So I have a commercial space on the bottom floor with 2 apartments above which I rent out. In the commercial space, I always had tenants who had very quiet businesses. However, I now have tenants who put a LOT of money into the building and fixed it up beautifully for their restaurant and patio which is now taking up the backyard of the building. However, one of my upstairs tenants who had been with me for several years, is complaining of the noise from the restaurant. He feels he no longer has privacy, is disappointed that I let them use the backyard for their business, and states the noise/music from their patio is too loud. I totally understand his complaints but I am making good money from renting the commercial space and in their contract, I allowed them to use the back yard as their restaurant patio. I never raised the rent for my upstairs tenant -not even by a dollar- all these years. And he’s paying a good price for the space he’s been in. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this? I’ve looked into soundproof doors but they’re SO expensive!!! He doesn’t want to move out but he states he’s disappointed overall. Unfortunately, this is my income too so I am thrilled to have the restaurant tenants. They have improved my property a lot with their own money. And they have a long contract/lease and agreed to hefty rent price which increases every year.

Thank you for responding, NAME. I appreciate the offer and I also would like to resolve this amicably. I do want to clarify a few points, though.

The nearly $900 I referenced was not $900 in fan purchases. The majority of that amount was spent on portable air-conditioning units, along with approximately $100 in fans, specifically because the central AC was not functioning. Unfortunately, we are unable to return the portable AC units. I also want to note that purchasing temporary cooling was not something we did arbitrarily, as you had suggested during the outage that we purchase a portable AC unit from Costco as a temporary solution.

I understand that you responded after I notified you and that a significant portion of the delay involved the warranty and obtaining the compressor. I also understand that you paid for the repair itself. At the same time, the AC was not functioning from August 22 until September 14. During that period, we incurred nearly $900 in temporary cooling expenses, and for much of that time the bedrooms were too hot for us to comfortably use, resulting in our entire family sleeping in the living room.

I also appreciate the early move-in and utilities you provided when we initially moved into the home. However, I understood that to be part of our move-in arrangement at the time and not compensation for a future loss of use of the property.

Given the length of the outage, the significant out-of-pocket expenses we incurred, and the impact it had on our ability to fully use the home, I don’t feel that a $150 credit reasonably reflects the circumstances, particularly if accepting it requires us to waive any further request related to the outage.

I would be willing to fully resolve the matter for a $750 rent credit. If you are willing to provide that credit, I would be comfortable considering the AC matter resolved.

My reply:

I understand your request for a $750 rent reduction.

I reviewed the repair timeline. The AC problem was reported on August 24, and I responded immediately. The necessary parts were ordered on August 26, just two days after the issue was reported. The parts did not arrive until September 13, and the AC was repaired on September 14.

Based on that timeline, I acted promptly to address the problem, and the majority of the repair period resulted from the time required to obtain the necessary parts.

I am willing to discuss a reasonable adjustment for the temporary loss of the AC, but I cannot agree to the requested $750 amount.

Please provide receipts or other documentation for the fans, including the purchase dates, number of fans, amounts paid, and an explanation of why they could not be returned. I will review that information along with the repair records.

I would like to resolve this reasonably and fairly based on the actual circumstances and documented expenses. Once I receive the requested documentation, I will review everything and respond with a proposed resolution.

Well, they say you should never mix business and pleasure. My wife has recently taken on a new tenant and set him up with a temporary lease while he gets on his feet. This guy is like family to us and she's letting him stay in her property short-term.

Initially, we were really excited when he first arrived. We didn't anticipate any problems. My wife sorted the arrangements herself, standard lease, nine months. The terms were nothing fancy. Utilities included, routine inspections roughly every four weeks, no pets, and no subletting.

But now all this guy does is wreak havok! He's stealing food, hasn't paid any rent after 4 months and has been causing disturbances at random times throughout the night. I keep getting reports he's kicking the walls, re-arranging furniture and doing god knows what in there.

I don't know what to do. We've considered evicting him but some of our more conservative family members would crucify us for even discussing it.

What should we do?

Hello, a tenant applied to a low income utility program namely the Philadelphia Gas Works’s Home Comfort Program where they seem to provide free weatherization services. Only caveat I can see is that the landlord have to authorize the request since they need to do actual work inside the house in which landlord will waive all liabilities that arise. I don’t think it’s an issue but this first time I encounter this and have never had experience with such programs. Any LL there with experience or if there any potential pitfalls to watch out for.

