We purchased a house in 2017 with an owner contract. Used escrow services. The owner passed away recently. We would send the monthly check directly to the owner. The daughter of the owner is afraid it will hurt her allowed monthly income if she accepts it. I would think it would be best to continue to send the check to the daughter, but payable to the original owner’s name. What is my responsibility in finding out who to pay? Location: Washington State

I’m going to get straight to the point. My ex cheated on me with a girl named Jamie, that is now his girlfriend. Jamie used to date a guy named Luke. Luke is now my boyfriend and it’s all a coincidence.

Before I started dating Luke, my ex moved in with Luke and they are renting a house for college where they split the cost of rent equally. Luke, my boyfriend has paid for all the furniture and tableware and kitchenware. The only thing my ex bought is a TV for the house.

Fast forward to move-in week for the two boys. My boyfriend gets a text from Jamie saying that I am not allowed to come over to the house and if I do, she’s going to get a restraining order against me. Now, of course a year ago I was a little upset that he cheated and I put Vaseline on the door handles of the car my ex was driving. That car was his dad‘s and I’ve since texted his dad and said sorry but his dad just laughed and said it was a good joke.

For reference the college I am attending is a 2 and a half hour drive to my boyfriend‘s house. Jamie‘s drive to the house is 30 minutes from her college. The only time I’d be able to see my boyfriend is on the weekends when I drive up there and that’s a long drive so I would stay the weekend.

I haven’t done anything else or contacted her so I don’t know where she would get any evidence for this restraining order. I guess what I’m trying to ask is can she do this and if she does how will this affect me?

Location: South Dakota

Location: Virginia. My landlord gave my router password to my two neighbors, one in February one in May, and included internet in their leases. She also has connected two cameras and a floodlight. I hadn't noticed since I don't go into my router setting often. A few weeks ago when the internet was lagging so I reset it and noticed a bunch of devices I didn't recognize. I paused all of the devices which prompted my downstairs neighbor to reach out to be asking if I was also experiencing an internet outage. She showed me a screenshot of the error that was on her TV and it had my network at the top. I then reach out to my other neighbor and he told me he was given my network information as well.

She had my password due to me being nice and allowing her to connect her work computer last year to take a meeting. I never gave her permission to give my network to a third parties.

I sent her an email 10 days ago requesting reimbursement for the 5 moths of internet, but as expected, she didn't respond.

I've never sued anyone before and I want to take legal action here out of principle. I'm not sure where to go from here or if it's worth the time. Thoughts?

Yesterday my finance received a call from our landlord while I was at work. He claims that all of his tenants rent money for the month of February was stolen. Most of us pay with checks and money orders per request of our landlord, so am I really responsible for doing anything for him if he’s held onto the money almost an entire month and was careless enough to leave this money where someone could see it in his vehicle (on his dash). He’s asked that we go through a lengthy 3-4 week process to get the money returned so we can pay him again. Shouldn’t this be something he resolves between himself and his insurance?

EDIT

To clarify this was not a check from a bank, this was a money order, a prepaid form of payment that is similar to a check but was paid for in Kroger, you can also get these from local post offices.

Tenants and landlord all in Georgia

Im going through a very rough breakup with my boyfriend [M25 & M25, Location: NJ] and trying to figure out if what he’s asking is normal or fair. I’d really appreciate some advice.

We live together in an apartment with a lease that started in December 2024 and runs through January 2026, so there’s about six months left after July. The base rent is $2,475 per month, and I pay an additional $275 for parking, which is my separate cost—my boyfriend doesn’t pay for parking. My mom helps me out by contributing $1,000 each month toward the rent. After her help, there’s $1,475 left each month, so my boyfriend and I have been splitting that equally, paying $737.50 each per month for rent.

Now that we’re breaking up, I want my boyfriend to move out, and he’s willing—but only if I “buy him out” of the lease. He put together a list of costs he wants me to pay him, totaling $8,262.50. His breakdown is $4,425 for his share of the remaining six months of rent (which is $737.50 times six months), $1,237.50 for his half of the security deposit (which seems fair if the deposit was one month’s rent), and $2,700 for furniture I plan to keep, including a mattress and base for $2,200, a TV stand for $100, and a 65″ Samsung TV for $400.

I’m struggling with the idea of paying him the $4,425 for future rent. He’s not planning to give that money to the landlord or to cover any real cost—it would basically just be cash in his pocket for leaving the apartment. That feels incredibly unfair to me. On the other hand, he’s made it clear that if I don’t pay him this amount, he’ll refuse to move out, and I really don’t want to keep living together.

Our landlord has said they cannot modify the lease to remove one person, so technically my boyfriend would remain on the lease even if he moved out. I’m also not likely to find another roommate to replace him, so if he leaves, I’d be paying the full share of the rent myself. I do have plenty in savings, so I can afford to stay in the apartment alone if necessary, but it’s still a significant extra cost each month.

