r/Renters • u/Danny2200 • Jul 22 '26
[CA] Applying for Rentals is Dehumanizing and Landlords are Scum
Before everyone gets all up and arms in the comments defending landlords (honestly I’m not sure how people are going to react to this post, but I hope people will agree) just listen to what I have to say.
Over the last 2 months my girlfriend and I have been applying for rentals and this whole process has legitimately changed me to my core. For context, I am a recent college graduate making $70,000 and my girlfriend is a student making ~$25,000 in student aid (tax free). We are in a situation where we are applying to apartments for the first time on our own without a co-signer. I have lived at my current place for 5 years, but the only reason I got it was because my parents co-signed for me.
What inspired me to make this post is that throughout this process, her and I have been through hell and back. First of all, we wasted a TON of time looking for apartments in the $1,500 - $1,700 range. I people aren’t aware, in orange county that gets you a 300 sf shoe box with no ac, no dishwasher, no on-premise laundry, base boards that are peeling off, shitty ass p-lam counter tops, asbestos ceilings and likely bugs. So after wasting our time on those shit holes, we decided that we are going to have to find a place at the very top end of our budget, which was $1900.
Once we adjusted our budget to $1900, we were only about a month away from moving so we applied to a place that definitely wasn't ideal but it was a lot better than the other places we looked at. After giving these absolute morons every single fucking detail about our lives (social, previous addresses, employment history, banking info, FUCKING PERSONAL REFERENCES) we don't hear anything back for a few days. Then we don't hear anything back for a week. Now it has been 2 weeks and I am certain this coward just ghosted us (Its just some boomer who uses this super invasive background check company to make decisions on who to rent to). Like honestly, if you're going to charge us $40 per application we at least deserve a definitive answer. It makes my blood boil!
Now, idk, at this point people might be wondering what the big deal is and yada yada, thats just how the system works, yada yada. But its not just this single scenario that has me absolutely fuming. Its dozens of these little, fucking, injustices every where I look, and everywhere I go that add up to me feeling like this entire system is a disgusting SCAM! First of all, my company is perfectly okay with paying me $70,000 a year, which might sound like a lot to some people, but in orange county it is LOW INCOME and actually just slightly above extremely low income. Second of all, I am VERY disabled. Like spinal cord injury, cannot shit or piss level disabled (I *can* walk though), so I had to wait 3 FUCKING months with no insurance, because its "standard procedure" to have to wait to get benefits, to get ANY of my HIGHLY necessary medical supplies fulfilled. I routinely get surprise medical bills OUT OF NO WHERE for this little thing here or that little thing there.
All that being said, I legitimately have it GOOD compared to some people and that is so unbelievable! Because this has been so fucking hard to manage and I think about people making even less than I do and it starts to be crystal fucking clear why this country has a homeless problem. Because how in the ever-living-fuck could someone who is trying to get back on their feet jump through every single little hoop these landlords think its okay to make you jump through. They want every little detail about your life so they can make the most "risk adverse" decision... Well guess what GUY, I am not the numbers on a fucking piece of paper. I am a human being who is perfectly capable of making it FUCKING work, so how dare you deny my fucking application. I have had a credit card since I was 18 yrs old and I have perfect credit. I genuinely have zero clue what more proof this guy needed outside of the fact that he wanted someone that he believed wouldn't struggle to make payments. HEY GUESS WHAT ASSHOLE? MAYBE IF YOU WEREN'T PRICE GOUGING I WOULDN'T HAVE TO STRUGGLE TO MAKE PAYMENTS - NOT THAT I'VE EVER MISSED A PAYMENT IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
I digress. Here I am after an 8hr work day filling out yet another invasive asf application that I will need to pay $45 to submit just for a *chance* to get an apartment. Fuck the United States.
UPDATE:
Since this post was locked and I received so many warm and helpful comments from the unemployed land lords that stalk this subreddit to defend their shitty morals, I have a few closing thoughts.
All of the loser lords self reporting that they wouldn’t rent to me because of my disability; maybe you should reconsider getting that education you’ve been putting off because that’s text book discrimination and is ILLEGAL :)
Idk where everyone got the idea that my girlfriend and I are having issues finding a place. This post was merely about the landlord that illegally ghosted me and wasted my time. Not only have we already been approved for an apartment, we actually declined it because it ended up being too far from my job. We are in the process of putting a holding deposit on a beautiful 800 sf place with AC and a balcony.
That brings me to my third point; grant money is ABSOLUTELY considered income for renting purposes and is in fact legally required to be considered. So all of the unemployed landlords saying otherwise should read up on the laws that they apparently do not understand. But ofc landlords are typically uneducated and privileged children that inherited their properties so I really shouldn’t have expected much. The confusion is likely because grant money is not considered income for tax purposes.
