is lurking in those kitchens and bathrooms...vacuuming and wall washing is low priority.

Also, I did all of this with a dying cat sleeping in a box in a corner. She would get out of her little bed once in a while to vomit on the carpet. That whole weekend was a nightmare.

landlords are scum

lesson: take pictures of goddamn everything

I've been a uk landlord. P sure they can't make you move out before 6 months. U.S. system is absurd, I'm so grateful for UK deposit protection and the fact that it's the norm to get inventories done.

^^ yeah in nz the deposit must always go to a third party, and any amount of money taken out of it at the end of a lease has to be agreed to by both you and landlord, or the situation ends up going through the tenancy tribunal.

That sounds lovely. Many places in the US (some places have really solid tenants' rights laws), the landlord can basically say, "yeah, uh, it was real dirty and I, uh, had to replace some stuff or something?" and you're out $500.

the DPS still have a chunk of deposit from my last tenancy which remains disputed months after we moved out. they're the real winners in this game. cunts.

so when seeing people for a room, with your other flatmate, and deciding who to take etc - do you guys feel it's normal to make a decision after someone's first visit? i do, but my flatmate thinks we should make a shortlist and invite people back a second time, to be sure what they're like.

if someone asked me to come back a second time, i probably would if i really wanted the place, but i'd find it pretty weird, like being interviewed, and it'd certainly keep me looking elsewhere in the meantime.

Maybe do something informal like invite them for a drink?

I have made decisions on this sort of thing after one visit with varying degrees of success. Probably worth calling up and asking how advanced they are with everything else/if there's anywhere else they think is promising.

One visit has usually been fine for me, at least I'd not have found out that someone sheds hair all over the house by going for a "cheeky pint" with them.

test the bantz, v important

i mostly opt for "person whom i will get along with but not feel compelled to spend any time with" - though lately i am softening and thinking maybe i should try and find someone i actually would hang out with. i think overall i would prefer just being able to do my own thing at home though.

tbf i will never live with roommates again so help me god but i think if i was put on a shortlist and asked back for a second interview my first instinct would be "the fuck do these guys think they are"

^^^

getting on well with the people you live with sure does help. i reckon inviting people out for a drink might be an idea, although only if you're sure they might make good flatmate material.

choose somebody you're likely to get along with in general ... as similar to background and personality as possible so you're on the same page. unfortunately my landlord chose my latest roommate, he's some college-age kid with a hoodrat thing going on. he struts around the apartment saying things like "i gotta make some bread, yo!" and it'd pretty comical if i didn't have to see him everyday. good inspiration for getting my own place at least.

you should get him a breadmaker

tbf i will never live with roommates again so help me god but i think if i was put on a shortlist and asked back for a second interview my first instinct would be "the fuck do these guys think they are"

this is what i think. what the fuck would you even say to justify asking them back. my flatmate is just v wary of people, i think, even though (because?) she is a nice person.

surely get someone you like and then ignore them

idk i've seen so many placeholder arrangements with seemingly innocuous randoms turn sour, a household is a crucible for festering resentment

also maybe theyre passable on their own but they'll bring their friends round or get a terrible partner or whatever and suddenly the flaws magnify until "do my own thing at home" becomes "hide in room crying bile til they're gone"

i think you should invite them all out together and get e4 to give you a 6pm slit

i typed slot

IF your flatmate insists i do agree that you should make it a semi-social thing like grabbing a drink instead of making them come back to your place again.

hopefully you find someone cool enough that you can convince your flatmate that they are a good choice after interview 1.

i've told my orrible housemates story upthread or elsewhere, but 'hiding in room' became such a thing that i bought a fuckin couchbed

looking for a roommate can be terrible but can also be hilarious

I remember in the apartment I lived in shortly after college, we were interviewing for a fourth and this dude in his 50s interviewed (keep in mind, the age range of the apartment was men and women aged 23 - 27) who led with his habit of inviting all of his friends over on Sunday afternoons to set up in the parlor and play old-timey music

how long did he end up living with you guys for

Yeah definitely make it look like a social thing, also if they do have nutter potential then booze will bring it out.

yeah but you weren't laughing when he robbed that bank

xxp: lol I was only spending about 10% of my time in the apartment at the time and even I couldn't bring myself to argue for picking that dude

ironically, the next year I moved in with a coworker who spent most of his free time playing Irish fiddle

I can't read any britishes threads about flatmates without thinking of "Shallow Grave."

idk i've seen so many placeholder arrangements with seemingly innocuous randoms turn sour, a household is a crucible for festering resentment

also maybe theyre passable on their own but they'll bring their friends round or get a terrible partner or whatever and suddenly the flaws magnify until "do my own thing at home" becomes "hide in room crying bile til they're gone"

yeah i mean i am out a lot mainly, once they're quiet and respectful i'm fine with it, it's not too hard to pick someone who is like this, but it does mean you tend to have nothing in common and nothing to talk about, and then you wonder if you seem just as boring as you know they are.

picking someone who is fun or you might actually like is mostly too risky, i think.

