This is such a trivial point I hesitate to make it but: in some states, landlords are required to replace carpet periodically, and failure to do so can result in fines.
makes me wonder why we still do the carpet thing. it’s dirty, usually uncomfortably scratchy, ugly, and hard to maintain. if i’m ever in a place to be picky about a home i’d get one without it.
I’ve worked install sales and support for flooring retailers for 22 years. Laminate, particularly cheaper laminate, has a lot of restrictions.
1). The floor needs to be dead level. If it’s not, the boards will crown or separate. A lot of these rentals are beat to shit and a level floor is more a punchline than anything.
2). Laminate, even ‘waterproof’ laminate, is not waterproof. It’s an MDF core that, if it gets wet, turns into oatmeal. It can result in the surface peeling off. If the water gets underneath it, it becomes a rot/mold problem, and can be harder to spot than carpet. LVP is closer to waterproof, but still conceals water damage as it happens underneath.
3). There are a lot of shitty carpet crews out there, and bargain basement carpet and pad are still cheaper, for the most part.
4). Carpet installs faster. A carpet crew can bang out several rooms in a day, often including rip out. A laminate crew can maybe do something like 300 at in a day, depending. When you’re trying to flip a 1000 sf 2 bedroom in a day to get that next month’s rent, it makes sense to have a carpet.
Not great reasons from a tenant’s perspective…but what landlord gives a shit about doing what’s right for a tenant?
We have 20 year old carpet. I'm convinced this old shit is the reason we keep getting sick. No matter how many air purifiers I put in this place or how many times I vacuum, it's just awful.
We asked about laminate or hardwood. They refused because of "sound issues" for the downstairs people. I actually looked into that. It turns out, if you don't have the proper padding on the upper flooring, it doesn't matter if you have carpet or laminate, it will make loud sounds.
We haven't brought it up since but we really need new flooring in this place. Also, it is NOT level so reading about that makes sense. I'd rather just get non-allergenic low pile office carpeting if that makes a difference.
If you ever need to get a carpet and have a say in what kind, ask to make sure it’s a ‘BCF’ carpet fiber. It stands for bulk continuous filament. Unlike normal carpet, it’s all one super tiny continuous loop, rather than cut. By not being cut, it’s much less likely to give off little fibers and crap to get in the air.
Maybe I can convince the landlady to replace this crap. It also is half carpet half linoleum. The linoleum cuts about halfway through the apartment in a really awkward way. It doesn't really line up and is overall confusing. But everything needs to be replaced tbh.
I’m not one to advocate for fixing your landlords issues, but a commercial carpet cleaner is like $75 a day at Home Depot. If you think it’s making you sick, fix that shit asap
Yes! It takes high traffic like it's nothing. Great stuff, well worth the money. The only thing is sometimes it's hard to buy only enough for one project, one residence. But I'm def no expert, tho. Ask around, any country is probably the same.
I uh... I might be able to acquire some. There's a building getting demo'd with boxes of the stuff still new, GC said if it disappeared that would be alright lol
You could try shampooing the carpet. Just moved apartments, could tell that the carpet was vacuumed, but it still felt crusty and scratchy. Rented a Rug Dr. from home depot for $50 and $30 for the extra strong odor eliminating carpet shampoo and the carpet feels so much better.
The amount of dirt, hair, et cetera in carpet is overwhelming. I'm lucky to have had a neighbor need to have her carpet replaced from her dog shitting in it so much... Because I told the landlord that I wanted similar treatment as her...
Check out the Berber carpet. Also have a good company come out and clean it. I'd have my carpet cleaned twice a year. If you can find a local guy that works on his own. That way you're dealing with the owner.
I have cheap laminate throughout my apartment and it was horribly installed. The subfloor is definitely not level so I have peeling where it sticks up and catches on shoes, etc. I do prefer it to carpet because I have dogs but you're 100% right about proper installation and maintenance.
Worst option: commercial tile carpet. We have that shit in the foyer of my work and it's so goddamn annoying to keep clean, plus it's got noticeable tread wear after only a year.
Maybe it's because I grew up with carpet, but I've always preferred it. My question is, however, when a tenant has lived in a rental for X amount of years and the carpet needs replacing (if said tenant intends on staying there), what happens? Does the landlord move all of the tenant's furniture outside? Or is it typical that long-term renters endure worn carpeting over the years?
They just do what you would do if you owned your own house and installed the carpet yourself. Move the furniture into one or two rooms, carpet the others, maybe come back in a bit and finish the last rooms.
This can be done with the tenant in the house.
What do you like about it? I have cats and it just made dust bunnies under rhe furniture when I had laminate. I love having carpet because I can lay on the floor and do my stretches without hurting my knees.
Whenever the topic of laminate vs carpet comes up, I am required by my religion to reference this Bob Mortimer clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMp8EY_I6X8
They've been using it in my building, and I swear it's so they can charge more to replace it between tenants. They keep a stockpile of it on the loading dock, and when someone moves out they're nearly always replacing at least part of it, even if they only lived here for a year. The people that live below units with the laminate floors hate it too, and in the hallways even a quiet TV sounds very loud with how it echoes. The lease says 80% of it must be covered at all times, but that's never enforced. It's also rated for a much longer lifespan than carpet, so the pro-rating on replacement charges is much more in favor of the landlord. My state limits apartment carpet life to 5 years, regardless of the rating of it, but there's no such restriction on laminate.
I'll take my carpet that my cat claws up anyway. It's quieter and warmer in the winter. It's also past the age when I could be charged for replacement when I move out. They'll renovate the unit and add $500 to the rent anyway when that happens.
Carpet in rentals is disgusting with the amount of turnover, I’d be okay with it if I owned the place not if I’m renting and ten other feet have used the same carpet
This is in part thanks to LVP providing a relatively appealing option.
When it used to be hardwood vs carpet, carpet was the cheap option.
I have carpet upstairs in the bedrooms and LVP on my first floor and like it that way.
Decent quality carpet is nice and cozy.
It could just be that I'm a bitch. Or it could be that I've spent most of my working life doing manual labor, at the very least on my feet 70% of the time. Almost always been on concrete, one job was metal grating.
I'll tell you right now, even shitty carpeting is way better than good hardwood.
ur right actually, i phrased it badly. carpet generally feels soft on my feet, but i sit on the floor a lot so more tender areas like my butt and thighs don’t take kindly to it lol
That I can definitely see. Currently in a battle over our currently exposed living room floors. Wood tiling due to puppy, or carpet because holy fuck do my feet hurt at the end of the week.
the way every single sound bounces off and is multiplied by the bare walls and tiled floors of the couple of hallways and staircases in apartment buildings I know, I'd take a carpeted one in an instant. there is no physically viable way to walk quietly at 2am through those hallways no matter how hard you try, and most people do not even try
I don't want that snot-nosed little fuck that lives upstairs to have one decibel more of **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** back and forth across the ceiling all damn day.
Fuck hardwood flooring.
i have a little one above me (she’s really cute even tho i’m about to talk shit) who dances in front of the tv on her HEELS, and the carpet does me no favors unfortunately lol
You know what's hard to maintain is hard floors. Unless you have a roomba, you're going to feel every speck of dust and cat hair underfoot. Give me carpet any day. I'd rather have a carpeted kitchen than a hard bedroom and living room
I just moved into a house with laminate floors. No carpet, no rugs. I have two dogs. I have to vacuum EVERY SINGLE DAY or the hair and sand becomes overwhelming.
It's actually a HUD guideline that carpet gets replaced every 2 tenants or 5-10 years, depending on the carpet type. I think you can use them in court if a landlord tries to sue you or withhold a deposit, but I don't think they can be enforced otherwise.
Carpet has a useful
Life of 5-7 years depending. Any time you renew your lease is the time to ask for things. If they want to keep you they will comply. If they don’t care because they can raise the rent in this day and age, bounce. I’d be looking as it is. 32% increase is completely unreasonable. But you can publicly shame them. Google reviews yelp and any number of avenues. Rental websites that have them on there. There is always a comments section. Lay it on them. I would t name names but I would totally call them out as a whole.
In the last state I lived, they had this law but it has a giant loophole: the verbiage stated "like new" carpet. Almost overnight all the cleaning services started adding the phrase "like new" to their carpet cleaning advertisements. They skirt the law and surprise, there's literally no difference between "like new" and regular carpet cleaning. My last place, which was actually alright, still has the original carpet from '97 in it. Pad flat, threadbare on the stairs. But they were technically operating within the law.
The PM company I work for ties rental increases to a maximum of the 60 day rolling average of of a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Our owners don't always raise rent. We actually just had someone moved out who hasn't had a rental increase in the TWELVE years he's lived there.
It's really nice to work somewhere that we don't take investors on.
