Riddle: When is a rent increase, not an increase? When you call it something else.
At least that’s how ApartmentRatings.com sees it based on reviews of apartments submitted by over 600,000 renters.
Even in places like Orange County, where vacancy rates have gone up, some of what ApartmentRatings.com describes as “unscrupulous landlords” are finding ways to make money off their tenants without officially hiking rents. Some charges seem reasonable. Others? Well, you be the judge.
Here are some of the things landlords are doing nationwide:
- Parking. Charge $20 or more for parking an additional car.
- Fees for guests. Charge $5 for a one-day parking pass for a guest. If a guest stays more than three days, tack on $30 per night “guest rent.”
- Late-rent fee on a lease. You accepted a $300 per month discount (a so-called “concession”) when you signed your lease and your rent is late by one day. Your lease stipulates that you have to pay back all your discounts (which would be $3,000 if you have been in your apartment for 10 months) and your rent goes up to the original market rate.
- Pool or gym access fee. Charge a $100 non-refundable key deposit.
- Storage fee. Charge $20 per month to store items on site.
- Alternate satellite or Internet access fee. Charge a 50% premium because your apartment signed an exclusive contract with a cable company.
- Pet extras. Charge $500 deposit for your dog or cat and an extra $100 per month for “pet rent.”
- Disputed damages. Forget to report some holes in the carpet when you moved in? $500 of your deposit will be withheld to re-carpet the apartment.
- Automatic lease renewal. Didn’t send your written move-out notice 30 days prior to your lease end? Your lease automatically renews for another month or year.
- Utility charges. Landlords are getting away from common meters and charging separately for everything from water to trash collection.
So, as unaffordable as rents already are in OC, the landlords are doing their darnedest to make rentals even more affordable. Yeah, that’s going to keep people drawn to OC.
Those landlords can stick it where the daisies don’t grow!
(Thankfully, I’ve got an awesome landlord that isn’t trying to milk me for what I’m worth.)
Sneaky rent increases, you be the judge:
Sounds like the apt complexes are making a business out of housing!
Angry bitter renters are not going to like this artical….
FYI:
Here ye….Here ye…..
Housing is a business in Southern California.
Thought the newbies might want to know…..
maybe this is why vacancy rates are up?
It looks like standard charges to me.
I got free water and free gas. :)
I have no idea why we get free gas in my complex. I hear the natural gas has gone up in price.
They missed one. Well at least it happend to me at my place about a year after I moved in.
When I moved in water and trash was covered. Now I pay for water and trash. The odd thing is there are no meters on my individual apt. So they just prorate it for the entire complex based on the size of the apt you have (1bd, 2bd, etc…)
So it was basically a $35 a month rent increase. Not a big deal, but still an increase. My biggest beef, is that place has some really bad water problems, so I can only assume alot of water is wasted…which we all pay for.
Eh…my rent is still way less than buying the same sized place, so for now it works for me.
I like the overnight guest fee.
I had a tenant once that moved her boyfriend into her room for 6-months
Since there was no clause on here lease for overnight guests,
I had to wait for her lease to come due, and non-renew it.
What a bum,
Some people will do anything they can to find a loop hole & take advantage.
Not to say everyone is like that however,
One bad apple will spoil the hole bunch.
Now my lease has a specific wording = NO OVERNIGHT GUESTS.
The tenants now email me for permission for overnight guests,
I grant them permission when the guest signs a copy of the lease.
They can not stay more that 7 days at a time with a max of 30 days.
I think I am bieng very cool compared to charging $30. per night
News Flash: Renting Sucks.
Just so you know, it is illegal for a landlord to charge you a premium because they signed an exclusive contract with a cable/satellite provider.
Check the FCC website for more details. Basically, you have the right as a renter to use whoever you want for tv and internet. For example, you are explicitly permitted to use your rented property to erect a satellite dish or tv. If your lease explicitly forbids this activity then that portion of the lease has been declared null and void by the FCC.
Know your rights!
“Now my lease has a specific wording = NO OVERNIGHT GUESTS.”
lol, how on earth do you know if one of your renters has a guest stay overnight? do you have CCTV’s on premise or neighbors that rat for pay?
just wondering, because when i rented back in the day my buddies and I nicknamed our rental house the revolving door due to the stripper traffic….and our landlord had the same policy yet we were there for a couple years before we all went our separate ways and didn’t renew, much to the landlords dismay.
