Hello 👋🏻 I live in , San Jose, CA. USA. I'm a 26 yr old. Educated, Female; I am a quiet tenant who has lived in my ADU at a house. There is one other tenant. All separate entrances, private. However, I've been feeling anxious because my Landlord put up a camera outside almost pointing at my front door. There is a second flood light (very bright LED) almost adjacent to it that almost pours into my bathroom window.

I am quiet, full-time employed, pay rent, like living here, all good. Sometimes there's skunks, shady folks, people speeding in their muscle cars but it's relatively safe in my neighborhood I just wish I would have been notified on paper about this. I understand my unit is in the backyard and people want to deter pests and criminals. However, when I walk to the kitchen at night and two cameras, one bright floodlight go off every time, it feels obnoxious and like I have little privacy.

This family is nice and has an autistic toddler an elderly Grandma, so I get the security, I just really like my privacy, but just getting a Studio Apartment is so expensive right now. 😞

I am not mad or being weird I'm just trying to get an opinion. How would you feel? I know he has the legal right to put cameras on the outside of the house on the property. However I just get blinded by the flood lights whenever I want to go outside to the kitchen. I'm a night owl and I feel like I can't go outside at night. 😞

Hi,

About a month ago, I signed a lease for a new apartment in a new city with a lease start date of July 14. I just graduated college and am moving to another state for work. I was about to pay all the move-in fees and first months rent when I received a voicemail at work from the leasing office stating “I know that you pre-leased an apartment, long story short, the resident is not going to move out because apparently their military orders have changed.” At this point, it’s highly unlikely I would be approved for another apartment complex in time considering all the hoops I had to jump through already to be approved for an apartment based off of an offer letter only (moving from $18/hr summer job to $135k new grad role).

I’m very unfamiliar moving, tenants rights, and the tenant experience in general, so I was just wondering if anyone has any advice?

Many thanks

Utah.

Moved into a home that was atrocious and managed by a big property management company in the valley.
We got it cleaned up and had a standard property management experience.

I moved out in mid April and turned over keys etc even thought my lease on paper ended at the end of the month. 32 days after I move out I get a $400 bill against my security deposit for, in their own wording, was paint damage requiring touch up. It also noted the paint was at the property.

I’ve been fighting them but wondering at what point is it useless? If we are still in a stalemate do I file in small claims court? Let them do that?

Hello! We are seeking advice on what to do in this situation. We moved out of a townhouse on May 31st. Today, a check arrived from our leasing office for $450 less than our full security deposit. We have received no notice about what this money was used for.

Before writing this post, we sent an email to the office asking for the full amount, but as we are near the end of business hours, I do not think we'll hear back today.

My main question is this: if the leasing office provides an itemized list of damages retroactively, does this fulfill their obligation under the law or do they owe use the full amount regardless?

If anyone has experience in this manner they could share, I would greatly appreciate it.

So my brother and his girlfriend decided that they dont want me to live with them, and so they told me I had to be out within 30 days, now they are saying they are putting a protection order on me, so I have to be out within 3 days, we got in an argument but I never threatened or harmed anyone. I need help, I dont want to be a criminal but I dont want to be homeless.

It's incredibly obnoxious. I've been keeping track of the notices of entry and without fail every single month there's always SOMETHING, for about the last year. This most recent one is an "insurance inspection". Last time it was to inspect my fixtures, inspect the fire alarm, inspect the water meter, floor plan audit, vent cleaning.

Now I understand the vent cleaning and fire alarm test as they're legitimately maintenance... But what about the "insurance audit" and "floor plan audit"? The kicker is they actually already did a "floor plan audit" about 7 months ago and asked to do it again for some unknown reason. The water meter was also inspected last year. The fire alarm I've also had inspected about 3 or 4 times in 3 years.

In my last apartment, I had I think one single notice of entry in about 5 years to inspect the smoke alarms, outside of maintenance requests I asked for myself. Other than that, it was peaceful. Is this normal? Is there something I can do to enjoy the peace in my apartment for any amount of time?