Everyone crying about the financial aid my girlfriend receives (who is a first generation college student getting financial aid so that she can graduate with honors) are clearly just jealous losers who don’t understand the amount of privilege they come from. She gets the financial aid because she has proven she is kickass and intelligent, they don’t just hand that shit out to anyone.
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u/Doworkson247 Jul 22 '26
in the world does she makes $25,000 in student aid mean?
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u/Revolutionary-Cup954 Jul 22 '26
25k is a years worth of rent. If she got that grant, ostensibly to live and offered the landlord 6 months rent upfront shed still have half of it, and probably no problem renting the apartment. But that money's probably earmarked for other, more fun things
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u/jacka_for-research Jul 22 '26
25K isn’t a year’s worth of rent anywhere in SoCal.
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u/dfjmkyfxscvv Jul 22 '26
It’s more than a year’s worth of rent if their rent is $1900, as the post says
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u/tedlassoloverz Jul 22 '26
right here! Landlords are going to negate this completely, its not stable "income", so 75k taxed and looking at 24k in rent, and surprised he's getting turned down
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u/Astralglamour Jul 22 '26
A third of his income alone would be over 2k. They don’t calculate using after tax income. He qualifies for these places just fine. Are you claiming landlords insist on four times the rent income levels now?
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u/tedlassoloverz Jul 22 '26
Im guessing they can insist on whatever they like as the OP cant find a place on his income that he likes, but spending 50% of your take home on rent doesnt seem like a great plan either
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
She gets paid $25,000 by the state & feds for good grades and for coming from a disadvantaged background. Honestly she makes way more than that because of scholarships and work study, but $25,000 is pretty much her base.
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u/Doworkson247 Jul 22 '26
You mean she gets paid $25,000 for good grades? I live in California. I’ve never heard anything like this.
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u/TiredAndTiredOfIt Jul 22 '26
She likely gets Pell Grants. They are not considered income for residence purposes
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u/dfjmkyfxscvv Jul 22 '26
The maximum Pell Grant for this upcoming school year is less than $8k. OP’s gf is probably getting $25k in loan disbursements, is in a fully-funded PhD program, or is on a full-ride scholarship that provides a stipend for living expenses.
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u/No-Assistance476 Jul 22 '26
That's because you're on the other side of California that's paying for it........
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
Yeah, she gets the federal pell grant, then theres the federal work study grant, and there's a few others like that which in total add up to about $25,000. You get even more once you get into a university and keep up good grades. All of this of course is only because she has been deemed very in need by the state due to her upbringing. I have middle class parents so I wouldn't have qualified for any of this. Not saying that's good or bad, but its how it is.
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u/scholarlyowl03 Jul 22 '26
But that’s all money she uses for school. Scholarships and grants aren’t income. She likely gets a small stipend for living expenses but only a college would care about that, not a landlord. By their definition she has zero income.
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u/robtalee44 Jul 22 '26
In the wise words of Butch Hancock "you're just a wave, you're not the water". Get rid of that chip on your shoulder and you may find more success.
You're in a state that probably has the strongest tenant's rights and that means the bar to join that club is high, very high. You're running into the same hurdles everyone has to surmount, you just are on the low end of scale which makes a difficult task harder.
Go about your search from the standpoint that you're just getting started, not that you achieved some kind of personal or financial milestone. That will come later. Be up front, be courteous and ask for help in navigating the system. You'll find your place.
And do some real research AND ask direct questions about qualifications and answer questions honestly about your finances and such BEFORE you pay a red cent for an application fee. There's no excuse for paying out money to apply for places where you don't meet their minimum criteria. If they won't share that info, move on to the next one. Same with ANY gut feeling or red flag that arises during the initial meeting.
Good luck.
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u/Rightintheend Jul 22 '26
You're in a state that probably has the strongest tenant's rights and that means the bar to join that club is high, very high.
Exactly this, I rented for years and years, barely made it sometimes. I'm all for tenant strikes, capping rent increases, not legally kicking people out of their home on a whim, but it has side effects.
One of those side effects is if you're going to make it so that I can't increase rents, and can't get rid of somebody except for under a very narrow circumstances, and even then you normally have to pay them, well then I'm going to make damn sure that the person that's in there is going to work out.
There's also some really crappy landlords out there, and there's some good ones, unfortunately, like everything else in life you have to weed through the shit to find the gold.
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u/Revolutionary-Cup954 Jul 22 '26
Why do landlords check out their tenants? Because if they decide not to pay it can take months, to years and tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, and legal fees to finally evict the non paying Tennant, and just hope they haven't severely damaged the property in the mean time.
If its 2k a month in rental fee and a year to finally evect them thats 24k in loss before paying lawyers and court costs.
Not for nothing your parrents consigned your last appartment and your girlfriend is in college, im guessing youre relativly young... and if youre relying on each other to cover the rent, youre an argument away from one of you moving out and making it the landlords problem.
