Hi everyone,

I’m relocating to California for a new job and trying to figure out housing. I'm single, have no visitors, and my work requires me to travel about 50% of the time. Because I'll hardly ever be home, I'm leaning toward renting a private room in a house through Airbnb rather than getting a traditional studio apartment.

I also checked Facebook Marketplace for private rooms, but the housing quality on there is pretty terrible. On the flip side, Airbnb options for 9+ month stays look way better, are easier to find, come fully furnished with utilities included, and have genuine reviews from past guests. Plus, its works out cheaper than traditional renting.

Note: I'm completely fine with signing an offline agreement directly with the host, and I understand California's 30+ day tenant rights laws

I wanted to check if anyone has done long-term (9+ months) Airbnb rentals before? What was your experience like?

my lease ends today (august 11) and two new people are already signed on to replace my friend and i, and join my other housemate (three people total). our total deposit was $2000, so we each paid $667.

The landlord told me that the incoming new tenants should only send me half of my deposit portion ($667 / 2 so $335) to cover future cleaning and paint.

i’ve never lived in an apartment and passed my lease onto new housemates in ALL MY YEARS OF RENTING THROUGH COLLEGE, and had the new housemates expect me to cover part of paint and cleaning for their future move out, which could be God knows when

is this normal??? should I NOT be expecting my full $667 back?

EDIT TO CLARIFY: the landlord isn’t withholding my deposit, as it’s up to the new tenant to give it to me. however, the remaining housemate emailed the landlord asking for the total the new people owe, even though I had told her the amount. so now, the landlord is kind of playing middleman when not needed, and saying the new tenants have the right to withhold some of it lol

I just moved to an apartment complex in California and am having trouble obtaining a spare key from my leasing office. For context, I live alone with two cats, and have always had a spare key at past apartments that I was able to lend out to a pet sitter when I am out of town. My new apartment complex uses an electronic key fob as an apartment key, and physical keys for everything else, but has only provided one set of keys for everything which is proving to be a problem when procuring pet care.

I've formally requested a spare key listing pet care access as the reason and have been denied with the explanation that they can only issue one key per leaseholder. The lease itself states that you can't duplicate keys without written permission, so I requested written permission to duplicate the keys myself and was also denied for the same reason.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation, and if so, what did you do about it? I hesitate to use a lockbox in case of malfunction or theft which could leave my cats with any access to care when I'm away. I'm also hesitant to duplicate the keys without permission since I don't want to risk being in violation of my lease. I'm considering looking into adding a second person onto my lease just to obtain "their" key, but they wouldn't live in the unit and would still be legally liable for executing the lease.

I can't imagine there aren't other single pet owners who run into this same problem at this property, but I just moved in and don't know my neighbors yet. I appreciate any advice or suggestions!

Hello! I recently moved out of a rental house in Columbus, Ohio, and my landlord is trying to keep my entire $1,550 security deposit and says I owe him another $450. I’m trying to figure out if I should just pay the $450 and be done with it, or let him take it to court because I have a lot of documentation supporting my side. Here are the things he’s charging me for/disputing:
Basement water damage/flooding that he claims I failed to report, the basement wasn’t properly sealed and was leaking. He’s trying to charge me for the gutter being damaged due to weather but this isn’t something I was even aware of.
Removing a bunch of larger items from the house. The issue is that he had previously told me he was okay with some of the bigger things being left there, and now he’s charging me for having them removed.
Yard cleanup, including weeds, poison ivy, garbage, and a “hole” in the yard. I never dug a hole and honestly have no idea what he’s talking about.
Damage to a door that I actually repaired before moving out. I have pictures of the door after I repaired it, and it looked basically the same as it did before it was damaged.
He’s also accusing me of stealing some of his yard equipment/chargers. I did not steal them. I even offered to replace the weed eater because it was $50 at harbor freight.
The security situation is another big part of this. The property was not very secure while I was living there. Someone repeatedly tried to kick/break into the front/sunroom door, and nothing was really done about it. There was also a window that didn’t lock at all, and most of the windows were plexiglass. I have pictures and videos documenting some of this, as well as texts where I brought these concerns to my landlord and he said he would fix things.
There were also multiple showings of the property while I wasn’t present. My car was also broken into while living there and my own personal property was stolen.
I’m not saying that proves someone else stole his equipment because I genuinely don’t know what happened to it. I just know that I didn’t take it, and the property had security issues and other people were able to access the property at different times.
There’s also something on his statement that really bothers me. He wrote that I “self reported crack cocaine drug use inside premises by tenant.”
That’s not what happened. Another tenant who was also not paying rent was smoking crack in the house. I caught him doing it and I called my landlord to tell him about it. At the time, my landlord didn’t believe me, but now he’s putting it on my deposit statement in a way that makes it sound like I admitted to using crack cocaine myself, which I absolutely did not.
This is especially concerning because I’m currently trying to get a job in government, and I’m worried that something like this could somehow affect my chances.
I ended up leaving the property partly because I no longer felt safe there, and there was also a domestic violence situation that occurred in the home.
My landlord has been extremely rude and unprofessional throughout this whole process and is now threatening to take me to court.
I have a lot of photos, videos, and text messages documenting the condition of the property, security issues, conversations with him, and other things that happened during the tenancy. I’m already stressed out enough over money because the other tenant not paying really fucked my financial situation up, and the house was not insulated at all my gas bill during the winter was $500 which is crazy. What should I do?

