Can landlord mess with my credit?

Welcome to our Brave New World of The Creditor Is Always Right.

ANYONE these days can "mess" with your credit. It's happening to me right now; New York Sports Clubs insists I owe them $127.50 for charges incurred AFTER I quit my membership. I disputed the charge. It's now gone to collections. The very fact that it's gone to collections -- regardless of the fact that NYSC is LYING about money I owe them -- is now a black mark on my credit report.

We as a society have given creditors too much ease in accessing and "messing with" our credit reports -- and we've allowed the credit reporting agencies entirely too much power over our day-to-day lives. A generation ago, believe it or not, people did not worry about their credit ratings on a near-daily basis like today's generation does.

Way to live up to your side of an agreement!

I don't know the exact standing with credit reporting, but you failed to pay your last month's rent and defaulted on your lease obligation.

Relax guys - my understanding is that this is relatively common practice given the inability to recover deposits and landlords pulling funny stunts.

Secondly, my lease agreement actually specified an end date that was one month prior to when we actually left the apartment. Due to a clerical error, the landlord thought the lease ended in April, when in fact it ended in March. So if we want to get technical, we are fully paid up according to our signed lease.

I just want to understand if there is any truth to the fact that the landlord can put a black mark on my credit report or not. So rather than make judgments on ethics, lets stick to the facts.

They can, but wouldn't they need a judge to agree you owe them money first? Did you skip the part where they took you to court and you lost?

... and then there's the matter of http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/realestate/11posting.html?scp=1&sq=tenant%20database&st=cse

What landlord threatened was collection agency rather than court. And I am guessing that collection agency can report bad debt unilaterally which would affect my credit in the future?

"And I am guessing that collection agency can report bad debt unilaterally which would affect my credit in the future?"

Yes, absolutely.

A judgement is necessary for your creditors to actually seize money from your bank account and/or garnish your wages.

But no judgement is necessary for a creditor to rightly or wrongly blemish your credit record. And the onus is on YOU to try to get it removed -- with THEIR cooperation.

hey matt,

here would be your response to your very own post.

im sure that, if you had engaged proper documentation of your quitting your nysc membership; and had in a timely way provided copies of said documentation to nysc after they erroneously billed you; you would not be in the position you are in now. if you have done as i say, and have properly retained evidence of having done so, and nysc doesnt properly cooperate; you have clear legal recourse. they have deep pockets.

if you were careless in your quitting of this club, kept poor records and now have a problem, that's exactly what you have: a problem. next time be more careful. you can't expect nysc to care if you haven't followed proper procedures.

Not legally. If you respond to the collection agency within 30 days asking them to document the basis of the alleged debt ( ie a judgment against you), and they can't provide this, it can be reported to a credit agency.
That said, many law firm/debt collectors are operating in the most creative illegality.

Maly,

I assume you typoed and meant that they CAN'T report it to the credit agency if they can't document the basis of the debt.

I don't know the answer to whether the landlord can report you to the credit bureaus.

However, if you ever anticipate needing a reference from this landlord -- including and especially for a co-op board -- I would pay your last month's rent as obligated. For some co-op boards, this would be a reason to reject you (understandably, IMO).

"If you were careless in your quitting of this club, kept poor records and now have a problem, that's exactly what you have: a problem. next time be more careful. you can't expect nysc to care if you haven't followed proper procedures."

I DID follow "proper procedures". I did nothing wrong. NYSC is notorious for making it difficult to quit membership, and does everything it can to squeeze extra $$$ out of every outgoing member, including using its unfair advantage to bully you into paying extra fees.

The onus should not be on the consumer to have to maintain and procure "documentation" when the consumer did nothing wrong.

Ubottom, gyms are notorious for taking months and "losing" paperwork (wasn't there a Seinfeld episode on that?)
It's like everything else, there's what should happen, there's reality and then there's what you negotiate. I bet Matt has done nothing but a bit of whining, like 80% of the population. It's not that hard to remove erroneous information from your credit report. It just take persistence and organization.

