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That's not your renters' insurance job, it's the landlord's insurance's job. Where are you? They should be doing way more than they are. If you call your insurance and explain what's up, they might get in touch with your landlord's company and light them up.
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Nov 29, 2016 04:10
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i like nice words
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BC, Canada. I did think it was the landlord's insurance that would cover things, I just am getting tired with playing phone tag right now.
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Nov 29, 2016 05:20
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You can ask them to put you up in a hotel until things are taken care of. It can be as much a pain-in-the-rear end as living with fans and dehumidifiers. In lieu of that, you can ask for a rent credit for the days you were living in squalor. (You can't do both.) If your unit is "uninhabitable" you may be able to break your lease and move out if this suits you. If you have a boilerplate lease it probably covers this - read through and find out.
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Nov 29, 2016 06:11
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Hurrah, dealing with mice again this year, in my 3rd floor apartment. Landlord won't do more than provide me with traps, and I don't think they have any obligation to find and fill the entry way. I'm considering to start mailing them pictures of dead mice. Just venting.
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Nov 29, 2016 07:52
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nielsm posted:Hurrah, dealing with mice again this year, in my 3rd floor apartment. Landlord won't do more than provide me with traps, and I don't think they have any obligation to find and fill the entry way. I'm considering to start mailing them pictures of dead mice. At least it's not squirrels.
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Nov 29, 2016 17:26
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photomikey posted:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HFDLCK I owned the Bissell and found it to be lackluster. Emptying the container was messy. The foam filter is basically a dense sponge and it very quickly gets choked with dust and is a mess to try and clean out. On top of that the cheap plastic mechanism to release the top of the container to get to the filter broke rendering the vacuum useless. Replaced with a Shark Navigator Lift-Away Professional (http://a.co/jkv1A7e) that while a bit tippy and the extension hose is too short is otherwise quite good. The suction is absurd in comparison to the Bissell and my old Bravo. Cleaning is less messy than with the Bissell and the filters don't require constant vigilance. It's also nice to be able to switch off the roller for when I'm using the accessories, or with this model I can lift the top part of the machine right off of the base and carry it around.
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Nov 29, 2016 21:56
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We have the standard-est of standard leases because BC puts up a general one online. All it really says is "repairs must happen" unless I'm missing something. (here if anyone gives a poo poo http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/residential-tenancies/forms ) We went for the rent refund route. Hotels suck and I had to stay in them a few nights moving here because of timing issues and I'm fine dragging my mattress onto the one part of the apartment that isn't tore up or is kitchen. Landlord is getting on someone's case, because they thought that we already had a new floor for the living room but it was the building owner that was dragging their rear end. I'm new to the whole apartment/strata-owner-tenant-insurance hierarchy which kind of hides who to complain to. Thanks for help thread, it really sucks to only be able to use 1/3 of your apartment. gently caress water
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Nov 29, 2016 22:38
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You should also look at your renters insurance policy just in case the landlord/landlords insurance doesn't cover something of yours that got damaged. I had a friend who's apartment got flooded and the landlord's insurance covered the couch and whatnot, but not things like lamps, books and his bike. It's also just a good idea to familiarize yourself with your policy in general.
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Nov 30, 2016 00:59
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Yeah, I'm going to go over the policy. We only just signed up for it, but it seems OK on the surface. It covers replacement for furniture/electronics, but I haven't read the details yet. No bike, but we'd need an add-on for that one. Though we have almost nothing to damage at least. Left anything of value in Alberta in my parents house 
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Nov 30, 2016 01:40
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Has anyone here used PODS to move? How much did it cost? I tried to get an online quote but they want me to call them for a price so gently caress that. Here's our situation: in the spring we're moving cross country for my job and have plans to stay long term and buy a house eventually. However in the meantime we are planning on staying in a smaller apartment to get a feel for the area and decide if we want to stay before dropping money on a house. We currently live in a 3 bedroom house. We're planning on selling a lot of stuff in order to downsize to a 2 bed apartment, but I have a whole garage of tools and yard equipment that we don't want to sell but can't keep in an apartment. I'm thinking of sticking it all in a PODS unit and leaving it in storage until we upgrade back to a house. Does this seem like an okay plan? Anyone have any better ideas to offer?
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Dec 2, 2016 18:35
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It's going to be pretty close to similar services from other companies- I checked my quotes from my CA to FL last year, and PODS said $3300 and U Pack said $3500, and that's for a one bedroom (but during a peak moving time of year). You're going to want to call someone, though- I ended up going through U Pack because I called and said I could only pay $1800 and they said, "Okay."