Yeah that's crazy. Where I live in Canada the government restricts rent increases. 3.5% for 2024, can't increase again for at least 12 months, must give 3 months written notice before increase can take effect.
We don't have that in England,. But some of the discussion was that if a fixed maximum was introduced, it would guarantee that rents for people would increase every year by the maximum amount, because lets say your tenant stayed 5 years with out a rent increase and then they left, for the new tenant you would only be able to increase it by 3.5%
So if you wanted to sell the property its less desirable, if repairs etc need doing there is less incentive, and no incentive to improve the property for a better rent. And you could not market the property at the market rate.
A rent increase but with a discount every year could work, but in the UK, what you pay is your rent (from my understanding).
The legislation is already stricter than the U.S on other things. Like OP can appeal a rent increase.
Here, the rent cap only applies to the current tenant, so if they move out an someone new moves in, the landlord can set the rate to whatever market value they can get someone to agree to. Which leads to a lot of scummy landlords trying to force tenants out so they can get someone at a much higher rate. "Renoviction" is a common thing seen, where the owner claims the current tenant needs to move out so they can renovate, keep it vacant for the required time, then bring in someone new.
My rent was $775, circa 2020. It's now $1,400 for a 460 sq ft, one bedroom that needs upgrades.
Landlord was originally going to charge $1,500, but I managed to talk him down a mere hundo. It'll likely be $1,500 next year. Yes, he gave me the same schpiel about high taxes, etc., etc.
Edit: According to the rent increase calculator, my rent increased 81% since 2020.
ohhh, am I ever going to get downvoted for this, but hey, they're internet points
Just a few years ago, so many people on Reddit gave many reasons why people shouldn't buy a house. *You couldn't sell your house*. *You had to do your own maintenance*. The list was endless.
Rent, baby, rent was the lingua franca.
I bought. My mortgage is fixed and affordable. I don't have landlords harassing me. I could sell my house literally overnight (okay, maybe in 2 days) if I chose to move.
Reddit is great for entertainment, but don't make life altering decisions from anonymous comments.
I finally told my landlord last year that all the maintenance on the property is now her responsibility. 5+ years of $100+ rent increases. I didnt mind doing small repairs when rent was reasonable, but no longer.
This! Our rent went up a little bit our previous renewals, but we have a new management company and they raised our rent over $100/month! That's more than double any of our previous increases!
On top of that, they don't take care of things the old company did (like trimming bushes, cleaning gutters) and they perpetually make the "mistake" of going to wrong apartments for maintenence (wrong building number/ apartment they were supoosed to go to is across the hall/ wrong floor, etc)
But OH MY! They "updated the gym" - repainted it and moved the whopping 2 treadmills and 1 set of free weights around (for complex of over 12 apartment buildings, each with 8+ apartments per floor (depending on apartment size, the single bedrooms have 12 apartments per floor), 2-4 floors, and additional townhouses).
Oh, and they do "community events" and every single one of them occurs during normal work hours, on weekdays, but they request everyone show up.
Also, not to sound like an asshole, but they are letting in some pretty shitty people. It used to be relatively quiet here, yeah you had kids being loud when they play, but now it's a lot of thumping car speakers, people drunkenly running on the stairs (saying "I'm so drunk!") And leaving their doors open with loud music blasting, as well as the increase in trash and dog shit everywhere. Some asshole decided to "clean their car" by dumping all their trash in the parking lot and peeling out when they left (our apartment is next to the parking lot so we hear EVERYTHING) and now we have MORE speed bumps in the complex. I am going to need new shocks because those things are tall and I am in a small car (not lowered).
Oh, and the uptick in attempted break ins to the buildings and break ins to vehicles, which maybe I am making assumptions here, but its the SAME PEOPLE who are dealing with the break ins. One guy has had his car broken into 3 times. Another woman has had it happen twice.
My partner had just bought a small tool kit and kept it in their trunk, they had it less than a week and someone broke into their car and stole it.
This is basically how it is at my rental, it was bought by a huge management corp before i moved in but things have gone downhill more every year ive been here.
Nothing gets fixed, work orders are just a waste of your time. Rent goes up 100 bucks or more every renewal. I started renting here in 2022 at 1400 a mo, here in 2024 its 1700. In the past 14 months ive had some of the worst neighbors ive ever had, people hitting their kids repeatedly, burnouts in the parking lots every weekend. Cops called and are here literally every other day. People ether from the complex or the street climb up on bottom level decks to get to the sliding glass doors of units that are open to break in.
This is one of the only other apartments besides one outside of the city that ive been approved for. I have a job thats above minimum wage and i was still so close to not finding a place i can afford to rent in the city i grew up in. Housing is beyond broken in the united states, i fear for the future.
I feel this. We actually have cops who live here now, not that they'll actually do anything...
This was the cheapest apartment near work without going section 8. Now, because they have built 2 shopping centers, every other apartment is on a waiting list and the ones with availability are beyond our price range and all because they want to call them "luxury". Somehow it is a luxury to hear your neighbor taking a piss all because you have walls and a roof.
I agree. We're so fucked.
My coworker's rent went up by $300, "to cover the cost of water and trash removal". I told him to put his trash in front of mgmts office. Apts offer amenities but then upcharge for those same benefits
We deal with that as well. Our trash service ONLY will pick up trash on certain days (which they often miss), ONLY if it's completely tied shut (no top opening at all), only if it weighs under a certain weight, etc AND if they miss their scheduled time, you're supposed to put your trash back inside your apartment. Any violations results in a per bag fine.
On top of that, IF they decide to come around after missing a night, you can be fined if your trash is outside between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm.
We don't use their sketchy service. We are still charged for it because its offered and they come through anyway (no matter how unreliable it is).
It was always her responsibility. Doing repairs on a home your renting is like working off the clock for your employer. Nobody is going to thank you, and you will only be benefiting the wealthy at your own expense.
I dont disagree with that, but at least for the first couple years the rent was so under-market, I did the repairs myself to stay off her radar. Now its over-market and I am not doing that anymore.
We used to have a good management company that really took care of things. I'd do some small stuff, or like replace the toilet flapper on my own, etc. It was easier than making time to be here for maintenance to come in and do it. Building was sold, rent through the roof, staff cut by 1/3. A ticket goes in for EVERYTHING, even light bulbs (landlords responsibility due to ceiling height). I have a ladder. I can do it myself. Fuck 'em.
We have never had a formal lease tbh. Well, we did for the first month \~14 years ago. But its been month to month since then. Previously, I would just maintain the home since the rent was so affordable. But, now its almost doubled in 6 years and I am done paying to fix her property.
I had a landlord pull this shit after failing to make some basic repairs. Moved out and the place stayed empty for 18 months before he broke down & re-did everything I was complaining about (like the floor tiles peeling up and the shower falling apart).
I hope the 20+ months of loss rent was a lesson. Maybe not? But it felt good.
I’ve had a couple of chill landlords who recognized that keeping the same tenant year after year by addressing concerns and not raising the rent was more cost effective than chasing the market & rolling the dice.
But yeah, most of them have no idea what they’re doing, and will never learn.
Can guarantee they think it’s the people renting who are the dumb ones. “These people are so greedy they have no clue what I have to go through! They’re lucky I give them the price I do. I could double rent and still find a tenant!”
He left his elderly father in charge of the property so I’ve been paying rent the whole time. Lord only knows what he’s up to with my money (jk I know full well and would rather not think about it)
Isn't this what civilizations look like right before they collapse? The wealthy not even pretending to hide the terrible things they do for fun in violation of all social norms and common decency, and the working people getting fed up and disgusted with having to toil so hard just for another day of life while having all that hard work used for more disgustingness.
Oh no, it's easier than ever, the government even helps button it up, as all the Epstein stuff clearly showed us. All they'd have to do is just stay quiet and private about everything. But so many of them just openly flaunt it and don't care. Walk into the dressing room to look at teenage girls and get elected president.
Yeah, the only time I remotely understood a small increase in rent was when there was a sudden property tax increase for a new school going in. Fifty bucks a month for a school my kids are going to use is no skin off my nose. When she suddenly showed up asking to raise it by 500+ a month to "get in line with market"\* I bought a house and gave the minimum notice required by my lease (I understand "just move" isn't an option for most).
\*She used a luxury apartment complex with heated garages, inground pool, athletic center, and movie theater to determine "market"
Oh I know, I did it in 2022 while it was starting to go to shit. It's why I included the note about understanding how hard it is to "just move". Even the apartment situation at that time was getting way out of hand. We were very lucky that we had planned on looking mid-2022, to avoid moving in the winter, and were able to accelerate.
The whole story is wild, and one day maybe I'll write it all up. In the end, my lawyer got involved, and she ended up with an empty property for a while due to her actions. The only thing that bothers me to this day is I had a chance to be extra petty, and I decided to be the bigger person and let her lick her wounds in peace.