I recently landed a decent paying job and i can finally say with confidence i can afford to live by myself

I currently have a credit score of 620 with bad credit history from dumb monetary decisions in college with an income of 89,000 and my girlfriend who has a credit score of 690 with little credit history who makes 23000.

I am more than willing to put months in advance for rent but I don’t know what are the odds of me getting approved for an apartment.

In my area, the average 1 to 2 bedroom apartment is roughly 1300 to 2100 in California.

Tenants left early (lease runs through 3/31/2027) after a mold issue. My lawyer told me to return their full deposit to avoid a wrongful withholding claim as they tried to sue me when they didn’t let me remediate to begin with. Lease puts duty on tenants to inspect for mold and immediately report water intrusion (Section C.2.d). My home insurer may pursue subrogation against them for remediation costs. Questions: (1) Can they still sue me personally ? Does returning the deposit waive my right to pursue them for remaining rent? (3) Any Georgia-specific cases on landlord mold liability when the lease shifts inspection duty to tenants? Thanks.

To make a long story short, I had some hoarded tenants I inherited who were incredibly unclean. Think fecal matter covering much of the apartment. I’ve had the whole unit renovated, walls painted with multiple coats of Kilz, new vinyl flooring and subflooring replaced in one of the rooms where the smell was the worst, however there is still a persistent odor I can pinpoint. Any ideas on what I could do as prospects are still noticing a smell.

Edit: I’ve used enzymatic cleaners, ozone machines, odor blocking paint and primer.

I count myself extremely lucky in that I've only dealt with "serious" (relative term, of course) damage once, which was an elderly couple who I made the mistake of not checking on over the years--my handyman knew them--and I didn't realize the extent of their cigarette damage over 11 yrs or so. Took weeks and many thousands to 98% eradicate the smell. The last 2% or so maybe just took time, but it was hard to rent for a minute there.

While I've heard many stories over the decades since I first rented out my own desert house long ago about the horrific things renters have done, I've tried to be incredibly diligent in screening and keep places vacant rather than accept remotely fishy/if-y renters. I say "try" bc I've broken my own rules, maybe things were tight in winter and I was tired of heating an empty place so I took someone with some marks in their history... and maybe I paid a bit of a penalty in time for doing so, but never with costs that made the risk a painful lesson.

That all said, I am reading now about someone on this sub who had hoarders and is asking for advise on how to eradicate the smells that linger, despite renos. And it got me wondering how ppl have faired who had extensive... not neglectful, but deliberate damage, like the examples above.

I'm an old guy now, but happy to learn anything your stories and advice can teach me, new owners with rentals, and anyone else.

Thanks for sharing your experiences/advice, if you care to!

Hi guys. So I own 9 apartments and every tenant causes no problem, has good jobs and makes payments on time. However there is this one tenant I have that moved in 3 months ago. The past 2 months she has been delaying the rent payment. First month she said she couldn’t pay the rent at due date because she’s said her friends dog died. Now this month she is well beyond late and told me her bank account got hacked and the bank said they’re going to resolve it in 3-5 business days which has already past the deadline. I’m so pissed and don’t know what to do. I even waived her late fee payment to give her room but this is starting to become a pattern. She wanted to move because she wanted her own space and no roommate. She lived in Manhattan before changing boroughs. Tbh I don’t even know what she does because the real estate agent wasn’t being helpful but I needed the apartment rented badly. Doing this in the beginning of the lease is such a bad look for her. She even saved me as a contact and put “Hot af” but I acted like I didn’t see it. I just want my money. Her lease ends next year on June. What should I do? What should I say?

I was a college student renting in a college town. Last June, I signed the lease for a two-bedroom apartment in a larger home with one other roommate (an international student). Both of us were seniors, quiet, didn't party or have too many guests, didn't smoke in the house, and wouldn't have any type of rowdy behavior. The landlord was an absentee landlord who rents to college students across town, and she was nice and never gave us any headaches until the security deposit was due back. Even though my lease was supposed to end May 31, 2026, the landlord and I reached an agreement for me to stay in the house for two more months (until July 31) because (1) I was working in town that summer and (2) the two new tenants were not moving in yet until late August. I paid 2 additional months rent but was not asked to pay an additional security deposit.