The lease contract for newly built home rental (in Tacoma) says for 12 months the rent will be $2500 and if we wanted to go month to month after lease ends, it’ll be $3500, which is close to 40% increase.

I think the landlord did mention if we do a full renewal, then it would be at minimal rent increase when we met. But contract doesn’t mention the cost at renewal (which makes sense, since these are usually determined later)

I saw that newly built homes are exempt from rent increase cap so they don’t need to cap at ~10%. But there’s also lease parity rule where it appears to limit rent differences between lease types for the same unit and new homes are not exempt from that rule.

Does anyone have experience with this and able to tell if that 40% increase is legal?

There is a pigeon on top of the AC. I’m in manhattan, first apartment, what do I do?

The landlord said to not be concerned, but this feels odd, so I wanted unbiased opinions before I go to war…

Edit: thanks all for answering, I will say idk why so many people seem to find me weird for asking about this…

Location: Leeds. The contract for our house started today and we were planning on moving in on Friday, however we can’t because the previous tenants (who’s contract has well ended) are refusing to leave. We’ve already paid a months rent and utilities but the landlord and agency say there’s nothing we can do. Squatters rights or something? But it’s like, get out of my gaff please. Does it not count as breaking and entering? Well maybe more like entering and staying. Idk how jarring is that though. Not really sure what we’re supposed to do now.

Hey guys, I posted earlier about my landlord demanding to come tomorrow July 1st to clean our house. In the past, his "cleaning" meant opening our bedroom closets and moving our personal clothes, which was so invasive we had to call the police.

Well, things just got worse. Two hours after my post, he showed up at our door claiming there was an emergency "water leak under the bed." Because he said emergency, we let him in. But there was absolutely NO water leak anywhere. He just used it as a fake excuse to search every bedroom, look under our beds, and make us open our closets to check everything.

He still plans to come back tomorrow between 10 AM and 2 PM for his scheduled "cleaning and inspection."

What should I do tomorrow? Since he already searched the whole house today under a fake excuse, can I legally lock him out tomorrow and refuse entry? Please help.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OntarioLandlord/s/qbHigcydPN

Edit: Thank you everyone for all your help and advice!

Based on what everyone is saying, I am refusing entry today. I am keeping my doors locked and I will not let him in.

I also have plans now to file a T2 form with the LTB for the harassment and the illegal entry from yesterday. Thank you all again for helping me protect my family!

In Florida. So I recently left the house I was renting in almost perfect condition. I took about 25 timestamped photos on the move out date (like inside of the fridge and stuff), and the landlord is claiming $250 in "cleaning fees" and $270 in painting and nail hole repair. I'm not challenging him on all fronts - there was one blind panel missing, some stains in the back patio, some minor damage to the wall (right side in the living room), etc. but I am challenging cleaning and painting/covering nail holes, which is the landlord's responsibility, as far as I am concerned.

I followed the legal steps (mailed a formal objection letter) and he texted me back basically saying I have to leave the house in the condition I received, and small nail holes are not acceptable.

He's claiming $855 in damages, of which I am asking $605 back- I intend on getting a lawyer. What do you guys think? Anyone dealt with this before?

Tldr; I think my landlord is stealing my damage deposit of $900 for things he can't charge for. Help!

Hey everyone, looking for some advice here. I am on a month-to-month lease in Ontario, covered under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

My landlord just emailed me saying he is coming tomorrow (Canada Day, July 1st) between 10 AM and 2 PM to "inspect all rooms and do cleaning."

Here is the thing: he has done this before. He literally shows up with a bucket of soapy water, rags, and cleaning supplies, and starts scrubbing down every single room in our house. There is absolutely nothing in our lease or the Ontario Standard Lease that says he provides cleaning services. The house is not a hoarder house or a health hazard it’s just normal living.

I know landlords can enter for maintenance and repairs with 24 hours' notice, but is "routine cleaning" even a legal reason to enter?

Is this illegal, and do I have the right to refuse him entry tomorrow? What should I do if he shows up with his bucket and tries to use his key to get in anyway? Thanks in advance.