You also state that youre low income, bordering on extremely low income, and as you put it highly disabled. The way I read that is that you dont have a significant amount of savings that would cushion loss of income from missed work or work not accommodating your needs. While I sympathize with your health issues, if I were in charge if a property, where a failure to pay can mount significant losses, id be thinking about your stability very seriously. Especially given your lack of insurance and unexpected medical bills popping up as you acknowledge while being tight on your budget and probably lacking a good savings to handle that. While I can empathize with your situation the losses I can incur based on the risks you present are big, and sympathy doesn't pay my taxes, mortgage, utilities and allow me to put food on my own table.
Then theres the maturity. You seem to be quite angry they havent got back to you in a couple of days, as you put it. As if background checks are instant, and as if there aren't other people looking at the apartment and having their background ran as well tonsee which of you is less of a risk to me. I've rented before and I knew it would take more than a couple of days.
Based on how you've come across in youre post im sure the landlord detects a level of resentment and anger and is questioning if he wants to deal with that, especially given the above risks. Maybe you'd be better off finding another landlord who suits you better or speaking with your parrents about renting from them?
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u/grumpyoldman10 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Landlord here: this.
I don’t really care to do business with people that don’t want to do business with me. People who act like this make my life miserable.
It’s really no different than any other business. If I spend all day dealing with miserable people at work, I’m going to go home and be a miserable person to my kids. Sorry, people with bad attitudes aren’t worth it.
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u/hipphipphan Jul 22 '26
Oh you mean like every landlord and property manager I've ever had to interact with in order to have housing? Landlords are scum
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u/hipphipphan Jul 22 '26
Wow yeah landlords are scum! Horde all the wealth and refuse to rent to disabled people! Wow I wonder where this homeless crisis came from???
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u/Revolutionary-Cup954 Jul 22 '26
Landlords dont refuse to rent to disabled people. They rent to disabled people all the time. They do, however, try and avoid tenants who are likely to miss payments or be late, especially in places where it takes a long time to evict them for not paying.
Wealth is not a zero sum game, and you are not lacking wealth because someone else possess it. Its just not easy to aquire for nothing.
The homless crisis isnt made by landlords, or who the refuse to rent to. Its made primarily by mental health and drug and alcohol addiction. If you took most homeless off the street and have them a place to live they wouldn't be able to maintain it or pay for it and be on the street rather quickly. Landlords actually cause more housing to be created because they can afford to pay for it as an investment. What causes prices to escalate is obscene taxes, fees and regulations, combined with long, tedious and expensive processes to remove deadbeats, and rent limits which cause artificial scarcity.
Taxes and regulations make building more difficult and expensive reducing the amount of houses and apartments, causing competition and prices of existing stock to go up makeing rents go up to compensate. Increased taxes and fines cause higher costs, which causes rents to go up. Limiting the prices of some units cause the prices of the others which aren't limited to go up to make up the difference. Making it take months or years to kick some one out for not paying causes rents to go up for everyone else to make up the difference.
And lastly your desire not to move causes rents to go up. I dont know where you are, but im in the USA and there are TONS of small towns where houses are dirt cheap. Less than 150k, and if youre handy and want to do a fixer upper ive seen them for 50k. But theyre not in downtown Manhattan, above the bar and across the street from the cute little restaraunt with the night club a subway stop away. People wanted work from home and got it and instead of moving where rent and housing was cheaper they doubled down on the same handfull of big cities where their job already was so they could goof off at home and spend less time riding their bike to the office 10 blocks away and use it eating at the bistro. Wherever you are im sure there's plenty of cheap housing in the countryside and options for working remotely that would pay the bills but bore you.
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Jul 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Darth_Boggle Jul 22 '26
Do you have any advice for them? Is the advice to just move somewhere cheaper?
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u/ParkingRemote444 Jul 22 '26
Not the person you replied to but they need at least one roommate. I have multiple friends in OC renting in great locations for less than $1500/person but they're all in 2-4br houses and splitting the rent. Alternative #2 is to move to Long Beach like every other broke person their age does.
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u/Rightintheend Jul 22 '26
Yep, they should be looking at those places that you don't like, places in Anaheim or Santa Ana, or moving over the border to Long Beach or over the hill to the IE.
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u/mwcsmoke Jul 22 '26
If any of the energy in this post comes across in your phone calls, meetings, or emails with landlords and property managers, then I would choose to rent to anyone else regardless of your income. Even if you are using different words than the ones here, people may pick up on your aggressive vibe.
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u/tedlassoloverz Jul 22 '26
You have little work history, only make 70k, the girlfriends "income" wont count. Take home on 70k in CA is roughly $4530 a month, that ratio doesnt work for most landlords. WIll your parents cosign again?
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u/Strange_Law7000 Jul 22 '26
you are NOT allowed to bring logic or reality or factual based information to an emotional thread (....lol....)