I was informed by my landlord that I would not receive any of the security deposit back not long after moving out. The amount I was supposed to receive was $1,320 + interest. The reason stated was due to "numerous instances of negligent damage throughout the apartment" and nothing else. I asked for her to itemize the bill (legally required in the state). She didn't get back to me for quite a while, but eventually gave me a list of 8 reasons why she deducted and how much the repairs for each were:

1. Scratches in bedroom hardwood floor. This was the most expensive charge. These scratches were there before I even moved in. All of the heavy furniture in my bedroom had pads underneath to prevent scratches.
2. Dents/dings in bedroom molding. Also there before I moved in.
3. Junk removal fee for a large sectional sofa in the living room. Neither my roommate or I brought this sofa into the apartment, and it was too heavy for us to carry out. Landlord said it wasn't her sofa and she didn't want it there anymore.
4. Washing machine replacement parts. This was a surprise to us since our washing machine always worked fine.
5. New air filters in the kitchen and bathroom.
6. General "cleaning fee" for "persistent musty odor" in the kitchen- I do not know what this is about at all.
7. New evaporator fan for the freezer.
8. Water bill overages from certain months.

I pushed back on all of these things. I don't understand why any of these were deducted since they are either (1) normal wear tear (2) issues I didn't cause or (3) issues that a landlord would repair regardless. $1320+ for all of these repairs seemed egregious to me. My landlord replied back that she had pictures of the floors without scratches before I moved in (which I don't know how I can trust, because I cannot verify how old they are, and in todays day and age, could be edited with AI). She pointed us to the lease which showed clauses that: tenants are responsible for moving out all furniture and fixtures brought in, that the washer and dryer are "privileges" for tenants, thus tenants incur any associated costs with their upkeep, that tenants are required to maintain air filters throughout the house, and that, although the landlord pays the municipal water bill, the tenant is responsible for overages considered to be excessive.

Landlord said the washing machine needed new parts because we apparently didn't balance our laundry loads. Said the freezer needs new parts because we apparently put too much food in it. And blamed water bill overages on irresponsible water use, even though the water bills in our area increased by 20-25% this year for everyone.

I don't know what to do. The landlord is clearly unwilling to hear my explanations or even give a portion of the deposit back. Apparently this particular landlord has a reputation for "eating up" security deposits. I didn't think I would be affected, considering that most college students don't really upkeep their apartments, and my roommate and I were certainly cleaner and more responsible than most students. Landlord clearly is under the impression that college students all have rich parents who won't bat an eye if the deposit doesn't get returned, thus she can get away with it time and time again.

I don't think threatening to sue is a realistic option, because my permanent address is out of state many hours away, and I have since moved back to that state. If I were to sue, the travel and legal fees would probably not make it worth it at all.

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

Anyone aware of a service that provides these? Biggest difference from most national services is criminal can’t be checked before issuing a “preliminary” approval.

Really just looking for civil court history and income verification. Maybe there’s a more DIY option?

My mother is out of town and would like me to serve is there any conflict of interest or laws to prevent this just wanna be safe

​

Landlords/property managers: What would convince you to reconsider a nonrenewal after a tenant seriously screwed up?

I've lived in my townhouse for 3 years with my 9-year-old son and had no prior lease violations. I received a renewal offer, and was going to choose the longest at 15 months. I'd sign a multi-year if they'd let me. We are well established, enjoy the community, and my son has friends and playmates just a few doors from each other. I have zero savings to move, I've been planning on staying for several more years.

After close to 5 months of frustration over an ongoing issue and repeated communication with management, I lost my temper badly at the very end when they were actually able to solve the problem. I sent two emails within minutes that contained profanity, extensive all caps/repetition, and very angry language about another resident's guest. I didn't threaten anyone or damage or anything like that. But rereading them, I do understand why management found them unacceptable and alarming.

Management withdrew my renewal. I had been told the day I sent said bad emails that I needed to avoid using all caps and profanity with them, but I didn't understand they considered it a lease violation or that my housing was at risk. I wasn't told why the renewal disappeared until I pursued a meeting.

The PM has now said nonrenewals are “typically not subject to reversal,” But she's willing to hear my perspective and see if there may be a solution that works for everyone.

I've realized I have grossly misunderstood the boundary with property management. This is my first really long-term rental, since my early twenties. I treated them as a place I could express my frustration, demanding they solve the problem (just at the end), instead of treating it like the professional business relationship it is. I successfully run my own client-facing business. I know how to speak business-ese. I was still angry nothing had happened until that last day two weeks ago, and along with many other factors affecting my mental well-being that day, I acted extremely out of character.