I remember in the apartment I lived in shortly after college, we were interviewing for a fourth and this dude in his 50s interviewed (keep in mind, the age range of the apartment was men and women aged 23 - 27) who led with his habit of inviting all of his friends over on Sunday afternoons to set up in the parlor and play old-timey music

how cruel would it be to post the 800-word innocent smoothie type blurb some bloke sent in response to the ad? maybe it's enough to say it said: "But come on now, I'm not just about books am I? You're damn right I'm not!"

And "I'm a dab hand at a homemade fancy-dress costume. My main medium is cereal boxes."

can't believe you rejected contenderizer lj IR-M Custos boy_slayer dear god we have had a lot of people like this post here

I can't read any britishes threads about flatmates without thinking of "Shallow Grave."

Really starting to lose the rag with this process of finding someone. The amount of woeful emails you get, it's like looking at a dating site. "I enjoy walks around Broadway Market/Colombia Road at the weekend, and Sunday roasts. I love going out but I'm just as happy at home with a glass of wine and a good movie."

I swear to god, it'd make Terry Wogan a misanthrope. That coupled with endless emails from people who don't bother to give you any useful info about themselves hence you don't know if a viewing is a waste of time (but maybe they're more interesting than the above automatons. Or maybe people are interesting but just crap at self-defining via text.

Any London ILXors got any mates who need a room? Bethnal Green, reasonable price (relative to the wild prices I've seen for the area online, anyway.)

site:okcupid.com "broadway market"
About 302 results (0.29 seconds)

I've somehow stumbled through a series of quiet but not deathly dull flatmates, not sure how I've achieved this seeming miracle. Did have a bit of landlord panic / rage recently though, as he said we'd be getting notified of an increase in the rent, we asked how much, he emailed back saying £800, i.e. about 75%. I spent half an hour assuming he'd suddenly noticed that we have Hackney's cheapest flat and thinking up ways to get out of there quickly, before he emailed back saying "oh I mean £80".

site:okcupid.com "broadway market"
About 302 results (0.29 seconds)

don't type in "doesn't take himself too seriously" or "discovering what this great city has to offer", you'll break your browser or your will to live. fuck knows where that rancid second one came from.

my experience mostly the same, merdeyeux.

now you mention it LG I do know someone looking for a place. Can you webmail me with the listing?

mailed

thanks, will pass on those details!

i dont know anyone but am nosey, can u post pls

dunno if i want to leave my ad open to the castigation of the ilx hordes, having castigated others myself.

'i don't know anyone but i'm nosey' was my application

this nightmare continues. yesterday somebody described themselves as "hardworking" in an email about the room. wtf.

meanwhile as i make clear i want somebody basically invisible the reason my current ultra-reserved flatmate was picked becomes clearer and clearer to her, and more awkward for all!

ha

like being around for yr own underwhelming eulogy

otm. so awkward.

I never tire of looking through flatshare listings where it's evident the lister would like nothing better than to be handed £500 once a month by an invisible person who's never, ever around to quietly enjoy the accommodation they're paying for.

it's such an unnatural world. my ad i think isn't quite so overt that that's what i would want tho, given it's a joint ad with flatmate and she seems to want a NEW FRIEND. which i'm fine with really...

One place I lived was ruthlessly Shallow Grave about new flatmates - theoretically, nobody was considered for the house who didn't have a good, creative job or a place on a postgrad course that would lead to one. In practice, this meant architects and curators but not people in bands or people in advertising. I wasn't the instigator of this policy BTW.

it's evident the lister would like nothing better than to be handed £500 once a month by an invisible person who's never, ever around to quietly enjoy the accommodation they're paying for.

Frankly if anyone can afford that level of rent they can live on their own easily (surely London isnt that far ahead of Melbourne in the Insane Rental Cost stakes), so more power to em. I'd happily have an invisible person living with me - and have, though it was a good friend, so I guess that may not count.

£500 would be a bargain.

I'd live on my own if it wasn't going to cost me 1k a month, barring a move to some faraway hell.

Frankly if anyone can afford that level of rent they can live on their own easily (surely London isnt that far ahead of Melbourne in the Insane Rental Cost stakes)

Hahahahahahahahahaha

i hear leytonstone is lovely this time of life

Seems the right thread – I'm looking to take a lodger, but keep postponing hitting spareroom or whatever - seems a chore & I keep hoping circle of friends throws someone up. I think it might be a decent deal for someone who can tolerate a bookish man's slightly scruffy flat. If you're interested webmail and I'll elaborate.

