Life goes on even if there is the ghost of a recession affecting mortgage lenders’ confidence. People still need to buy homes and refinance. Yet some borrowers are getting a shock when they can’t get a loan for their next home, an investment property …

My apartment manager, who so happens to be the director of the HOA although no homeowners actually live in the units…recently adopted a no smoking policy. She mentioned this was going to happen as she handed me a lease. Nothing at all in the new lease about this new policy, but she had apparently mailed a letter the very same day with this new rule. Wouldn’t she legally have to give me the letter BEFORE signing? Don’t leases have to expire and be re-newed to make rule changes? No one has been asked to sign the new rule either.

I should note, I assumed the no smoking was for decks, outside stairs, or by windows as she has mentioned she wanted to do many times. This rule even bans having a cigarette in our cars pulling in or out of the driveway. She also stated there would be a “very nice smoking area with tables and chairs”. Welll..this “very nice area” is ten feet from railroad tracks and a major street. The chairs consists of large cement blocks and raw wood, currently there is snow a foot deep in this area.

My question is, can she legally change a lease without agreeing to it in writing? Is this grounds to get out of my lease? And, isn’t it a conflict of interest to be the sole leasing agent, and owner of the property management with no other employees and the director of an HOA which the managers husband has said has one person..the manager.
I should add details, I have never smoked inside, that is in the original lease which I followed as I hate smoke inside and I have children.

The problem is according to the new rule there is no smoking anywhere at all. She claims it is an HOA rule, therefore not a lease change as we agreed to follow HOA rules. It gets trickier. This so called “HOA” hadn’t filed papers with the state for over two years when this was passed. I mentioned this to her as I was trying to find the HOA director, which so happens to be the sole employee/owner of the property management company.

From what I understand if there is a violation it is against the owner, but I don’t have a clue who owns this place and she refused to tell me. Any tax records are listed under the property manager/HOA director. Building permits are under yet another delinquent company with the same person.

I moved into my apartment over three years ago. I am leasing a condo from a property management group.

I have a dog, and I was allowed to have the dog at this property because the carpet was already stained. This was not written on my lease, and the woman that I leased from no longer works for the company. This worries me, after reading some of the questions and answers on here. I wonder if they will try and pin the stains on me. I do have photos of the carpet from when I moved in, but they are not dated. Is this a problem?

The company that I am leasing from seems a little shady—I have long hair and have called twice regarding hair clogs and they told me that from now on, if I call about a hair clog that I will have to pay the plumber. My lease says nothing about maintenance being my responsibility.

Currently I am living there without having a signed lease—I signed for the first year, but have not re-signed in the two years additional years I have been there. #1 I don’t want to get stuck with them if I can find a much better deal, or even purchase. And, #2 I don’t want them to be able to raise my rent, which they tried to do when they sent the second year lease—which I didn’t sign.

I am trying to redecorate because I am planning on staying until I can get most of my finances worked out, but this carpet just looks nasty. I have rented and used a carpet cleaner from the grocery twice, but the large stain keeps reappearing and the carpet itself is starting to look frayed in that spot, because it’s taken so much to get that stain out (but it keeps reappearing!)

Here are my questions:

How can I get a greasy/oily stain up— and keep it gone?
Can I ask them to replace the carpet?
Should I worry that they will try and pin the stains and runs on me?
Will I get my security deposit back? If not, can they actually charge me more?
If I can’t get rid of the carpet, how can I cover it effectively? Just rugs?
If they try and argue with me, would my pictures hold up in court?

Thanks for the help!

I live in state college, pa (home to penn state university) where a majority of the student apartment and house leases are run by one company, Associated Rental Property Management. If you ask anyone around town for their opinion of ARPM, it will be assuredly negative. They overcharge for repairs. their maintenance crews walk through bedrooms and what not each week. When someone calls in with a tough question to their office, arpm puts them on hold until they hang up eventually. Among other things, it just seems like the company takes advantage of the fact that their renters are college students who don’t have any experience in renting/owning property and the laws associated with that.

Oh, they also don’t have any standard processing fee charges for contracts/repairs/etc, it is whatever they please

My question is whether or not there is something (like the better business bureau maybe?), or a governmental body that i can report ARPM to. I dont expect to take down the mighty giant that is ARPM, just some sort of review of their policies, or some sort of warning of disciplinary action in the future.

this plague of a company established in nottingham, uk is the bane of many peoples lives… they take the rent money, for which they charge extortionate amounts, and they tell you that all bills are included in the cost of the rent, which is not true. i lived at a property rented by these scammers and they ripped me off. the cooker didnt work, the boiler didnt work, the ceilings were falling down and the gas killed my dog whilst i was at work!! one day they came and removed my bed and the fridge freezer for no reason what so ever!!! everytime i call them they laugh down the phone at me!! i was paying £125 per week on a pre pay meter for gas alone and they said that this was the going rate??? i called the gas company and they said that after an investigation that the gas meter had been tampered with to 8x more money than it should, nearly the same for the electric. they turn up at my home unannounced and let themselves in. things have gone missing from my house too and they do not want to know. im at breaking point but im young and i feel they are lying and taking advantage of me. they said my rent has gone up by 40% with no notice and that i will have to move out within 3 days if i don’t agree to the rent increase??? they were so nice until the day i sighed my tenancy agreement and that’s when the psycho bullying started.

please help me out as i do not know what to do i am crying as i type this i just dont want anyone else to fall for these bullying cowboys??

i dont know what to do and now they are getting very violent towards me??

help!!!

