Living as an adult with other adults is difficult, especially since there will inevitably be shared costs for the household, and people have different ways of living and different ideas about what is and isn't an appropriate cost. Not to mention, when it comes to things like the temperature of the home and the costs associated with it, people naturally have different ideas about what is “comfortable" or “tolerable.” The risk of people being absolutely clueless on how to properly function on the…

The unscrupulous love to use urgency and fear to manipulate their target to agree to worse terms than they'd otherwise be able to negotiate or be entitled to—pressuring people into quick and detrimental decisions. Scammers, landlords, real estate agents, salesmen—even your employer—being some of the few who are more than willing to engage in such behavior… And you know you're in trouble when your landlord is a real estate agency… When the real estate company that owned and managed the apartment…

As a gamer myself, and having lived with other gamers, once that mechanical keyboard gets clacking and the team call-outs start rolling in intense moments, it's going to be noisy for everyone else around you. With absolute certainty, when you're intently focused on something, you underestimate the amount of noise you're making. In the early hours of the morning, these sounds are amplified by the relative quiet of the world around us. And when you add paper-thin walls to the equation, you're goi…

TAKE THAT

Let's face it: paying rent stinks. It's like setting a pile of money on fire every week just for the privilege of surviving and oddly reminiscent of paying mob dues. You have virtually no rights to the home, along with virtually no guarantees, and in a lot of places, you can basically be asked to leave or pay more arbitrarily at virtually any point. Still, if you're fortunate enough to have a place of your own, you'll come to find that you're basically still just renting from the bank anyway, p…

How old is old enough to start paying rent? This person has had no issue with charging their 16-year-old nephew a chunk of his salary each month… but people on the internet completely disagree with them! When you're a teenager, you often work very hard for very little money. You're just starting out at a job, and probably making minimum wage. And this kid is also working 20 hours per week while going to high school at the same time, which is a big commitment. The kid doesn't have the best home…

What is it about landlords and pushing everything to the absolute limit when it comes to financial recompensation? Damage one little corner of a 15-year-old carpet or a horrifically sun-faded curtain, and suddenly, they're quoting you for full replacement and the consequential loss involved with that replacement—purely as a means to keeping your entire deposit, money that they feel entitled to. Meanwhile, your time and your things are valueless to them and they will be slothful about anything t…

This tenant and her husband had lived peacefully in their apartment for over two years, never causing trouble, paying rent on time, and dealing with their landlords' agonizingly slow repair schedule without complaint. But one early morning, the tenant was woken by a call from her 75-year-old "Mom-Landlord," screaming at her for parking on the grass. But just a few days earlier, the "Son-Landlord" had told them they could park on the grass while the parking lot was being repaved. But logic didn'…

"He's also a landlord for another property and knows that you need to keep heat on at least 60 to be legal and up to code."

When you’re renting, you never expect to be stuck footing the bill for long-term upgrades on someone else’s property—especially when it comes with a hefty price tag. That’s exactly what happened to one couple who casually mentioned to their property manager that it would be nice to have grass in their front yard instead of dirt. When they moved in, they were told the dirt yard was due to pipe maintenance and thought that was the end of it. But soon after their impromptu conversation with the la…

City living is a different beast than other kinds of living; the high-density population leads to close proximity to other people at pretty much all times. Also, offering the unique opportunity to live in an apartment directly above a business like you're in some sort of 90s sitcom. While living in a sitcom sounds nice, the fact remains that in this type of living situation, even in your own bed, you're only really a few feet away from another person, either next to, above, or below you—separat…

The roommate was given three separate warnings... can't really blame the woman at this point.

"I told them I'd take that recording to the dean if they didn't make things right."

"Using the legal background of my fiancé, we send a strongly worded letter building on my input. As a result the landlord paid the deposit in full two weeks later and I never heard back of him."

It's always best not to let money come between friends, and it's even better not to let money come between distant acquaintances because, in those situations, you don't even have that tight of bond to keep things even-keeled when the going gets tough. Making matters worse is the fact that you're not complete strangers who can handle business without letting it get personal. You're better off not knowing them at all so that all parties can remain objective because you're never going to look at f…

“Slumlord” landlords really don't do much good for anyone. Sure, they “provide housing” in the barest sense, but really, their landlord is just an extra convenience for them in addition to the land banking they're partaking in, the fact that there happens to be a barely inhabitable We found ourselves living in one of these places just out of university, desperate to find any available housing with our lease expiring and new jobs set to start. It was a pretty dingy building in an otherwise nice…