(camberwell btw fwiw)

does anybody live in stepney green? are rents exorbitant there? for years i've somehow felt that stepney green is calling to me, but i wonder if it's more like a siren that will dash me into the rocks

think stepney is still fairly pricey, tho there are some cheap shitholes there.

have you ever lived in a shithole? they are surprisingly cosy.

Stepney Green isn't cheap. One beds in ok condition tend to start at north of £1000 pcm.

it's so annoying, you have to be absolutely mad/loaded simply to live on your own.

Yep - a mortgage on a £160,000 flat might not even cost you that much if you had the money for a reasonable deposit.

Actually, at current interest rates, you could probably borrow £160,000 and still be forking out less than you would to a landlord.

have considered this a bit recently, but not sure i want to be tied into anything.

Pretty sure rents in Hackney and the west side of Tower Hamlets will have gone up faster than most other places in London over the past few years. I remember when people lived in the East End because it was cheap.

anywhere that's close to central london is expensive.

ime, from looking at moveflat etc, recently. east london has just caught up with other places as far as i can tell.

I guess Newham might still be relatively cheap.

In the absence of job security, i can see why people are enormously reluctant to get a mortgage atm.

Not Melbourne cheap, but still...

there must be flukey bargains out there if you look hard enough. my friend who lives next door to me pays about £450 a month, 5 mins from central line in bethnal green. landlord doesn't have a clue. i feel lucky at £567 to be honest, everywhere around me is about £700 generally, for far smaller/uglier flats, judging by the images anyway.

Every time rents shoot up I'm incredibly grateful to be in the centre and out of the private rental market.

Lots of people moving to Leyton and Walthamstow ATM, Tracer. Friends bought just by Walthamstow station in anticipation of KIDS because the schools are great (they also enjoy the market and are happy their MP is Stella Creasy) and it's 20 minutes' journey to their Oxford Circus jobs. If you can get your head around [terror stab music] ZONE 3, definitely consider it.

Walthamstow is great but, depressingly, probably only about two years away from being close to Hackney rents. Everyone being priced out of places like Bromley seems to be heading there.

Every time rents shoot up I'm incredibly grateful to be in the centre and out of the private rental market.

I'd keep quiet if I were you; David Cameron and Ian Duncan Smith will deport you to Scunthorpe for talk like that.

pretty crazy stuff in this court document by the city of westmount suing my ex-landlord

http://jugements.qc.ca/php/decision.php?liste=68811716&doc=C0F572EC5E0A350672108DC3CDBF7AC293A9FDE6E6BE5CF685FD0DCE5483ED28&page=1

[14] On October 23, 1998, Mr. Fattal wrote a letter to Ms. Joanne Poirier, Westmount’s director of urban planning.[1] He called upon Ms. Poirier to “cancel” the September court injunction and accused her of “malicious, painful and abusive activities” that wasted taxpayers’ money. Mr. Fattal stated that it was time for Ms. Poirier to end her “Gestapo style” behaviour.

[15] In the top corner of his letter, Mr. Fattal reproduced a Second World War photo of a Nazi officer, with his boot over the neck of a prostrate concentration camp prisoner. In the background, several other prisoners in striped uniforms hung from posts. Mr. Fattal signed his letter to Ms. Poirier, “Your Hostage”.

[16] Ms. Poirier was upset by the letter. Westmount’s lawyers wrote to Mr. Fattal, asking him not to communicate with Westmount officials and to direct all future correspondence to them.

[17] A further incident in the autumn of 1998 alarmed Westmount’s building inspectors. One day, Westmount’s employee, Mr. Michel Poulin, was performing an electrical inspection at the Saint Antoine building. Mr. Fattal suddenly appeared behind Mr. Poulin wearing a Saddam Hussein mask and brandishing a baseball bat. Mr. Poulin was frightened, but Mr. Fattal later called it a joke.

...

[24] Between 1999 and 2007, he faxed hundreds of pages of correspondence and photos to the City of Westmount and its employees. At times, the fax transmissions were so lengthy they choked the City’s fax machines and disrupted its communications. Often, Mr. Fattal faxed the same pages over and over again.

[25] On a number of occasions, Mr. Fattal faxed gruesome photos of himself, bare-chested and gagging. One photo showed a tortured Mr. Fattal, with bulging eyes, and an iron bar across his mouth.

[26] Mr. Fattal also wrote to Westmount employees at their homes, mailing large envelopes to them stuffed with letters of complaint, photos of a bare-chested Mr. Fattal in chains, and other offensive documents.

...