"If you respond to the collection agency within 30 days asking them to document the basis of the alleged debt ( ie a judgment against you), and they can't provide this, it can be reported to a credit agency."

Did this.

All that accomplished was NYSC providing fabricated "proof" that I owed them $127.50.

"It's not that hard to remove erroneous information from your credit report. It just take persistence and organization."

And my point is -- we shouldn't be put in a position to have to do it in the first place when we did NOTHING WRONG.

the ease with which scum can fugk with one's credit report is deplorable--and that one has to pay to monitor whether scum has done such a thing is insane

The best was when I moved from LA to CT and tried to terminate my Bally's gym membership early. They had a rule that as long as you were within a certain distance of a gym, you could not terminate. The gym that was closest and within the required distance was on Long Island. So I either had to go to Bridgeport and take the ferry or metro north to GC, and out to LI. 4 hour round trip to go to the gym.

Terminating my Crunch membership was a good lesson on what it takes to be a modern American. Nothing worked until I sent a certified letter to their corporate headquarter (bally's in SoCal), threatening them with the wrath of God and the state AG. They are scum.
Annoying? Sure, but doable.

I am not sure as to the specifics, but I believe that you can notify the credit agencies that you have a matter in dispute and ask them to put a teporary freeze (not sure if this is correct term) on your records. Not sure what the steps are after that but as long as the landlord has the $$ you owe him/her, simply stating that you broke the lease may not be enough to initiate a collection action. They will need to show how much you owe them. If the security is enough to cover the rent, then I guess you will be in the clear (unless they assess apartment damages, but then they may have to go to court).

Also, if the collection agency does call you, you should state that you are not responsible for the debt and you can require (that is correct - require) them to initiate a proof of claim process. If they do, you can show them the cancelled security check.

Again, I am not a lawyer, but this is my best understanding of the situation.

sorry, the above was to duescracked

Thanks ukrguy!

ukr--i bet that the temporary freeze prevents access to your credit score by other entities--for purposes of establishing new credit relationships--like leasing a new apt or getting a mortgage

ubottom - thats not a problem for me personally as I have already signed a new lease with a new landlord and am comfortably situated in a new apartment. so no immediate need for credit.

just keep good records and photographs of the apt left in good shape--i got a collection notice based on alleged damages to an apartment rented from related 5 years after id left--fortunately i had on file the release form from the super that indicated the apt had been left in good order--had i not it would have cost me a few thou--i bet they get paid on this shit regularly by ex-tenants who havent held on their recrods for 5 years--and it cost me time diggin up the file photocopying sending reg mail etc--awful

What we need is a black file for landlords, there are so many scuzzy people out there.

No.

What we need is a change in the law to consumers' credit records as sacrosanct as our Social Security records.

ubottom: I do not claim to be an expert but let me share a personal experience that prompted me to write what I did.

About 4 or 5 years ago I received a phone call from a person representing IRA (no, not that one). It stands for International Recovery Associates with a claim for about $600. The claim was due to an oncological consultation that I was supposed to have received some time prior to that. I never received such a consultation. What is interesting the collection agent called me on my direct line at work (which I guard closely). When I asked him to call me at home, he did not have the number. I then stated that I did not believe I was responsible for the debt and received a long speech about one's responsibilities. I was angry and amused at once. I called our in-house attorney. She advised me write to the three agencies and request a fraud alert on my file, which I did. She then suggested to write to IRA and demand a Proof of Debt file (I think that was the term she used). Since the alleged debt was from a doctor's office there should have been an extensive record of me. The SOB collection agent said that he would do so, all he needed was my SS#. At that point I made a suggestion that involed him and his mother. I still wrote the letter and never heard from them again.

During the process I spent a fair of time going through various aspects of debt collection, mostly though internet resources. Debt collection is not a simple matter. It is just that often consumers do not know their rights and are easily abused.

