The apartment renter's greed is killing me

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hello.

The greedy pricks are raising my rent $40.00 more per month if I sign an 18-month lease. :mad:

The last time they did this they gouged me for $60.00 more per month. If I sign this most satanic of things they’ll be reaming me out to the tune of $770 per month, and that doesn’t include electricity, water and garbage removal! :frowning:

Not to blame my hardship on the illegals, God bless them!, but my wages have gone up maybe a big 10-cents over the past 5-years. And now these despicable apartment people feel like they’ve gotta have another fleet of Gulf Streams at my impoverished expense! :smiley:

I’m being taken advantage of. I have a learning disability that prevents me from going out there and making a decent wage, and yet the prick apartment people just keep jacking the rent up like there’s no tomorrow! :mad: And it doesn’t help that all the other places around here charge the same for a lousy one bedroom apartment, either. :eek:

I gotta believe that there’s some collusion going on because it would be too easy for these pigs to get together some place to have breakfast and all agree on what their cheapest units will rent for. :dubious: And so they no doubt laugh and agree to sock it to us working stiffs as much as they want with these insane increases! :eek:

I’m so ticked off at their greed and lack of ethics that I’ve seriously considered purchasing a CO-2 bb pistol and shooting their office and car windows out over and over again until they get the freaking message! :eek: :eek:

I have too much fear of what God would do to me if I did that, so I won’t (but otherwise I most certainly would!). :eek:

That first grade teacher lied when she told the class, “It doesn’t make any difference whether or not you get good grades, as long as you try and do your best.” :rolleyes: She should have told us the truth that, "… stupid, talentless, nothing people are totally at the mercy of bright, talented people in this world, and you can be sure that they’ll give it to you up your little ass-ends every chance they get if it means that an extra dollar will go from your poor pockets into their greedy money-grabbing pockets! :mad:

“It remains true that the greatest injustices proceeded from those who pursued excess, and not those that were driven by necessity.” – Plato, “The Politic”

Thanks for letting me vent. :stuck_out_tongue: Class is dismissed. :smiley:

2

Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but posting this:

. . . is probably unwise.

If you really do have a disability that prevents you from getting a good job, why aren’t you getting government disability payments that would make paying the rent easier?

3

The message being that GuyNBlueJeans belongs in jail rather than in their apartment complex?

4

No. The message being that we’re all in this journey called Life together, and therefore we should all be reasonable with each other. Plain and simple. :slight_smile:

As far as getting government help on account of my learning disability goes, I don’t like people mooching off the government. I’d rather suffer being exploited than go down that road. :cool:

5

Don’t think of it as $40, think of it as a tax of $3 on each unnecessary smiley.

6

In a free market economy, different people offering equivalent goods or services will tend to charge similar amounts, so as to remain competitive with one another. No breakfast need be involved.

7

Okay then. Have you asked the apartment renter why the increase? Is his tax payment going up? Does he provide oil-based heat? The electricity in our state is going up by something like 25% this summer, and while I pay my own unit’s electricity, the landlord still pays for the power in the hallway, the basement (lights and to power the washer and dryer I use), outside so it’s safe for me to walk from my car to my front door, etc. We’re getting new windows this year - 110 brand spanking new vinyl windows for the building, which he has to pay for, as well as a new boiler. He’s got to pay someone to come mow the grass, he pays for trash hauling, which goes up a little bit every year. Let’s see…he’s been out in the last year to fix one of my ceiling fans and replace another, and do some plumbing work. That’s just in my unit, I’m sure there have been expenses in the others as well. My point is that being a landlord isn’t cheap. It isn’t a static expense, either. The only way to make sure everything is covered is to raise the rent a little bit each year. Some years, yeah, maybe they’re able to bank a little. Great! Then when the tenant above you falls asleep while the tub is filling, they’ll have money to replace your dining room ceiling!

Absolutely, be reasonable with each other. I like that advice a lot. You first.

8

Get a studio apartment.

9

God, yes. The abuse of smilies as in the OP ought to be a federal offense. And also, the thread title confused me, because isn’t GuyNblueJeans the renter, and the complaint about the landlord?

10

You’re talking about a five and a half percent rent increase, for an 18 month lease. Sorry, that’s not at all unreasonable IMO, given inflation. When I lived under rent control in DC, the annual 12 month increase was generally higher than that.