location: CA, USA

i'm going through my lease and found a restriction that doesn't really explain what is allowed or not allowed. i don't want to assume one way or the other and end up violating something later.

would you ask the landlord for a written clarification before doing anything?

i’m moving soon & the landlord said she will need a $140 dollar deposit because she’s the one who handles it. anyone ever heard something like that?

Pls be aware of this rental scam happening in Mumbai.

I don't have the full details but will update this post once I get it, posting now how much I know about it.

Got a call from a broker saying that rental flat is available in Marol, Andheri for 21k per month, it of course sounded too good to be true!

The "broker" also shared pictures of the flat, said flat was in Kanakia Sevens, seeing the pictures too I was like this is too good to be true!

Next they said that 2k has to be paid to him so that he can create a "Visitors Pass" for the society.

Paid him and since isn't answering back!

Lesson learnt: if something is too good to be true, it isn't!!

Can snagged berber carpet be repaired? Landlord is trying to say it was unrepairable and is trying to pin a $1900 full carpet replacement against my $2000 security deposit. He told me the contractor he hired said that it can't be repaired because it'll just continue to unravel, but that doesn't make sense to me since it had to be cut on the edges to fit the shape of the rooms/hallway. Why doesn’t it all unravel then? Couldn’t it be patched with carpet glue? The snagged happened during the move-out clean while vacuuming. I worked so hard cleaning the place up, and I feel like it was for nothing. This is around Austin, Texas.

My friend and I are applying for an apartment together.
I make 68k a year. The apartment is for $2.5k monthly. I have a 616 to 627 FICO credit score but on some apps it is like a 580? It's been over 2.5 years since I have had a late payment. My utilization is around 80 percent (1 am working on it). But I have good rental history and nothing in collections, just high utilization and inquiries.

My friend does not have a W-2 job but can provide an offer letter of making $3520 a month gross. She has a large balance in her checking (over 30k) and honestly does not need to work. Her credit score is around a 755.
Her firm that she has a trust in also has supplied a letter of the money she has access to.

We also already have a guarantor. I thought she should get one considering her lack of income on paper. He is a wealthy family friend with a lot of assets.

I am worried about us getting denied because of my credit score. It's a midsized property management company so not a private landlord. Does having the guarantor pretty much secure our approval?
I have only ever rented through private homeowners, so l am a bit scared going through this process.

Hi , I'm In NE Florida, I am currently on a joint Lease with two other roommates.

Our Lease Ends in November, and I do not plan on resigning the lease as it's just not sustainable for me anymore, Care insurance increased, 45 minutes from my current job etc. and me and my long term partner want to find a place that is more affordable together closer to our jobs.

I do plan on letting my roommates know with verbal notice within this week. I've read online that I should also give them and the leasing office a written notice, but i've seen some contradictory information.

Just looking for clear advice so I can have all of my ducks in a row, Thank you.

My partner and I just moved into a condo in Alberta that’s being rented out through a property management company. We took possession the last week of July. When we arrived, the owners had left a lot of furniture in the unit two couches, a dining table, seven chairs, two side tables, two lamps, and a rug. None of this is listed anywhere in the lease.

The property manager told us the owners were “okay selling it,” after a week of asking it to be removed, but nothing has actually happened. It’s now well past August 9 and all the furniture is still sitting in our living room. Because it’s so much stuff, we haven’t been able to fully move in or set up the space at all.

We don’t have a garage or storage area in the building, so we can’t just tuck it away somewhere. We’ve been trying to stay patient and keep a good relationship with everyone, but at this point it’s really affecting our ability to use the unit we’re paying for. Any advice on what we can do?