Check out

http://www.nedap.org/hotline/fdcpa.html

Ukrguy: totally agree. The laws on the book *should* protect an educated consumer, but often enough people do not know enough to be able to swat the flies. If legality was all it took to protect us from scammers, we wouldn't hear every day from Sir Day-Jones about the $5,000,000 I inherited from my great-aunt in London.

Landlords are in the position of power. FU pay me. If you dont I will ruin your credit. Love your Landlord

true--and that's why government regulation is required

@NYCMatt

NYSC had their collection agency call me to try and convince me that I owned ~$275 for a Pilates class that I did not take. I informed them that I did not owe them any money and asked for their address and phone number.

I impolitely informed them that:
1. There was no way a court of law would believe that I did not pay that bill given the fact that I have been a member for more than 15 years without incident with automatic bill pay,
2. I have a sterling credit rating that I intended to keep, and
3. I would sue them for fraud and harassment if they every called me again or tried to ruin my credit rating.

I asked if they understood every word I had just said. The collection agency said yes. Consequently I disconnected from the conversation. Haven't heard from them since. No one messes with my credit rating. I will go to war over $0.01 cent. End of.

Typos -- working and typing at the same time.
Corrections: "will go to war over $0.01."
"sue...if they ever called"...

Face reality - you are an individual it will be more of a cost for you to sue your landlord/gym/etc then it is for them to sue you. They are a business that has legal budgets. You are an individual. 99.9999999999999% of individuals who say they will sue will not when they realize they have a minimum legal retainer of $10K just to start the legal process.

Whenever some idiot deadbeat threatens to sue me....I chuckle....sure you will....more likely you will be spending money on legal help to clear up your bad credit rating after we easily ding it....

FU pay me or I will ruin your credit rating - legally and justifiably

Omy goodness, you deal with small complaints like this in small claims court.

ok I bring my lawyer and its your first time in small claims court.... or better yet ... I dont even show up I send my lawyer and you need to take off from work that day to go to court and fight me in a process that you didnt prepare for and dont know anything about. Or did you take a couple of days off from work to prepare? Either way ....the process is staked against you..cost...time...knowledge of the system... and oh yeah ...you didnt pay your rent according to the contract that you signed that you didnt understand because my highly paid lawyer wrote it in a way that you signed away all your rights.......

Are you nuts? This is how you go about things?

Judge to you: Is this your signature on this lease. You: Yes your honor but... Judge: Ok Yes. Did you pay your rent on time according to this contract... You: no but, but, Judge: Ok - ruling in favor of the Landlord. You must pay your back rent, plus late fees, and an additional $250 in court costs.

Next.....

petrfitz you sound like a jackass or perhaps you only rent low income housing next to JFK to the undereducated and unemployed. Highly paid professionals that rent manhattan apartments in prime neighborhoods like myself and pay 7-10k/mo are by definition not suckers. They have their own lawyers (that they will engage out of principle even if it is a breakeven or money losing proposition), they are perfectly comfortable reading contracts, and can play the game just as well as an individual landlord that probably owns at most 2-3 properties and most likely has never actually gone to court. Now if we are talking about renting from Related, that is a different story, but in many cases condos are rented from individual owners that bought them as 'investment properties' and have no idea what they are doing and rely on a broker to give them the standard REBNY lease agreement. At least this has been my experience.

duecescracked so when you read the contract and suggest changes to your favor does the landlord EVER accept the changes???? NO.

This is our contract. Sign it or don't rent the place. Some other tool will come around and pay me 7-10K per month who will sign it without changes, as well as, pay my broker 14% of the years rent just for the honor of paying me 50% of their take home each month.

Judge: Mr duecescracked is this your signature on this lease. duecescracked: yes your honor but....

Judge: did you pay your rent on time and in full? duecescracked: No but I have a good explaination.....