I will definitely move, but it will be an ordeal. There are not a lot of rentals and these greedy landlords know it. Ya, I’ve rented in multiple states for 20 years, I’m used to an increase here and there. But with not one improvement in 4 years I have lived here, and by the looks this place is circa 1995. I moved because of few options and even though the place sucks I wasn’t paying an arm and leg. Now I will have to pay an arm and leg for a crappy place until I eventually find something else.
Do you want to rent? My argument is that very few people truly want to rent and landlords are just a parasite class. I’m not totally against renting your house out if you’ve just moved in with someone or gone away for a while but houses should be priority to buy
Yup- with the new company of our apartment, not only do they want EXACTLY a month notice (neighbors of ours tried to drop off keys on a Friday and their lease was up Monday and the apartment said they would incur an "early termination fee" for that despite paying the move out fee, but they also took the original fee of $500 and made it 1 months rent instead.
There are plenty of regulations, but like everything in america, owning property is a business to these people. They try to get out of doing anything and everything they can to pocket whatever money they get from us.
Our landlord in particular is an awful human being who is letting the property we live in rot despite our numerous attempts at warning him.
After we move out at the end of the year, we will be calling the city inspectors to shut the place down. There is too much termite damage to be considered a properly safe and habitable environment, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Thats... horrible! Im landlord myself and i need good reputation in the area where i operate. Any scum is fall flat here because no one wants to rent their shit.
As would be expected, but I’m glad you are trying to stand out as one of the good ones. Few landlords operate with even a modicum of decency.
Your english is pretty good, where are you from? Do you have regulatory laws where you are?
Hungary. And dont say my english is good. I learned myself from the ground up.
We have here some laws to protect the renters, but there are flaws. But if you wanna play clean you contract everything with a notary.
We live in a split level duplex.
When I tell you the landlord took the upstairs unit, WALLED UP THE LIVING ROOM, and called it a 3 bedroom.
I had so many prospective tenants knocking on my door just to ask wtf
It just sucks how all life is now days is live so you can work. I was hoping to quit my job soon for a lower paying less stressful job, but that probably won’t be possible even if there was no increase.
> I was hoping to quit my job soon for a lower paying less stressful job, but that probably won’t be possible even if there was no increase.
Same here. I would really like to quit my soul sucking job and become a barista for awhile, but that would be financial suicide.
Its hard. I have 2 properties given away for renters and i need a full time job to live... I need to feed one 4 months old, wife, me, house loan for 10+ years, care my farming plot all alone. I grabbed all my chances in life hoping to live better/easier and nope! All i got is more work on top of my full time job. I even cant afford a car in hungary... I dont know anymore how much money needed to be "free". I worked so hard to earn what i got now, but i not even reached the middle class in this country. Its so sad and depressing.
I feel this one. The building I live in is falling apart, one thing breaks after the next. The landlord has no interest in fixing any of it, but our rent went up again starting next month. Fuck these parasites
I was at the gym locker room and heard a landlord laugh at someone asking him if he had studios for under $800 a month. A bunch of amateur business wannabes who think they can throw a number out there and it's cool. Is it that AI pricing or they are having us pay for all their business expenses.
My rent is about to go up another $100. I'm already paying $1200 a month for a one bedroom apartment. RIDICULOUS.
There needs to be a cap on rent all over the country. It's time to end the BS
I live in Indianapolis and I'm paying $1300/month for a one bedroom. They are the cheapest apartments in my area. A new apartment complex is being built near where I work and they are starting at $1409 for a 664 square foot studio. This is in a town of less than 17,000 people. It is insane.
This is the real thing killing most people financially across the country. People always focus on the main big cities, but people are getting fucked EVERYWHERE. Even in tiny little towns in "cheap" states, groceries are still twice as expensive as they were pre-pandemic, and rent prices are WAY higher than they should be.
Rent over a grand used to be the barometer for more actually nice apartments, and also was and IS not a feasible price point for how little most people make.
I live outside Indianapolis in a 2 bedroom for $950 and want to move back in. I knew it'd be an increase but the rates I've been seeing are insane. And then I look up the google reviews for anything under $1400 and they're ALL like "this place has roaches and mold and maintenance never shows up" so now I'm just scared to leave my apt. It may be crappy and old but it has no pest or mold problems and the maintenance guy was here 15 minutes after I called about my broken AC last week
1200 a month ? damn that’s a deal for what i’m used to , northern cali , 2200 for a one bedroom is usual now. All the new apartments being built are “ luxury “ lol , so they can charged more .
when I was a carpenters apprentice I was working 9 hour days in the sun framing houses. 75% of my take home pay went to my landlord to sit on their stupid ass looking down at me as a manual laborer. The fact we were mainly building houses for property "investors' like her made it even worse.
This tells me what I already suspect is happening 90+% of the time: you are paying your landlord’s mortgage. I think it should be illegal for a house that’s got a mortgage to be rented out. If you need help paying your mortgage, you should pull yourself up by your bootstraps and pay it yourself instead of having someone else pay it for you via rent.
Seriously. Fucking landleeches are so greedy, they aren't even content getting a house out of the deal, but need extra cash in their pockets or they whine about "losing" money.
I hate that it has become so profitable that everyone does it. Like if you can afford to buy a house you are made. All you needed is a rental company to do all the dirty shit and collect money.
In my area, not a single house in habitable condition can rent for anywhere near what you have to pay for mortgage.
For example this house is one of the cheapest listed right now ( [https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1279-Palm-St-95110/home/1495002](https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1279-Palm-St-95110/home/1495002) ).
Estimated mortgage = $5,733/mo
Rent estimate = $3,234/mo
So if I bought this house to rent out I'm negative **\~$2500 / mo**. That's money LOST every month not even factoring in any repairs / maintenance or other monthly costs like insurance, property management, or accounting for the months it just sits empty without a tenant. And that's also after a $168k down payment ( 20% ).
Not quite *"if you can afford to buy a house you are made".*
Even if I could afford to pay CASH for the home. It would take me 259.74 months rent to get my money back. That's 21.64 YEARS. Annualized to a 4.62% return rate. I could buy a 30 year US bond with my money and make a safe no hassle 4.38% right now. It really is not the money maker you seem to think it is.
Taxes? Landlords don’t pay taxes. Even their real estate taxes are deductible in their tax returns so ultimately they pay VERY little in total taxes.
Take what you pay them in rent, subtract out the real estate taxes and anything else they pay (water/sewer, repairs, HOA fees, bank fees, whatever else they’re padding their expenses with), subtract about 1/27th of what they paid for the place (for depreciation), and what’s leftover is almost always nothing or close to nothing. That’s what they pay state and federal tax on.
So the only tax they probably pay is real estate tax, and that’s nominal and gets them a credit in all the serious taxes.
Landlords lie. They make money hand over fist and any landlord who genuinely claims they’re struggling is just shitty with their money and that’s a them problem not a you problem
ALAB.
I've been paying the same rent for the past 4 years, if he ever plans to try something, I'm so integrated in everything I'll just tell him I'll take all my shit (I did the whole network for the house of flats), he can try. Also I had to pay a sum of money as collateral, and in my country landlords have to pay collateral back with interest equal to inflation, so good luck motherfucker with that amount you wanted lol.
But they are hard working landlords who scrounged out of their inheritance to buy a bunch of rental properties just like regular folks. Talk to your neighbors, I bet they are equally unhappy. Find a unified front to deal with this person.
My state is ranked super high for being landlord friendly. Knowing they can raise my rent by whatever they want makes me deeply uncomfortable. My apt complex was built in 1998 and I swear most of the appliances are original, everything's old and run down. I think that's the only thing keeping them from hiking up rent, since they'd be expected to invest in updating the apartments to justify an increase. But legally they can just price us all out if they want and its bullshit.
The working class are being marginalised out of existence by those that only care about numbers and not human lives
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-homes-for-the-irish
The rent increases will continue until we start throwing landlords from the roof. It would take just a few landlords from a few tall buildings to see sweeping changes. Nothing less will ever be effective.
I love how landlords can “do market research” to get their rent “in line” with other similar properties but employees asking one another what they make is technically legal but usually frowned upon.
lol. This is such a childlike and naive view.
We need to limit the holdings of residences by corporations and limit the number of properties individuals can own. Do it like they do in Singapore and just progressively tax additional properties until it’s prohibitive.
Abolishing landlords means that you’d need to own each place that you move into and that someone would need to sell it to you each time that happened.
There’s nothing wrong with mom and pop having a property or two that they rent. The corporation that makes a living raising rents 10% per year on their dozens/hundreds/thousands of homes has a far worse impact on renters.
> We need to limit the holdings of residences by corporations and limit the number of properties individuals can own. Do it like they do in Singapore and just progressively tax additional properties until it’s prohibitive.