Wright4life says:
I nicknamed our rental house the “Revolving door” due to stripper trafic
The point is…there is power for the landlord to terminate the agreement
Based on:
Breach of contract.
As far as some renters trying to take advantage…..I rest my case !
“The point is…there is power for the landlord to terminate the agreement”
oh i know, i won rentals as well.
but you didn’t answer my initial question, here, i’ll post it again:
how on earth do you know if one of your renters has a guest stay overnight? do you have CCTV’s on premise or neighbors that rat for pay?
lol, that should say i own rentals, not i won rentals.
Wright4life:
Let me clarify,
1)The tenants signed the lease that they can not have overnight guests
2) The tenants ask permission to have a boyfriend over.
3) I agree..as long as, the guy signs in on a lease left at the prop.
4) Guest can not stay for more that 7 days in a row max 30 over 1 year
5) My neighbors are also my tenants. They rat for free.
Were are your rentals at ?
What will you do with rents in 2008?
You rock a benzo?
No more than 7 days in row max 30 over one year.
That is per / tenant / there are 4 of them / they all do the same.
Have the guest sign in and obey the rules.
If they dont….that is were the breach of contract come in.
“Were are your rentals at ?”
HB, CA
Dallas and Austin TX
Everett MA
7 properties total, 3 fourplexs, 2 triplexs 2 duplexs
“What will you do with rents in 2008?”
depends. those that have strong credit and a solid payment history will see a raise of no more than 2-3%. the slugs will either get no renewal on their lease or an increase of 7-10%. i prefer longterm vs high turnover due to the fact they are out of state.
“You rock a benzo?”
lol, no way. 2006 Trailblazer SS and 2007 Suburban. We hate the environment in my family…lololol
however, a good friend of my is one of the head techs at Fletcher and during occasionaly delusions of granduer and its hard to say no to a blacked out S65 after shooting down the 73 doing 160mph. my wife and checkbook usually bring me back to reality.
Are apartment landlords allowed to charge for water, sewage, trash fees on top of rental ? I have never been charged with these fees before. Now they add these fees on top of my monthy rental.
could someone please clarify if this is legal ?
fleeced,
I would think as long as they notify you and you sign the agreement, they can charge whatever they want.
I would think that if you are in a lease, and they tried to start charging you, that would not be permitted until the lease was to be renewed.
If you are in a month to month situation, they can pretty much do whatever they wan as long as they give you 30 days notice.
I have known many people whos rents where increased by hundreds with just a 30 days notice. Mostly because they wanted to get everyone out and it was perfectly legal.
You have the choice of moving and renting somewhere else.
I dont know about the charging for guests and telling someone that they have to sign a lease. I guess they have the option of living somewhere else if that is the case.
To be honest I would never rent from someone who put so many restrictions on my lease. That and trying to raise rents would make me move in a heartbeat.
This reminds me of my last vacation, through places that haven’t seen the incredible price increases and then Las Vegas. Every motel on the way had everything included, get to LV and you pay for parking, you pay for internet, you pay for …
You watch any service you are using very closely or pay, pay, pay…
The “extras” added 20% to our room rate.
Perhaps I’m just old-fashioned, but I don’t understand this “guest rent” concept. I’ve always viewed an apartment lease as a rental of an amount of space, utterly separate from occupancy/head count. Is this a new thing? (note, I’ve been a homeowner for nearly 2 decades, haven’t done any renting for a while…). Is the concept based on utilities costs (more people=more water/sewer/etc)? What is the reasoning here?
“Scott A Says:
Now my lease has a specific wording = NO OVERNIGHT GUESTS.
I think I am bieng very cool compared to charging $30. per night”
Ya you’re one cool dude…
I don’t really get this…theoretically, you have a tenant whose family lives in Minnesota. This tenant’s family decides to vacation here for a week and stay with your tenant. And you have the almighty gall to make them sign a lease and then charge them? That is the epitome of gouging!! Please publish your name and rental locations so I and my friends and family know to stay away from your property.
I lived in a property owned by the irvine company. They allowed pets and charged pet rent as well as a deposit for the pets. That should have been sufficient but about 2 months after living there the price of laundry went from $2.00 for a wash and dry to $3 for a wash and dry with a stern note stating “No Pet Hair Allowed in Washers or Dryers”
That was bad enough but then they started charging all kinds of other fees for things that were once free. It’s infuriating but luckily I live in a nice privately owned duplex now in Costa Mesa. I think most of the big complexes are where you find most of the sneaky increases. The rich getting richer and richer.
