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Wmsn4life and Lacerta, I'm not going to argue with you two. Just know that the landlords who are able to keep tenants for any length of time are the ones who are sensitive, fair, and tolerant of their renter's needs. If I'm your tenant and you won't allow me to burn my candles because some kid in one of your other units played with matches and burned down that unit, suffice it to say, you better start looking for a new tenant...
Sounds fair to me. I would not want to rent to someone who doesn't understand why candles and incense are fire hazards.
Sounds fair to me. I would not want to rent to someone who doesn't understand why candles and incense are fire hazards.
A gas stove could be considered a fire hazard too since the burners have open flames. So, should people be prohibited from using them? If you keep up your ridiculous rules and regulations, you will only be able to rent to the most desperate of renters. Who would want to rent from you with your attitude?
If you really liked candles and wanted to use them, would you like someone telling you not to burn then in YOUR place of residence?
The problem is that, as a renter, this isn't really "my (your) place" so I don't get to make all the choices. What I do get to do is decide if the choices I *am* allowed to make are enough for me. It's a disadvantage of renting
A gas stove could be considered a fire hazard too since the burners have open flames. So, should people be prohibited from using them? If you keep up your ridiculous rules and regulations, you will only be able to rent to the most desperate of renters. Who would want to rent from you with your attitude?
You really love to extrapolate ridiculous scenarios.
FWIW, there are plenty of renters who don't want to live next door to someone who doesn't understand fire hazards. No way does that leave landlords with "the most desperate...."
It's a very simple concept. The landlord OWNS the building and therefore gets to make the rules. Don't like it? Buy a house.
A gas stove could be considered a fire hazard too since the burners have open flames. So, should people be prohibited from using them? If you keep up your ridiculous rules and regulations, you will only be able to rent to the most desperate of renters. Who would want to rent from you with your attitude?
Never had property damage caused by a stove... have had two fires from candles and several from people smoking in bed.
It's bad enough when it happens in a single family rental... much worse in multifamily where it impacts innocents merely due to proximity...
I firmly believe in house rules and make full disclosure ahead of time... also go over them and have the tenant initial.
Believe it or not... there are many people that simply do not like candles, incense, smoking... etc.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 10-06-2015 at 07:26 PM..
I live in Iowa, in a non-smoking apartment building that allows cats. I had two of them, one was using the carpet as a litterbox, so I gave her to a family member. I plan to have the carpets professionally cleaned, but in the meantime I've been burning incense to mask the smell.
My landlord is pretty invasive/present on the property and tells me from time to time that I can't do this or that, can't open my windows because of heating, can't chain my bike to the fence, etc. He came into my apartment to remove my AC for the season. I lit incense in several rooms before I left because I didn't want him to notice that my cat had urinated on the carpet. Later in the day he sent me a text message telling me that 3 sticks of unattended incense was a "fire hazard" and a violation of the non-smoking policy. I saw that he had extinguished the sticks I had burning.
I said that I could understand the fire concern or the quantity of incense smoke if it was bothering neighbors, but that burning a single stick at a time didn't constitute "smoking". His response was that because 3 sticks at a time was "so over the top, I have to say NO more" and that "next time I'll have to be ultra specific in the lease about what non-smoking means".
I don't believe my landlord has a right to tell me that I can't burn a stick of incense in my apartment, that I pay him money to live in. The lease says nothing about incense, and it seems to me that he's just making up rules as he goes along even though he has no legal backing for them.
Advice?
Seriously....You live in his property, and you are gonna gripe about his rules.....Wake up....and clean the damn carpet.
ETA....I see I responded to an old OP post. But, since others are still discussing LL rights....I'm leaving my comment...as it is still relevant.
.........If you really liked candles and wanted to use them, would you like someone telling you not to burn then in YOUR place of residence? ................ THEY are paying to rent the place.
There is a huge difference between me burning candles in a house I own and you burning candles unsupervised in a house that I own. I'm sorry that you can't understand the difference. ( and no, I don't burn candles ).
Tenant's are paying rent, and almost without exception, tenants scream bloody murder about any deduction from their security deposit and cleaning up smoke is not cheap.
Obviously, renting to you is a non-issue because my candle and incense rules are right up front. You'd learn the rules and wouldn't rent from me. Which is fine with me. I had over 150 calls for my last vacancy so I don't need you. The no candle, no incense, no tobacco, no pot rule still leaves me with a huge selection of tenants who don't mind living without candles, incense, tobacco, or marijuana.
When you need a new rental, just ask the landlord if candles are allowed and don't go to view units where they arent allowed. Problem solved for everyone involved.
Wmsn4life and Lacerta, I'm not going to argue with you two. Just know that the landlords who are able to keep tenants for any length of time are the ones who are sensitive, fair, and tolerant of their renter's needs. If I'm your tenant and you won't allow me to burn my candles because some kid in one of your other units played with matches and burned down that unit, suffice it to say, you better start looking for a new tenant...
Yeah, we have had many people over the years refer their friends and family and quite a few come back and rent from us a 2nd or even a 3rd time over the years. People do think we are fair.
As long as the lease states right up front that no candles/incense are allowed, then I don't know how you think it isn't fair.
Besides that, everyone in my area uses Scentsy, which has no smoke and no significant fire risk. So it is a non-issue.
Even though it was many, many years ago, and even though there are 2 million people in Iowa, I suspect I know this landlord. It was my very first apartment, and I didn't know any better. When she described him as particularly invasive and some of the specifics of his complaints (the a/c, coming in without notice, aggression), I realized either Iowa has a bunch of creepy, law-breaking landlords, or she was renting from the same guy.
Back in 2002, when I rented my tiny room in a subdivided house, I was so proud to have my first place. But his tendency to arrive unannounced at all hours and stand there, having conversations while leering at me, making comments on my clothes and possessions, criticizing the cleanliness of my apartment (I am a clean person, but the apartment was a tiny room with a twin bed and a kitchenette I could reach without getting out of it, and it was cluttered, though free of trash, dirt, dishes, etc-he wanted me to put my books and knickknacks in the closet or the drawers, for example), commenting on how cold or warm I kept the apartment, telling me he would remove my a/c if I didn't turn it higher, entering when I was out, asking for me to help clean the common areas even though my private bath meant my lease excluded me from cleaning the shared areas of the other tenants...
If it is this guy (his name was Richard, and his lease was a photocopied cursive document seven pages long), the OP was probably desperate at this point to find some sanity in this situation. Anyone else renting from this guy should look into the local laws, because he was definitely in violation of so many I was too young to know about. It got so bad that I paid him for the rest of my lease, cleaned my apartment, and stayed with a friend in her tornado-damaged trailer for the duration of it.
But I learned some valuable life lessons from it.
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