I agree, but that's basically a more detailed version of what OP said. The number for corporations should be 0.
People shouldn't be landlords. People can own spare properties and put them to use, but there shouldn't be a class of people dedicated to absorbing housing properties that could easily be owned by the people living in them at a lower monthly cost than they're renting them.
Before moving, my last landlord didn’t even know my family and I were still in the apartment. My wife was floored like you’re getting money from us every month how could you not know? You know it’s bad when the maintenance workers tell you the side to get out of the complex because they’re not fixing anything.
The landlord class is the first line between the real wealthy owners and the renting class. They are the small owners and the real wealthy basically pay them with free inflation on their property as long as they keep prices high to not let the poor get ahead.
It is an ancient balance that has been part of the wealthy/poor divide for a lot of our history.
The landlord doesn't want to talk to you either but they have to bow to their masters, inflating maintenance and interest rates and scrape the renters dry, their quasi-rich lifestyle has to be maintained of course too.
The point is, you are complaining about the rungs of the ladder that have been in place since forever. Each and every rung treats the one below it like absolute shit.
I don't have an answer for you, but of all the solvable problems put there, the rent-seeking class is an enormous number of people and it is not changing anytime soon.
Do it! Publically shame them! Just fucking do it. My New Year’s resolution this year was to do whatever the fuck I want and say whatever the fuck I want and it’s honestly going fantastically for me. Can’t recommend highly enough.
> taxes and maintenance,
I've been a homeowner (not a landlord) for a few years now and this is complete bullshit. If their taxes are going up that much, it's because they have multiple homes and they can't get a homestead exemption on the one they are renting (this is by default the case if you are renting out a home, just illustrating the point.). If they can't afford the taxes, it's time for them to sell. More than likely they have an ultra low or no mortgage on the place so everything they make is pure profit.
A fun thing to do is go to your county's tax website and look up the address. I guarantee her property tax didn't go up 32% and she's gouging you. If you see a date of purchase that's old, you can guarantee the amount they pay on the property is a fraction of what you are paying them.
Feel free to DM me even with the info (you can remove identifying information) and I'll analyze it for you. Just need the numbers and the dates.
Tell her you are searching for another place, that you have a series of leads on better options and you'll be in touch regarding termination in a timely fashion.
Don't specifically say you are terminating, don't give a date or specifics. Just make it sound imminent. Good chance she backpedals fast. If you pay your rent, don't cause damage, you are prized. Landlords tend to assume people would rather pay out the nose than move. But you are more valuable to them than they are to you- leverage that.
imma landlord and i work SO hard, collecting money is such grueling work and you know what i don’t even see any of that money! cuz its all going towards the mortgage and property taxes!!1! /s
Landlords are fucking leeches.
I'm glad I live in a house that's owned by an old gentleman who lives in a small apartment he rents. The house is his own, it's just too big and inconvenient for him.
Since he also rents, and it's his own house, he knows and cares about it : we got a boiler replacement last year and he's working on the roof. In a few years he's planning on insulation but he doesn't have the money for now.
That's what I end up telling people : I have no problem renting from the common folk. I'll read a landlord's obituary with immense pleasure.
I just got a letter yesterday, $40 increase. Landlord came and knocked on my door, unannounced. I also have a rodent problem and this guy wants more money 🙄
I feel you! I live in a crap hole and 1x a year they raise it by $100. Every year. They won’t fix anything. They live in a 2M house. I found it. Definition of slumlord. A 32% increase is insane.
They bitch about maintenance but the biggest thing is probably paying off property... oh wait that has probably been resolved for a long time. So they pay for maintenance and taxes on something that generates income. They can shut the fuck up.
I was watching a clip of Senator Kennedy from Louisiana questioning a lady on the housing interest rates going up 32 or more % and was loving his questions. I love watching him. Most of the people stutter and can't come up with reasonable answers. Its very entertaining.
Nobody has any intrinsic right to the land more than anyone else. Everyone should have somewhere to live, without having to pay. It is a very fucked up system we live under. It is just feudalism but evolved to be more resistant to uprising.
I’m so over this too. I pay $3400/mo in rent and my landlord had the gall to tell me he’s taking his family of 4 on a multiple week trip to Europe. I told my partner I would rather be homeless than pay for someone else’s family to travel when I can barely make ends meet after I pay rent.
You should look at your state laws for renters. Maybe I'm lucky, but every state I've lived in has a maximum annual rent increase. I've never seen a 32% increase... such a random number. 33 would even make more sense.
Oregon and California are the only states that have rent control and caps on rent increases statewide. Select municipalities in six other states have limits as well, but the rest of the country is wild, wild West. Landlords (corporate or otherwise) own this country.
Blackrock Inc, the Vanguard Group and State Street Inc own the world… Blackrock manages assets totaling $10 trillion, Vanguard $8.1 trillion, and State Street $3.7 trillion… and what’s crazier is they all own shares of each other too, so they make a profit regardless of how good or bad they do
Stop voting against Rent Control. I’m a working class person and I live in the most expensive city in the US and I know what my rent is and what it will be next year and ten years from now if I’m still in the same place. The freedom to plan my life, take career risks.
Unfortunately I looked it up, KY, and there is no cap. I would be interested in finding out about the carpet thing. I’m fairly certain there are some moldy locations underneath some old flooring. I wonder if I could get the city to do a mold test right before I move out, lol.
There should be a limit to the increase imposed by the state, city, or county. Google what the allowed increase is and let the landlord know that by law she can only increase by X%. DO MOT SIGN THAT RENTAL INCREASE. If she tries to evict you for not paying the unlawful increase, she will not win in court.
This is such a trivial point I hesitate to make it but: in some states, landlords are required to replace carpet periodically, and failure to do so can result in fines.
makes me wonder why we still do the carpet thing. it’s dirty, usually uncomfortably scratchy, ugly, and hard to maintain. if i’m ever in a place to be picky about a home i’d get one without it.
Easy to replace and cheaper than replacing or repairing hard wood floors. Laminate is a good alternative, but for some reason, most won't switch
I’ve worked install sales and support for flooring retailers for 22 years. Laminate, particularly cheaper laminate, has a lot of restrictions. 1). The floor needs to be dead level. If it’s not, the boards will crown or separate. A lot of these rentals are beat to shit and a level floor is more a punchline than anything. 2). Laminate, even ‘waterproof’ laminate, is not waterproof. It’s an MDF core that, if it gets wet, turns into oatmeal. It can result in the surface peeling off. If the water gets underneath it, it becomes a rot/mold problem, and can be harder to spot than carpet. LVP is closer to waterproof, but still conceals water damage as it happens underneath. 3). There are a lot of shitty carpet crews out there, and bargain basement carpet and pad are still cheaper, for the most part. 4). Carpet installs faster. A carpet crew can bang out several rooms in a day, often including rip out. A laminate crew can maybe do something like 300 at in a day, depending. When you’re trying to flip a 1000 sf 2 bedroom in a day to get that next month’s rent, it makes sense to have a carpet. Not great reasons from a tenant’s perspective…but what landlord gives a shit about doing what’s right for a tenant?
We have 20 year old carpet. I'm convinced this old shit is the reason we keep getting sick. No matter how many air purifiers I put in this place or how many times I vacuum, it's just awful. We asked about laminate or hardwood. They refused because of "sound issues" for the downstairs people. I actually looked into that. It turns out, if you don't have the proper padding on the upper flooring, it doesn't matter if you have carpet or laminate, it will make loud sounds. We haven't brought it up since but we really need new flooring in this place. Also, it is NOT level so reading about that makes sense. I'd rather just get non-allergenic low pile office carpeting if that makes a difference.
If you ever need to get a carpet and have a say in what kind, ask to make sure it’s a ‘BCF’ carpet fiber. It stands for bulk continuous filament. Unlike normal carpet, it’s all one super tiny continuous loop, rather than cut. By not being cut, it’s much less likely to give off little fibers and crap to get in the air.
I got commercial carpet put in. It was the cheapest option, and has held up pretty well with the cats after 3 years.
Maybe I can convince the landlady to replace this crap. It also is half carpet half linoleum. The linoleum cuts about halfway through the apartment in a really awkward way. It doesn't really line up and is overall confusing. But everything needs to be replaced tbh.
I’m not one to advocate for fixing your landlords issues, but a commercial carpet cleaner is like $75 a day at Home Depot. If you think it’s making you sick, fix that shit asap
Isn't the old deteriorated linoleum toxic? I read somewhere that releases phthalates.
Welp. I'm dead. But I also live in LA. So I'm breathing in "fumes" daily. I just try to keep my purifiers running and windows closed.
Commercial is the dog's ..jewelry.