[48] In 2011, Mr. Fattal got an iPhone and discovered text messaging. Over the next two years, up until the eve of trial in February 2013, Mr. Fattal sent hundreds of text messages to Mtre. Banon, at all times of day and night, on weekends and holidays, including New Year’s Eve in 2012. In his messages Mr. Fattal repeatedly insulted Mtre. Banon, declaring that he should be ashamed to represent “gangsters” and “criminals” who were intent on ruining Mr. Fattal’s health. In one instance, Mr. Fattal attached a photo of himself and photos of several tombstones, clearly implying that Mtre. Banon and his clients wanted him in an early grave.

[49] Mtre. Banon repeatedly asked Mr. Fattal to stop communicating with him, but the messages continued unabated, sometimes at the rate of several a day.

[50] Mr. Fattal found other outlets for his anger. He created a website on which he posted derogatory remarks and photos of Mayors Marks and Trent, Mr. St. Louis and Ms. Poirier. He attached large posters to the front of his Saint Antoine building that bore similar statements and photos, as well as his website address. These posters are still on the building today. One of them identifies the building as the “Musée d’histoire d’harcèlement par Westmount”. Mr. Fattal’s building is festooned with City of Montreal flags, indicating his displeasure at being located in the municipality of Westmount.

lol at the saddam hussein story.

ok so our doorbell has been broken for several weeks. i emailed my landlady last night to note that it still hadn't been fixed (after having emailed her about it, to no reply, several days ago) and asking when they might be able to come into the apartment. apparently she emails me back this morning around 11 AM, but I'm off doing other things and don't get the email. less than 90 minutes later she and her husband barge in and say "hello." I'm startled and in my underwear. I tell them, "you need to let us know in advance when you're coming in" (which is true, under our lease terms--they're required to give 24 hours notice unless explicitly invited in my the tenant).

they then commence a tirade of cuss words and expressions of obscene indignance. "fuck it! fuck it!" "this is bullshit." "fuck you." "you always do this" (I don't). "you make it impossible for us!" "you're being difficult." "fuck it!"

I ask them not to cuss at me in my own living space. her reply, "we can cuss at you. it's our building."

WTF. what do i do now?

(my partner was also home and was shocked.)

pretty sure what she did was totally illegal. like, isn't it a basic law that a landlord has to give 24hrs notice unless there's an emergency? and when you say she barged in, do you mean literally, as in, she didn't knock and just let herself in?

yes, it's in the lease.

she didn't "barge" in, but they just opened the front door, walked upstairs, then opened the apartment door, walked into the living room, and said "hello." i was startled.

it's not the first time they've done this. once they left a voice mail (I was cleaning and didn't get to the phone in time) and then showed up 15 minutes later, as though they had given me "notice."

(in other words, they didn't knock before they let themselves in. no chance to pull on some pants or anything.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is crazy! i don't think it even matters if the 24hr thing is even in your lease or not - that's a basic right as a tenant. i would try to find a local tenancy advocate group and see what recourse you have.

that's really awful. my landlord has been v sketchy on 24 hrs notice & similar things - tho much less outrageously - & idk what you can really do; it's all such minor stuff, i'm not sure how it cld be policed or how anything cld be made any better, the power imbalance is too great.

i'm mostly just wondering if they'll ever fix the doorbell.

also i kind of wish they wouldn't curse at me in my apartment again, that would be nice.

We've been at our current place for over 3 years

We're moving right now and the landlord is telling us we have to pay to fix a bunch of shit that I believe should be covered under wear and tear:

The top hinge of a high up cupboard broke, splintering the wood
The caulking around the tub is peeling
A poorly anchored towel rail came off the wall

Do we have to pay for this stuff??

What are the tenancy laws where you live

No idea, I'm trying to find them but I suck at Google. el cerrito doesn't even have a rent board.

So, California? That all sounds like normal wear and tear to me. You shouldn't have to pay for it.

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/

Thanks!

Yeah, I mean its not like we punched a hole in the wall or broke some windows

ugh, my landlord is such a nasty woman.

even in the most routine correspondence or phone call she _has_ to contest something i said. and she is always wrong. this time i emailed her because a problem i had reported a month ago didn't appear to be fixed. in her email she insisted that i hadn't actually reported the problem a month ago but rather "just" two weeks ago... even though the email in which i reported the problem, dated mid-june, is right there in our email correspondence... if she would just scroll down. (and what does it matter anyway? just fix the fucking problem.)

she seems to perceive any question or concern as a kind of challenge, a kind of invasion of her private time. hence she _always_ tries to turn the tables and imply or insist that i've done something wrong—she'll even invent problems out of thin air to do this. even the most routine things--like asking them to fix a broken light fixture--are greeted with undue suspicion, as if she can't believe i have the temerity to bother her.

i am really glad i am not related to her. i get the feeling she would be completely insufferable. ugh.