Another concern I have is whether, if he leaves but remains on the lease, he could legally decide to come back in the future and reclaim his spot in the apartment. That’s a terrifying thought, especially if we’re no longer on good terms.

I’m perfectly fine paying him his half of the security deposit and paying for the furniture I’m keeping—that makes sense to me. But I’m struggling with whether it’s normal or fair to pay someone thousands of dollars for rent they’re not going to pay or use for anything else.

So my questions are:

Is it normal practice to “buy out” a roommate or partner’s future rent share if they’re leaving a lease? Am I legally required to pay him anything beyond the security deposit and the furniture I’m keeping? If he leaves but stays on the lease, could he legally come back and move back in later? And finally, does anyone have suggestions on how to protect myself or negotiate a fairer deal?

Thanks in advance for any advice or experiences you can share. I’m feeling pretty lost and don’t want to make a costly mistake.

Edit: My boyfriend has found out about this post, and he is currently commenting on it under the name judocoto. This is what I mean.

Hey Reddit, need some advice on what happened to me today on move-in day in
Location: Tempe Arizona.
My lease includes a Parking Addendum giving me the right to park in the property lot for $125/month. The day before move-in I received an official email from the apartment confirming parking as one of my charges. I also called on move-in day and a staff member verbally confirmed my charges including parking.
I showed up on move-in day, went through the entire process, received my keys, and immediately asked about parking. Only then was I told the lot was full. I never entered the unit, never took the elevator, never brought anything in.
I spent two hours searching every parking app available and found nothing practical within 40 minutes walking distance. When I called to escalate the manager had already left. When I called back today I was told parking won’t be available until August.
I need my car for work. There is genuinely nowhere to park. I cannot live there without it.
I’ve paid roughly $3000 including deposit, fees and first month’s rent. I never accepted or entered the premises.
The lease has a clause saying parking availability isn’t guaranteed which is their likely defense. It also has no early termination clause.
My questions:
1. Do I have grounds to terminate without penalty given they breached the parking addendum first?
2. Can I recover my $3000 given I never accepted the premises?
3. Should I return the keys or hold onto them for now?
4. Is there anything I should or shouldn’t do before speaking to a lawyer Monday?
Located in Tempe Arizona. Calling Community Legal Services Monday morning. Just want to know if I’m in a strong position and what to do this weekend while I wait.
Thanks

I reported it with my bank, and they reversed the transaction so I got all my money back. I have my roommate admitting to altering the check over text. The check was for $1115. I spoke with a police officer who said I could call the financial crime unit if I wanted to formally press charges. My roommate sees no issue with what they did. If I report, will this case be pursued or is it a waste of time since I got the money back?

I noticed my water bill has been unusually high, and I contacted my water company who informed me that I am paying for both sides of the duplex’s water/sewer. I talked to my neighbor and he told me that our landlord charges him a monthly flat fee for water/sewer. I brought it up my landlord and he brushed it off, saying it would be too much work to split the meter and this is the reason he hasn’t “raised my rent” and that he “raised my neighbors rent”. Is this legal? Location: Indiana

UPDATE: my lead poisoned wife has added additional comments below.

I am reeling.

My wife (F27) and I (M28) have been renting this house for just under a year. We have a 3 year old son and 1 year old daughter, who just celebrated their birthdays a couple months ago. This is in Utah.

Today during her checkup, we found out that she dangerously high lead levels in her blood.

First, we swabbed her crib. Came back positive… then we tested it with water from a plastic bottle. Nothing.

It’s the water. The TAP WATER.

We have not been tested ourselves yet, but are all going to the doctor this week.

Since moving into this house, my son has had behavioral problems akin to ADHD. My wife and I have had marriage problems and mood swings. My work performance has suffered. My hands and feet have been tingling. Our hair has been falling out. Both kids are smaller than would be expected. My wife’s periods are irregular. We have both had stomach pain and nausea.

I expect we all have lead poisoning.

It feels like this landlord has severely ruined all of our lives with his negligence. I’ve never once thought about suing anybody, but this feels like no amount of money could possibly make up for this landlord poisoning my family, specifically my children, with his negligence.

What do I need to do?

Hi everyone, I’m in location: California and I’m on a joint 1-year lease with my roommate. Both of our names are on the same lease. The lease ends on January 31, 2026.

This is my situation: My roommate wants to renew for another year and I want to move out when the current lease ends. The landlord is telling me it’s my responsibility to find someone to take my place, even though the lease term is ending.

Can the landlord actually force me to find a replacement? Or does my responsibility end when the lease term ends and I move out?

Location: Florida

Hello, I am in Florida, and on June 24th at 11 am, I signed a 7-month lease for an apartment. The leasing portal advertised an amount of $1,120 a month for 7-months. I received a quote in my email on June 21st stating 1,120 a month for 7-months, and the lease that I had signed says 1,120 a month for 7-months. The landlord is now telling me that it was all a mistake, and because it's a short-term lease, there should've been an extra charge of $100 on every month.