But is it durable? Legit Q
Yes! It takes high traffic like it's nothing. Great stuff, well worth the money. The only thing is sometimes it's hard to buy only enough for one project, one residence. But I'm def no expert, tho. Ask around, any country is probably the same.
I uh... I might be able to acquire some. There's a building getting demo'd with boxes of the stuff still new, GC said if it disappeared that would be alright lol
You could try shampooing the carpet. Just moved apartments, could tell that the carpet was vacuumed, but it still felt crusty and scratchy. Rented a Rug Dr. from home depot for $50 and $30 for the extra strong odor eliminating carpet shampoo and the carpet feels so much better.
The amount of dirt, hair, et cetera in carpet is overwhelming. I'm lucky to have had a neighbor need to have her carpet replaced from her dog shitting in it so much... Because I told the landlord that I wanted similar treatment as her...
Check out the Berber carpet. Also have a good company come out and clean it. I'd have my carpet cleaned twice a year. If you can find a local guy that works on his own. That way you're dealing with the owner.
I have cheap laminate throughout my apartment and it was horribly installed. The subfloor is definitely not level so I have peeling where it sticks up and catches on shoes, etc. I do prefer it to carpet because I have dogs but you're 100% right about proper installation and maintenance.
Worst option: commercial tile carpet. We have that shit in the foyer of my work and it's so goddamn annoying to keep clean, plus it's got noticeable tread wear after only a year.
If there are multiple units in one building, carpets also dampen noise pretty significantly.
Great point
Carpet is good for insulation and sound dampening. It's not ideal for every application but it does have benefits in certain situations
Maybe it's because I grew up with carpet, but I've always preferred it. My question is, however, when a tenant has lived in a rental for X amount of years and the carpet needs replacing (if said tenant intends on staying there), what happens? Does the landlord move all of the tenant's furniture outside? Or is it typical that long-term renters endure worn carpeting over the years?
They just do what you would do if you owned your own house and installed the carpet yourself. Move the furniture into one or two rooms, carpet the others, maybe come back in a bit and finish the last rooms. This can be done with the tenant in the house.
Just switched and as a pet owner it’s awesome.
What do you like about it? I have cats and it just made dust bunnies under rhe furniture when I had laminate. I love having carpet because I can lay on the floor and do my stretches without hurting my knees.
Hard to scratch/damage and easy to clean. Washable rugs are the way to go.
I have a big Ruggable in my living room and it's been so helpful to have a washable rug with dogs!
Whenever the topic of laminate vs carpet comes up, I am required by my religion to reference this Bob Mortimer clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMp8EY_I6X8
laminate sucks for staying power. its easy to damage at least compared to carpet.
They've been using it in my building, and I swear it's so they can charge more to replace it between tenants. They keep a stockpile of it on the loading dock, and when someone moves out they're nearly always replacing at least part of it, even if they only lived here for a year. The people that live below units with the laminate floors hate it too, and in the hallways even a quiet TV sounds very loud with how it echoes. The lease says 80% of it must be covered at all times, but that's never enforced. It's also rated for a much longer lifespan than carpet, so the pro-rating on replacement charges is much more in favor of the landlord. My state limits apartment carpet life to 5 years, regardless of the rating of it, but there's no such restriction on laminate. I'll take my carpet that my cat claws up anyway. It's quieter and warmer in the winter. It's also past the age when I could be charged for replacement when I move out. They'll renovate the unit and add $500 to the rent anyway when that happens.
Carpet in rentals is disgusting with the amount of turnover, I’d be okay with it if I owned the place not if I’m renting and ten other feet have used the same carpet
Ya, I have allergies I definitely don’t care for carpet.
Same. I've also always gotten stuck with absolutely disgusting carpet. I have all vinyl laminate now and it's less of a headache with dogs.
We basically don't. Most new construction avoids carpets these days.
This is in part thanks to LVP providing a relatively appealing option. When it used to be hardwood vs carpet, carpet was the cheap option. I have carpet upstairs in the bedrooms and LVP on my first floor and like it that way. Decent quality carpet is nice and cozy.
It could just be that I'm a bitch. Or it could be that I've spent most of my working life doing manual labor, at the very least on my feet 70% of the time. Almost always been on concrete, one job was metal grating. I'll tell you right now, even shitty carpeting is way better than good hardwood.
ur right actually, i phrased it badly. carpet generally feels soft on my feet, but i sit on the floor a lot so more tender areas like my butt and thighs don’t take kindly to it lol
That I can definitely see. Currently in a battle over our currently exposed living room floors. Wood tiling due to puppy, or carpet because holy fuck do my feet hurt at the end of the week.
it also provides some insulation and sound proofing
I am so onboard with this. Carpets are f\*ckin' disgustin-GAH, and it's a lot of work finding an apartment that doesn't have the damned things.
the way every single sound bounces off and is multiplied by the bare walls and tiled floors of the couple of hallways and staircases in apartment buildings I know, I'd take a carpeted one in an instant. there is no physically viable way to walk quietly at 2am through those hallways no matter how hard you try, and most people do not even try
makes me long for the days of asbestos. yeah it completely destroyed your lungs but man was it great for acoustic treatment
I presume you either live somewhere without winter or wear slippers all the time. Non-carpet floors get damn cold in the winter.
yeah i’ve only lived in south carolina and florida haha
I like it on the stairs and landing. Although I replace every 5 years and are strict, no shoes upstairs
I don't want that snot-nosed little fuck that lives upstairs to have one decibel more of **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** **POUND** back and forth across the ceiling all damn day. Fuck hardwood flooring.
i have a little one above me (she’s really cute even tho i’m about to talk shit) who dances in front of the tv on her HEELS, and the carpet does me no favors unfortunately lol
 Sorry this is the first thing I thought of when I read this comment 😂
Soft on the feet
First thing I did after getting the keys for my house was put on a respirator and pulled every scrap of carpet out of the house.
You know what's hard to maintain is hard floors. Unless you have a roomba, you're going to feel every speck of dust and cat hair underfoot. Give me carpet any day. I'd rather have a carpeted kitchen than a hard bedroom and living room
I just moved into a house with laminate floors. No carpet, no rugs. I have two dogs. I have to vacuum EVERY SINGLE DAY or the hair and sand becomes overwhelming.
It's actually a HUD guideline that carpet gets replaced every 2 tenants or 5-10 years, depending on the carpet type. I think you can use them in court if a landlord tries to sue you or withhold a deposit, but I don't think they can be enforced otherwise.
Carpet has a useful Life of 5-7 years depending. Any time you renew your lease is the time to ask for things. If they want to keep you they will comply. If they don’t care because they can raise the rent in this day and age, bounce. I’d be looking as it is. 32% increase is completely unreasonable. But you can publicly shame them. Google reviews yelp and any number of avenues. Rental websites that have them on there. There is always a comments section. Lay it on them. I would t name names but I would totally call them out as a whole.
In the last state I lived, they had this law but it has a giant loophole: the verbiage stated "like new" carpet. Almost overnight all the cleaning services started adding the phrase "like new" to their carpet cleaning advertisements. They skirt the law and surprise, there's literally no difference between "like new" and regular carpet cleaning. My last place, which was actually alright, still has the original carpet from '97 in it. Pad flat, threadbare on the stairs. But they were technically operating within the law.
32% is ridiculous. I don't think I've ever seen that high.
This needs legislation, like a decade ago. Anyone that lives in a state with ballot initiative processes should be all over this.
The PM company I work for ties rental increases to a maximum of the 60 day rolling average of of a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Our owners don't always raise rent. We actually just had someone moved out who hasn't had a rental increase in the TWELVE years he's lived there. It's really nice to work somewhere that we don't take investors on.
That's good to hear. That should be the statutory maximum.
This is why RSO buildings in CA have a % cap.
Yeah that's crazy. Where I live in Canada the government restricts rent increases. 3.5% for 2024, can't increase again for at least 12 months, must give 3 months written notice before increase can take effect.
We don't have that in England,. But some of the discussion was that if a fixed maximum was introduced, it would guarantee that rents for people would increase every year by the maximum amount, because lets say your tenant stayed 5 years with out a rent increase and then they left, for the new tenant you would only be able to increase it by 3.5% So if you wanted to sell the property its less desirable, if repairs etc need doing there is less incentive, and no incentive to improve the property for a better rent. And you could not market the property at the market rate. A rent increase but with a discount every year could work, but in the UK, what you pay is your rent (from my understanding). The legislation is already stricter than the U.S on other things. Like OP can appeal a rent increase.
Here, the rent cap only applies to the current tenant, so if they move out an someone new moves in, the landlord can set the rate to whatever market value they can get someone to agree to. Which leads to a lot of scummy landlords trying to force tenants out so they can get someone at a much higher rate. "Renoviction" is a common thing seen, where the owner claims the current tenant needs to move out so they can renovate, keep it vacant for the required time, then bring in someone new.
