Renter Advice Blog

I have been at this same complex for amost 3 years. My apartment complex has upgraded all the appliances and now when my lease is up in September they are increasing my rent to almost 12%. I will be paying $85.00 more to help pay for the appliances.  By law shouldnt the owner of any apartment complex pay for any upgrades every year or when needed? My rent now is $659.00 and they have increased it to $744.00 if I sign a new lease at the end of September. I cant afford that or to move. Can they negotiate the price? How am I protected? I love where I live and I dont want to move.

I’m not sure if my land lord is breaking any laws, but he is getting annoying. My problem is that my land lord agreed to do the yard work at our house which sounded good to me at first until, everyday when I come home from work he’s at the house, but he does NOT really do much. What doesn’t make sence to me is he can come during to day when no one is home but he waits. What should i do??? i dont fel like i have any privicy!!

hey every body i just moved in with my grilfriend and her land lord jack the rent up two hundred dollors can they  do that

Hi everybody. Me and my roomies signed a 6 month lease 6 months ago, which will end on the 30th of this month. We are all going our seperate ways, so we decided not to extend the lease. Upon the landlords inspection, she gave us a few things we need to repair, which we are fixing, but then asked for an extra months rent while they searched for more tenants. Are we legally required to pay this? We have paid the total amount of rent listed on the lease, and the lease states that it will not automatically be extended at the end of the lease. Any penalties or extra fees all deal with early termination of the lease, which is not our situation as the lease is terminating as per the conditions stated in the lease. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? I will be checking this forum for the next few weeks, but if you have any advice and can email me, I would be very appreciative.  Thanks for the help, M. Groat (mgroat@gmu.edu)

The one about carpet and everything is actually for Iowa not Illinois. I sorry this was done for the wrong state.

My family recently moved from a house. We asked for our deposit back they refused. Let me try to explain this a little bit so you understand.

 We moved into this house thinking it was a great house. We lived there for a year and a half. Over this time stuff started to fall apart. Within two weeks of moving in, I called the person over that showed us the house to point out a few things that we had noticed one thing is the carpet and markings on the walls. He told me not to worry about any of it that we would not be charged. He has since passed on. Other things happened while we lived there. Mold grew in different areas in the house, my daughter’s ceiling started to fall, my son now has allergies, and the master shower could of fell at any time through the floor. My daughter’s light acted up and it was fixed within a week. It was a wiring issue. There was a wiring issue in a hallway light that they did not fix before we moved. We moved out before the lease was up due to all the issues in the house. 

 I asked for the deposit back. They came back and told me that I owed them for the carpet that I told them about in the beginning, as well as want us to pay for all the repairs in the house. 

 I am trying to find is how much a tenant should pay for carpet. I am also wondering should a tenant pay for what they pointed out to the landlord as issues though out the occupancy?

 Thank you for all help

i am at the end of my lease and would like to know the fl. state law of replacement of the carpet. i have rented this apt. for three years and the carpet was at least one year old when i moved in. i was told  the law is replacement every four years of carpet in a residental rental home in fl however i wanted to be sure this is the actual law. if anyone can help i would greatly appriciate it.

I was renting at a place almost 2 years ago that I tried to work with in order not to break my lease. The living conditions were unbearable. I had mold growing in my bathroom which they said they took care of but kept painting over it only to be uncovered several times. I became very ill during this time and the doctor attributed this to the continous mold outbreak in my apartment.  There was vomit and trash all over the hallways in the entrance to my apartment that was hardly cleaned up. The straw that broke the camels back was I suddenly had an outbreak of bed bugs, not just once but twice. I had to throw away 2 mattresses and a couch and love seat to get rid of these creatures that I later discovered were coming through the electrical sockets into my apartment from other dwellings. I brought all this to the attention to my landlord and never got any type of assistance. When the 3rd outbreak of bed bugs occured (and mind you I thoroughly cleaned out and fumigated my own apaartment each time at my own expense) I left the apartment with 2 months left on my lease.  They are now suing me (after 2 years) and garnishing my checks to get in excess of $6,000. This is crazy and I am looking for any solution that may help. I have pictures of the mold and receipts for replacing my furniture twice.

If anyone can give advice it would be appreciated.

I forgot to add that yes, I did sign a lease with the usual clause about not creating disturbances.  At the end of May the Mgr. passed out notices to each apartment, in which she stated among other things that parents are not to allow their children to play in the hallways or outside on the landscaping, or in the parking lot or laundry room.  This notice was slipped under the door of all the apartments on a Friday, and on Saturday, the very next day (!!!) guess what?  Yeah, kids running down the hallway, and back and forth outside my living room and bedroom windows screaming and yelling.  Shows you how much these parents respect the rules!  I apologize for such long posts.  I’m so angry and frustrated!

Since moving into this apt. Oct. 2006, I have repeatedly (8-10 times) complained to the Mgr. about the children running, screaming, playing in the hallways and my very noisy upstairs neighbors.  After each complaint, it would be bettter for a week or so, and then escalate back to the previous level of noise and disturbance again.  There is no playground at this small complex, and my next-door neighbors allow their children to use the hallways for a playground, where they behave as if they are in a playground!  They gather their friends from the other apts., sometimes as many as 5 or 6 of them will all run, play chase, kick balls, yelling and screaming the whole time.  This is not only a serious disturbance, it’s a physical hazard.  I’m disabled, and walk with difficulty, so I worry that we will collide and cause injury.  I have mediation appt. tomorrow (Monday, 6-16) @ 4:00 between the Mgr., the lady next door and myself.  My upstairs neighbor has 4 or 5 children, all of whom stay with him several days (and nights) a week…in a 1-bdr apt!!!  They stomp, throw things, drop things, move furniture, play music so loud I can’t talk on the phone or hear my t.v.  My questions:  What legal steps should I take if the mediation does no good?  What legal steps is my Mgr. obliged to take?  If I am forced to move because of this, can I force the apt. complex owner (Weidner Investment Svcs.) to pay my moving expenses?  I have been looking at other places to move, specifically 55+ places, and unfortunately the one I’ve found that I want to move to is also owned by Weidner.  If I were to force them to pay my moving expenses, could they refuse to rent to me in another property they own?  I love my apartment, and the complex.  It’s clean, well-maintained, in a great location, and has fabulous veiws of the mountains.  And except for a couple of families, the neighbors are all very quiet.  I do not want to move!  If I do, it is only because of the problems I’ve told you about, and I’ve told the Mgr. this.  Please help, and thank you ahead of time for any advice.