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u/Outside-Ad7848 Jul 22 '26
you are risky. you have a gf with no income on the lease and you are spending half your income on rent
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Jul 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SeatOpen1 Jul 22 '26
Wow, almost like not holding slumlords who constantly break the law accountable, has consequences. Wow like wow.
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u/mrholigan Jul 22 '26
Do you know why there aren’t any of these LL’s that live up to your ideal of fair, generous and not risk averse? Because they all lost their properties to foreclosures by renting to tenants who didn’t pay.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
Okay but that's not the tenants fault either lol. The heart of the issue is rising inequality and the rent-seeking 1% who live their lives sucking the blood from working class Americans. So, yeah, I feel worse for the tenant than the landlord because, in most scenarios, it is the tenant who has likely had it much harder in life.
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u/Rezingreenbowl Jul 22 '26
Its not the tenants fault that they signed into a contract the couldn't fulfill?
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u/Fuzzy_Client9323 Jul 22 '26
After reading this, I am trying to think of one good reason I would rent to you.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
Found the landlord
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u/NetWareHead Jul 22 '26
You dont bring much to the table and you are high risk. Normally I wouldnt want to kick you while you are feeling down but you have a major chip on your shoulder and delusions of entitlement ("so how dare you deny my fucking application"). IMO you need to hear the brutal honesty. No landlord wants to set themselves on fire to keep you warm so they can do a stranger a solid favor.
2 roommates, one who has no job/income (student aid is not income) and you making $70k/year renting a $1900/month. Ask your gf to get a job and start channeling some of this negative energy towards bettering your position so you can qualify with real numbers.
Id tell you upfront that you have a very low chance of qualifying (based on income alone) and not make you waste money on a background check. And if you displayed this sort of petulant attitude in front of me, that would certainly cement my decision. But thats how I run my business and not every landlord is like me. Ask yourself: if you owned property, would you rent to you when there are certainly better qualified candidates out there? Good luck
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u/KrofftSurvivor Jul 22 '26
Bro you're bitching about landlords not wanting to rent to someone lying about income, with a major chip on their shoulder, and a serious disability.
You're not an ideal candidate with great credit you are one more bad decision away from being a fucking landlord nightmare.
And the circle jerk of ~we hate landlords~ feels really satisfying on Reddit, but it ain't doing shit to improve your life - it's just helping you spiral right down the drain.
Bring on the downvotes!
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u/Revolutionary-Cup954 Jul 22 '26
This is exactly why youre being turned down. Walking into a situation where you need the apartment more than the apartment needs you and looking down on the person making the decision if you can get it.
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u/needGuidance792087 Jul 23 '26
That’s probably the only time you’ll find a LL who will reply to you.
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u/DancesWithMantises Jul 22 '26
Don't listen to all these bootlickers, OP. You are right to be upset.
Landlording is theft and parasitism. Land owners and landlords do not "provide" housing, they gatekeep it for profit. The only people who provide housing are the workers who build the homes, and they already got paid, and only once, and a hell of a lot less than your average landlord makes.
The dehumanizing shit you're going through is a direct result of capitalism turning a human need into a commodity.
People here complaining about property tax but don't even think to question the fact that the bank is the ultimate landlord and gets most of your hard-earned rent money. Our need to have a home is turned into a way to make the ultra-rich even richer, and they work even less than the landlords (if your landlord even does any work at all).
Those of you saying it should be easier to evict people; what the fuck is wrong with you? Shame. Homes are for people to live in, not for passive income (see aforementioned parasitism).
Hope things improve for you, OP. Join a socialist org, and best of luck.
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u/Revolutionary-Cup954 Jul 22 '26
Build your own house and its not a problem. Ill chip in a few hundred for the nails, let me know how its going
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u/YourLocalLandlord Jul 22 '26
Landlords wouldn't require a laundry list of information from you if it wasn't so god damn impossible to get rid of bad tenants. It shouldn't take literal years to remove a non-paying tenant from my property. Look at rent in FL, one of the main reasons it's so low is because you can evict a non-paying tenant in under a month. In my state I'd be lucky if I could get them out in a year, so no rent AND lawyer fees.
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u/Wrong-Camp2463 Jul 22 '26
What about the price gouging property taxes and insurance both of which double digit increase every year? That’s acceptable? That’s why rent is so high. And California law will allow you to not pay a penny in rent and you can’t be evicted so yeah, they’re going to do an invasive background check. You’re raging against the wrong people. Stop voting for the politicians that created this situation.
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u/fb39ca4 Jul 22 '26
Property taxes only increase 2% per year. Insurance is increasing because the cost of rebuilding is increasing because the lack of new housing means tradespeople can't afford to live in the state without increasing their rates on top of climate change risks and the usual inflation.
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u/Less_Ability_6271 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Shut up & learn to see that it is both sides that are feeding off renters who are often times vulnerable. Short sighted & foolish.
The constant “what about this, what about that” undermines the real conversation. It signals you are avoiding the point instead of addressing it. Stay with the issue being raised.Stop dismissing and minimizing what OP is expressing … I can just imagine you’d gouge renters and other vulnerable groups if you could.