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Dec 2, 2016 21:46
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Problem! posted:We currently live in a 3 bedroom house. We're planning on selling a lot of stuff in order to downsize to a 2 bed apartment, but I have a whole garage of tools and yard equipment that we don't want to sell but can't keep in an apartment. I'm thinking of sticking it all in a PODS unit and leaving it in storage until we upgrade back to a house. Does this seem like an okay plan? Anyone have any better ideas to offer? Moving is expensive. Storage is expensive. Your poo poo is worthless. It'll cost you $1k to move it across the country and $2k/year to store it. Sell it ruthlessly.
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Dec 2, 2016 23:48
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So, my gf has been living in the same apartment in Maine for >8 years now. I joined her about 4 years ago. We've been great tenants, always pay promptly, never had a single complaint, are quiet and clean, very very rarely need something attended to, etc. The landlady, Jane, who doesn't live in the building, is someone we deal with very rarely-my gf personally drops a check off every month, so she knows her face, and Jane loooovvveeeddd our old roommate so we're in okay shape there. I like our place. It's very affordable for the area, and Jane has raised our rent by $25/month every year when we sign our lease, but that's honestly alright as we pay $875/mo (no utilities, but parking/cat friendly/great location/etc) for what would probably cost at least $1000 if we moved out and it was back on the market. However, we don't intend on moving for at least a few years. My current issues are almost purely aesthetic: for one, our carpet. Dear god, the carpet. It wasn't new when my gf moved in (some visible stains) and after 8 years and two cats (one who has kidney disease and has had some accidents) the carpet, which is a light, uh, sand color is now pretty worn. It shows every little scuff and stain despite the fact that I've rented a carpet cleaner before and have about 5 different kinds of manual cleaner. It's unbelievably hard to keep clean and even if I got it professionally cleaned, it would just show new stains even worse because of the light, unmottled color. Second, our ancient dishwasher isn't usable. It's not *broken,* but to use it you would need to rinse each dish so thoroughly you might as well wash it. We haven't even tried to use it in years. Third, the bathroom. The medicine cabinet is this atrocious cheap metal thing with a sliding mirror front, and one of the mirrors fell and smashed (cracking the edge of the hideous sink basin in the bargain) years ago so we just kind of shrugged and went on, but it looks janky as hell. These are the main things I hate. Initially, I really want new flooring. Not throughout, just the living room where it's most noticeable, and it is quite a small room. My dilemma is thus: my gf is scared that if I went and asked Jane about replacing the flooring, or really anything not absolutely necessary, she'd get miffed and up our rent more than $25 next time we sign the lease in April. My plan was to set up a meeting with her just to posit the carpet issue, i.e. "what should we do about this old rear end carpet?" and see how she responds, but I don't know how to frame this in a way that would make any of this look attractive to her. Does anyone have any advice on the matter, or has been in a similar situation? TL;DR I hate my carpet and want to replace it, but am afraid of my landlady's response.
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Dec 6, 2016 01:53
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If you still have two pissing cats, it doesn't make sense to replace the flooring now. When you move out, if the carpet is old and it includes some stains, she might take that in stride. If, when you move out, it was new just a couple years ago but it already has cat piss stains, you can definitely say goodbye to your deposit.
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Dec 6, 2016 02:13
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When are you due for next year's $25 increase? I would set up the discussion around that time. I.e. we don't mind keeping up with market rent as long as you don't mind keeping up with maintenance. If you (the collective you) have paid on time for 8 years, there is a lot in it for your landlord to keep you happy. I don't know how big this place is but after 8 years of on-time payments and (if this is true) no drama, $1k worth of carpet and a $300 dishwasher would be a pretty easy sell on me. I'd frame it as "we really love this place, we want to stay here for a long time, the carpet is getting old, what do you think about replacing it?". I would not mention how your incontinent cat pissed on the carpet for years. It's 8 year old carpet, it's seen better days, stick with that. I don't know why, but the bathroom vanity thing sounds like something you broke and now want her to pay to repair. Go to Home Depot, pick something out, unscrew the old one, screw in the new one, look at it as an investment in happiness. A note on dishwashers: $299 dishwashers are a landlord's best friend. Every landlord buys the same lovely $299 dishwashers. My roommate in college used to refer to it as a "dish warmer" because you'd put dirty dishes in there, and 90 minutes later they'd have the same crap on them but they'd be warm. At about the $600-700 range you get into some pretty good dishwashers. Consumer Reports puts out a list every year and every year there are a couple at the top that are in the $3k ballpark, and then at around #3 or 4 on the list is one at $650. I buy that one for my personal residence (I've been through a few) and oh-man can you put caked-on dried-on poo poo into this dishwasher and dishes will come out spotless. I'd feel out the carpet thing and then move to the dishwasher thing, but when she gets ready to pull the trigger, I'd tell her the dishwasher you really want, and that you know it's a couple hundred bucks extra, and ask if she'd maybe get it if you kicked in a couple hundred bucks. Again, this thread has some real heavy tenants-rights advocates who are probably spitting fire about my suggesting that you, the tenant, pay to make material improvements to your landlord's house, but she will buy you a lovely $299 dishwasher, and if you think you'll stay another year or three, $100/year is a small investment in happiness. Two last pieces of advice, a) this lady knows your girlfriend, have your girlfriend bring up the subject (and not in a "let's have a meeting" kind of way but more in a "hey, I was just thinking..." kind of way), and b) bring up your whole list at once, not carpet one month and dishwasher the next month and bathroom vanity in 3 months. Godspeed. Let us know how it turns out.