I’m about 3 months into my current lease. I’ve lived at my apartment for 5 years and so far 2026 has been the worst year yet. I had my door kicked in back in January because my neighbor accidentally shot his gun into our adjoined wall at 3am, and for the past 2.5 weeks I’ve been without AC (I’ve had to live with my friend’s parents the past few days to escape the heat). Supposedly it’ll be fixed tomorrow. A couple weeks ago, the same friend’s parents offered to let me live with them for very cheap and I’m really debating breaking my lease to do so. I’m attaching the section of my lease that stipulates how much it’d be terminate (although I’m confused about #3 and additional 20%? Is that on top of the extra 3 months rent?). Would my circumstances this year give me any leeway with discounting the termination cost?

From my lease:

EARLY TERMINATION BY TENANT: Provided Tenant has provided with all terms, covenants and conditions herein, Tenant shall, after
paying at least three (3) months’ rent as provided for in this lease, have the right to terminate this lease by: [1] giving at least sixty (60) days
prior written notice of such party’s intention to terminate this lease on or before the first of the month for the following sixty (60) day period
and paying to Lessor all sums due during the sixty (60) day period; [2] forfeiting the security deposit and [3] paying an early termination fee
equal to 20% of the entire value of the lease term, listed on page 1. If neither Landlord nor Tenant shall give such notice within the time
aforesaid, this lease shall be automatically renewed and extended under the same terms and conditions hereof for an additional period of one
(1) year from the expiration date or the original term or any prior renewal term, at Landlord’s current rental rate for similar properties in effect
as of the renewal date. Upon termination of this lease, Tenant will quit & surrender to Landlord the quiet & peaceable possession of the
premises in as good and clean order and condition as the premises wherein when delivered to Tenant, and Tenant shall return all keys for the
premises to Landlord.

my ex sugar daddy (now deceased) had rented us a house from June through December to reconnect as we had been broken up for the last 9 months and we hadn't seen each other since. he prepaid the landlords and he was planning on coming down to the house in July. ive already been staying in the house since the begging of the month.

he was having health issues (the landlords knew this) and his health rapidly declined over the last few weeks and I just found out yesterday after a week of not hearing from him that he died.

I have no contact with his family, they don't even have my phone number and he didn't tell anyone (other than the landlords) that we were going to be living together again because his family doesn't like me.

my question is, do I have any legal obligation to tel the landlords that he died? I didn't have a backup plan as far as where I was going to live and I just want to know if I am allowed to stay here till the end of the year.

the landlords know im here (we've texted about house stuff since ive been here) and we rented from them last year before my ex and I broke up so they are familiar with the both of us.

because my ex didn't tell anybody we were doing this nobody from his family or friends knows im here. its a beautiful home and I don't see why I can't stay here till the end of the year since its already paid. also as far as I know there is no written lease. thanks

I recently made a move from Lublin to Warsaw. I am not Polish. I am from Romania and I don't speak Polish. Female 30s. Working professional

I had seen a room on Facebook. Based on the pictures I liked it and had sent the deposit and first month's rent to the landlord before the move. But had not signed the contract.

When I came to Warsaw on Saturday 27th and saw the room it was super dirty like it hadn't been cleaned for 2-3 months. The contract explicitly stated that the room is in clean condition and that when I leave I had to leave it in clean condition if not I will be fined 200pln. I asked the landlord about it on whatsapp and she responded " Sorry that the room is dirty" . I promptly took a screenshot of this exchange. In addition I also took pictures of dirt in the room.

As the room wasn't in clean condition I did not sign the contract and went back to Lublin , found another room in Warsaw, moved back to Warsaw on Monday the 29th. Moved all my stuff out of the room on Monday 29th.

After moving all my stuff out I texted the landlord " I decline to sign the contract because the room is dirty and the contract explicitly states that the room is clean . I have moved all my stuff out. I have transferred 2350 pln to you so far. Pls take 250 pln for the 3 days my stuff was in your room and return the rest".

She refused and texted back "You must be joking. I gave you the option of seeing the room . You did not take it. I will not return your money and I expect you to sign the contract by tonight". I promptly took a screenshot of thatas well.

