I get it to some degree. It’s hard renting for decades and not being able to improve where you live. If the person here thought they had a decent landlord and they’d still live there a decade from now, I think it can make sense.
The way to do it is to work in either a rent decrease for X months for the work and materials or lock in a low rent for X years based on the work being done.
Another alternative is to do the above and get the landlord to supply the materials.
I’ve done it in the past and it has worked out well though usually for minor things (like replacing generic doorknobs with nicer looking ones, replacing a toilet with a better flushing one, or installing a ceiling fan).
Adding insulation to the attic if it’s missing in spots can also make sense to do if you’re paying the utilities. Though again I would get the landlord to at a minimum to pay for materials or discount it from the rent.
If the upgrades are things that will help make the unit more marketable when you move out, then they’d be dumb to turn it down.
Indeed. I did something like I mentioned above + we replaced the master bathroom carpet (yuck) with tiles for pretty cheap. In return we locked in a 1 year rent reduction to recoup our costs and 2 years at a low rate.
It worked out for everyone. We didn’t have to live with disgusting bathroom carpets, the place looked nicer for the rest of our rental period, it let us save money to put a down payment on a house, and we didn’t have the temptation to move to a “nicer looking” place and spend money and time on moving again.
In the end, the landlord got back a place that was more attractive to future renters.
The key is to ensure your landlord is a decent person (they exist). Ours only had the one house they were renting (used to be their house before they bought a new house in a better school district and decided to rent vs sell).
If it’s a large holding company that is known to screw over tenants? Yeah fuck them, do the bare minimum and move out.
Turns out, she’s “never there” so, I’m assuming it’s a second home. Like she goes to the area frequently enough that she doesn’t want to deal with hotels. Makes this even dumber
My landlord served notice on me after 13 years, I’m moving home next month. He is a greedy little cunt, constantly tried to pressure me to refurbish his property for him despite me being the tenant. Last time I asked for a minor repair, he immediately notified the letting agent that he would be putting my rent up this coming October. Regardless, I agreed the new price, only to still be served notice on (I assume because he knows he can get a slightly higher rent by getting a brand new tenant in, rather than an increase).
Genuinely though I was tempted to do some redecorating. This is (for now) my home. It sucks living in a rundown home; the wallpaper / carpets in this house afaik are at least 25 years old. But when you get ‘too demanding’ then you suddenly find yourself out of a home.
I get what you’re saying, but he hasn’t invested jack. He inherited a portfolio of local properties when his dad passed away a few years back, all mortgage-free (I know other members of his family so have more info about him than he realises).
When his dad died, his cousin warned me: “His son is taking over the properties, he is a bastard, be prepared for your rent to go up”. Within weeks of gaining control he put my rent up. I dunno, maybe he immediately remortgaged all the properties to buy more. I hope he goes bust.
A landlord was being shitty to someone and it was clear he wouldn’t get his deposit back no matter what, so when the renter moved, he took everything. Meaning he unscrewed the plugs from the wall and took those with him, took the toilet seat and so on. Play stupid games, win stupid prices I guess.
Wow, that’s some nuclear revenge. I’m about to do something similar (though legal). When I moved into this property, the curtain poles were crappy & had sellotape for pelmets; one ‘curtain’ was a bedsheet, another was some pathetic gossamer thin material; no shower curtain, crappy showerhead. They’re all going back up before I leave, for sure.
One of my neighbors lived in a large 1 bedroom apartment. It was in the family since the 60s. It’s rent stabilized and in a popular area. A decade ago she was paying $850, market value at the time was $2k+. She renovated her kitchen when I lived there…. The downside was that her new upstairs neighbor was a musician and had a full sized piano that he’d practice on daily for hours at a time…
If you know you can’t be evicted unless you stop paying rent and the rent is cheap enough, it’s not a bad idea to renovate it a bit. I told my friend he should quietly renovate his rental apartment because he hated the kitchen and all the flooring. He was paying $2k under market price, had rent control, and because it’s a corporate landlord, they can’t evict him unless he misses rent a lot or harasses other tenants.
My friend opted to buy a condo instead, so while his mortgage is more than his rent was, at least he’s earning equity and a rising housing market.
yeah, you have to do the math to calculate the total expenses since maintenance fees can be very expensive in condos, much higher than paying for a rent control or stabilized apt.
It’s very uncommon to find available rent controlled apartments. Some of the leases allow you to pass the apartment and its current pricing to a child, so there’s a lot of them where the same family has lived there for 20+ years and just passed the lease down the family.
In my area, there’s some newer rent controlled ones, but they’re only available to low-income families (which makes sense to me). There’s also California-wide rent control for most properties which mandates a maximum increase of CPI + 5% per year, capped at 10%. It’s not really rent control though, since the rent still rises higher than inflation (eg if inflation is 3%, the rent can still go up as much as 8%).
Not to this scale, but my partner’s father has spent a fair bit of money doing upgrades and repairs that are technically for the landlord. However, I should note that the contract isn’t registered, meaning the landlord cannot index the rent. This also makes it hard to hold the landlord responsible for doing any repairs. On the other hand, renter can’t be held responsible for modifications either. So legally there is more freedom on either side. Thing is, the renter can always demand registration. But usually this means no renewal of the contract. It’s very likely here the property would get sold and even if he brings up the money, it may be sold to someone else. So the short answer is really that people in poverty often don’t know or don’t dare to stand up for their rights and loopholes like this keep existing because you can get a cheaper rent on a building not up to standards.
Why the hell would you spend $12k to update a rental property that you don’t own? This is more like /c/midllydumbass
I get it to some degree. It’s hard renting for decades and not being able to improve where you live. If the person here thought they had a decent landlord and they’d still live there a decade from now, I think it can make sense.