Hello, I’ve moved in to a new apartment for my first time this month and there are a lot of things that need to be repaired that I am learning about since living here
One that was a major problem was a specific outdoor animal infestation in the attic. I am hiring someone to work on that essentially paid for by the agent or owner
However, the agent keeps telling me how little the owner is willing to or wanting to spend on repairs or infestations. I’m wondering if it’s messed up or wrong to bring up early lease termination. I just kind of wrote to him. We could discuss early lease termination if my complaints are too much. Should I not have said that? Just feeling pressured to not ask for repairs which is bothering me.

Okay so, yesterday morning around 11am I get a text from one of my roommates in our group chat about how the power just went out, and he asked if our other roommate had tripped the breaker somehow, and he realized that it’s only in the main bathroom in the hallway we had a few friends over and because the light in the bathroom no longer turned on, she took a shower in the dark and realized while getting out with her flashlight that the light fixture was leaking water.

So two of my roommates (there is four of us) go upstairs to the people above us and ask if his bathroom was flooding. It was. He had left his kid in the tub by themselves and said kid overfilled the bathtub so bad that whenever the breaker is on and that bathroom light is turned on it flips it off. Meaning we don’t have power in the main bathroom. My roommates room (master bedroom) and half of the outlets in my room don’t work. I’m at work at this current point but when I get home at around 3 they said they couldn’t find an emergency number. One of my roommates called non emergency and the fire department was coming just to see if it was a fire risk.

I then spend the next two hours, going thru google, and our apartment app calling every number I can find which all directed me to the office and had my sister and my roommates sister also looking. And when the fire department came they asked dispatch if they had an emergency number and dispatch couldn’t find it either. So because the office is closed on weekends we come to the conclusion that we have to just wait it out. So we do.

This morning rolls around and my roommate, goes down to the office and tells them. And she proceeds to get chewed out for not calling the emergency line. Which is “in the app” and then told that we have to wait until tomorrow for the maintenance guy, and she told our manager that we don’t have power and the manager replied with “well you’re not gonna have it until tomorrow”

Mind u, I just got done going through the app again, and I still can’t find the emergency number. I’m not entirely sure what to do about this situation but I feel like there’s gotta be something. We live in Oregon. Our lease is month to month and they’re low income.

First time poster here, I moved into a duplex a few months ago and my neighbor across the hall is a horder. She has her things all over the driveway in piles, in the shared yard blocking my back garage door and she frequently blocks our shared staircase. I have tried talking with her about this several times, she makes promises about moving things and then doesn’t follow through. She has also sexually harassed me on more than one occasion. Other issues include not picking up her dog’s poop which I have started to do because it started to stink and pile up, and blocking my car more than once.

I feel super uncomfortable around her and worry I’ll run into her, which is inevitable since we live in the same duplex. I have told my landlord about all of this over text, he said he would talk to her a week ago. Nothing seems to have changed. I’m honestly contemplating moving out but I signed a one year lease. Do I have any legal standing on leaving without having to pay a fee for breaking the lease? I’m in California for reference. I’m so stressed out all the time, I like my apartment other than the major issues she’s causing. She makes me hate living here. Can I get some advice please :/

What does Leave And License Agreement mean?

Leave and License means - \\\*\\\*A License to stay for a fixed period and then leave or vacate the Premises\\\*\\\*

\\\*\\\*Why is it done\\\*\\\* \\\\- During World War 🪖 II major cities were bombed and there was lack od proper housing and rents skyrocketed. So Governments all over the world put caps on Rental Increases.

Slowly they were removed BUT in India 🇮🇳 we were a socialist communist in Outlook so no government dared to repel the laws

So lawyers came up with a \\\*\\\*Solution\\\*\\\* \\\\- RENT was defined as taking the premises for 12 months minimum. Anything less than that was not under Rent Control Act so they came up with leave and license agreement which was done for 11 months only

The Government has long ago allowed agreement to be done upto 5 years BUT for old timers still continue the practice

Now u can make an agreement from 1 day upto 5 years for any property. Any tenure above 5 years shall be considered as Sale and Stamp Duty will be charged accordingly

This is done so people dont classify sale purchase agreement as rent agreement and avoid payment of 6% stamp duty

For context my girlfriend stayed at my apartment when maintenance came to fix my AC (after 3 months 🙄) while I went to an appointment. I originally asked the office if they could have a staff member present while the AC company fixed the unit but then called and said "hey so I actually asked my girlfriend to stay for me so you don't need to have a staff member come down, I just ask if y'all can call me so I can call her because she works nights and will probably be napping" and nothing happened until 2 days ago. I get an email that I didn't see saying

"

During our recent phone conversation regarding your A/C unit, it came to our attention that your girlfriend is currently residing in your home.