Judge: Court finds in favor of the landlord. duecescracked must pay all rents, late fees, and $25o in additional court costs..... next case

Oh you have never been to the small claims courts. They do not announce a verdict at the trial, they mail it to you and the other party. It is definitley not in favor of the businesses there either.

to petrfitz:

Deborah Birnbaum, PHD, Clinical Psychologist
275 West 96th Street
New York, NY, 10025
Phone Number:(212) 678-4758

She accepts several insurance plans and does both individual and group therapy. You need both. I highly recommend her. She helped two of my friends though very complex issues. Good luck.

@petrfitz

I have sued two parties for fraud. One was handled by a lawyer-won case. Second case I did pro se (i.e., I represented myself). The defendant used a corporate law firm. After I told the defendant's fancy lawyer the evidence I had against his client, they decided to settle for $20,000--and this was in the early 1990s, so adjust for inflation.

Did gut renovation of condo unit. Electrician incorrectly installed halogen lighting. Hired another electrician to fix the problem. Discovered transformer box had literally melted in spots. Could have caused the entire building to go up in flames (building was a brick and wood townhouse). Filed complaint with state electrician board (again pro se). Won judgement.

Ordered Hunter Douglas window treatments from window store which never installed said window treatments (late by ~ 3 months). Won case in small claims court, got all my money back, thank you.

I took business law in graduate business school, and for more that 13 years I have read and negotiated more complicated bond indentures than I care to count. So I'm not exactly stupid when it comes to legal terminology and I'm quite comfortable doing my own legal research. Which is not to say that I don't hire lawyers (I know what I don't know), I just don't rely on them 100%. For consumer problems, as someone else mentioned, small claims court is the way to go. There are plenty of websites which help explain the process. It's not rocket science. So you should not believe that landlords and corporations will always win judgements against the little guy.

A sucker may be born every minute, but I try not to be one. And once again, if anyone tries to harm my credit rating, I will spend every available moment that I have to clear my credit score--and I will make whoever tried to ruin it pay dearly for my time and efforts.

wavedeva sure we believe you. It is pretty much every day that a non legal trained individual beats a corporation with trained legal council. I think your supposedly true stories should encourage every renter to believe that they can sue their landlord without a lawyer and win.

As if I care whether or not you believe me. Just saying you should not always assume landlords and corporations always win. End of--I have better things to do.

petrfitz, you never answered my question on the other thread. What have you been doing with the extra income from last year that you said have made up for your RE losses? Have you pulled the trigger on NYC RE yet, or are you still waiting? Where has the cash been parked?

Inonada - I am not sure what you mean "from your real estate loses" I have had no real estate loses. I have not sold any properties at a loss nor have any of my rental properties been empty or rented at a loss.

But the money I made last year is going into 2 digital media companies that I have started up (which is what I do for a living...not RE) Instead of taking outside VC funding, I have been able to generate enough cash from my holdings to self finance these companies and they are growing and going well!

I am in the process of selling one property now at a nice profit and buying another.

aside from the above I am deep in cash approx $500K on hand, and have recently bought a bunch of tax free munies, and a few stocks. I also paid off all non tax deductible debt like cars, credit cards, gambling lines, etc

What's the price of CPMs these days $0.001 I hear, media companies have yet to make money in 10 years.

i dont have any ad revenue businesses. Hmmm I guess that you don't consider Google, all the gaming companies, etc media companies.

It is amazing how idiots will spew out ignorance to attack others and make themselves feel better about their own miserable existence. Yeah dude digital media companies havent made any money in 10 years, yeah dude have you seen the profit reports from the big media companies recently either? They are all up you tool

Yes, idiots like petrfitz:

So lets see the gaming sector:

EA, TAKE2 - make money? Bliz makes money because of WoW. Digital Media is a money sink, with only few that able to make money. But you need to have IQ for that and you lack that part.

I know more about this sector then you, its one area where I work - finding VCs for these companies.

darkbird - I have started an sold 6 companies. You dont know more about this than I do. You are service person to people like me.