The property management we rent from are horrible, evil, unethical thieves. They love to bill for bogus work and don’t return calls. I’ve never paid rent late and even turned them into the Better Business Bureau because they can’t substantiate their charges. I’ve also paid their bills but have emailed them to let them know I dispute the charges. Their only response is if I don’t pay they’ll take it out of my rent and then evict me for not paying rent in full. When I ask to have them explain their charges I get either no response or “we’re looking into it” (six months later, they are still looking into it). I don’t want to break lease because then it will look bad for me but I want to know what I can do to protect myself so that I can get my $1500 security deposit back. I googled them and found they have all kinds of bad remarks about “fake” charges when during leases and when people leave so they can keep the deposits and it seems as though they have never returned security deposits. My question is, what can I do to ensure they have no reason to keep my deposit? I’ll paint where the bed rubs against the wall in my boys room and re-caulk the showers (as a previous renter said they charged him $350 to recaulk the one shower). I just want to know if anyone has any advice so I can avoid getting their super-inflated charges. Thanks!

I rent a condo from a property management company. My one-year lease expired on January 1, 2010. I contacted my landlord in November 2009, advising him I would like to renew my lease for an additional term. My lease indicated (hand-written into the lease by the landlord at time of signing) that a further one-year lease term was an option at the end of the first term. My landlord did not respond to my email in November 2009. I called him a week after I sent him the email. He said that would be fine and he would send the lease documents over. In January, I still had not received the renewed lease documents. I emailed and called him again. He said that he was on vacation for 4 weeks and would do the lease when he got back into town. I called him 2 weeks ago. He said he had not been in touch with the owners, but would call them. I called him 1 week ago - he said he had spoken with the condo owners and they needed some time to think about it; he said he would let me know in a couple of days.

The owners of the condo have a daughter. In September 2009 the owners (with their daughter) came to look at the unit. They said that the mother and daughter had not seen the unit and simply wanted to see it finally. They said they were in town because their daughter is attending university (a 30 minute drive from the condo). They said the daughter would be residing on campus.

I really want to stay living where I am. I have been a perfect tenant. He has never had to speak to me once, rent is always paid in advance. I have a feeling the daughter may want to live in this condo come this September - as she is continuing her studies.

What should I do? Should I just start looking for a place now?

Thanks!

We have found a great house in Florida during the current low housing market. We have recently renewed our lease until November. I called the actual home owner and contacted the property management company with no help what so ever. I have always paid on time and kept the house very clean and presentable. It will be spotless when I leave. Any suggestions to try to get out of this lease? they are holding me responsible for the balance of the lease and I have to keep electric on for the pool pump. I have been very fair and up front with them about the entire situation and they don’t seem to want to budge to help. Help please.

I rent a condo from a property management company. My one-year lease expired on January 1, 2010. I contacted my landlord in November 2009, advising him I would like to renew my lease for an additional term. My lease indicated (hand-written into the lease by the landlord at time of signing) that a further one-year lease term was an option at the end of the first term. My landlord did not respond to my email in November 2009. I called him a week after I sent him the email. He said that would be fine and he would send the lease documents over. In January, I still had not received the renewed lease documents. I emailed and called him again. He said that he was on vacation for 4 weeks and would do the lease when he got back into town. I called him 2 weeks ago. He said he had not been in touch with the owners, but would call them. I called him 1 week ago - he said he had spoken with the condo owners and they needed some time to think about it; he said he would let me know in a couple of days.

The owners of the condo have a daughter. In September 2009 the owners (with their daughter) came to look at the unit. They said that the mother and daughter had not seen the unit and simply wanted to see it finally. They said they were in town because their daughter is attending university (a 30 minute drive from the condo). They said the daughter would be residing on campus.

I really want to stay living where I am. I have been a perfect tenant. He has never had to speak to me once, rent is always paid in advance. I have a feeling the daughter may want to live in this condo come this September - as she is continuing her studies.

What should I do? Should I just start looking for a place now?

Thanks!

I live in Oregon and live in an apartment with a month-to-month agreement. My roommate is moving out and I plan on staying without getting another roommate to replace him. The property management company said the deposit stays with the rental, which I understand. However, I think of the security deposit also to be a cleaning deposit so when I move out I will have to clean the entire apt as well as pay for or clean the carpet myself. My roommate wants his half of the deposit when he leaves. Can I withhold a small portion since I will have to take care of the cleaning and carpets whenever I finally leave?