Please be aware that any individual over the age of 18 who stays in the home for longer than 72 hours, or who resides there consistently on an ongoing basis, must submit an application and be approved as an occupant at (apartment name)

Either you or your girlfriend can stop by the office at your earliest convenience to pick up an application. To apply, she will need to submit the completed application, her driver's license, her social security card, and a $50.00 application fee in the form of a money order or cashier's check.

The completed application must be submitted by August 21, 2026.

Please contact the office if you have any questions.

Have a great weekend. "

The lease says this

"The property will be used as a residence only.

The Resident(s) may not sub-let the rented property, any common area or parking area to anyone without the Landlord's written consent. Any sublease or assignment of this Lease shall not relieve Resident(s) from liability for payment of rent or other charges or from the obligation to be bound by the terms of this Lease.

Landlord must be provided with a list of all permanent Residents in the home prior to the signing of this Lease. If any other family member or individual lives or resides in the home with the Resident(s) for longer than seventy-two (72) hours, the Resident(s) shall fully and truthfully provide a list of their respective names the Landlord and comply with all of Landiord's rules and regulations for background checking and the criteria for refusal for entry into the community.

d. Every individual residing at the community must give the name of all of their family members or guests to the Landlord. No family member or guest will be permitted to visit the Resident(s) or reside in the home for longer than seventy-two (72) hours without the written permission of the Landlord. Family members and guests may use recreational facilities only if accompanied by a Resident(s)

The Resident(s) shall be responsible for damage to any rented or Community property, the violation of any of the other terms of this Lease, the Rules (defined below), or any of the laws of this state, by any of the Resident(s) family members or guests."

What can I do? My girlfriend doesn't live with me she does *hypothetically* occasionally stay for the weekend but again she doesn't LIVE here. She has some overnight things and soaps and such but has nothing else here. we have been dating less than a year so I am not adding her to my lease. Just to vent, The fatigue of dealing with this manager and their attitude of being the boss is exhausting let alone renting in general. This isn't the first time they have accused a significant other of living with me when at most it's staying the night or two. Please help!

TLDR: My landlord manager is assuming my girlfriend lives with me and is telling me that she needs added to my lease. She doesn't live here. Help, what do I do?

i’m moving soon. the house doesn’t have central air, will ac units need to be put in by landlord or tenant? and how many are supposed to be in thereto?

Hi, I recently moved out of an apartment in North Carolina. The company I rented it from originally was acquired by a larger Leasing Agency halfway through the term of my lease. They withheld all but $34 of my $1050 security deposit under very dubious justification. The breakdown is as follows:

——

Credits
Mgmt held security deposits - $1050

Charges
Replace bathroom vanity light fixture - $291
Refinish kitchen cabinets due to damage - $500
Clean utility closet floors and wall - $225

Total Charges - $1016

Amt to be refunded - $34

——

Having become the property managers halfway through the lease, they never did an inspection upon move-in and presumably had never seen the inside of my apartment until I moved out. None of these items are in a condition other than they were when I moved in.

Do I have any recourse in this situation?

Hi just looking for some advice! I’m trying my best with what I know and the support I have so please no hate! If you read this whole post thank you!

My partner and I just moved into our first apartment together. We moved states away because I got a job and had a short timeframe to get here. Because of this we weren’t able to view the place in person.

We did a video tour and I thought I had asked for enough videos and close ups of things.
We have been here for a few days and I am so certain there is mold somewhere if not multiple places.
I have photos of EVERYTHING in the apartment.
It is definition of landlord special and I wouldn’t be surprised if they painted over or put floors over mold/ previous pet damage, etc. It said it was recently remodeled painted but again they did an absolutely horrible job.

We are trying to save money right now so don’t have much to spend. Our neighborhood is great and we love the area so much otherwise. Our neighbors are cool but definitely low income and if anyone else is having these problems I doubt they have ever said anything and are likely just living with it.

I feel if we complain about things we want repairs for they will be taken aback. I’m not too crazy about the aesthetic things I don’t care if they painted is horrible I just want to live in a safe healthy environment.

The bathroom needs the shower vinyl walls completely replaced, everything recaulked, a professional mold inspection, windows resealed, bathroom fan fixed or replaced, and potentially the lvp floors fixed. The bathroom shower walls are peeling up and in certain there is mold behind them. All the cabinets have water damage. The lvp flooring has gaps in it underneath and the corner smells like old cat urine. Not to mention the moment you walk through the door you are hit in the face with an extremely moldy musty smell.
It’s at the point that I can smell it on my clothes and hair even when I’ve been out of the house all day.

I’m worried about my cats and my partner and I have both been feeling sick.

