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For us rent comes first, as did the mortgage when we owned our own home, then utilities, followed by insurance than any debt we have. If we have to cut anything we change how we eat. I don't understand how tenants can be habitally late with the rent.
You cash checks and call plumbers for a living, contributing absolutely nothing to society. You are all leeches.
Wait until we bring back rent strikes and start taking this country back one building at a time.
Have you noticed your system is failing? Your money is becoming worthless. But we, the nameless poor, we don't have credit. We don't own cars. We don't let numbers on a bit of paper affect us. We won't be affected by the fall. You all, on the other hand, should probably start learning some useful skills.
There is enough space for everyone.
There is enough food and water for everyone.
Someday everyone will realize this. You can't evict us all. They can't arrest us all.
I am the internet. I am the hivemind. Respond as you wish but I don't even know where this forum exists and will likely never see it again.
Be careful you do not get sun cancer standing on the corner begging for change it can get hot out there.
We've been renters and we've been landlords. Since we were good renters and always got our deposits back we figured being landlords wouldn't be hard. I truly wish everyone had to be landlords for several years. Not everyone takes good care of other peoples property. People not only don't have the rent but they trash the house. Even if they dodge the landlord because they are embarrassed they can't pay, they don't need to wreck the place. Others don't pay and don't leave either, example, a tenant doesn't pay but stays there, they finally get an eviction notice and still stay, we take them to court and the judge tells them to leave, they still stay there. We have to get the police to go with us to the house and they are surprised "you want us to leave now?" Yeah we want you to leave, now.
I think there are a lot of people who just don't care. They don't abide by responsibility. LL's who end up with this type of tenant must not do the background checks they charge fees for or they wouldn't have a problem. Of course there are those that fall on hard times and simply don't know what to do.
I think a lot of the negative attitude towards LL's have been at the caused by the actions of unscrupulous LL's. Over the years of LL's scamming security deposits and excessive unjustified fees, tenants have come to expect getting ripped off. Tenants believe they will lose their security deposit because they don't have the time or means to fight for it. Therefore, they feel that telling the LL to use the SD for last months rent is reasonable. Secondly, if they think they will be ripped for cleaning charges they don't clean. I have heard of some tenants taking the refrigerator or stove and in one case ripped the microwave oven out of the wall. I am sure this all sounds terrible but I hear far more stories about innocent people getting scammed by LL's and losing their SD simply because they cannot return to go to court.
For the benefit of both LL and tenant I believe we need to change the laws to protect both parties equally. I think SD should be held by a neutral party and damage to property proven within a specific time. Security deposits to be held and distributed by that neutral party not the LL. I truly believe that the entire rental business is in need of government supervision.
donsabi
Leases are legal agreements, it's the responsibility
of the lease holder to understand what they've signed
as well as knowing how to protect themselves
from landlords who might want to be unsrupulous.
The more educated they think you are as a renter
the less likely they will become a victim. It's the
renters responsibility to educate themselves, not
managements.
BTW, the type of landlords you describe, make a bad
name for many who are above board and take their
job seriously.
Last edited by virgode; 07-10-2009 at 07:09 PM..
Reason: address poster donsabi
Leases are legal agreements, it's the responsibility
of the lease holder to understand what they've signed
as well as knowing how to protect themselves
from landlords who might want to be unsrupulous.
The more educated they think you are as a renter
the less likely they will become a victim. It's the
renters responsibility to educate themselves, not
managements.
BTW, the type of landlords you describe, make a bad
name for many who are above board and take their
job seriously.
Sometimes, $hit happens. I've always paid my rent on time. Now, I've saved up enough so that if I were to lose my job, I can live out my lease. If I don't find a job in time, I would move out. This was not the case a few years ago. I had no real savings and CC debt.
Let's say someone loses their job and still has 10 months to go on their lease. Let's assume the rent is $1,000 a month. Is the person horrible because they don't have $10,000? Not to mention that there is the cost of utilities. It's a tough situation that not many people can perpare for. Education is not going to help that, more money and a job is. Many people live check to check and are 1-3 paychecks from being homeless.
Sam82
Your not telling me anything I don't know already, alot of people are in big financial trouble right now, and it's sad.
I was responding to another post, all landlords are not unscrupulous.
When your in a lease and having a hardship your still responsible for the rent. If the landlord is not aware of a hardship, then all they know is your late on your rent.
Yes, there are ways to get out of a lease, without getting evicted,
but it's still early termination of the lease and there are penalties.
The best thing to do is to talk to the LL if your having a problem.
Last edited by virgode; 07-10-2009 at 07:10 PM..
Reason: address poster/ Sam82
Well the best thing to always do is let the LL know what is going on. When my DH was laid off with 6 months to go on our lease I called told her what was going on. We were proactive and showed the house for her since she was in another state...made sure it was show ready all the time and told people about it being for rent. Lucky for us she rented it right away and ended up giving us 100% of our deposit back. People do walk away and they shouldn't.
I know all about credit checks, but the couple of houses we have are very small in old neighborhoods. People who rent in this area do not have good credit generally. If we don't want the places to sit empty we have to be fairly flexible. We had a woman on section 8 where we were sure it would work out, she only had to pay a small amount like $100. She would not pay even though she eventually was kicked out of the program. She even kept breaking in to sleep there at night while we were trying to rent it again.
We got these houses through owner carry years ago and they were easier to rent. They are paid off and wouldn't sell for much now so we continue to rent them out however we can.
I think there are a lot of people who just don't care. They don't abide by responsibility. LL's who end up with this type of tenant must not do the background checks they charge fees for or they wouldn't have a problem. Of course there are those that fall on hard times and simply don't know what to do.
I think a lot of the negative attitude towards LL's have been at the caused by the actions of unscrupulous LL's. Over the years of LL's scamming security deposits and excessive unjustified fees, tenants have come to expect getting ripped off. Tenants believe they will lose their security deposit because they don't have the time or means to fight for it. Therefore, they feel that telling the LL to use the SD for last months rent is reasonable. Secondly, if they think they will be ripped for cleaning charges they don't clean. I have heard of some tenants taking the refrigerator or stove and in one case ripped the microwave oven out of the wall. I am sure this all sounds terrible but I hear far more stories about innocent people getting scammed by LL's and losing their SD simply because they cannot return to go to court.
For the benefit of both LL and tenant I believe we need to change the laws to protect both parties equally. I think SD should be held by a neutral party and damage to property proven within a specific time. Security deposits to be held and distributed by that neutral party not the LL. I truly believe that the entire rental business is in need of government supervision.
Bingo! The last time I rented an apartment, I didn't break my lease, always paid the rent on time, and cleaned it from top to bottom on my last day.
The jerks then sent me a bill for $150 for carpet replacement and cleaning, less security deposit.
I assumed this was a terrible mistake, so I called the office and the previously-nice guy who signed the lease with me 18 months prior told me it was "filthy" and "it didn't look like you did anything to clean it".
I demanded proof of damages or I would sue him, so I got some photographs in the mail "proving" the damages. I got a picture of the inside of the microwave door and a picture of the back of the toilet. Come on.
I offered to pay for carpet replacement but not the b.s. $50 cleaning. What I cleaned was far more than normal wear and tear, and if they are expecting perfection, they will need to tear down the building and re-build it from scratch every six months.
It has made me very reluctant to rent again but I may be moving soon and I'm hoping that the last apartment experience doesn't repeat itself.
This doesn't excuse a tenant from not paying rent, but it is an example of why tenants may be suspicious of the landlord.
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