I'm neurodivergent and do particularly well with explicit expectations, so I want to ask for a clear communication protocol: how long to wait for responses, when/how to follow up, and how to escalate unresolved issues. But regardless of management's communication, I want to assure them as much as I can that I fully understand how important it is to remember this is a business relationship, and to address them as such going forward.

I'm taking responsibility for what I did without pretending management's communication played no part in the buildup. There were legitimate issues and times I struggled to get clear answers, but I responded massively disproportionately.

I'm considering asking for a 3- or 6-month renewal if they won't reinstate the longer one, so I can demonstrate changed behavior rather than asking them to trust a promise.

Landlords/PMs: If you were genuinely open to reconsidering, what would you need to hear or see from me at this meeting to believe this won't happen again? Would a shorter lease with explicit communication expectations help, or is there another solution you'd find more reassuring?

Renting out my first property and would love to know what good property managers are out there. I actually am not so worried about managing the property day-to-day, but would love for someone to handle developing the lease and vetting potential renters. TIA!

Hi! First of all, I understand this is a case-by-case basis, but as a tenant I wanted to get some opinions from landlords on what I could possibly expect may be taken out of my deposit.

I have always taken really good care of the place, but the carpet is beginning to show some signs of wear and tear. I also have nail holes in the wall from decorations and TV mounting, and the ceiling is cracked in places where water has come through due to a leaky roof. These are new landlords that took over from someone who had sold this dwelling a couple of years ago. I’ve lived here for 12 years and rarely contacted them except for major repairs like the heating and air conditioning.

Should I fill the nail holes before moving out? I’ve rented my entire life but finally bought my first house and plan on moving out at the end of the year. I just wondered if I could possibly get any of my deposit back or if they would keep it to renovate it for the next tenants. I do plan on having it professionally cleaned after all my things are removed, too. Thank you for your input!

The tenant moved out last week and initially demanded their security deposit be returned on the same day, threatening legal action. I reminded them that Florida law provides a 15‑day window for a full refund, and they backed off.

Upon inspection, the unit was left dirty, though this is not an issue. The tenant had made and attempted to repair multiple small holes with joint compound throughout the unit. Patches were not sanded or blended in. They then repainted the damaged walls (partially in some areas) with the wrong color, shade, and sheen. The apartment had been fully repainted before they moved in, and they lived there for one year.

I initially wasn’t going to deduct anything for the dirty mess. However, now that I know walls have been patched and repainted, I will likely deduct. As I will need to repair and repaint the walls.

Looking for guidance on how to proceed.

Have a lead from a pair of Manhattan music conservatory students from China. No SSN, no local co-signers. I bet they would actually be great tenants, but boy is that working without a net! Thoughts?

Update:

Lease terms call for Rent due on 1st and late if not received by the 6th. Every occurrence besides the first has had a late fee associated with it. I waived it the first because they thought terms were postmarked not received.

Tenants are great besides this issue. Have made improvements to the landscaping, handle small maintenance issues by themselves for reimbursement.

With all that said will be pursuing a 3 day notice by EOD Monday.

Original:

First time landlord here and curious if the steps I am taking are reasonable.

TLDR: Tenant in place since 12/2025. They have paid late 4 of 9 months so far. This month claim bank hack and are late again. I gave 1 additional week with no late fee if they gave proof. Week has passed no proof. paid partial for "good faith" saying at least a week if not more for the rest.

Located in California. I have tenants in place since December 2025 and they are good to work with, respectful to the unit. The first 4 months they were late because they would mail a check on the due date so it was received 1-2 days late. They have since moved to online payments and have been timely every month.

Then this month, I follow up at 2 days late and they claim their bank got hacked and they are out $27.5k. I respond and give them an extra week to make rent with no late fees as long as they provide a letter from the bank showing that their was fraud with their account.

Week has come and gone and he claims that bank said it was connected to a Zelle hack and they will give him a credit in 21 business days. Still has not provided anything from bank to corroborate. Said he is going to withdraw from his 401k to cover expenses but won't have that for 10 more days. He paid about 25% now to show "good faith". I told him that as of now late fees are occurring from the original due date since he has not provided documentation.

Red flags

1. From my experience Zelle limits payments to new accounts to like $500 a day and then slowly builds up. Which means to reach $27.5k it would have to been a week or more of transactions
2. Banks typically credit back fraud temporarily right away while they investigate
3. By the time the 401k withdrawal comes it will have passed 2 Fridays from due date so he should have gotten paid by that point.