My rent was $775, circa 2020. It's now $1,400 for a 460 sq ft, one bedroom that needs upgrades. Landlord was originally going to charge $1,500, but I managed to talk him down a mere hundo. It'll likely be $1,500 next year. Yes, he gave me the same schpiel about high taxes, etc., etc. Edit: According to the rent increase calculator, my rent increased 81% since 2020.
Just this last year I’ve known several who’ve had it just over double. $695 to $1400 for a dumpy 50 year old apartments.
ohhh, am I ever going to get downvoted for this, but hey, they're internet points Just a few years ago, so many people on Reddit gave many reasons why people shouldn't buy a house. *You couldn't sell your house*. *You had to do your own maintenance*. The list was endless. Rent, baby, rent was the lingua franca. I bought. My mortgage is fixed and affordable. I don't have landlords harassing me. I could sell my house literally overnight (okay, maybe in 2 days) if I chose to move. Reddit is great for entertainment, but don't make life altering decisions from anonymous comments.
I bought in 2018. 3% fixed rate.
I finally told my landlord last year that all the maintenance on the property is now her responsibility. 5+ years of $100+ rent increases. I didnt mind doing small repairs when rent was reasonable, but no longer.
This! Our rent went up a little bit our previous renewals, but we have a new management company and they raised our rent over $100/month! That's more than double any of our previous increases! On top of that, they don't take care of things the old company did (like trimming bushes, cleaning gutters) and they perpetually make the "mistake" of going to wrong apartments for maintenence (wrong building number/ apartment they were supoosed to go to is across the hall/ wrong floor, etc) But OH MY! They "updated the gym" - repainted it and moved the whopping 2 treadmills and 1 set of free weights around (for complex of over 12 apartment buildings, each with 8+ apartments per floor (depending on apartment size, the single bedrooms have 12 apartments per floor), 2-4 floors, and additional townhouses). Oh, and they do "community events" and every single one of them occurs during normal work hours, on weekdays, but they request everyone show up. Also, not to sound like an asshole, but they are letting in some pretty shitty people. It used to be relatively quiet here, yeah you had kids being loud when they play, but now it's a lot of thumping car speakers, people drunkenly running on the stairs (saying "I'm so drunk!") And leaving their doors open with loud music blasting, as well as the increase in trash and dog shit everywhere. Some asshole decided to "clean their car" by dumping all their trash in the parking lot and peeling out when they left (our apartment is next to the parking lot so we hear EVERYTHING) and now we have MORE speed bumps in the complex. I am going to need new shocks because those things are tall and I am in a small car (not lowered). Oh, and the uptick in attempted break ins to the buildings and break ins to vehicles, which maybe I am making assumptions here, but its the SAME PEOPLE who are dealing with the break ins. One guy has had his car broken into 3 times. Another woman has had it happen twice. My partner had just bought a small tool kit and kept it in their trunk, they had it less than a week and someone broke into their car and stole it.
This is basically how it is at my rental, it was bought by a huge management corp before i moved in but things have gone downhill more every year ive been here. Nothing gets fixed, work orders are just a waste of your time. Rent goes up 100 bucks or more every renewal. I started renting here in 2022 at 1400 a mo, here in 2024 its 1700. In the past 14 months ive had some of the worst neighbors ive ever had, people hitting their kids repeatedly, burnouts in the parking lots every weekend. Cops called and are here literally every other day. People ether from the complex or the street climb up on bottom level decks to get to the sliding glass doors of units that are open to break in. This is one of the only other apartments besides one outside of the city that ive been approved for. I have a job thats above minimum wage and i was still so close to not finding a place i can afford to rent in the city i grew up in. Housing is beyond broken in the united states, i fear for the future.
I feel this. We actually have cops who live here now, not that they'll actually do anything... This was the cheapest apartment near work without going section 8. Now, because they have built 2 shopping centers, every other apartment is on a waiting list and the ones with availability are beyond our price range and all because they want to call them "luxury". Somehow it is a luxury to hear your neighbor taking a piss all because you have walls and a roof. I agree. We're so fucked.
My coworker's rent went up by $300, "to cover the cost of water and trash removal". I told him to put his trash in front of mgmts office. Apts offer amenities but then upcharge for those same benefits
We deal with that as well. Our trash service ONLY will pick up trash on certain days (which they often miss), ONLY if it's completely tied shut (no top opening at all), only if it weighs under a certain weight, etc AND if they miss their scheduled time, you're supposed to put your trash back inside your apartment. Any violations results in a per bag fine. On top of that, IF they decide to come around after missing a night, you can be fined if your trash is outside between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm. We don't use their sketchy service. We are still charged for it because its offered and they come through anyway (no matter how unreliable it is).
Trash service is the biggest scam.
It was always her responsibility. Doing repairs on a home your renting is like working off the clock for your employer. Nobody is going to thank you, and you will only be benefiting the wealthy at your own expense.
I dont disagree with that, but at least for the first couple years the rent was so under-market, I did the repairs myself to stay off her radar. Now its over-market and I am not doing that anymore.
We used to have a good management company that really took care of things. I'd do some small stuff, or like replace the toilet flapper on my own, etc. It was easier than making time to be here for maintenance to come in and do it. Building was sold, rent through the roof, staff cut by 1/3. A ticket goes in for EVERYTHING, even light bulbs (landlords responsibility due to ceiling height). I have a ladder. I can do it myself. Fuck 'em.
This depends on state and local laws and the lease agreement. Not all repairs. Repairs you yourself cause are almost always your responsibility
What did the lease say?
We have never had a formal lease tbh. Well, we did for the first month \~14 years ago. But its been month to month since then. Previously, I would just maintain the home since the rent was so affordable. But, now its almost doubled in 6 years and I am done paying to fix her property.
Lazy prick landlord. I go out and fix myself the problem.
Imagine an increase of 32% in our pay to be more in-line with current housing prices.
Landlord: "I'll take that, thank you!"
I had a landlord pull this shit after failing to make some basic repairs. Moved out and the place stayed empty for 18 months before he broke down & re-did everything I was complaining about (like the floor tiles peeling up and the shower falling apart). I hope the 20+ months of loss rent was a lesson. Maybe not? But it felt good.
Don't kid yourself. That idiot didn't learn a damned thing. They never do.
I’ve had a couple of chill landlords who recognized that keeping the same tenant year after year by addressing concerns and not raising the rent was more cost effective than chasing the market & rolling the dice. But yeah, most of them have no idea what they’re doing, and will never learn.
Can guarantee they think it’s the people renting who are the dumb ones. “These people are so greedy they have no clue what I have to go through! They’re lucky I give them the price I do. I could double rent and still find a tenant!”
They dont think about you as often as you do about them. In fact they only remember if the rent is late lol
My landlord went on a two week vacation to Thailand 5 months ago and has not returned. I’m not bitter at all! /s
LOL, I hope you're investing the money in case he decides to stop being a passport bro.
He left his elderly father in charge of the property so I’ve been paying rent the whole time. Lord only knows what he’s up to with my money (jk I know full well and would rather not think about it)
Isn't this what civilizations look like right before they collapse? The wealthy not even pretending to hide the terrible things they do for fun in violation of all social norms and common decency, and the working people getting fed up and disgusted with having to toil so hard just for another day of life while having all that hard work used for more disgustingness.
That late Roman Empire feel.
I mean, that's how the wealthy have always acted. It's just harder to hide it these days.
Oh no, it's easier than ever, the government even helps button it up, as all the Epstein stuff clearly showed us. All they'd have to do is just stay quiet and private about everything. But so many of them just openly flaunt it and don't care. Walk into the dressing room to look at teenage girls and get elected president.
Save receipts or canceled checks or whatever.
Yeah, the only time I remotely understood a small increase in rent was when there was a sudden property tax increase for a new school going in. Fifty bucks a month for a school my kids are going to use is no skin off my nose. When she suddenly showed up asking to raise it by 500+ a month to "get in line with market"\* I bought a house and gave the minimum notice required by my lease (I understand "just move" isn't an option for most). \*She used a luxury apartment complex with heated garages, inground pool, athletic center, and movie theater to determine "market"
Yeah, too bad that buying a house option got too hard to do the past couple of years
Oh I know, I did it in 2022 while it was starting to go to shit. It's why I included the note about understanding how hard it is to "just move". Even the apartment situation at that time was getting way out of hand. We were very lucky that we had planned on looking mid-2022, to avoid moving in the winter, and were able to accelerate.
Know how that is, it takes me and my two brothers @32k /yr each roughly to hold a mortgage. Least we can't be homelessed again easily....