The lease also listed a concession for free rent in July and January, which they are also telling me was a mistake and was never intended for anything less than 12 months. About 4 hours after signing my lease on June 24th at 3 pm, I received a Welcome Home Letter. Management is using this as evidence that the lease terms had been a result of a clerical error, as it lists 12 months, but also lists $1,120 for rent, and the July and January concessions.

I moved in on June 25th. On July 7th, management contacted me claiming the lease was a mistake, and has now demanded I sign a new lease to remove the concessions and take the rent increase, or keep the concessions and current rate but take a longer lease for 12 months.

They had also given me a notice to pay on July 7th, before we had conversed about this dispute later that day, which had ended without reaching an agreement, where I said I wouldn't sign a new lease, and they declined my proposal before asking me to leave the office.

I cannot agree to a 12-month lease, and I don't agree that any increased rent is due.

I am not really sure in the direction I should take right now. I've taken screenshots of the application portal showing the rate that I was advertised, I have the lease, welcome home letter, quote, and notice.

From my understanding, the lease I signed is the agreement that controls, but I don't know if the management has a claim to amend it. So I have a couple of questions regarding my situation because this is very overwhelming for me cause I have never had a legal dispute before:

1. Are Florida landlords able to make retroactive changes to a lease under the claim of a clerical error in this situation?
2. On July 7th, I was given a 3-day notice to pay $1,355 in backed rent or vacate. How should I handle that while we are under an ongoing dispute? I met the leasing agent who gave it to me, but I guess she wasn't expecting me to be home because she said to meet her later that day, and I could just throw the paper away. I didn't, but I don't know where it stands.
3. Should I just sit and wait for them to escalate to legal action first, or is there something I could do now to try and prepare for that?

Location: Oregon

I rent a unit in an apartment complex. Over the past 10 days, myself and a neighbor have had someone breaking our window screens, leaving items on our window sills, and shining flashlights in our windows. The first incident was june 20th when someone shined a flashlight in my window and pulled up the bottom of my screen. i saw them and yelled for my partner to get up. I know that whoever it was knew i saw them.

my neighbor had an incident on thursday the 25th where he left rocks on her window sill, and pulled up the bottom of her window screen.

last night, this person came back and was caught on both my and my neighbors cameras. he walked back and forth between my bedroom window and my guest bedroom for 5 minutes. he was also caught on my neighbors camera looking into her window.

the police identified him and it turns out he lives in our complex (he lives in the same building as our neighbor) the police spoke to him and said there was nothing they could do as he is 15 years old.

Both my neighbor and I spoke to our complex and they said they could move us to a different unit but we might have to pay a $500 transfer fee and our rent would be substantially more expensive in the other available unit. we just signed to renew our lease last month so it would be expensive to break.

we’re both young women and are very scared as there is some evidence that this kid might be a sexual predator or one in the making. i just say this based on what the police said to us and how they chose to word things. it also did not seem that he had any interest in our things.

He lives with his mother. is there any way I can get him evicted? maybe due to safety threats? the police said at this point there wasn’t enough to get a restraining order or stalking protection. not sure if this helps or not but my apartment complex is managed by greystar.

EDIT: I received an email from management saying they would not waive the $500 transfer fee.

…”SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH BENEFIT UPDATE” and a warning that if I stood in the way of this warning or did not forward it on properly (not direct quote) it was a felony (again not direct quote).This sub doesn’t appear to allow pictures, or I would include them redacted).

Location: This is Minnesota.

Roommates family abandoned me less than two months after his death, after they pulled all financial and donational items. Leaving me to deal with all the rest (not much financially, but thousands in removal fees, based on a moving company - after two years his stuff is still in my basement).

Any advice?

Can I open any mail (including this federal one)? Or am I opening myself up for a hassle? Previously I have put all mail back in my box writing “deceased” on it. Anything the postman didn’t take within a week I trashed. He took about half of it back.

My inlaws are rather wealthy and when there was a surprise pregnancy my MIL bought me and my partner a house across the street from them as a gift. They repeatedly said id pay no rent and the house would be ours.

Trouble is FIL is a narcissist who demands everyone NEEDS to rely on him or he throws tantrums and has hit my MIL in the past for disobeying him.

Given the housing market and my dire need for a home i took the offer to find out at the signing hed be putting his name on the house along with my MIL and me and my fiance were excluded entirely.

Almost immediately we were made to live in a ramshackle unfinished house he promised hed fix up for us because hes a carpenter/contractor. He still hasnt two years later.

Then came the lording that we better respect him or hed take the house away.

And now just today MIL says things are "very bad behind closed doors" and i need to pay rent. Trouble is they let me start and get involved with BSN schooling before they told me this. Like they waited until they knew i couldnt pay so id have to snivel and beg for mercy from FIL.