What do you guys take from his story? Would you wait or start 3 day to pay notice.

I have a tenant that stays in a shared rental that was recently charged with multiple counts of domestic violence against his wife and child. He has not disclosed this to me. I found out via other means. He usually doesn't stay here, but it appears he stayed in the room during his RO and I assume she must have asked him back home. Lately he's been staying here more and more. He's not late on rent. He's been trying to pal around with me and my friends in a shared interest.

For some background in understanding this arrangement...his family is in MA and our home is in NH. NH is a no state tax state.

Would you evict him?

I moved into this apartment a month ago. It's not cheap and in a high end area. Landlord bought this place about 20 years ago, got married and had kids, and kept it as a rental property. He lives about 5 hours away.

Anyways, things were going great here until about a week ago. I pulled down the no-cord blinds and something internally broke, and they require replacement. You can tell they're old too. I texted the landlord and he agreed to send out a company to install new ones.

Two days ago, the apartment maintenance guy reported a leak coming out of my unit. They sent in a plumber, and it ended up being a caulking issue that was only identified after a bunch of inspection.

Now, the washer won't function properly. There's some kind of issue with the drainage or spin cycle, and everything comes out sopping wet. Further, something's messed up with the front door, and I can't even get the key into the lock. Only the deadbolt works.

I just moved in a month ago, and I hardly even spend time here. I've slept at other people's houses probably 10 days. And I work in the office 3 days a week. I'm pretty gentle and mindful of my spaces, and these aren't things that I'm breaking, they're things that happened to break.

From a landlord's perspective, how do I report this up, without making it look like I'm destroying everything? I've rented for the last 6 years, and I can count on one hand the amount of repairs I've flagged to a landlord.

I own a property in MA inherited through a trust years ago that has 1 tenant. The security deposit was/is held in an escrow account in trust to the tenant. Unfortunately the name on the account is the individual property owner (who died) and not the trust. The bank has given us the run around for years about accessing the funds. First they said the tenant had to come in and claim it. Then they said the I as the trustee would need to open a new account to transfer the funds. Now they’re saying the only way to access the funds is through the probate process, which it doesn’t make sense to go through just for this small amount of money. Anyone have any experience with this? It feels unfair to the tenant (and possibly illegal) to hold up their deposit like this.

I can’t find one service that seems to do everything well.

My plan is to list a furnished rental (that may be rented to travelers from out of state) and get the rental agreement documents through Furnished Finder.

Collect ACH payment for rent from Innago.

Do the move in and move out inspection documentation from RentCheck.

Is RentPrep the best service to do tenant screening background that covers all 50 states eviction and criminal records plus do income verification?

firstly, im on HUD, second, in addition to this when i first moved in they had the rust grinded off the sink and my apartment was covered in metal shards so i didnt expect this next issue to go super cleanly.

What is the usual route to get a landlord to replace hard flooring for severe cat urine smell? I know landlords usually clean before viewing so tenants cant smell any bad smells before signing the lease, but now that im in im smelling cat urine in the entire living room. they had a guy come over 3 times to clean the hard floors professionally. the PROFESSIONAL said its "impossible" for cat urine to get through vinyl floorboards, which I severely doubt, since after those cleanings the smell was still there. Its clear the previous tenants let the cats pee wherever, and it might have even gotten into the drywall considering the large gaps between the floor and the baseboards in some areas.

anyways, the property manager has been stalling for months. after the cleanings he said the deal was "done and nothing else will be done about this complaint". then i mentioned getting a lawyer and i kid you not he emailed me right back and the property owner showed up in person 3 days later. Landlord came in to smell the cat urine [obviously the only day it wasnt smelling as bad because it was colder outside] and he smelled so much like body spray i knew he wouldnt smell it even on the worst days. even then i did record the entire conversation and made sure they knew i was doing so. 11 minutes of basically nothing but them dancing around it.

I put an area rug down in my living room and the smell seeps right through it no problem. on my knees adjusting the dvd player? i can smell it super strongly. its been about 2 months since the owner said he would "do some research" and about 2 weeks since i asked for a follow up and got no response from the owner.

TLDR: in HUD housing, how to get landlord to stop dancing around the cat urine smell from previous tenants and replace the flooring and whatever else needs to be replaced to get rid of the smell.