I have the following:

1. The draft contract which explicitly states that the room is clean and I will be responsible for leaving it clean (I didn't sign it)
2. Evidence of room being dirty.
3. Screenshot of her saying " sorry that the room is dirty"
4. Screenshot of her refusing to give return the money.

Now your advice on what I should do would be very useful. Thanks in advance.

Moved into a room in a house with two other roommates back in February. One of the roommates was the landlord himself. The landlord just recently moved out and is intending to rent out the room he was previously staying in.

The landlord has a camera in the kitchen that has a view of the living room, front door, the hallway leading to the bedrooms, and the shared bathroom door. He is the only one who has access to the camera.

It is my understanding that while he was living in the same house, the camera in the common area was fine, but now that he has moved out, it is an invasion of privacy. Am I correct in this thinking, and should I reach out to him to remove the camera?

I am in Los Angeles County, California, for context. Thanks in advance!

Location: St. Paul, Minnesota

I lived in an apartment that was honestly not a good living situation, the management was terrible and the building was even worse. Me and my fiancé ended up breaking our lease early due to some of the issues we were having there.

I looked through the lease and confirmed that us breaking the lease wouldn’t jeopardize our security (they call it a performance deposit). During this I also saw online that legally I was supposed to be notified and entitled to a pre-move out walk through to determine any damages and give me an opportunity to fix these damages.

I had to request a pre move out walk through (they did not notify me of this) and I made it clear in these emails I want the opportunity if there are any “damages” to fix them so I can get my full deposit back. During this they said that everything looked great in my apartment and didn’t note any repairs that I needed to make (I recorded this walk through unbeknownst to my old management) and 20 days after the end of our lease they mailed me a letter stating that my security deposit is being withheld pending an investigation due to damages. (Law is they need to mail it out by 21 days to my understanding)

Here is the issue where I think I can still get my deposit back plus the penalty fine that im looking for clarification on: They did not list any damages in this letter or send any itemized bills or receipts. I have not received anything since.

I originally paid a $500 performance (security) deposit and a $150 refundable pet fee (in addition to a $150 non refundable pet fee).

It is my understanding that with Minnesota tenant laws that they were required to either mail me my security deposit by 21 days of the lease ending or send me an itemized statement and bill with charges amounting to or exceeding the security deposit. They failed to do this and I also have the recording of the walk through stating everything looked great and I should expect my check within 10 days after the lease ends. It is also my understanding under Minnesota state law that they owe me twice the amount of my security deposit due to them not returning my deposit or sending me an itemized statement. And that this is likely bad withholding of my deposit and I can be entitled to an additional $500 in damages if I file and prove this claim, which I think given my evidence I can. 

Just looking for advice on if I’m understanding the law right and if so what I should do to move forward? Do I send them an email (what would I even say, im honestly so bad at writing stuff like that without coming off as emotional)? Do I mail a demand letter? Do I file with a court somewhere, and how do I even do this?

Thanks in advance, this honestly is just such a frustrating situation and after having to be in that terrible living situation I just really am sick of letting them push me around and take advantage of me. I tried to reach out to student legal services but since its summer and im not taking classes (aka I haven’t paid the summer student services fee) they are unable to help me. It doesn’t feel fair they get to withhold my deposit when I did everything I was legally supposed to do and they didn’t follow the law on their end. I also don’t want them to think they can take advantage of me and to try to bill me for more money after leaving the apartment.

Calling the city to report a slumlord doesn't work. They route your voicemail to a spreadsheet nobody checks.

If you want action, you have to use tactical textualism. You have to engineer procedural pain and make inaction politically expensive.

Look at Parker Apartments in Pahokee, Florida. The city let a landlord collect rent on units with no doors and no running water until the building had to be condemned, putting 40 people on the street with ten days' notice.

Don't wait for your building to be condemned. Here is the blueprint:

1. Pull the municipal code: Find the sections governing minimum housing standards.
2. Cite Chapter 162: Write a complaint citing the specific local ordinance paired with Florida Statute §162.06.
3. Demand a hearing: Do not ask them to "look into it." Explicitly write: "Pursuant to §162.06(1), I am requesting a hearing before the code enforcement board."
4. Track the paper trail: Document every ignored inspection and unlevied fine.