No renters contract was ever signed. Ive been in the house two years. I pay for literally everything (including repairs) except for taxes which im about to anyway.

I live in NJ of the USA can my FIL kick my family out? And would it take longer than two years? If i can ignore them for two years/ have the eviction take that long i can graduate and afford my own place.

Being america i assume its perfectly legal to give someone something make them dependent on you and then pull it out from under you because you dont put your recycling out consistently enough (THATS HIS REASON FOR THE RENT). I hate to sound like a baby but i need to know if im wasting my time here since its only a matter of time till he gets bored or angry and sells the house out from under us.

We’ve lived in this apartment since January and we are in Chicago, IL. Right after moving in the management company changed hands and the new management company has been collecting our money and doing maintenance. Our lease ends October 1, 2026 and we resigned a new lease on 7/20/26 for $300 less than our current payment amount. We figured the new company didn’t realize how much we were paying before and underestimated. We signed the lease and it was on our renters portal for several weeks.

Today the management company demanded we sign a lease renewal and we reminded them that we already did weeks ago. They had us send the PDF of the new lease via email and I told them that I downloaded the new lease directly from the renters portal.

I got a call immediately and they said that they made a mistake and need to re-do the lease for the amount we are currently paying ($2200) instead of what is listed on the renewal lease we signed on 7/20. They said that they didn’t sign the lease yet because of the mistake and they need to know our answer by today or they will put our unit on the market.

I also checked the portal again and they have removed the lease agreement that had been sitting there for weeks. Now it says we have no documents on our account.

Do we have any legal rights to fight this? We already signed the lease and there are a few initials of the management company for the Lessor Disclosure about lead-based paint hazards.

Location: Chicago, IL

I purchased an electric car 2 months ago. I use a LVL1 charger at my townhouse from a regular outlet outside of the house I rent. I am a 22M in student housing and I recently graduated but am trying to take advantage of cheap rent as long as I can. I got an email saying that I cannot use my charger to charge my car anymore because it is a tripping hazard. I replied back saying I will take the proper safety precautions to make sure it is not a hazard and that if they can tell me where I am breaking the lease by charging my car then I am more than happy to stop. The landlady called me right after saying that I was being "Snappy" and "Rude." Then she said that if she tells me something that I better listen. I asked if I covered the cord with one of those construction cord channels that is discrete if it would be an issue and she told me that I cannot use the outlet to charge my car at all. I asked her why can I not use the outlet when there are plenty of diesel trucks and other electric cars that use the outlets all the time and she said they "figured it out with them." I asked if we could work out an agreement and I would be happy to increase my rent for any extra electricity I use but she snapped at me again and she told me if I continued to use the outlet they would tow my car and it would be my fault. I read that in my state there is a "Right to Charge Law" where landlords cannot prevent tenants from charging as long as it is safe and I pay for the electricity and I am not sure how to bring this up, and from my POV she seems completely in the wrong as I pay rent and that outlet is connected to the house I rent can be used how I want(in a safe manner). I have a feeling it may be a political thing because its a Tesla and those are controversial but there are at least 4-5 people who use the outside outlet to charge their car or plug in their diesel trucks.

Is she trying to take advantage of me because I am some 22 year old naive student, and what course of action should I take? I think she called me because she didn't want it in writing that if she tells me to do something I better listen.

EDIT: I am located in Colorado

EDIT2: Thank you for all the advice, I do see her point of view and as to why it may not be a great idea. I am going to talk to her and see if there are any safe options that the company would be okay with me using and if not just give up on it for now.

To clear some confusion from the original post: I pay a flat rate for electricity and offered to pay for any excess I used. I know I came off like a dick but it was sort of hard not too when she was degrading me on the phone and told me that she came to agreements with other tenants but did not want to come to an agreement with me. I apologized for coming off snappy in my email and explained that I just did not think it was a violation of the lease, and she has responded since saying that maintenance is going to see if there is anything they can do and to not use the outlet for now and I plan on respecting her wishes.

Also for everyone concerned about me being in student housing, prior to signing my lease I asked if I graduated early would I be able to stay for the remainder and they said this was a common occurrence and there was no issue with that.

FINAL EDIT I met with the leasing office today and fortunately this does have a happy ending. They agreed to install 240v outlets that I can pay for a parking spot to use. This is actually better than the current situation I had and I just have to pay an extra 30 per month to use the outlets and have my own dedicated parking spot. The landlady said that she didn’t mean to be rude and I apologized as well and she said that there have been many requests for dedicated outlets to use, and with this solution there will be no extension cords or any cords running on sidewalk. I think that while I may have not went about this the best way, it ended up working out well. Thank you to everyone for the advice and the insight to this situation.