You can talk when you have started, operated, grown, and sold just 1 business.

Being some lacky who reaches out to VC's for people who dont have connections makes you little more than a mortgage broker. You probably sit in audiences and watch me speak thinking that 1 day you would love to be me.

I love how you consider the gaming sector just 2 console makers. You obviously dont consider the casual gaming space - both platform providers as well as developers, social gaming companies, virtual worlds, mobile developers (although these guys are flame outs), and iPhone/iPad developers. I currently have a hand in most of these platforms, or have started and sold a major company in one or two of these areas.

What have you done besides found someone who actually works in the space and introduced him to Goldman, or Fred Wilson, etc??? and you call yourself an expert. When I call Kleiner or Sequoia they pick up my call on first ring. How about you?

darkbird - also please name 1 gaming company that you found "VC's" for......????

darkbird.....aweful quiet...please answer the question....

petrfitz, I meant to say unrealized losses (I used this wording on the other thread). Hopefully, you've come to realize I'm not one of the "gotcha" people on this board by now. IMO, if you want to count your unrealized gains in your mental accounting, you gotta count unrealized losses as well, which I'm guessing you do outside of attacks from this board.

In any case, good to hear you are funding your own ventures: a good thing to do if you've got the money and diversification on the risk.

How do you feel about earning 0% on your cash while paying, say, 6% on your RE debt, in essense giving the bank a 6% carry on your own money? Do you consider that just the cost of staying liquid (with the tax banefits), or is your debt financed shorter-term and hence at a lower rate?

I dont care about earning 0% on my cash ... it is actually slightly above 1%...I consider it the cost of staying liquid for the ability to jump into other investments or ventures. some of my properties are financed short term currently at 3.1% (just a few) but the majority are financed long term and have renters covering those costs.

I also consider my funds separately - i.e. personal cash on hand for entrepreneurial ventures is keep separate and viewed differently than funding for RE. Even though they all ultimately roll up to my personal returns.

darkbird.....waiting for your answer or did I just prove you full of shit....?

Are you finding any zero- or positive-carry RE opportunities these days?

Seems to me that there are few out there (especially outside of NYC and Manhattan in particular), but given my background and the abundance of other available opportunities, it hasn't been worth the relative effort. Your background makes you better-equipped to take advantage of such opportunities, but given that you're passing on them at the moment confirms my thinking that I should wait until things look more attractive. Of course, this may not happen, which is fine as there are other better opportunities out there right now IMO.

EA, T2, THQ - console makers? Wasn't Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft making those?

Iphone/Ipad developers are paying 30% to Apple (and you know what happens on chargeback). ObjC/Cocoa developers make lots of money developing these applications, but not the companies trying to sell. Again I know more about technology. What's the difference between NSMutableArray and NSArray?

To know anything about the companies I got investment for, you would need to assign their NDAs. I am an expert because I know both side well - technology and business. I wrote Iphone/Android apps for fun (I want to see your business models for these), I built complete low latency trading systems, or large grid clusters.

there are plenty of deals out there now - 0 or positive carry really depends on how you view your down payment. Like I said I am in the midst of buying and selling as we speak but these are properties out West.

I have an offer in on a Jersey shore property that would be a nice positive carry for me. This is because it is an estate sale where the property for sale has water rights impinged by other properties I won. Meaning if they sell to someone else besides me, I cut off access to the water and boat slips.

So opportunities are individual and circumstantial. If you are looking for an easy slam dunk then you shouldnt be buying RE.

wow dark bord you really dont know what you are talking about. EA, T2, THQ - whom I have done business with all - and count Trip as a personal friend.... make console games.

IT HILARIOUS that you say iphone developers are making lots of money developing apps....HAH.. yeah getting paid $12-15K for an 8 week game development project isnt making anyone rich. I happen to have developed and own several top iPhone paid games currently.

Also the fact that you spit out a little coder language talking about classes makes it obvious you are not a major funding player... you are a coder or coder wannabe.