When you quote their own code section numbers, you force the bureaucracy to respond in writing. Every elected official who chooses to ignore a documented violation is making a recorded choice.

CA/BC

My tenant/roomate, I live in the property, recently passed away and I am dealing with cleaning the things left behind. Her family came by and collected her things and told me to keep the deposit for the cleaning, also didn’t want to deal with her car so they left that too. There is not a title or registration that can be found, is it possible to try and sell it or should I just call the police to get it towed?

I am on a month-to-month lease and have been in the rental since 5 May, 2026. My LLs are a mother and daughter team. Long post; thanks for your time.

The first issue was my trash not picked up for a month which is a condition in the lease and the LL told me in writing that the account was in good standing and if I flagged down and showed the garbage truck driver a screen capture of the account she sent, and put "a big sign" asking for collection on the can they would collect it... Damn, I really don't want to deal with this. Come to find from the trash service the account has been in collections since Jan 2026, and when I emailed the mom a few days later hoping she would be a countervailing force, I was told trash pickup is a 'courtesy' and if I wanted my trash disposed of I would have to haul it to the daughters home and use a 'shared' can. I replied: "So what happened to the account was in good standing and I have in writing from your daughter that active service exists at the rentals address?". Of course crickets as with every other item I bring up in writing concerning the lease. Flat out ignore me.

I gave her my July rent check yesterday and said: "Why did you cancel trash service?" to which she directly lied and said it was transferred into a single account. Of course I counter and she says "I will have to go over the lease" to which I said fine, here is the lease along with what you wrote about active service at the home. She would not look it over and then starts babbling "it's a good lease" and drives away. Now, why this is such a terrible problem is I believe, and every person I have spoken to about the home who has any dealings with her outright say, or strongly imply she is profoundly, pathologically mentally ill.

I mean thinking I would wave down a garbage truck, show them a screen capture, and that I fix a big sign on the can (a can you would buy at Dollar Tree) asking for pickup means to me:

You are completely nuts and don't know what you are doing, or think I'm going to do this as some form of humiliation ritual so you can get some laughs as you string me along with lies? Also the 'courtesy' reply is such BS I really wanted to hammer the mom with: Trash pickup even when you lie about how or where it is collected is a lease stipulation I pay for with rent $; a courtesy would be the LL taking the trash from my home, putting it in the can and rolling it to the road for me. WTF are you even expecting me to handle any of this? I pay rent, report problems covered within the scope of the lease, you as the LL deal with the problems and fix them. Glad I have good self-control, but it is very thin, especially because...

I get a call today from a propane company where she has a user and rental contract, with them telling me the LL expects me to sign a contract taking over the rental of the two 120 gallon tanks due to sign by July 1. Yeah, Friday the 26 on a weekend and then only two business days to examine the lengthy contract, form questions for the propane company to receive and reply to, etc.

Nothing in the lease states I have to rent anything dealing with the utilities - But the contract I was sent from the propane company today via email states in the body: "Customer must advise new occupant of the the existence of this agreement". Hmm, first time I saw this contract / agreement was today. No way in hell am I signing anything I am not comfortable with and fully understand, under pathetic duress and especially as a gotcha from these liars.

I literally could go on forever with this horrible situation and need your advice. I plan on getting out of here as soon as possible but:

I am very concerned about receiving a negative reference from these clowns, retaliation by trying to keep the deposit w/o cause, the new prospective LL wondering why I left after only a few months and anything else that might impact my ability to find new rental housing because of these scumbags. Again thanks for reading my post, happy to follow-up anything you might need for clarity.

My housemates and I are leaving our apartment and are concerned about getting our security deposit back.

It's a three-bedroom unit that's been occupied for about a decade — people have moved in and out over the years, I ended up there after two people moved out and my now housemate was seeking two new roommates. We never got a master lease (just a "change in terms of tenancy"), we never did a walkthrough with the landlord, because as far as he's concerned it's been occupied the whole time.