Oh man, i thought that was business as usual in OC. I’ve been getting screwed. Keeps the neighborhood nice and quiet though. Full occupancy, and at night you can hear a pin drop :) I thought these were tactics to drive the riff raff out.
Scott A, you’re an idiot!! How can you determine if I can have some one stay over? My girlfriend or friend may have had a few drinks and wants to avoid getting a DUI….what are you turning into big brother or do you have rentals in the ghetto?
I don’t see a problem with charging an additional deposit and fee for pets. I have had my apartments trashed by tenants with pets, but I still allow people to bring their pets as long as they pay a large pet deposit, because I am an animal lover myself. I just want them to pay for the damage their pet will create. Check it out, hotels that allow pets often charge an additional fee for the same reason. I think it’s reasonable to allow a certain number of guests per year, if your cousin wants to come from Texas with her kids to visit Disneyland, but it can get ridiculous and cause trash and liability problems. Having a written policy is best. I once had an apartment and my best friend from high school moved in, and before I knew what was happening, her jerky boyfriend was living with us 24/7. That policy would have prevented that.
Consider those are nice since you signed the dotted line on the Lease. Compare this to the Landlord at Hanoi plaza used to be Hoa Binh plaza located on Bolsa, Westminster, CA. They received the rent early by mail and hold it off until the due date is passed before deposit it to the bank and then send those tenants a late payment penalty which is around $400-$500 each time! Thank God those people got smart now and send it in by register mail. What a crook he is…
The bottom line is that a landlord can do almost whatever they want as long as it isnt illegal and the renter agrees to it.
I think it is foolish for anyone to agree to being charged for visitors or guests. I could see maybe if you are renting just one room out of your house, but if you are renting a one bedroom apt. I dont understand.
Does that mean if you have a 1 bedroom apartment you charge more to a couple than a single person? I am a little confused on that.
I guess all I can say is good luck with that.
OCRenter:
Example: One of the tenants family was affected by the CA wild fires.
Their family was allowed to crash at the property for on week.
I made them sign the lease as…….
ANYONE STAYING ON THE PREMISIS MUST SIGN off on LIABILITY.
Standard. All business owners would protect themselves from liability
Just Curious:
To answer your question by above statement.
Also it is a wear and tear issue.
My rentals are SFHomes and there are 4 people in a 4 bedroom.
Example:
What if all the tenants let their friends crash every night.
Were and tear of plumbing / floors / walls of……..8 PEOPLE / NO WAY.
Swandawg:
The above should answer your questions.
this limits the owners Liability to:
Law suits against the owner.
Wear & tear on the home.
NO…a family in need of a place to stay and they have to deal with you and your stupid rules. The family just went through a hardship and almighty Scott makes them sign a lease….you are truly a jerk!
I lived in an apartment for over two years without having to pay for water and trash and then out of the blue they started charging us an extra $30 a month for both.
Landlords collecting ‘roos-fees’ on top of the 30 bucks per night charge.
I live in an apt that has no meters, so they prorate water/sewer/trash,etc. per person living in each apt. They problem is that some tenants say they have two or three living in there apt. but have 8, or 10 more and we get stuck paying for the ones who are living there without being on the lease. Can they keep charging so much for each tenant knowing there charging for only the ones on the lease and that’s only the adults and not all the kids.
Scott A is an idiot. I hope this a-hole gets what he deserves someday when he may run out of his precious money and has to rent.
Renters, whatever you do steer clear of Arnel properties. Check out the properties they own on apartmentratings.com and it’s full of horror stories. There was a class action lawsuit agaqinst them for not giving people their security deposits back. I visited one of their properties about a year and a half ago and the receptionist/sales person was being pushy and trying to get me to sign up THAT DAY. That’s what made me think twice!
Look at it from the other side. If the lease agreement is for one person and then 4 people live there, that is a lot of tear on the apartment. Why should the landlord have to pay for this?
Kim,
That is why you have a deposit, also that is why you can take people to court if you need to. I know a few people who have gone to court and lost, and they landlords lied about damages.
I think sadly that is the cost of doing business. If you are in the business of making an income from renting property you have to take the good with the bad.
If you live somewhere for 5 years should you be responsible for a carpet that was already 5 years old?
It for certain works both ways.
Scott A - what? do you rent to nuns and priests only? Or are only those who own property allowed to start dating someone?