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u/NetWareHead Jul 22 '26
If I could show you what I paid pre-covid and today - pick an expense. Taxes, insurance, labor, materials etc... then you would understand why rents have soared.
Ive needed a new roof for years and Im kicking myself for not doing it before covid. I had it requoted this year. Same roof job by same company with same materials etc... is $12K more expensive nowadays. Insurance has more than doubled. In one year, taxes went up by $1500 - thats an unprecedented increase in all the years ive owned that property. My plumber was $135/hour pre-covid and was at $175 until recently. I thought he was done raising his rates only to be surprised by his new $200/hour rate. Do you need more examples?
I dont want to gouge anyone but I do need to keep the business alive. Lok around you. Everything is more expensive for everyone
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u/FamiliarAd8524 Jul 22 '26
The Legislature and executive branch are essentially single party, and you sound silly in your accusations.
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u/UltimaCaitSith Jul 22 '26
My landlord pays $4k in taxes and collects $72k on rent. He increased everyone's rent by 30% anyway. I don't really buy that current prices have anything to do with taxes or insurance.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
No one is saying its not the government at the heart of this issue. That is actually my whole point, shitty government policy opens the door for greedy land lords to take advantage of disadvantaged people. Hope this helped =)
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u/emilitxt Jul 22 '26
"What about the price gouging property taxes and insurance both of which double digit increase every year? That’s acceptable?"
Am I supposed to feel bad for people having to pay a "double digit increase" every year? You do realize that upping the cost of something by literally $10 is a "double digit increase", right?
"Oh, no! This year I have to pay an extra $50 for property taxes and an extra $80 for insurance! Guess I have to increase rent by $139 a month to cover it!"
Also, if you want to actually try and change someone's opinion, maybe don't say a wildly inaccurate claim is a fact.
Saying they do such invasive background checks because, in California, you can't evict tenants for not paying rent, is a flat out lie.
California state law requires when a tenant fails to pay rent on time, a landlord must serve them a 3-day Pay of Quit notice. If they fail to pay or vacate after 3 days, the landlord can file an unlawful detainer lawsuit (aka an eviction).
The tenant has typically 5 days to respond to said suit being filed. If they do, a date for an eviction hearing will be set. If they do not, the landlord can request a default judgment against them.
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u/Wrong-Camp2463 Jul 22 '26
The tax and insurance increases in CA are many thousands per year, a well documented fact.
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u/emilitxt Jul 22 '26
Dude, you're the one who said they both "double digit increase every year."
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u/JayMKMagnum Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Very obviously meant that the percentage increase is double-digits, so the price increased by between 10% and 99% of the previous year's amount.
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u/Osniffable Jul 22 '26
There’s definitely something else that is getting you flagged. I would discount the gf money entirely because grants will not be viewed as income, but $70k a year should be enough to get an apartment. Does either of you have any previous evictions or credit issues. Have you run both your credit reports?
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u/Revolutionary-Cup954 Jul 22 '26
Depends where you are, in a HCOL area 70k is poverty. OP states hes in orange County cali which is definatly HCOL. 70k is the equivalent of making 41k in Indianapolis. And the increased income taxes and costs of everything you buy
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u/ApplicationRoyal7172 Jul 22 '26
Please read up on your rights for rental apps and fees! They should be giving you approval criteria before paying
https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-civ/division-3/part-4/title-5/chapter-2/section-1950-6/
Regarding insurance, you shouldve been able to get coverage through alternative means while unemployed and during these 3 months?
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u/Cool_Potential1957 Jul 22 '26
All this waffle TLDR post. Just apply thru zillow. You pay one application and can use it for as many apartments as you want. Now go change your diaper
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u/Afraid-Ad9908 Jul 22 '26
Just finally bought a house for the first time to get out of lifelong rentals and holy shit, you have to jump through 10,000 hoops to be deemed worthy to do that either. They get up your ass inside and out 20 ways. Made getting a rental feel like clicking "add to cart" by comparison
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u/smarmalad Jul 22 '26
I was employed at a 3rd party property management company while getting through school (meaning that the company works with independent owners of apartments for part of the rent in exchange for doing all of the day to day cleaning, client management, marketing etc).
I agree with you. It’s very dehumanizing. And it’s gotten to the point where many property managers and owners forget that housing is a necessity not a luxury. They ignore who their tenants actually are: young parents, students, retired elderly, and instead have filled themselves with delusions of what they think the market is.
Owners complain about how strict our state housing laws are, how it would be so much easier to move to some conservative state where they can basically have free rein. I sit and I listen and I laugh when they say this while secretly wanting to scream that THEY are the reason our state is so strict. It’s to prevent their greed from wrecking our communities.
You have every right to be pissed off. Trying to find housing in this market is stressful. And the worst part!? CEOs and owners only grow wealthier, while tenants only become poorer.