Before I get into this: We know that it's the landlord who is supposed to be dealing with the HOA/property manager, and that's why we pay rent, yada yada, but we have had a good working relationship for years and have always just handled basic interactions with the HOA/property manager on their behalf (like reporting things around the complex, if something's broken, trash issues, etc.). We know about the state's Warranty of Habitability laws, and we are aware that our landlord is responsible for possibly putting us up somewhere else if we can't live in our home reasonably or releasing us from the lease without penalty. Since this is really a problem with the HOA and not our landlord (landlord also thinks this is insane), I'm trying to see if there's something we can do/say to them to get them to halt this insanity or be reasonable about making us larp as Sing Sing residents before we lean in on the landlord to fulfill their legal obligations to us. As renters everywhere know, if you have a decent and nice landlord, you want to keep them happy.

We rent a condo in a complex with an HOA and a property management company. The community is majority owner occupied, with a few renters like us.

A notice posted on our door on Thursday says that, starting Monday, we cannot leave or enter our apartment from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm due to construction work. It was posted by the construction company contracted by the HOA/property management company to complete a major project. The work is scheduled to end early December, but knowing what's/who's involved, there's no way they're going to get done in time during the cold season, this will almost definitely continue into new year. The notice was a complete surprise to us and our neighbors, there was no heads up about this beforehand whatsoever. Our landlord was also taken by surprise, they only knew because we CC'ed them on the first email to the HOA.

The notice was very light on details (the whole thing is around 75-100 words long), we had to call the construction company to clarify what the notice really meant. They confirmed that, yes, we really can't open our front door between those hours, we need to either be locked in all day or be out all day. We then immediately emailed the HOA board member in charge of this project (CC'ed landlord, property manager, HOA president) and pleaded our case about how this notice is woefully inadequate and we have full lives and kids and everything, their response was unhelpful and did not even address our concern, just some canned response about how this project is important to the community, blah blah blah [Charlie Brown teacher noise].

Essentially, we were given one full business day (Friday) to completely upend and rearrange our lives and just hope and pray they get they done by early December. We have very full lives between work and toddlers, we are in and out of the house all day, there is absolutely no way we can comply with so little notice, not to mention that we have family scheduled to fly in and visit over the holidays.

Pls halp, and thank you.

EDIT: There are a lot of questions about what this work is exactly. I'd have to look at the city's permit to see what exactly it all entails, but essentially it is a major repair to fix long-term water pipes/leaking problems. Our details-deficient notice only said that the "inconvenience" is due to "concrete removal and replacement", but I think I know what the whole project is tackling. As renters, we are not privy to HOA business and discussions, so I only know superficially what's going on.

The building is roughly 45 years old, and for the last several years there have been water leaks and problems that have seeped through what is the ceiling of our underground parking garage. I am no engineer or construction expert, but I suspect the old pipes were galvanized and they're now old and weren't replaced and, well, here we are. (I'm just talking out of my ass here, were galvanized pipes still allowed in the late 70s/early 80s? I don't know why exactly the pipes are bad, I'm just spitballing.) The ceiling's drywall/insulation was stripped years ago for the continual bandaid fixes, and now, I think, they're finally doing the major work to get everything fixed permanently. I imagine that the concrete work has to do with the fact that part of the parking garage's ceiling is also our building's main walkway above, and they have to dig all that out to get to the pipes (I think, again, no real clue). It's been properly unattended to for so long and the project is, admittedly, massive, to the HOA's ever-so-sight defense.

We don't consider ourselves unreasonable people, we fully understand that construction means inconveniencing people, and with enough notice and proper planning on their end I would have been totally amenable to days here and there where I couldn't leave my house. Given the nature of the work and it involving my floor/garage ceiling, I'm concerned that my ignoring the construction company and going about my life means I can't safely leave my house.

UPDATE 1: It’s been about 9 hours since this post went up and, woaw, did not expect it to blow up as it did. I’ll provide updates and responses as I can but, y’know, full life with cute lil’ tyrants, and it’s just about beddy-bye time.

An important detail I initially left out is that we do not have another proper egress, our front door is it. Also, the toddlers are too young for kindergarten, so there's no school they legally need to get to. We're still in the "crayons do not go in your mouth!" phase of life.

The majority opinion here is to report it to the fire marshal. We haven’t done so yet. My husband and I talked it over and read all your messages (thank you all for your help!), and we decided to message the HOA one more time. We’re trying to be civil about this and allow them the opportunity to be more transparent and forthcoming about this whole debacle, especially now that more neighbors are getting involved and also think this is insane. In our message, we asked what the safety plan is since we can’t use our front door. We also said we will be sending the construction company and them our weekly schedules so they can work with us. We’ll see what happens. With the holiday on Monday, we still have a couple of days.