You guys are all amateurs.
example: The HUD guideline for occupancy without discrimination is 2 people per bedroom plus 1. In a 4 br, that’s 9. Any limit less than that would have to be justified by community standards.
Good luck.
Never charge a pet deposit or key deposit or anything other than a security deposit. A deposit can only be used for it specified purpose. If they don’t pay rent, but the pet didn’t tear the place up, you must return a pet deposit. If they give the key back, they get the key deposit back, no matter what else they did. A security deposit covers the entire contract and can be used for ANY damages.
Amateurs!
Occupancy can and should be limited to the persons who signed the agreement. Guest policies are left to landlord/resident agreement.
I’ve never done it, but I think the idea of charging for guests is reasonable. A reasonable amount. Maybe $5 per day. I’m here to make money not run my residents off.
This is a business, must be treated as one and operated with business discipline. If you don’t pay me rent, bye, bye.
When all the little things ad up to a big thing, bye bye. Good luck at your next place. And, I don’t have to give you a reason, just as you don’t if you decide to move.
Scott A’s place, as seen on TV, the Bates Motel
eet, eet eet eet!
and the shrewish and wizened Don S is, of course, Norman’s dead mother
i can smell the negative leverage in this room,
evict ‘em Norman! chop em up, chop em good, more more don’t touch yaself like that, not when yo’re peepin
It seems to me that the reason for the landlords to CYA is because of the few bad tenents. If all tenants (and Landlords) were forthright in their living and business practices, then we would have no such need for leases for additional “guests” or charging for trash and water. We do not live in Camelot. Sad but true. People will take advantage of another’s weak point and therefore guards are put up in order to defend ourselves.
A landlord has the option to rent to whomever they want. A tenent has the right to live where ever they want. Those two parties must agree on the rules and abide by them.
This is too simple.
I agree with the comment about Arnel properties. They don’t respond to maintenance requests. I would come home to have termites flying everywhere. I finally moved out when I saw a roach in my apartment. It was worth it to lose my security deposit and pay rent until my lease was up. I now live with the Irvine Company. While the rent seems a bit high, they fix everything and are always pleasant.
Anne, I completely understand about some property owners or management companies and their apparent lack of concern about maintenance requests, maybe I should say demands because that is what it comes to with some of these properties. I also live on an Irvine Company property, I agree that the rent is higher than it might be in other areas of the county, I agree that they are on top of maintenance 99.99% of the time, and that other .01% is usually a weekend or non-working holiday, and I agree that for the most part the folks in the office are pretty pleasant. Some other facts: 1) regarding pets, I do pay pet rent and I consider it to be a reasonable condition; 2) about visitors, I believe that there is a clause about how long an over-night guest can stay at NO CHARGE, after that time I believe that there is a minimal cost if that guest is from the local area and if from outside a certain radius, I believe they must be added to the lease, again at NO CHARGE; 3) the rent is high, yes, but for the most part the areas that the Irvine Co. has apartment complexes are also in areas where the schools are darn near exemplary. I have a son now in high school and consider his education of the utmost concern in my life right now, so although I would like to have lower rent (who wouldn’t), I won’t necessarily complain about it to ensure my son has the chance at a better quality education than most areas of this county, especially those areas of much lower rent; 4) for the most part, the Irvine Co. complexes are much nicer both aesthetically and in socio-economic ways, meaning that for the most part, the rent amounts themselves keep the riff-raff off premises. Many people ridicule, belittle and show general disrespect for seemingly sameness of the architecture and style of the apartment complexes. But hey, you know what, at least I know that the property where I live is clean, it’s well kept, and the residents really care for where they live and don’t tolerate neglect, unsightly regard or vandalism from any of our neighbors or visitors to the property. And in reading some of the comments on this post, it’s easily demonstrated that many of you can’t say the same about the properties where you rent. The bottom line is, just like anything else you buy, you have to be a smart consumer or you’ll get swindled. Before you sign a lease, READ IT, DO IT RIGHT THERE, YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT. If you can live by all of the fine print clauses and restrictions, then sign and rent. If there is anything that in any way concerns you, THEN DON’T SIGN THE DERN THING. Knowledge in every matter is power, don’t become the victim.
The management at my complex claims to be onsite but is never here. My car was damaged as a result of their negligence to notify me of any repairs. Is there an agency that I can report this to? I tried OC Fair Housing, but nothing is working. Thanks