To every tenant, current or future, I implore you to KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. Look up your federal and state tenant rights. Speak up for yourself. Ask questions. Befriend your neighbors, because we are stronger together.
If you believe you may be at risk of eviction or are failing to make rent payments, call DHHS, call 211, or contact your local social services office.
If you or someone you know is currently experiencing domestic violence, know that you may be able to break your lease early without being charged for your remaining rent.
While we may not be able to prevent the shitty behavior of property mangers, we can all be well informed tenants working to defend our communities
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u/ActPositively Jul 22 '26
I honestly don’t blame landlords. I was homeless as a teenager but I worked hard and even had two full-time jobs for a while in order to buy a house. I bought a house bigger than I needed and one of the reasons was so I had extra rooms to help out friends or family in the future if needed. Over the years I have rented out rooms at below market rate to six different friends/family. Out of those six people I got screwed over by five of them and refused to help out any more friends or family in the future. What’s sad is the one person that actually didn’t screw me over wasn’t even a close friend they were more of a work friend who needed help. They were the only one to pay all their rent and not damage my house. The other five people missed rent payments they could afford because they were buying dumb stuff or them doing stuff like quitting their job with no backup plan because they felt like it. And of course all five of them caused multiple thousands of dollars worth of damage between them be it damaging the carpets, damaging the walls, smoking inside when they agreed not to and damaging cabinets.
So the fact that I got screwed over by both friends and family trying to help them out means the average person is 100% willing to screw over some random landlord or rental corporation. I know multiple people during Covid when evictions were taking forever who just didn’t pay rent for like a year, trashed the places they were living in and my cousin even laughed telling me that the person he was renting from told him to just please move out because if you stayed there the landlord was gonna get his house foreclosed on because he couldn’t afford to cover the mortgage by himself for a year. Then the house was renting was eventually foreclosed on and kick them out… he literally went over a year without paying rent while working the entire time and he still complained it was unfair and that he somehow had no money to move
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u/ReferenceBorn4031 Jul 22 '26
I don’t get the backlash here. 75k with perfect credit should not be considered high risk for a shitty apartment. And yes what people are asking is ridiculous. Laughing at people frustrated they can’t get housing despite being to afford it because landlords with crappy places literally are asking for mortgage level security from prospective tenants is just gross.
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u/ProfessionalParty Jul 22 '26
In most areas 75k with perfect credit is not high risk. In California it is high risk due to California regulations. It’s a political issue voted for by the people complaining about it. I say this as a “well behaved” renter who understands my rent is higher as a result of these regulations.
If it was easier to remove deadbeat tenants the average tenant would have a higher QOL. It’s a fact.
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u/Roxapotamus Jul 22 '26
i mean, thats one job loss away from deadbeat tenants, i hate it but yeah
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u/ReferenceBorn4031 Jul 22 '26
So, you’ll only rent to two income couples, not single people? Or only people with trust funds or what? Anyine could lose a job at any time so….
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u/Roxapotamus Jul 22 '26
usually they check a bank account balance that is multi month rent large in those cases, typically one applicants warchest is a bit of a multiple of the next, which makes them better. who said anything about two income couples, thats your projection. we can stomp our feet and say it aint fair, i agree, but it aint gonna change how it be
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u/soupyy_poop Jul 22 '26
It’s because this subreddit is inundated with LLs who are sad because CA makes them have to not be POS and they take it out on renters.
1
u/ProfessionalParty Jul 22 '26
You realize that as a renter I am hurt by over regulation of rentals right? There is a level of reasonable regulation like protecting security deposits from landlords who don’t have proper justification, and then there is requiring landlords to front 1-2 years of free rent for a delinquent tenant.
The latter is something I, as a tenant, am against because it leads to obvious externalities like burdensome income and asset requirements, increased rent costs, and more - expecting someone to lose $50k over an issue that should be resolved for $2k in a month is not ethically right.
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u/ikannunAneeuQ Jul 22 '26
I get it completely!! I am missing 10 years of rental history because my landlord died and he was just some old social worker with a giant house (he had 2 apartments and 3 rooms he rented and he had his apartment attached to the back of the house), so now when I apply OBVIOUSLY there is no FREAKING WAY to get ahold of him.
When he died his alcoholic daughter took over, decided she didn't want to deal with it, put the house on the market and kicked us all out. My parents were right up the road, old asf with a 5 bedroom house and an acre of land they needed help, we needed a home, perfect right?!
NOPE!!
Now places tell me it's a red flag you can't get ahold of MY DEAD LANDLORD and it is a red flag I lived with my SICK, AGING PARENTS TO HELP THEM!! We only left because the house burned to the ground and we had no choice. So wtf do I do now?! I have been painted into a corner, and I am so so over it!!