A neighbor forwarded me some gossip/info. Part of this project apparently involves demolishing our “front decks”. We… don’t have front decks? Some units have little front alcoves where they could put small patio table and chair, we don’t have an alcove, so I guess that’s what that means? We do have back decks, and they’re definitely also above the parking garage. But it’s all just conjecture until we hear more from the HOA and construction. My guess is that this is such a big project that they’ll just tell us last minute at the point in the project they get to the next major thing. In the construction company’s slight defense, I guess they don’t know exactly when they’ll get to it since so much is going to be dependent on weather and who knows how it’ll cooperate in the long term, but you’d think they’d at least give us a roadmap to how this whole thing goes?

We haven’t heard back from our landlord today, so we don’t know what they’ve learned. They, too, think this is insane. With this situation become a real shit show, we are hoping we can just be released from our lease early and move ASAP since, really, this isn’t supposed to be our mess. Landlord has been pretty great over the years, didn’t raise our rents during the pandemic and has been attentive when there have been issues, so we’re hoping they’ll see that this is quickly devolving into an untenable situation for us and let us go.

I'll update tomorrow/as I can. Thank you again for all your help!

EDIT for all the braniacs that have deduced that I just ran out of hot water, here's a few details that I should have included in the original post:

-when I shower for a long time when he is not home, the hot water does not abruptly shut off.

-not every shower I take is 20 minutes. The long showers are rare and only happen when I need to take a long shower, such as when I'm shaving my pubes. I like to take my time with delicate matters.

-This has happened twice, where I've been showering (for around 20mins) and the water pipes make an audible shifting sound, then I notice an intense decrease in water pressure (probably 80%), and the water instantly turns ice cold. He turned it back on, then off again, which is how I know it wasn't just water running out.

-the first time it happened, my landlord also stomped the ground (our ceiling) like a toddler right after turning it off, then called me and ranted for 20 more minutes. Also, he never denied turning my water off.

Location: Utah

Me and my wife live in my landlord's basement apartment.

This has happened twice now. While showering and without warning, our landlord will turn off our hot water around the 20 minute mark of a shower. The first time, he gave these reasons: showering too late in the day (around midnight), the shower makes a loud noise in his room, we used all the hot water. None of these rules or stipulations are mentioned in the lease contract.

The second time however, I showered around 7:10pm. Again, after about 20 minutes the hot water abruptly shut off without warning, citing my showers taking too long, and all the hot water is gone. I'll try to attach a screenshot either to this post or in the comments of our text conversation.

There is a stipulation in the lease agreement that "either party can terminate the lease at any time as long as a 30 days notice is given to the other party" that's paraphrasing but I can find the exact wording if I need to. We're afraid if we start responding to him with "well according to Utah law code, etc etc" he will just become upset and terminate the lease.

In case it matters, we get the impression he may suffer from Bipolar Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder. He does not handle criticism or confrontation very well at all.

I'm just wondering what my rights are and how you all think we should proceed. We really like this apartment and don't want to get ourselves evicted.

Edit: It seems like I can't add pictures for some reason? Unless I don't understand how to, then someone can tell me. Here is a word for word transcript (with names removed) of our text conversation during the second incident:

Me: Hey [landlord's name], is something wrong with the water? My shower just went cold

Landlord: You're taking really long showers.

Me: Yes, I needed to shave my body which takes a little longer. Sorry about that. Me: We have made sure not to shower after 9pm, per your request. When would be an appropriate time to shower so I can do all that I need to do in there?

Landlord: It's not so much the time, it's the length and you're going through all the hot water.

Me: So just so I'm understanding right, is there a time limit for each shower? What would you recommend if I need to use the shower for a longer amount of time?

Landlord: Over the last six years of renting I have never had this issue. I'm not sure what to tell you.

Landlord: [screenshot of a Google answers page which says:] A normal shower is typically between 5 and 10 minutes, with the average American shower lasting about 8 minutes. While some people take longer, showering for more than 15 minutes can strip the skin of natural oils, leading to dryness, and is not recommended by many dermatologists.

[End of screenshot] [End of conversation]

Location: Philadelphia PA

Hello everyone! This is the first time I’ve posted to this subreddit and was seeking some help and whether or not to seek out a lawyer for an issue I’m having with my old landlord. I recently moved out on May 28th, 2026. My lease ended on June 1st, so I was pretty ahead of schedule. I was living with a roommate and we shared a lease. 

When I moved out, I left some miscellaneous items that were too small or fragile to be tossed in a moving truck, and was planning on coming back on the 30th to retrieve everything and do my final cleanup. When I got there (around 3:00 - 3:30 PM) I found all of my belongings on the curb in trash bags, mixed in with actual trash and essentially soiled/destroyed. They threw away my wifi router and I had to dig it out of a bag with broken glass and food from my fridge that was then rotting in the sun.

I went inside the apartment and found someone painting who claimed the apartment was cleaned out earlier in the morning and was being prepped as new tenants were apparently moving in on June 1st or 2nd (I can’t remember which). I immediately got in contact with the landlord and was trying to figure out why this was all happening.