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Dec 6, 2016 08:38
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Anne Whateley posted:If you still have two pissing cats, it doesn't make sense to replace the flooring now. When you move out, if the carpet is old and it includes some stains, she might take that in stride. If, when you move out, it was new just a couple years ago but it already has cat piss stains, you can definitely say goodbye to your deposit. Sorry, I wasn't very clear about this! It's only one cat that's ever peed on the floor (just a couple of times) and it was thoroughly cleaned with the best stuff out there. There's no stains or odor from this whatsoever. This same cat had more of a vomiting issue-mostly in the past-which has also been thoroughly cleaned, but there is some barely perceptible staining as if he vomits in the morning and I don't get home until 7, it's gonna set in worse. My main point bringing that up is that even if I got the carpets professionally cleaned, their color (which is seriously off-white) means that every speck and spill will be even more glaringly obvious. And for some reason, the landlady disallows doormats (???) so stuff gets tracked in even with our shoe stand right by the door. Finally, this carpet was already stained when my gf moved in. photomikey posted:Really good advice Thanks, I really appreciate everything you've mentioned here! The $25 increase is in April I believe, I can definitely hold out until then. The bathroom vanity thing is a weird issue in that, yes, the mirror was our fault, but I'll have to post a picture of it later so you can see it in all its horrible, starting-to-rust glory. It's not terribly important, though. I should probably post a picture of the dish washer, too, as I'm pretty sure it's like 20+ years old. It is tan, brown, and horrible.
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Dec 6, 2016 18:22
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More dishwasher advice: Buy one of those dishwasher cleaner tablets and run the D/W. The true tightass (me) would just dump a cup of vinegar in there and run it empty. Do this a couple of times. You probably have 20 years of D/W detergent stuck in the water holes and you're getting 1/8th the pressure you should be getting. Put on your scuba steve outfit and bypass the door locking mechanism and see what is squirting and what is broken. Hold the door 90% closed and run it for 10 seconds. It should be obvious. edit: Run a load of your clear glass items (glasses) with the vinegar and no detergent. Your glasses will actually be clean again.
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Dec 7, 2016 20:39
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e:
CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 14:35
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CaptainJuan posted:So I recently moved into a new apartment, and i submitted a start-service request to the gas company a couple days ago, and requested a technician appointment for early next week but haven't yet gotten that confirmed. It's cold as hell in Chicago, but we didn't turn on our heat until just yesterday because we're cheap and hardcore and own many warm blankets. When I woke up this morning the heat definitely wasn't on... and the water was cold... and the stove wouldn't light. Up until I submitted the start service request, the gas was on and running to the furnace, water heater, and stove, presumably in the landlord's name. What do I do to avoid freezing to death? Are we just going to have to deal with it for the next however-many-days until they 1) verify my identity (they made me fax in copies of DL/passport/lease) and 2) send the technician? I'm already planning on calling the gas company to bitch as soon as I have a moment. Generally speaking, if the gas is off and someone is living there, they have to come out in some absurdly short period of time (like 6 hours or something) to turn the gas on. Call the gas company back and ask.
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Dec 9, 2016 17:31
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CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 18:27
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CaptainJuan posted:So I guess I hosed up and should have included this in the original post - ive been in this apartment for a couple of months. I called to start service the day we moved in but didn't set up an appointment because I didn't have my work schedule yet, and I totally forgot about it since then (because I'm a stupid goon piece of poo poo). Gas use has been light (I assume), but the utility provider claims that they sent multiple stop-service letters to us because we were "potential squatters" or something like that. I definitely didn't get those letters, nor did my LL who lives below me - he's old and kind of high strung and definitely would have notified me if he got a big red envelope. They used the phrase "illegal use of gas" and are saying that they cannot reactivate service until their enrollment department verifies my information and sets up an appointment. lol Idiots like you are the reason I have tenants sign utilities Start Service Request forms and Third Party Notification (for non-Payment shut off) forms at lease signing. You were at the very least verbally informed that gas was your responsibility. It was probably written in your lease. You didn't forget for a couple of months. You thought you were getting gas service for free, or on somebody else's dime. You already said you assumed it would be billed to your landlord. I don't know if you should call the utility and admit fault and offer to pay all the usage since the last tenant, or clam up and call a lawyer.