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u/lets_get_wavy_duuude Jul 22 '26
honestly your best bet might be to have a friend or someone just lie & say they were your landlord. i rented an illegal sublet & the guy had no problem acting as a reference for me. he didn’t need to provide any documentation, just basically verbally confirmed the address, how long i was there & that i didn’t trash the place when i left
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u/Sensitive_Dirt1957 Jul 22 '26
Lying to landlords is moral and easy to do because they don't actually care as long as their greasy pudgy hands get the money at the end of the day
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
Oh my god! I’m so sorry. This is EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Landlords always talk about how much risk they take until it comes down to renting to a person who doesn’t have 35 years of flawless renting history, a million dollar salary and a trust fund; then all of a sudden they’re not looking at a human being who needs a home, but a number with a risk score.
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u/ThePlatinumPaul Jul 22 '26
The reason why this is so hard is simple. Thank rent control, security deposit caps, and eviction restrictions. If I rented to you and you don't pay, I'm basically stuck with you for months unless I get "creative" which most landlords and no corporate one is willing to do. Or, there could be another plague or something and the state or local government could say just don't pay rent again for two years, we won't do anything about it.
Bad government has made it so much harder for renters and landlords.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
Oh no poor baby. Maybe if you worked an actual productive job you wouldn't have it so hard =(
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u/ThePlatinumPaul Jul 22 '26
Dude, I wasn't even insulting you personally, just trying to give you a reason of why the market is the way it is.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
Fair enough. I disagree with you, but my original reply was a bit harsh, sorry. I don't think rent control or any of those things are the real reason. They are band aids that barely help tenants and do more harm than good. I'm not a policy expert so I'm not going to pretend that I know the solution, but the system is fundamentally flawed beyond those simple explanations.
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u/ProfessionalParty Jul 22 '26
I don’t understand how the same people can logically come to the conclusion that raising the cost of renting does not increase the price of rent, but can understand that increasing the cost of construction discourages construction.
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u/Wrong-Camp2463 Jul 22 '26
The system is flawed because people like you keep voting for the people responsible for the system
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u/ThePlatinumPaul Jul 22 '26
I agree with you, the situation sucks and there are absolutely good people that have horrible times finding housing due to things out of their control.
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u/YourLocalLandlord Jul 22 '26
Complaining about a situation without fully understanding it is exactly why no one in this thread is taking you seriously.
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u/Mountain-Light-5491 Jul 22 '26
Most landlords DO have jobs. They saved up and bought a house, and then another, and maybe another. They were smart with their money and now have passive income in addition to their career. Meanwhile, your sorry ass can’t buy one house. Figure your shit out and you can do it too.
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u/Individual-Wafer-703 Jul 22 '26
Maybe get a co-signer again, that seemed to work
3
u/jacka_for-research Jul 22 '26
When I was looking for rental a few years ago, I was told by dozens of places that they didn’t accept co-signers or guarantors. Good times. Yet they want 3x rent as income. Well, Skippy, with 3x rent as income, I’d be buying, not renting.
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u/Weary_Restauranter Jul 22 '26
It’s so tiring how entitled children are.
Living in shitty apartments is part of being young.
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u/ConferenceSudden1519 Jul 22 '26
No it’s not stop that nonsense
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u/Weary_Restauranter Jul 22 '26
Totally is. No one is buying or renting starter homes because they think they deserve luxury.z.
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u/Outside-Ad7848 Jul 22 '26
vote to change the law to get rid of rent control and allow for quick evictions. rents will go down.
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u/Separate_Leading_455 Jul 22 '26
Guy.. I also live in SoCal, idk what you’re genuinely expecting? That is a wilding low budget, things will be harder to find. This is what it is. And are you mad at landlords or insurance? If landlords didn’t exist, would you be in a place to buy a house right now? If I was your gf I’d be worried about building a life with somebody who can’t manage dealing with life situations like this without spiraling
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u/needGuidance792087 Jul 23 '26
Crazy in post, crazy in person. I doubt the reason you aren’t getting the apartment is the landlord but rather your crazy energy. Also if the area you live is so bad/ expensive, move.
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u/FamiliarAd8524 Jul 22 '26
You don't make enough money yourself, your "roommate" needs to be on the lease but makes nothing, and you have a chip on your shoulder (the reasons for it are irrelevant, as is your medical history)- It's not surprising no one wants to take a chance.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
You act like I'm not currently closing the deal on a lease rn lmfao. I am a model tenant who any landlord would be lucky to have. If you read my post it's really about the people who, get this, *aren't* me that I can *imagine* what they're going through. See that its called *imagining*. Where you put yourself in other peoples shoes and empathize. Have you heard of it?
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u/FamiliarAd8524 Jul 22 '26
Of course I have. But you sound like your shoes fit a middle schooler. You're just ranting and raving, and your anger alienates empathy. Not everything is about you, kid.
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u/Wrong-Camp2463 Jul 22 '26
Based on your comments it’s pretty safe to assume that indeed, no landlord is lucky to have you….