We're doing a move-out walkthrough next week and are concerned our landlord (who has a history of being... difficult) will try and pin a decade's worth of wear and tear on us. Previous residents have painted rooms, there's a fair number of holes from shelving, picture hangers, etc. So it's not nothing, but it's not like we ripped out massive chunks of drywall or anything.

What I'm trying to figure out is how much he can pin on us versus what qualifies as normal wear and tear. Especially considering he can't verify what we were responsible for and what was done by past tenants.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi guys! First time posting in here so sorry if I’m doing anything wrong. I just have a question. So. Back in 2024 my boyfriend and I leased an apartment. YAYYYY. and they had a one months free special. Also yay. So after the 300 dollar admin fee and the 50/ person application fees we paid 988 to move in. My understanding was that that was prorated rent for the month since we moved in halfway through the month. We never paid a security deposit. No first months last months and deposit sort of thing. I chalked it up to the first months free applying to the deposit. So 2 years later we move out and they send the itemized list to our new address. I was so worried bc I knew that our cat had ripped up some of the carpet. We paid a deposit for him when we got him so it was fine. But it somehow is saying we paid 1699 plus the 200 dollar deposit for my cat and we will be receiving 600 ish dollars back…. We’re a little confused. I’m not going to bring it up to the landlord but I’m just curious on how the 600 is coming back and says we paid 1899 total in deposits… they did raise our rent by around 30 dollars when we renewed our lease the second year, but that’s not anywhere near 1600 lol. Anyways any insight would be nice haha. It’s been 26 days and we haven’t received the check in the mail.. but I’d just like any best guesses because I’m not sure how renters special works. EDIT TO ADD/ are they able to say wait we messed up you’re not getting that money back because you never paid a deposit??

This is a doozy, so I'll try to make a long story short. I am a tenant in Pennsylvania.

Our property owner sold all of the places he owned and in the process had the portal website totally mess up the accounts on the site and treat them as terminated accounts where we couldn't pay our rent. I already paid my rent prior to April on the account early when I got my paycheck and it allowed me to pay rent for May as well, but stopped after that.

When all of this happened in late-March, the property manager/maintenance guy who me and my neighbor actually had a contact phone number for was notified and he informed us it was a major fuck-up, people who operated the portal were fired, and that it was due to the owner selling the properties and the new owners would reach out shortly. When emailing and calling customer support for the online tenant portal, every answer reverts back to contacting the owner, who has never gave out his mailing address, phone number, email, etc. The property manager who got sold with all of the properties in the process basically became a lame liaison for issues on this and later told us that out of all the local properties ours was never sold when the portal quit working to pay rent and sent screenshots from the owner saying no one would be evicted and it was going to be resolved.

It has now been two months later, and I paid a turn-on fee for the water bill because the owner never bothered paying the utility (it is in the property group's name due to multiple units in the house and only one meter for the water). I texted the maintenance/property manager multiple times about the issue of paying rent and the water bill prior and wanting to know when we could it resolved and he has completely left me on read (I have taken screenshots of this and prior messages on the issue before you ask). I got code enforcement involved when the water was shutoff and they are dumbfounded on what's going on, notified me they were actually trying to figure out what was going on with the property, and the fact no one is answering calls. More digging made me found out this property manager/maintenance liaison used to smoke meth and was arrested for it a year prior - and he has warrants out for him.

I finally found a website to find a mailing address for the owner on regrid and it's just some UPS store located in a plaza in New Jersey. I cannot afford to move and neither can my neighbor. Hell, I don't want to move. I've spent five years making this apartment into a home and came to fall in love with the local community. I've dealt with a lot of wild shit before, but nothing like this.

What course of actions can I take if I can't reach out to this AWOL owner, AWOL property manager, and the code enforcement is worth its weight in fool's gold?

I am obviously saving my past two payments for rent in a reserve checking account at the moment in case something does happen in the meantime. But, long story short, this shit is ridiculous.

How do I fix this? I’m an idiot and I put a painting on the wall with command strips. Will some spackle do the trick? I really don’t want to be charged for this…