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Dec 9, 2016 18:50
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Before you buy a space heater, you should probably make sure you are paying the electric bill.
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Dec 9, 2016 18:59
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e:
CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 19:02
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If you're in Chicago city limits call 311 now. Landlords are required to keep the place heated to 68 in the daytime and 66 at night. Even if you haven't paid your rent and they are evicting you. People's Gas will not shut off your gas from November to April.
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Dec 9, 2016 19:09
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CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 19:10
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CaptainJuan posted:I don't want this to fall on my LL, he did nothing wrong and as goku chewbacca said so eloquently I am an idiot and this is 100% my fault. Fortunately for you, it won't fall on your landlord and he'll probably never be informed about the "illegal use" because the service wasn't in his name either. Like photomikey said, utilities like gas and water that can't shut service off remotely usually leave service on between occupants as a courtesy to save themselves two service calls to shut off and on service. They usually don't wait "a couple months" though. For our enjoyment/education, exactly how long is a couple months in your case?
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Dec 9, 2016 19:30
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CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 19:42
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CaptainJuan posted:Based on my gently caress up and illegal use of gas... Am I totally hosed? Is it time to go buy a space heater and deal with it for a week? If you're truly a piece of poo poo, just keep not paying and they'll keep chasing you and nothing bad ever happens. If you are middle class, they'll bill you for the gas you stole, then late fees and penalties and service charge, and $30 worth of natural gas will eventually be $500. Welcome to the USA. goku chewbacca posted:You were at the very least verbally informed that gas was your responsibility. It was probably written in your lease. You didn't forget for a couple of months. You thought you were getting gas service for free, or on somebody else's dime. You already said you assumed it would be billed to your landlord. photomikey fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Dec 9, 2016 |
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Dec 9, 2016 20:13
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CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 20:16
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God bless you for owning it. Let us know what they gouge you for.
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Dec 9, 2016 20:18
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photomikey posted:If you live in the USA, home of the Obamaphone and never-ending unemployment, where anyone with a hangnail can get permanent disability, no, you're not hosed, they basically have to provide you with heat. Call and make a stink. Call one of these "tenants rights" folks. They will do it by nightfall. Wow dude you have certainly got some opinions here huh??
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Dec 9, 2016 20:20
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It hits kind of a sore spot with me. He sort of owns up to the fuckup, which is commendable. After being a landlord for a while you have really heard every version of this, and it always ends with "but there's nothing I could have done", and there's always something you could have done.
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Dec 9, 2016 20:24
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photomikey posted:It hits kind of a sore spot with me. He sort of owns up to the fuckup, which is commendable. After being a landlord for a while you have really heard every version of this, and it always ends with "but there's nothing I could have done", and there's always something you could have done. Oh right you're that guy, figures.
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Dec 9, 2016 20:27
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CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 20:28
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CaptainJuan posted:Such as not be a piece of poo poo like me. Can I ask, honestly, did you really 100% forget, or was there a place in your mind that was like...hmm... three months, no word from the gas company. Maybe they forgot?
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Dec 9, 2016 20:29
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CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 20:32
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For anyone that has to use Paymentus to pay for things; Be very careful with entering your cards information. They say it was successful and not send a confirmation at all, but then a month later they will tell your utility provider that the payment was rejected as fraud and you will almost miss your due date and get put on a cash only payment list for 12 months unless you provide a written letter from the cards bank. Also you will have to call all 3 several times as they all point the finger at each other to get the course of action to rectify this.
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Dec 9, 2016 20:32
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I can't say the landlord handled it well either. If I get a bill from an occupied unit, the procedure is to pay it (it's our name on the bill, after all), immediately invoice the resident for same amount, and give them 72 hours to switch it over. We can extend that deadline when they respond if needed. But it sounds like the landlord got one or more bills, paid them, then realized oh poo poo we shouldn't be paying this and had service turned off. Which is a dick move by the landlord, especially at this time of year.
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Dec 9, 2016 20:42
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CaptainJuan fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2016 20:44
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| # ? May 18, 2024 10:35 |
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Gas for my units is left on as a courtesy, I never see a bill. In between tenants they ziptie a yellow hang-tag to the door that says the gas service has been left on as a courtesy and you should call to start service before occupying the unit. They shut off the electric unless I switch it over. In the wintertime I switch it to my name (can't show a unit in the dark!), but in the summertime when it stays light until 8 or 9 I rarelydo. You can't occupy the unit until they flip it on though, so I tell tennys to get it turned on before lease signing. If It's in my name, I call the electric company to turn off service before we do the lease signing. It's illegal for me to cut off utilities if they're in my name. The electric company can do it legally though! So I leave it to them.
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Dec 9, 2016 20:51
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