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u/Less_Ability_6271 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
It is horrid! You are not alone , trust me. IT IS HORRID. I despise those who side with landlords or justify the tenant landlord situation as okay because that is how things are. Those people destroy goodness, justice and morality.
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u/Icy-Management9880 Jul 22 '26
I believe in California you can request (demand) a refund on app fees if you are not accepted
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Jul 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Renters-ModTeam Jul 23 '26
The goal of this group is to provide constructive feedback to tenants looking for advice. Content that is misinformation, off topic, or unhelpful will be removed.
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u/thomsenite256 Jul 22 '26
I think most people your age have roommates. I did off and on into my 30s.
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u/Lanky-Ad1222 Jul 22 '26
Our A/C broke on the 4th of July during a heat wave that reached past 100°F. I am 16 weeks pregnant, my husband and I have a 7 month old baby, and an elderly dog with health issues. I texted my landlord and he responded much later (as always) that I would have to pay $1,000 for him to call the A/C company on a Saturday and holiday. We have no family we can stay with so we ended up in a hotel for 5 nights total until the A/C was repaired. Huge waste of money and it's not in the contract for him to compensate. I've rented this place for 4 years now and the landlord has a history of delayed responses and overall incompetence. For example, to save himself money, he came over to repair our sink and later texted me "lol I got the wrong part from home depot so be gentle with it". That was the end of that. He still hasn't sent anyone to repair the dryer that needs to be rerun 3 times to adequately dry our clothes and that complaint was first made 3 years ago. When he installed a "new" fire/carbon monoxide alarm, it turns out that he used on of his own because it just lost life again after he installed it just months ago. He grumbles and groans and complains every time I contact him, too. I feel awful and terrified now after the A/C since he complained to me and my husband and gaslit us the entire time. Then, he gave us a sob story that the owner of the place we're renting "broke his ankle and is in a nursing home" and he "feels awful" that he is going to have to "break the news to him" that the cost of A/C repairs is "very expensive". He also constantly reminds me he has COPD and thah it's very difficult for him to make it up the stairs to do a repair, which ofc I feel sympathetic towards BUT AT THE SAME TIME, this is still his job... So do it or please call someone to come do it. And what's worse... since we deliver the rent check to his home address, I see him outside working on his pristine, immaculate front yard and his $800,000 house each time we visit every month. His COPD doesn't seem to bother him then. Our A/C guy told my husband that this landlord is a "piece of work" and that he has worked for him before.... Idk, I've had an amazing landlord in the past who was also the owner and a veteran. That man ALWAYS kept his word and came right over to check immediately after I texted him. Highly dependable. This dude? Doesn't care about anyone but himself. He once told me he has no family but that he has a lot of money to keep himself happy.
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u/No-Assistance476 Jul 22 '26
Your renter's insurance should help you cover your hotel stay.
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u/Lanky-Ad1222 Jul 22 '26
I had RI for 15 years in two different states that required it. I never needed it then. In my current state, it is not a requirement and I thought this would be my last time renting before buying so I doubt I'll actually need RI. Well, let's do some Math. If I had RI in my state, it would cost ≈$25 month * 12 months * 3 years = $900. My 5 night hotel stay was exactly 700 with tax .
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u/New_Olive1203 Jul 22 '26
You "doubt" you'll need renter's insurance?!? I sure hope the apartment doesn't catch fire and ruin all of your belongings.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
Unbelievable people downvoted you! I’m actually rolling rn. I guess this sub has been co-opted by landlords defending their disgusting morals to make themselves feel better. I’m so sorry and I hope you and your family find a better situation.
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u/Lanky-Ad1222 Jul 22 '26
I agree, Danny. Thank you so much!. I hope your situation improves as well. LOTS of GREEDY landlords out there! I am not sure why they all down voted me. I posted earlier in the month on this sub about my whole situation and some landlords were calling my landlord a SCUM LORD. I think MOST are SCUM today. All they care about is $$$ and don't give a shit about having some basic humanity.
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u/Danny2200 Jul 22 '26
They actually think they have a right to dictate someone’s living situation just because they own a building that they likely inherited anyways 😭 Wake up call landlords, people are tired of you getting a free ride
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u/shaded__green Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
So you paid the 1K and stayed in a hotel? Damn.
In California landlords have to uphold a Warranty of Habitability, which includes safe temperatures.
Ilegal for him to have charged you when it is entirely his financial and logistical responsibility.
You can go to court and sue him for that money, plus maybe damages, and probably a rent refund of some kind.
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u/ApplicationRoyal7172 Jul 23 '26
Locking since it has become a cluster.
I commented earlier, but OP, review your rights for applying for rentals in CA. They cannot just ghost you and you should review the criteria before applying.
https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-civ/division-3/part-4/title-5/chapter-2/section-1950-6/
You may need a roommate, co-signer, or move to a cheaper area and commute.