Android app business models???? dont build for it unless the carrier is giving you huge upfronts otherwise on per units sales you wont make any money. The only way I build for droid is if T mobile calls me an offers $5-10 million ad buy upfront.

You are a low level coder who thinks he is a player....you havent found any serious funding for any company

So what are you a coder or an investment player...I know that you are a liar.

"So opportunities are individual and circumstantial. If you are looking for an easy slam dunk then you shouldnt be buying RE."

Yeah, I'm looking for easy slam dunk ;). I don't doubt experienced people like you or 30yrs can work hard to find the gems in the manure that RE has become investment-wise, and get appropriately compensated for that work + experience + risk. However, us simple/lazy folks prefer to wait until the rain washes the manure away to pick up the rubies, and there are plenty of other washed-out manure piles out there at the moment.

inonada - i know see that you are the type of investor that buys a new construction condo with top of the line appliances in prime neighborhoods.....this type of investor only sees an upside when the entire neighborhood goes up....seems like simpleton investing. you should have your money in a mutual fund as you dont want to put effort into making real investments and taking risk...

so perceptive. nada is a prime example of a bubble buyer of new construction.

EA, T2, THQ has much larger share in PC games, they do not make consoles. Yes, lets compare our billionaires "friends".

Oh wait you didn't hear that Android phone outsold Iphone, Sprint/Verizon (will) have Droids soon. $12-15k? The going rate for mobile developers is $200-250 in NYC, multiply that by 5. Are you employing your handymen to do your startups, great idea.

Not a coder, I am a technologist. To be successful you need to know intimate details about everything, GOOG wouldn't be one of TOP companies if the company wasn't founded by technologists. That's where you fail my dear, you're trying to build a technology company without having no clue about the technology.

To be successful in the area of technology you need to know it. Not I am not WB, but neither you're BG.

Not quite: I'm more like the renter of the new construction condo with top of the line appliances in prime neighborhoods. Not literally, but something like that. We both agree that it's a crappy investment. You choose to side-step it entirely; I choose to take the other side.

On my "simpleton" view of long-term investing, let's just put it this way. Back in 1999, it was possible to find long-term value in stocks. You had to work hard with the S&P trading 1300-1400. A decade of growth in earnings and book value and cash later, the S&P spent close to a year trading in the 700-900 range. It was hard work to find something that did NOT have great long-term value. So you step in, do some work, and pick up the best values. Call me crazy, but I prefer that kind of market.

This type of investment is not the only one I do, and trust me, I get the idea of taking risk.

hah what a pedestrian!!!! $200K for an iPhone app. You claim to be a "technologist" who pays NY developer rates for apps that will barely make $100-200K in revenues unless it is a total hit. The real players are developing their apps offshore - like me who owns several off shore dev labs..

Also if you think $200K x 5 is "big money" then you are a fool. Out of that million bucks you will have to have at least 5-10 NY salaried Obj C devers at what $150/year min??? so according to you, you are barely making money probably even losing and you have a small dev team as well as charing your partners NY rates when they should be paying offshore rates....

I am a "technologist" and business person on a level that you are not even close to.....you are sophmoric...

I have actually ran a carrier content team, several major media companies wireless team, as well as, sold several successful start ups. I have been a key speaker at GDC and GDC mobile, Games and Mobile, CGA, etc.

And to prove your immense knowledge - please tell us the top grossing Android app and the top grossing iPhone app and how much money each has made....quick go to Flurry's web site.......Android apps havent sold crap...you are good at reading PaidContent and assuming that Android installs = app revenue sales...

What technology platform do you want to talk about? Android, iphone/objective c? Brew, Java, Flashlite, HTML5? want to go smaller talk about the benefits of using json objects? Or larger like 3D Engines to power console games? lets talk show me how brilliant you are.....

Hey, perkytits, what do you think of that new nickname? Ok, sorry I just wanted to add absolutely no value to this discussion and I succeeded, carry on.