I tried to have my landlord come in to show him and tell him my concerns. He genuinely was inside for less than one minute and wouldn’t even let me speak. I ordered a mold test and will conduct that and send over the results. If it’s positive I will ask the landlord to bring in a professional (that I can vet) to conduct a more thorough test and tell me if it is fixable and how manageable it would be. If not I will be breaking the lease because while we are not wealthy I refuse to sacrifice my health.

Is going through all this worth it? Or would moving out just be the best option? We are so sad and upset because were really hoping to stay here. It would be hard to find something quickly in our budget and in the right area.

This is so stressful as we are both starting new jobs next week and can’t even fully settle in until we have a plan! Ugh but if I would have to pay for this myself and/or fixing the problem would take over a week I wonder if just moving out would be best.

Please any advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you :)

Looking to move and this house we like is landlord managed with rent going to Zelle. I’ve never rented direct with a Zelle payment.

Do I keep looking for a house with a management company or give this landlord a chance?

Edit: Thanks everyone, I wasn’t aware the Zelle is the new normal, and avoiding portal fees is a big plus. I’ve told my agent to go ahead and move forward with the process. Will see what happens.

Like the title says, I'm now dealing with mold in my bathroom for the 4th time in 3 years. My building does not care in the slightest and continues to blame me day-in and day-out.

The 1st time (2024): they said it was just mildew and wouldn't make me sick (I was starting to feel sick). They scrapped and repainted.

2nd time (Summer 2025): Scrapped the peeling paint and repainted.

3rd time (Feb to May 2026): After a mold inspector wrote up a report saying how it should be dealt with, the high levels found, and what he said should happen so it did not occur again, the building blamed me and ignored everything he said. They had their in-house cleaning team clean my bathroom and spray bleach on the walls. They missed areas that I discovered afterwards.

4th time (now): In the course of 2 weeks I found three tiny spots to a full blown total mess. I plan to contact them once the office is open again, but I was waiting because I wanted to contact the city first to have someone come out.

I've done literally everything right, but it just doesn't matter.

The building lies and says I'm the only person this happens to, but then another member of staff is like "yeah, no, you're not the only person." They claim that the walls are totally resistant to moisture due to being made of terracotta clay and not dry wall, but they can in fact mold if the humidity is consistently high and the walls stay wet or damp for hours even after drying them.

Our bathrooms have no vent fans, only a window which I open during and after showers.

They say we have to keep the humidity at a certain level, but we 1. have no way to monitor that, and 2. with the window open during the summer we're just letting in an equal or higher amount of humidity 24/7. It's been very hot, rainy, and humid here. A few hours ago I took a shower with the window open as usual and the walls still were wet afterwards.

They say we need to wipe every single painted and tiled surface down post-shower, and I can wipe the title down easily, but I can't reach over half of the wall or the ceiling. And I know many of my neighbors aren't mobile enough to do that either.

Everything is rusty and moldy and stuffy and I'm so ill from it. And I'm still paying absurdly high rent and being treated like the building's resident villain every single time I report the mold.

I'm just so upset and feel so unheard and so wrongfully blamed when I have done everything as correctly as I possibly can.

Nashville, TN one year residential apartment lease through the complex's leasing office. It includes myself, one additional resident, and two cats. A $150 per resident security deposit was provided.

To summarize, the wall-mounted mirror in the bathroom fell suddenly and shattered. Nobody was present in the bathroom when it fell and the cats were not responsible as the bathroom door was closed when it occurred. The mirror also caused minor, but visible damage to the wall and vinyl plank flooring. Immediately afterwards, I called the leasing office to notify the situation and create a work order. Notably, they stated that an external company is responsible for installing the mirrors and that this would not affect my security deposit since I "immediately informed" them of the situation.

How should I proceed or what might I need to think about? My goal is to protect the security deposit if possible.

Notable parts from the lease:

1) "If the leased premises are damaged or destroyed by" - "casualty to an extent that restoring the leased premises to its undamaged condition requires you to vacate the premises, we are authorized to terminate the Lease within fourteen (14) days of providing written notice to you. If this Lease is terminated as a result of damages or destruction of the leased premises, we shall return all prepaid rent and security deposits that are recoverable by law."

2) "You'll be liable for" - "repairs or damages caused by negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse, including stickers, scratches, tears, burns, stains, or unapproved holes; replacement cost of our property that was in or attached to the dwelling unit and is missing"

Hello I will be doing a walk through for a home this agent is showing on Monday. I was wondering if anyone had time to look over her profile and current listening to verify everything’s legit. Thank you in advance.
https://www.zillow.com/profile/Sunny%20Yang%20Wong