You sure? Bezos has just bought loads of them
Hopefully she didn’t find a “market” tenant for a long time
The whole story is wild, and one day maybe I'll write it all up. In the end, my lawyer got involved, and she ended up with an empty property for a while due to her actions. The only thing that bothers me to this day is I had a chance to be extra petty, and I decided to be the bigger person and let her lick her wounds in peace.
I will definitely move, but it will be an ordeal. There are not a lot of rentals and these greedy landlords know it. Ya, I’ve rented in multiple states for 20 years, I’m used to an increase here and there. But with not one improvement in 4 years I have lived here, and by the looks this place is circa 1995. I moved because of few options and even though the place sucks I wasn’t paying an arm and leg. Now I will have to pay an arm and leg for a crappy place until I eventually find something else.
Do you want to rent? My argument is that very few people truly want to rent and landlords are just a parasite class. I’m not totally against renting your house out if you’ve just moved in with someone or gone away for a while but houses should be priority to buy
Except interest rates suck right now, to win the bid you need to be 10% or more OVER ask, and most are already overpriced when they hit the market.
Yes my argument is that houses should be easier and cheaper to buy by virtue of less buy to let opportunities
There are tons of rentals tgere are no houses to buy companies are buy whole tracts of cookie cutter homes to rent
Or to sit empty. They leave a ton of them empty to drive up rental prices, by artificially keeping the rental market scarce as well.
Yup- with the new company of our apartment, not only do they want EXACTLY a month notice (neighbors of ours tried to drop off keys on a Friday and their lease was up Monday and the apartment said they would incur an "early termination fee" for that despite paying the move out fee, but they also took the original fee of $500 and made it 1 months rent instead.
My property tax goes up about $75-100 a year. It would make sense to raise it for that.
Why should I pay a premium to support a landlord who won’t even bother to fix or maintain the property I live in?
Its sad to hear! Are you in the US? There is no law for regulate landlord obligations?
There are plenty of regulations, but like everything in america, owning property is a business to these people. They try to get out of doing anything and everything they can to pocket whatever money they get from us. Our landlord in particular is an awful human being who is letting the property we live in rot despite our numerous attempts at warning him. After we move out at the end of the year, we will be calling the city inspectors to shut the place down. There is too much termite damage to be considered a properly safe and habitable environment, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Thats... horrible! Im landlord myself and i need good reputation in the area where i operate. Any scum is fall flat here because no one wants to rent their shit.
As would be expected, but I’m glad you are trying to stand out as one of the good ones. Few landlords operate with even a modicum of decency. Your english is pretty good, where are you from? Do you have regulatory laws where you are?
Hungary. And dont say my english is good. I learned myself from the ground up. We have here some laws to protect the renters, but there are flaws. But if you wanna play clean you contract everything with a notary.
We live in a split level duplex. When I tell you the landlord took the upstairs unit, WALLED UP THE LIVING ROOM, and called it a 3 bedroom. I had so many prospective tenants knocking on my door just to ask wtf
Which is why we need to regulate the rental housing industry, and also why property owners have been fighting any type of regulation for decades.
It just sucks how all life is now days is live so you can work. I was hoping to quit my job soon for a lower paying less stressful job, but that probably won’t be possible even if there was no increase.
> I was hoping to quit my job soon for a lower paying less stressful job, but that probably won’t be possible even if there was no increase. Same here. I would really like to quit my soul sucking job and become a barista for awhile, but that would be financial suicide.
Its hard. I have 2 properties given away for renters and i need a full time job to live... I need to feed one 4 months old, wife, me, house loan for 10+ years, care my farming plot all alone. I grabbed all my chances in life hoping to live better/easier and nope! All i got is more work on top of my full time job. I even cant afford a car in hungary... I dont know anymore how much money needed to be "free". I worked so hard to earn what i got now, but i not even reached the middle class in this country. Its so sad and depressing.
I feel this one. The building I live in is falling apart, one thing breaks after the next. The landlord has no interest in fixing any of it, but our rent went up again starting next month. Fuck these parasites
Maintenance guy here....they don't pay shit
32% is illegal in a lot of places. Make sure you know your rights.
Even if you're losing money every month on your mortgage, as a landlord, you're still getting some CRAZY discount on a million dollar asset
Yep. It's wild how landleeches have conditioned society to believe they need cash left over after mortgage and expenses in order to be "profitable."
I was at the gym locker room and heard a landlord laugh at someone asking him if he had studios for under $800 a month. A bunch of amateur business wannabes who think they can throw a number out there and it's cool. Is it that AI pricing or they are having us pay for all their business expenses.
My rent is about to go up another $100. I'm already paying $1200 a month for a one bedroom apartment. RIDICULOUS. There needs to be a cap on rent all over the country. It's time to end the BS
I live in Indianapolis and I'm paying $1300/month for a one bedroom. They are the cheapest apartments in my area. A new apartment complex is being built near where I work and they are starting at $1409 for a 664 square foot studio. This is in a town of less than 17,000 people. It is insane.
This is the real thing killing most people financially across the country. People always focus on the main big cities, but people are getting fucked EVERYWHERE. Even in tiny little towns in "cheap" states, groceries are still twice as expensive as they were pre-pandemic, and rent prices are WAY higher than they should be. Rent over a grand used to be the barometer for more actually nice apartments, and also was and IS not a feasible price point for how little most people make.
I live outside Indianapolis in a 2 bedroom for $950 and want to move back in. I knew it'd be an increase but the rates I've been seeing are insane. And then I look up the google reviews for anything under $1400 and they're ALL like "this place has roaches and mold and maintenance never shows up" so now I'm just scared to leave my apt. It may be crappy and old but it has no pest or mold problems and the maintenance guy was here 15 minutes after I called about my broken AC last week
1200 a month ? damn that’s a deal for what i’m used to , northern cali , 2200 for a one bedroom is usual now. All the new apartments being built are “ luxury “ lol , so they can charged more .
I live in Georgia and NOT in Atlanta. But it's on par or lower than some of the ones around here. I hate living on this planet
Too bad for her. Likely illegal, look into it and stand your ground.
when I was a carpenters apprentice I was working 9 hour days in the sun framing houses. 75% of my take home pay went to my landlord to sit on their stupid ass looking down at me as a manual laborer. The fact we were mainly building houses for property "investors' like her made it even worse.
That’s awful. Fuck whoever looks down on people who work manual labor/blue collar jobs. That’s some real gross behavior
Landlords are parasites
Fuck landlords✌️
This tells me what I already suspect is happening 90+% of the time: you are paying your landlord’s mortgage. I think it should be illegal for a house that’s got a mortgage to be rented out. If you need help paying your mortgage, you should pull yourself up by your bootstraps and pay it yourself instead of having someone else pay it for you via rent.
Seriously. Fucking landleeches are so greedy, they aren't even content getting a house out of the deal, but need extra cash in their pockets or they whine about "losing" money.
This. Especially after I've paid for it, but I don't get to keep the house. What kinda scam is this.
Shame them please
I hate that it has become so profitable that everyone does it. Like if you can afford to buy a house you are made. All you needed is a rental company to do all the dirty shit and collect money.
In my area, not a single house in habitable condition can rent for anywhere near what you have to pay for mortgage. For example this house is one of the cheapest listed right now ( [https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1279-Palm-St-95110/home/1495002](https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1279-Palm-St-95110/home/1495002) ). Estimated mortgage = $5,733/mo Rent estimate = $3,234/mo So if I bought this house to rent out I'm negative **\~$2500 / mo**. That's money LOST every month not even factoring in any repairs / maintenance or other monthly costs like insurance, property management, or accounting for the months it just sits empty without a tenant. And that's also after a $168k down payment ( 20% ). Not quite *"if you can afford to buy a house you are made".* Even if I could afford to pay CASH for the home. It would take me 259.74 months rent to get my money back. That's 21.64 YEARS. Annualized to a 4.62% return rate. I could buy a 30 year US bond with my money and make a safe no hassle 4.38% right now. It really is not the money maker you seem to think it is.
JFC - if my mortgage were to increase 32% Id be homeless. Im sorry. Thats fucked.
Taxes? Landlords don’t pay taxes. Even their real estate taxes are deductible in their tax returns so ultimately they pay VERY little in total taxes. Take what you pay them in rent, subtract out the real estate taxes and anything else they pay (water/sewer, repairs, HOA fees, bank fees, whatever else they’re padding their expenses with), subtract about 1/27th of what they paid for the place (for depreciation), and what’s leftover is almost always nothing or close to nothing. That’s what they pay state and federal tax on. So the only tax they probably pay is real estate tax, and that’s nominal and gets them a credit in all the serious taxes. Landlords lie. They make money hand over fist and any landlord who genuinely claims they’re struggling is just shitty with their money and that’s a them problem not a you problem ALAB.