The way to do it is to work in either a rent decrease for X months for the work and materials or lock in a low rent for X years based on the work being done.
Another alternative is to do the above and get the landlord to supply the materials.
I’ve done it in the past and it has worked out well though usually for minor things (like replacing generic doorknobs with nicer looking ones, replacing a toilet with a better flushing one, or installing a ceiling fan).
Adding insulation to the attic if it’s missing in spots can also make sense to do if you’re paying the utilities. Though again I would get the landlord to at a minimum to pay for materials or discount it from the rent.
If the upgrades are things that will help make the unit more marketable when you move out, then they’d be dumb to turn it down.
yea you really want something on paper showing awareness and consent from the owner
Indeed. I did something like I mentioned above + we replaced the master bathroom carpet (yuck) with tiles for pretty cheap. In return we locked in a 1 year rent reduction to recoup our costs and 2 years at a low rate.
It worked out for everyone. We didn’t have to live with disgusting bathroom carpets, the place looked nicer for the rest of our rental period, it let us save money to put a down payment on a house, and we didn’t have the temptation to move to a “nicer looking” place and spend money and time on moving again.
In the end, the landlord got back a place that was more attractive to future renters.
The key is to ensure your landlord is a decent person (they exist). Ours only had the one house they were renting (used to be their house before they bought a new house in a better school district and decided to rent vs sell).
If it’s a large holding company that is known to screw over tenants? Yeah fuck them, do the bare minimum and move out.
Turns out, she’s “never there” so, I’m assuming it’s a second home. Like she goes to the area frequently enough that she doesn’t want to deal with hotels. Makes this even dumber
https://twitter.com/eade_bengard/status/1696982908022739091?s=20
She seems insufferable after scrolling through her feed.
Nah she dumb
My landlord served notice on me after 13 years, I’m moving home next month. He is a greedy little cunt, constantly tried to pressure me to refurbish his property for him despite me being the tenant. Last time I asked for a minor repair, he immediately notified the letting agent that he would be putting my rent up this coming October. Regardless, I agreed the new price, only to still be served notice on (I assume because he knows he can get a slightly higher rent by getting a brand new tenant in, rather than an increase).
Genuinely though I was tempted to do some redecorating. This is (for now) my home. It sucks living in a rundown home; the wallpaper / carpets in this house afaik are at least 25 years old. But when you get ‘too demanding’ then you suddenly find yourself out of a home.
That’s capitalism. If you invest money you want a return. It’s the entire system. Maintaining anything if not required goes against the whole ethos.
I get what you’re saying, but he hasn’t invested jack. He inherited a portfolio of local properties when his dad passed away a few years back, all mortgage-free (I know other members of his family so have more info about him than he realises).
When his dad died, his cousin warned me: “His son is taking over the properties, he is a bastard, be prepared for your rent to go up”. Within weeks of gaining control he put my rent up. I dunno, maybe he immediately remortgaged all the properties to buy more. I hope he goes bust.
A landlord was being shitty to someone and it was clear he wouldn’t get his deposit back no matter what, so when the renter moved, he took everything. Meaning he unscrewed the plugs from the wall and took those with him, took the toilet seat and so on. Play stupid games, win stupid prices I guess.
Wow, that’s some nuclear revenge. I’m about to do something similar (though legal). When I moved into this property, the curtain poles were crappy & had sellotape for pelmets; one ‘curtain’ was a bedsheet, another was some pathetic gossamer thin material; no shower curtain, crappy showerhead. They’re all going back up before I leave, for sure.
One of my neighbors lived in a large 1 bedroom apartment. It was in the family since the 60s. It’s rent stabilized and in a popular area. A decade ago she was paying $850, market value at the time was $2k+. She renovated her kitchen when I lived there…. The downside was that her new upstairs neighbor was a musician and had a full sized piano that he’d practice on daily for hours at a time…
If you know you can’t be evicted unless you stop paying rent and the rent is cheap enough, it’s not a bad idea to renovate it a bit. I told my friend he should quietly renovate his rental apartment because he hated the kitchen and all the flooring. He was paying $2k under market price, had rent control, and because it’s a corporate landlord, they can’t evict him unless he misses rent a lot or harasses other tenants.
My friend opted to buy a condo instead, so while his mortgage is more than his rent was, at least he’s earning equity and a rising housing market.
yeah, you have to do the math to calculate the total expenses since maintenance fees can be very expensive in condos, much higher than paying for a rent control or stabilized apt.
How does one end up in an apartment with rent stabilization? I’ve wondered this.
Get a time machine
Great, what’s step three?
profit
It’s very uncommon to find available rent controlled apartments. Some of the leases allow you to pass the apartment and its current pricing to a child, so there’s a lot of them where the same family has lived there for 20+ years and just passed the lease down the family.
In my area, there’s some newer rent controlled ones, but they’re only available to low-income families (which makes sense to me). There’s also California-wide rent control for most properties which mandates a maximum increase of CPI + 5% per year, capped at 10%. It’s not really rent control though, since the rent still rises higher than inflation (eg if inflation is 3%, the rent can still go up as much as 8%).
Not to this scale, but my partner’s father has spent a fair bit of money doing upgrades and repairs that are technically for the landlord. However, I should note that the contract isn’t registered, meaning the landlord cannot index the rent. This also makes it hard to hold the landlord responsible for doing any repairs. On the other hand, renter can’t be held responsible for modifications either. So legally there is more freedom on either side. Thing is, the renter can always demand registration. But usually this means no renewal of the contract. It’s very likely here the property would get sold and even if he brings up the money, it may be sold to someone else. So the short answer is really that people in poverty often don’t know or don’t dare to stand up for their rights and loopholes like this keep existing because you can get a cheaper rent on a building not up to standards.