I am not making iphone apps as a business (reading comprehension ftl, I told you this is not a money making market), 200k in revenues is irrelevant if you have the development cost of 250k. Selling apps for 0.99 is a waste of time, even running shore shops won't get you any big profit margins. According to you - development of an iphone app in an offshore shop is between 60k and 120k. You need to make between 100k-200k to break even (free money for APPL and me) That's 200000 people need to buy your app.

About android - what I said that Android phones outsold iPhones (again can't read?), and its a new emerging market. Here is my bet: in 5 years Android apps will have similar market as Iphones. APPL is good, but GOOG is better. Also it would mean more or less death for Nokia, and possibly Blackberry. MS is on the last breath.

JSON vs AMF (hint: flash) vs Serializable vs XML, all of these are used to transmit data between a webserver and a browser? Though the usual debate is about the first and the last, and I am so no interested to hear that. JSON is not a strongly typed format, that says enough.

I invest in a stock market, these days a lot more profitable venture then RE. My returns are nice and fat. Thanks for supporting me with you fees to APPL, I had a great run last year.

I like perky tits. It's funny when users try to get at me by morphing my screen name...do you really think petrfitz has anything to do with my real name? My real last name is Nicentight

deucescracked; you play poker? if you get this response: POTRIPPER has never beaten gboro in a hand.

WASSUP DI. I'm all about the poker

gboro is a sucker. potripper is unbeatable.

inonada: what to do with 2M in cash in terms of investments and allocation? I don't want to buy right now and am ensconced in a nice rental for the next couple years probably. Moderate risk tolerance but I don't like big drawdowns.

It's hard to say without being directly in someone else's shoes. I'm biased towards equities right now because I think the valuations are fair, so you can still actually find good values with some work. It's not like last year when valuations were extremely attractive, and all you needed was some combination of courage & stupidity, but it's still good enough for me.

On the other hand, I have a high risk tolerance (though I'm not a speculator looking to strike it rich with 1 "10-bagger") and a very long horizon without a clear liability on the other side (i.e., there's a distinct possibility that I'll never actually spend it). I also have diversification from other sources & investments, and I have reason to believe that my free cash available will increase significantly as time goes on. So, if equities get chopped by 50%, it'll suck on the one hand, but on the other hand I have an opinion as to what they're worth and will likely have additional liquidity to take advantage. I also have reason to believe that I'll actually go through with it if & when it happens (e.g., last year).

cool - so basically you are saying you are LIVING THE LIFE?

No, it's your world, sitting on $2M cash and renting $7-10K apartments. I'm just a fool visiting, kicking 50% of my take-home pay up to Mr. Fitz for my LES tenement apt ;).

duecescracked
1 day ago
ignore this person
report abuse Situation:

I moved out of a rental place a few weeks ago. I paid up rent excluding the last month, moved out of the unit in excellent condition. Told the owner to keep the deposit as I wasn't feeling like floating 6k for a month or two and potentially getting shortchanged.

Landlord told me that I need to pay the last month rent or they will report me to the credit bureaus as delinquent.

Whats up? Is it even possible for owner to do that? I did not realize signing a lease was applying for credit. This seems totally unilateral.

the stupidity of this question. of course they can ruin your credit. your contact (lease) will CLEARLY state that you can't use the security in lieu of the last month of rent. If you had read the legal document you singed, you wouldn't have posted. And anyone who tells you that is different is full of shit.

John_Holmes69: of course I read the contract and I knew perfectly well that I couldn't use the deposit. But I decided I wanted to try anyways. And sure enough the landlord backed down today and said he was ok with using the deposit. So I win, again.

Wassup now?

duecescracked - you "win again"

If you call giving some landlord 50% of your take home to rent a crappy apartment and worry that your landlord can ruin your credit - and still legally can if he desires to do so - winning. Then you are a big winner.......