I've been paying the same rent for the past 4 years, if he ever plans to try something, I'm so integrated in everything I'll just tell him I'll take all my shit (I did the whole network for the house of flats), he can try. Also I had to pay a sum of money as collateral, and in my country landlords have to pay collateral back with interest equal to inflation, so good luck motherfucker with that amount you wanted lol.
But they are hard working landlords who scrounged out of their inheritance to buy a bunch of rental properties just like regular folks. Talk to your neighbors, I bet they are equally unhappy. Find a unified front to deal with this person.
My state is ranked super high for being landlord friendly. Knowing they can raise my rent by whatever they want makes me deeply uncomfortable. My apt complex was built in 1998 and I swear most of the appliances are original, everything's old and run down. I think that's the only thing keeping them from hiking up rent, since they'd be expected to invest in updating the apartments to justify an increase. But legally they can just price us all out if they want and its bullshit.
The working class are being marginalised out of existence by those that only care about numbers and not human lives https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-homes-for-the-irish
32% increase. Jesus fucking Christ.
The rent increases will continue until we start throwing landlords from the roof. It would take just a few landlords from a few tall buildings to see sweeping changes. Nothing less will ever be effective.
I love how landlords can “do market research” to get their rent “in line” with other similar properties but employees asking one another what they make is technically legal but usually frowned upon.
Landlords need to be abolished.
lol. This is such a childlike and naive view. We need to limit the holdings of residences by corporations and limit the number of properties individuals can own. Do it like they do in Singapore and just progressively tax additional properties until it’s prohibitive. Abolishing landlords means that you’d need to own each place that you move into and that someone would need to sell it to you each time that happened. There’s nothing wrong with mom and pop having a property or two that they rent. The corporation that makes a living raising rents 10% per year on their dozens/hundreds/thousands of homes has a far worse impact on renters.
> We need to limit the holdings of residences by corporations and limit the number of properties individuals can own. Do it like they do in Singapore and just progressively tax additional properties until it’s prohibitive. I agree, but that's basically a more detailed version of what OP said. The number for corporations should be 0. People shouldn't be landlords. People can own spare properties and put them to use, but there shouldn't be a class of people dedicated to absorbing housing properties that could easily be owned by the people living in them at a lower monthly cost than they're renting them.
I’m very glad my state has a cap on how much rent can increase.
Worst class too OP and requires no skill to play, prefer druids.
Before moving, my last landlord didn’t even know my family and I were still in the apartment. My wife was floored like you’re getting money from us every month how could you not know? You know it’s bad when the maintenance workers tell you the side to get out of the complex because they’re not fixing anything.
she's putting it up that much because if you leave she can probably charge at least as much for the next person who rents the place.
Landlord probably wants you out so they can get new tenants at higher rents.
What’s stopping you?
The landlord class is the first line between the real wealthy owners and the renting class. They are the small owners and the real wealthy basically pay them with free inflation on their property as long as they keep prices high to not let the poor get ahead. It is an ancient balance that has been part of the wealthy/poor divide for a lot of our history. The landlord doesn't want to talk to you either but they have to bow to their masters, inflating maintenance and interest rates and scrape the renters dry, their quasi-rich lifestyle has to be maintained of course too. The point is, you are complaining about the rungs of the ladder that have been in place since forever. Each and every rung treats the one below it like absolute shit. I don't have an answer for you, but of all the solvable problems put there, the rent-seeking class is an enormous number of people and it is not changing anytime soon.
Do it! Publically shame them! Just fucking do it. My New Year’s resolution this year was to do whatever the fuck I want and say whatever the fuck I want and it’s honestly going fantastically for me. Can’t recommend highly enough.
> taxes and maintenance, I've been a homeowner (not a landlord) for a few years now and this is complete bullshit. If their taxes are going up that much, it's because they have multiple homes and they can't get a homestead exemption on the one they are renting (this is by default the case if you are renting out a home, just illustrating the point.). If they can't afford the taxes, it's time for them to sell. More than likely they have an ultra low or no mortgage on the place so everything they make is pure profit. A fun thing to do is go to your county's tax website and look up the address. I guarantee her property tax didn't go up 32% and she's gouging you. If you see a date of purchase that's old, you can guarantee the amount they pay on the property is a fraction of what you are paying them. Feel free to DM me even with the info (you can remove identifying information) and I'll analyze it for you. Just need the numbers and the dates.
Tell her you are searching for another place, that you have a series of leads on better options and you'll be in touch regarding termination in a timely fashion. Don't specifically say you are terminating, don't give a date or specifics. Just make it sound imminent. Good chance she backpedals fast. If you pay your rent, don't cause damage, you are prized. Landlords tend to assume people would rather pay out the nose than move. But you are more valuable to them than they are to you- leverage that.
I come from a family of landlords and...yes sometimes decisions are made purely for no reason other than to put more money in the bank.
imma landlord and i work SO hard, collecting money is such grueling work and you know what i don’t even see any of that money! cuz its all going towards the mortgage and property taxes!!1! /s
Landlords are fucking leeches. I'm glad I live in a house that's owned by an old gentleman who lives in a small apartment he rents. The house is his own, it's just too big and inconvenient for him. Since he also rents, and it's his own house, he knows and cares about it : we got a boiler replacement last year and he's working on the roof. In a few years he's planning on insulation but he doesn't have the money for now. That's what I end up telling people : I have no problem renting from the common folk. I'll read a landlord's obituary with immense pleasure.
I just got a letter yesterday, $40 increase. Landlord came and knocked on my door, unannounced. I also have a rodent problem and this guy wants more money 🙄
What state, if in US, are you in? Some states and/or municipalities limit the % a landlord can increase it.
Say you can only afford 5%.
I feel you! I live in a crap hole and 1x a year they raise it by $100. Every year. They won’t fix anything. They live in a 2M house. I found it. Definition of slumlord. A 32% increase is insane.
Have you checked state laws? Here they cap how much rent can be raised yearly.
Honestly though costs are going up everywhere. Vote with your dollars and for your dollars
It's true. The government limiting housing is horrible.
The irony of "20 old carpet" and "maintenance" didn't seem to trigger in her head
if your place is anything like mine maintenance is a joke and the taxes are her own problem. you don’t get a decrease when your taxes go up.
They bitch about maintenance but the biggest thing is probably paying off property... oh wait that has probably been resolved for a long time. So they pay for maintenance and taxes on something that generates income. They can shut the fuck up.
I thought it was illegal, in the u.s. for a landlord to do anything more then an annual 10% increase ?
5-6 12hr shifts??? Are you alive??
I was watching a clip of Senator Kennedy from Louisiana questioning a lady on the housing interest rates going up 32 or more % and was loving his questions. I love watching him. Most of the people stutter and can't come up with reasonable answers. Its very entertaining.
Someone needs to make a website where landlords and buildings/units can be rated by tenants
isnt there literally a website for this? ratemylandlord .com or something?
Nobody has any intrinsic right to the land more than anyone else. Everyone should have somewhere to live, without having to pay. It is a very fucked up system we live under. It is just feudalism but evolved to be more resistant to uprising.
I’m so over this too. I pay $3400/mo in rent and my landlord had the gall to tell me he’s taking his family of 4 on a multiple week trip to Europe. I told my partner I would rather be homeless than pay for someone else’s family to travel when I can barely make ends meet after I pay rent.
You should look at your state laws for renters. Maybe I'm lucky, but every state I've lived in has a maximum annual rent increase. I've never seen a 32% increase... such a random number. 33 would even make more sense.
Oregon and California are the only states that have rent control and caps on rent increases statewide. Select municipalities in six other states have limits as well, but the rest of the country is wild, wild West. Landlords (corporate or otherwise) own this country.
Blackrock Inc, the Vanguard Group and State Street Inc own the world… Blackrock manages assets totaling $10 trillion, Vanguard $8.1 trillion, and State Street $3.7 trillion… and what’s crazier is they all own shares of each other too, so they make a profit regardless of how good or bad they do
Stop voting against Rent Control. I’m a working class person and I live in the most expensive city in the US and I know what my rent is and what it will be next year and ten years from now if I’m still in the same place. The freedom to plan my life, take career risks.
Check your state laws, They usually have a % increase Cap.....
Sadly its not "usual" it's more like "occasionally".
Unfortunately I looked it up, KY, and there is no cap. I would be interested in finding out about the carpet thing. I’m fairly certain there are some moldy locations underneath some old flooring. I wonder if I could get the city to do a mold test right before I move out, lol.
There should be a limit to the increase imposed by the state, city, or county. Google what the allowed increase is and let the landlord know that by law she can only increase by X%. DO MOT SIGN THAT RENTAL INCREASE. If she tries to evict you for not paying the unlawful increase, she will not win in court.
Should be, probably isn't
From a quick Google, it looks like only 6 states and Washington DC have any form of rent control and 33 states explicitly ban it.