11

That confused me too, until I tried to read it as if I was somewhat unfamilar with grammar. The apartment renter is the one performing the act of renting the apartment to Guy. I’m not sure what that makes Guy. The rentee?

12

LOL. Are you sure you’re not in the apartment rental business?

I spoke with one of the underlings in the office a few minutes ago and basically crushed her (in a nice way) with my arguments about this business of jacking the rents way up every time the lease expires. She was helpless to offer any plausible rebuttals. :cool:

Tomorrow I’m to speak with the manager and, I’m sure, that’ll be interesting. :cool:

I have no problem with people making a tidy profit. But I do have a problem with these greedy pigs not taking into account what a fine, trouble-free tenant I’ve been and how very, very little my wage has increased these past several years. :frowning:

It’s bad enough that a renter doesn’t get any equity; that they can just fling him in the road if he lands on hard times and that’s that! :mad:

What really gets me is that for all of my life I’ve heard these big social “experts” state that they just don’t understand why some people just give up and become bums living in the streets, abusing drugs and booze. I mean can’t they maybe like make a connection between people giving up trying to play by the rules and how a place to live IS an f-ing necessity? It’s no wonder that some folks would prefer to live in the gutter and blow $3.00 on some drug if it makes them feel good for a while! :eek:

Like I told that lady in the rental office, those exploiting people in this world may just get the same treatment in the next world. :slight_smile:

Greedy, greedy pigs. :rolleyes:

13

Can we come watch?

14

So obviously you should just not have to pay rent like everyone else does. And why the assumption that this is just based on greed? Are you seriously convinced that it costs them nothing to provide you with housing? Or that those costs may increase?

15

You’ve got a horrible persecution complex. Get off the cross, quit your whining, and do not sign that lease! Some places will let you pay month-to-month, which can allow you to go searching for another place. Consider downgrading to a studio or living with a roomate, if you’re really feeling pinched.

I agree that $40 a month is a huge increase. Although moving sucks and can be expensive, you shouldn’t feel obligated to sign a lease you don’t want to commit to.

16

OK, now you’re using “renter” as a synonym for tenant. Please make up your mind whether you want it to mean that or landlord.

Seriously, though, you might be able to get the rent increase waived if you politely mention that you’ve been a fine trouble-free tenant (which are generally appreciated by landlords), and avoid the whole discussion of how this treatment will affect where she goes in the next world.

17

I was just gonna say, before reading this: can any Dopers trained in psychology tell my if what we’re seeing here is a classic example of a persecution complex?

18

I had to smirk when I read that. It all depends on where you live. Mine is going up C$135 as of July 1 (and given how close our dollar is getting to yours, the numbers in US$ won’t be that much less), and lots of people are getting hit with much bigger increases than I am.

19

No, I swear, I’m not. I just have a very reasonable and forthcoming landlord. He tells us exactly why he needs to increase the rent when he does it, and I respect him a lot. I’ve learned a lot from him about the hidden costs of being a landlord. I almost feel as if I live in a communal living environment - I see very directly the improvements made when my rent increases, and I understand that he’s not doing it to be a jerk OR to make a larger profit.

Are your landlords doing it to be jerks and make more profit? Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve lived in places where I’d believe it. Some landlords are downright scumbags, just like some tenants are. Most, though, are just people trying to make enough to cover their costs and send their kids to school.

My point was really just to tell you to take your own advice. Recognize that, even if you’re working with a management company and not an individual, they have a story, too. They have to do what they have to do to keep the building and keep it up to code, or the bank will repossess and the city will condemn the place and then you’ll have nowhere to live. Their income is our rent. They’re lucky to be in a position to give themselves a raise, but if they’re really doing it to be jerks, you need to find a better place to live. If, as you say, the other apartments in the area run for about the same price, then I don’t see why you couldn’t.

BTW, every place I’ve ever lived, through 7 different landlords - some private individuals, some companies - has raised the rent between $25 and $60 a month each year. It’s just part of the cost of living increase. If your job isn’t providing for that, then you need to work something else out. It’s just one of those things we renters accept when we choose to rent instead of buy.

20

Sorry for the poor writing; I’ve been boozing it up on wine these past few hours thinking about my predicament.

I have been a PERFECT tenant. The best in the world!! :cool:

I’m thinking about seeing if I can get one of those big, luxury motor homes, as the amount of money I’m dropping in this toilet could cover the payments of one of those, I’m sure. Plus I’d at least have something to show for it. :slight_smile: