After nine months of attempting to claim my $3,000 deposit from my slumlord… I’m sorry, landlord, the Small Claims Court of San Francisco decided that I was deserving of exactly none of that money. I had thought of attempting a retry in the court of public opinion via my blog, rehashing the facts of the case and most likely the excessive amount of unnecessary stress I felt during the 9 month ordeal. That thought faded quickly when I realized that it would be very unproductive and I’d still be down $3,000.
BUT, as many do, I thought perhaps by putting together some of my thoughts on what I should of done I could help future renters in my favorite city on the planet to benefit from my missteps.
When I moved into the house that I rented with two other people there were tell tale signs that I saw but ignored for a number of reasons; youth, ignorance and a concern that I wouldn’t find housing as it was 2004 and apartments were getting scooped up crazy fast it seemed. Some of these are things I noticed, but put out of my mind because of my inate desire to give people the benefit of the doubt. That, my friends, was a huge mistake. Your landlords are not your friends. It’s a business contract. You owe them no favors, they owe you none that are not specifically laid out on that piece of paper. Maybe you can have a good relationship with them, but don’t walk in expecting one.
So here are my helpful tips of things to be mindful of when looking for a new place to rent:
1) Check the structure/equipment: This means things from big to small. This can be stoves or refrigerators, because most landlords will just buy the cheapest thing that will last the longest. That’s a fair thing to do for them, as buying the energy saver for an extra $500 only puts expense on them while saving you money. Same goes for things like duel pain windows, fire place inserts, or washing machines that use less water.
What I mean is that the things you should be mindful of might not strike you as that important. Things like bathroom fans, fans for your stove or weather stripping. The lack of these things can cause serious damage to your house. That means your landlord doesn’t really care about the property past cashing the checks you’ll be sending them.
In my case, we were missing all of these things. This means mold on your bathroom ceiling, cooking fumes run-off onto your walls, and water/weather seaping through your (in my case) single-pain-old-as-hell wooden windows. There are also other fun things to look at, such as the foundation of the house you are renting (if you can) to see if it is crumbling or in the case of my friends who are renting an apartment, if the elevator isn’t working. And by not working, I mean they have put plywood over it and painted it green so you don’t know it’s missing.
Would you believe those large blank green things on the left....
...aren't purely decorative?
And this elevator issue leads me to…
2) Check the paint job: And by that, I don’t just mean to make sure there is no pealing paint. I also mean did they higher the cheapest immigrant labor they could find or did they higher the guys from the local painters union who actually do amazing high quality work. This is usually easy to spot, both inside and out. The worse the job, the more obvious the lack of the basic things like taping around corners to make sure paint doesn’t bleed onto silly things like window pains.
This is usually the thing that will stick out when it comes to a piece of property, but it’s something I think people seldom pay attention to.
3) The Walk Through: Now, assuming that the two prior things are to your satisfaction, the most important thing you will do before actually occupying the space is the walk through. This is where you walk through the house with your landlord or authorized agent and agree on the condition of the place. Here is a link to the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnerships basic move-in/out checklist that you should do with your landlord, where you sign off on all the spaces that you both agree on their condition. You should also take photos of each room. I would even go so far as to video your complete walk through of the house, with the agent/landlord also pointing out any issues and then you both say at the end you agree with the final condition of the house. If you’re landlord says it’s not necessary, time to leave. If you still want the place, do this regardless of whether the agent or the landlord show up to do this with you.
Once you’ve done all of this, and you both have signed the document, make copies of the photos/video, mail them to yourself two copies AND your landlord a copy. Once you receive your copy, put it away and never open it. These copies are in the event you have to go to court with your landlord. A very common trip up for a lot of people because they tend to just trust their landlords. Don’t do that. You don’t trust your boss to give you health care. You negotiate it before you ever take the job. The same is true with your house. In my case, despite having what I thought was pretty compelling evidence (at least more than my landlord) that the house wasn’t tended to, my landlord had our tenancy agreement with me agreeing that the house was “satisfactory” when I moved in. No other items pointed out, just “satisfactory”. Me signing off on that, in my opinion, cost me $3,000 + court fees seven years later. *sigh*
BONUS TIP: This is more something to be mindful of when you are leaving your house. Make sure you clean your house or have your own cleaner come through before you hand over the keys. I made the mistake of leaving it to my landlord because I was concerned that he would charge me to have it cleaned even if I spent $300 and the place was spotless. My mistake. He used photos of the place left “unclean” in court. Another thing held against me, despite I told the judge I was willing to pay a sufficient cleaning expense just not $3,000 to have the place painted. * double sigh*
DISCLAIMER: This is by no means meant to be legal advice on my part. This is just helpful tips that I feel every tenant should bear in mind when moving into a new place. If you have actual legal questions, don’t ask me. Ask a lawyer.