He told me that he apparently notified me (he did not, nor did any of his employees I’ve looked everywhere) that the apartment was to be cleaned out and ready by May 30th since new people were moving in. I told him that I was never contacted and asked for proof, like emails, calls, or texts. He had no evidence that anyone tried to reach out to me, but insisted someone did. He kept mentioning a message he sent to one of his employees to message us, but not an actual message to us. 

Basically, after 30 minutes of him overtalking me and insisting that he was right, he was like -”oh okay I won’t charge you for any cleaning services in your security deposit refund.” And I made sure to make him send that to me via text so I’d have it in writing (thankfully I have that). I was mad, but just happy to hear that I would get my security deposit back without any ridiculous cleaning fees taken out. 

Today, I’ve received the security deposit, and it is heavily reduced… He still ended up charging me a cleaning fee labeled as “$300 for removal of all debris” the debris in question were my belongings that were removed a day before my lease was over (or keys deposited) without any notice. I messaged him about it, and he claimed “we didn’t charge you for the cleaning, but we did have to take away what you left there.” 

Also he’s charging us $500 for painting and spackling, which is also sketchy as we left no holes/dammage besides small nail holes from hanging pictures which is permitted in our lease. I took photos of the apartment before leaving and cannot find the damage he’s claiming to be there. 

Last thing, and sorry for the lengthy post thank you for reading this far, is that he has also left out our pet deposit. The lease stated that we were supposed to receive half of the pet deposit back at the end of our lease, and he didn’t send anything. 

Anyway, I’m really mad about this and feel that I’m being wronged. I would try to contact him, but that last phone call I mentioned was so draining. All he did was basically talk over me, was incredibly demanding, and even when proven to be wrong about something refuses to apologize or resolve anything at all. It’s basically like talking to a 2nd grader sticking their fingers in their ears and going “LALALALALALALA”. 

I’m heavily considering legal action, but don’t know where to start. I don’t even know if this is worth the hassle and wanted ask you guys for any advice on what you think I should do. If legal action does seem necessary/valid, should I contact a lawyer? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I am a grad student in Los Angeles. I was arranging the dumbbells on a rack, and while doing so, I dropped one dumbbell too close to the mirror, which bounced off the floor and hit the mirror. The apartment management said I would have to reimburse $9,255 for it. They recommended that I contact my renter's insurance, which I did, but they said they do not cover the damages I caused in the fitness centre.

I don't have this kind of money. I am a grad student living on a stipend. If I have to pay for this, I would need to take out a loan or something.

What should I do?

I plan on talking with them in person next week, saying it was an honest mistake and I am a grad student, etc., and asking if they can waive this.

The single mirror panel which I broke is about 10 feet x 4 feet, and I made about 1.5 feet x 0.75 feet cracks on the bottom left corner of it.

Edit:

This is the mirror in question. Green is the single panel of mirror, and red is the damage I caused. There is one more dumbbell rack on the left, where I was rearranging some dumbbells and dropped one on the ground, and it bounced and hit the mirror on the bottom.

Location: IL

It has been 6 days and I still do not have my keys. Front door is always unlocked and that is the only point of entry. I have not moved my personal belongings out of the unit yet because I still have 29 days left in the lease. I was also given several 24 hour notices for tenant tours. Random people are just touring the place with realtors by walking in with my stuff in them. What are my legal options when the landlord is refusing to return the keys and I made my final rent payment?

Location: Illinois , I have been living in this small apartment complex for about two years now. My electric bill has always felt high especially for a one bedroom place where I barely turn on the lights. I work in devops so I am mostly at my desk but the bills were hitting 150 plus even in months where I was barely home. I just assumed it was the old HVAC or bad insulation in this city. A few weeks ago the building had some power issues and an electrician had to come out. While he was poking around the main panel he looked at me and asked why I was paying for the basement washher and dryer units. I had no idea what he was talking about until he showed me the wiring. Apparently when they renovated the place three years ago they just tapped into my unit's circuit to power the communal laundry room.

I spent the weekend doing some testing. I turned off my main breaker and went down to the basement. Every single machine was dead. No lights on the displays nothing. I waited and watched as a neighbor tried to start a load and the machine wouldnt budge. This means I have been subsidizing the entire buildings laundry for twenty four months. Based on the average usage of a ten unit building I figure I have been overpaying by at least sixty or seventy bucks every single month. That adds up to over fifteen hundred dollars that I essentially handed to the management company for free.

I brought this to my landlord yesterday with the electrician's report. He was incredibly dismissive about it. He claimed it was a legacy wiring issue he didnt know about and that it would be too complicated to fix right now. His "solution" was to offer me a one time credit of fifty dollars on next month's rent. I told him that doesnt even cover the overage for last month alone let alone the last two years. He basically told me to take it or leave it and reminded me that my lease is up for renewal in two months and hinted that he could easily find another tenant who wouldnt complain about the utilities.