Are you renting again? OR buying in the near future? You know new landlords and mortgage companies ask for rental histories??? Do you think that your landlord might not give you the best history when you are in need of a clean report to get that mortgage or rent that dream apartment???

You are truly a winner!

petrfullofshitz - you espouse democratic ideals yet you sound like a teabagger on crack. good luck with your confluence of dogma and ur digital media forays. who knows maybe ur the next sergei of the internet but your inner conflict sounds like a recipe for meltdown. i would take that earlier posters' advice and see a shrink.

and plz stop trying to intimidate renters its not very transparent and your bragidishio is petrfullofshitz.

did i f*ck up braggadocio,didnt i? well, all english majors can feel free to jump on that one. still think he is petrfulloshitz.

The fucking question is, does the LL have to re-caulk?

Nah, ain't no one around here gonna criticize your grammar if it's committed while arguing against petrfitz. It's sorta like shooting your wife and her lover if you catch them in bed in Texas, not murder/manslaughter, but simply accepted and perhaps even expected.

On deucescracked, don't get too worried about him petrfitz. I know you don't like reading the posts fully when you go off steamin', so I'll summarize for you. He's already got his new place so he doesn't have to worry about the recommendation, and from the sounds of it, he's not paying 50% of his take-home for some crappy LES tenement apartment, but rather renting a $2-3M place he can buy for cash tomorrow. I know, I know, peanuts for biddogs like you & me, but he sounds like some young guy who's not too showy.

Nevertheless, I don't agree with using the deposit, but then again I've never had a asshole landlord.

Unfortunately, yes, the landlord can. This is just one more illustration of the messyness of renting due to the fact that renting should be merely a temporary state. The renter does not benefit, and the owner should be allocating their capital elsewhere, so there is no exploitation involved. Ownership is the best solution for families.

unless it's not.

Didn't you read the above? Yes, the landlord can go after you, regardless of merit. This is unfortunate but it is a fact.

I was obviously talking about the value of ownership. why don't you spew your nonsense at the millions of people who have lost their homes to foreclosure. I bet each and every one of them us glad they opted for the stability in owning. simple-minded tool.

You have a lot of anger, and I'm sure you have your reasons and personal misfortunes. You have acknowledged that you have owned for longer than you have rented and that you will be an owner. Hence, your rental situation is temporary, naturally unless you have some duplicitous reasons for supporting the rental industry.

I own currently. In an area that should have tanked but actually has appreciated since my purchase and I bought well below market at the time.

and you really should know what you are talking about before opining. I seriously doubt I'll own in NYC before retirement and as we wish to travel after retirement I may just rent a reasonable apartment wherever to store our stuff. if the rent/buy and income numbers fall in line with historical norms I might buy. but unlike you I place no moral value on ownership.

you think I sound angry? I think you sound like a narrow-minded asshole, telling people what is natural and appropriate for families. piss off.

Aboutready is the shit and DaBulls is full of shite.
I'm still depressed because my dog died.
I own but am looking to live in a different location so I'm gonna rent the sucker I own and rent a new place.
Sigh.
It's all so taxing without my dog.

If you own, good for you and for your family.

What if you don't have a family? Should you still own?

Agree, renting is indeed temporary.

Everyone should own. Irregardless of the market.

Dogismy I'm truly sorry about your dog. sad.

I wish you well.

I come to streeteasy to cheer myself up. I kid you not. Alcohol doesn't work, drugs don't work, suicide is too final. I guess I could get a new dog, but I'm seriously looking for a rental and having a canine makes it more difficult. So I'm gonna wait til I find a dog-friendly rental. I could stay in the place I own and get a dog ----- but I want to change locations!!!
Streeteasy always cheers me up!!!
Thank you, streeteasy. And aboutready.

Being a renter is not a reason to commit suicide. Please call and speak to someone who you can talk to. Someone who cares is available. People do care. You are valuable.

1-800-273-8255

Dogismy owns. learn to read.

Dogismy get a dog. you don't want to live somewhere without one.

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt on this one.