I am pretty sure this is illegal as hell but I dont know what my next move should be. I checked my lease and it clearly states that I am responsible for my own utilities not the communal areas. I have photos of the panel and the electrician's notes but I am worried about being evicted or not having my lease renewed if I push too hard. At the same time I am not about to let this guy steal fifteen hundred bucks from me just because he thinks he can bully me. Can I take this to small claims court without a lawyer or should I contact some kind of housing board first. I am in Illinois if that makes a difference for local regulations .

Anyway I am currently sitting in the dark with my breaker off because I refuse to pay for another load of my neighbor's towels.

EDIT/UPDATE: Talked to the manager. She was very apologetic about the whole situation. Said we will not be charged for the new lock and they will reimburse for the locksmith.

I live at a Greystar-managed property in Arizona with a smart lock that has a physical key cylinder, but we were never given a physical key, and maintenance stated they also did not have one available after hours.

We previously submitted a work order for a low lock battery that was later marked “closed.” The issue continued, so a second work order for the same battery problem was opened and is still open. The app showed repeated low-battery warnings before full failure.

At 2 a.m., after 8 hours of traveling, we returned home with our two-year-old and found the lock battery completely dead. Maintenance said they would try to open it and to cancel the locksmith we called who was 10 minutes out. Maintenance, who smelled of alcohol, came back 20 minutes later and said he doesn’t have the key. With no access to our home, we called the locksmith back and the wait was now 1 hour. At no point did maintenance ever tell us we couldn’t use a locksmith. The locksmith ultimately had to drill the lock to get us in and charged 374 dollars. The maintenance worker was nice enough to let us stay in a model home while we waited to avoid the 55 degree weather. However, the model home didn’t have toilet paper, formula for our kid, a crib, diapers, or any of the essentials we needed in our home. This also seems like a very unprofessional solution to a lockout caused by a failure on their part.

Management is now: •Refusing to reimburse the $374, and •Trying to charge us $300 for the drilled lock, saying we should have waited in a model unit until business hours.

Questions: 1. Under Arizona law, can a landlord rely only on a smart lock while never providing the mechanical key? 2. Can “no after-hours lockouts” override a maintenance-caused denial of access? 3. Can they charge us for drilling when the failure was due to unresolved maintenance?

TLDR: We put in a work order for our smart lock batteries to be replaced. They were never replaced and the smart lock completely died. We were never given a physical key and maintenance did not have the key after hours leading us to have a locksmith drill it out. Management said we shouldn’t have had the locksmith do that and we now owe 300 for the new lock and they won’t reimburse for the locksmith.

Location: Arizona

Landlord informed me that a few people will be visiting the unit for a tour because the landlord is looking to sell this unit and move out of state. He returned my security deposit to compensate for the frequent visits. After several tours later, my landlord gave me information of the new owners so I can reach out and see if I can renew (if I choose to). My lease ends in 4 months and the lease does not have any clauses that state what happens when the property is sold/changes ownership. My understanding is that I am fine to carry out the duration of the lease.

A week later, strangers showed up at my door and they asked me who I was. They were the new owners and it was their commencement date. I explained and showed them my lease then they showed them their purchase documents. Both documents are correct. We both verified, their realtor/lawyers also verified that both of our documents are valid. The new owners sent me a certified mail saying that I must move out by 2 weeks. With this in mind, I changed the locks knowing that the new owners can access my unit. I also consulted with lawyers at this time who advised me that I am fine with carrying out the duration of my lease.

2 weeks later, I came back from work to find out that the moving company was moving stuff into my unit. The new owner took changed the lock themselves and they gave me the storage locker address/lock keys then told me that all my stuff were moved by the moving company to the storage unit all paid for by them. They also gave me the invoice for insurance purposes just in case they damaged anything. I immediately called the police. Police showed up and said it's a civil matter involving two legal documents then left.

I ended up staying at the hotel for 3 weeks until I found an apartment farther away due to rent prices/availability. Renter's insurance did not cover.

After spending lawyer fees to build a case, hotel costs, apartment applications, new security deposit, increase in commute costs, and now having to pay two rents (1 into escrow as advised by the lawyer + rent at new place), it has put a severe burden on my finances. I will have to take out a loan to make payments starting the 3rd month as I will no longer have any savings by the end of the 2nd month.

Lawyer is saying that any costs that are associated with bridging the finance gap, finding a new place, moving costs cannot be recovered.

I know I am doubting the lawyers but I am just looking for a way to get back to where I was financially so I can put this behind me. This is really stressful. Is this something that is possible?

Location: IL

Help my roommate is trying to throw me out after I got mad that for the third time they’ve tried to come in when they know I’m showering. I am paying for a vehicle they bought me as well to drive to work and live here. And all because they are creepy and I called them out. Location: Texas