Is it legal for us to be charged for all repairs?

Is it legal/ethical for a landlord to request that you pay for ALL repairs or insurance deductible for a house you are renting? I am considering renting a newly remodeled house that has a one year ''home warranty'' and some sort of insurance. The owner has stated I would probably be responsible for the $40 insurance copay whether a repair was warranted by anything I have caused or not. Is this legal? If not, how should I broach the subject with her?

I would not mind if I caused something to break but with new copper pipes/water heater etc. isn't there always the possiblity of things that were not completed correctly even if they did pass inspection?

Thanks, confused renter

So if you broke something, then yes, the landlord should charge you for the repair. If something just quit working (like the stove or hot water heater) or the new copper pipes start leaking, then no, the landlord could not charge you for it.

So no, it is not legal/ethical for a landlord to request that you pay for ALL repairs or insurance deductible for a house you are renting (unless you caused all the damage).

If this is the type of landlord you would have, frankly I recommend you don't rent the property. Sounds like she will be more trouble than she is worth. If you still want to rent the house, tactfully educate the landlord on the law before you move in. If she still wants to rent to you, then at least you're both on the same page.

I don't know what city you're in, but single family homes are exempt from rent control. If something breaks and she tries to charge you for it and you don't pay and it pisses her off, she can force you to move at the end of your lease, or in 30 days if you're on a month to month rental.

Like I said, it might not be worth the hassle.

• Breakage due to mis-use: Tenant pays
• Wear and tear, home maintenance: Landlord pays (100%, not part)

This landlord is nuts. I don't know what the specific law is, but if they ask you to sign an agreement that is not aligned with the law, the law will supercede the agreement. However.... why sign any agreement when you are sure to see things needing repair over time? That's just asking for a difficult relationship. anon

Making rental house's yard usable

We are a four-person family living in a rented house with a small backyard. We would love to take advantage of the outdoor space, but the ''grass'' covering most of the lot is little more than prickly weeds, and there are many patches where even weeds don't grow. This year I've sworn that I'm going to make the space usable for kid games, outdoor dining, maybe even a slide...but I'm not sure how to begin. Would it make more sense to plant grass (what kind?) or to cover the area with some sort of mulch or wood chips (what kind?) Has anyone ever managed to talk their landlord into sodding a yard? If so, what sort of argument did you use? Thanks for all suggestions. Going Yard

Coming to terms with always being a renter

So I am throwing this out to the lovely people on this list--I need some help reconciling myself to living as a renter for a long long time (so long as we live in The Bay Area, I guess...)

We are a four-member one-income family, and got ''stuck'' here post-grad school. We are lucky in that one of us has a job with benefits, and that we have a place we can pretty much afford to rent in a good neighborhood (schools, services, etc). We are applying for jobs elsewhere, but in the meantime are living our lives here. Pretty well. One can stay at home with our little kids, and we get to do fun stuff on weekend

But I am so sad we can't buy a house, not even a condo. Even if we could swing the mortgage, the taxes and other fees would kill us. So I want to make peace with this. The American Dream oppresses me, and I'm jealous of anyone who could get it together to buy something earlier, before the market was nuts, and really jealous of those who can do it now...I don't want to feel bad about this anymore. And sometimes I don't...but lots of times I do.

Help me out, guys. Are there other long-term-renters-because-we- have to/want to out there? Anyone wishing they did not own a house? There are lots of things we can do because we live in The Bay Area, and I know we are lucky in many ways. I'm just having a hard time with this, and could use some help. The American Dream Gives me Nightmares

That said, buying a house or condo is tough, but not as tough as I thought it would be. The thing that got things rolling for us is we first went to a financial planner who was able to get us set up to start putting money aside in IRAs and other invesments. Then, we got pre qualified to see what we could afford and ended up qualifying for way more than we can imagine (nor did we want to strap ourselves that high). We set our limit on what we would pay and did not compromise on that. We did, however, have to compromise on location and the type of house we wanted. But, it wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time (we wanted a more urban location and ended up in the hills where there aren't even any sidewalks). And, we ended up with a two bedroom house when we wanted 3. But, in the end, we love our house and it's worked out for us. We had to give up some of our lifestyle, but we've made a nice nest egg for ourselves. I think you need to decide what works for you, what your needs are, and work toward that. Owning a house in this cost prohibitive environment is not nescessarily a good way to invest your money. I do think, tho, that you should be putting money away for retirement or investing some part of what you'd pay on a house into a nest egg that could somehow replace equity building.

We also got some very sound advice from friends of my in-laws. She was a public school teacher and he was a house painter. They did not make a lot of money, but bought their first apartment building in San Francisco years ago. They told us that it is never a good time to get into the market and always a great time to get into the market. They said they always bought at the peak of the market and they always made money. And, their most sound piece of advice to us was: don't fall in love with anything...buy something you can stand. I see friends holding out for the perfect house. Stop being so picky and buy what makes sense. Make sure you're getting good value for what's being offered.

Don't let this market rule you. If you want to buy, figure out what you can afford and what you're willing to sacrifice. In the end, you may decide you are better off renting or you may buy but at least you'll have made a decision rather than letting this market intimidate you. Good luck. anon

I know we could own a home if we moved to Las Vegas or Arizona, but I love the politics here, and we are a bi-racial couple who can enjoy each other with a minimum of racism. I've read The Millionaire Next Door, and I'm trying to apply the principles of frugality, but I know we may need to leave to be financially secure sooner. So far, we've chosen cultural diversity and the natural beauty of the Bay Area over immediate financial security. I haven't given up, though.
anon

We love living here because of the lifestyle of the city; we simply wouldn't live in a lot of other places even if it meant we could buy. We've concluded that this is the cost of having access to all the wonderful things in the area we live. I'm sure you've heard all that before--but as you already said in your email, think about what you _can_ afford because you're renting. You have a greater choice of where you live, access to the great resources there, and, I assume, more liquidity to buy things you'd like for you and your family, to travel, to eat good food, etc., etc.

Many people may subscribe to the tyranny of the American Dream, but don't kid yourself that things are any better or easier for them, not least of all financially. Yes, we could scrape enough together for a meager down-payment on a house. But we'd have a colossal mortgage and we simply aren't prepared to take on such enormous debt. Most of our friends who own houses are up to their eyeballs in hundreds of thousands of dollars in mortgage debt, have risky ARMs, and have put down little down payment on their homes. In reality, they don't own their houses--the bank does. And with the high levels of debt many of them carry, any change in their income (or with those on ARMs, any significant increase in interest rates) is going to have a big effect on their ability to afford their mortgage payments and sustain their current pace of day-to-day living.

There's a great societal pressure to ignore all this risk as the inevitable cost of owning a home, especially for those of us in our late 20s and 30s who are perhaps also starting to have children. I lived in rented homes with my parents all through my late teens and am no worse off for it. I do wonder what it would have been like to grow up in the same house all my life, but I think the relative mobility of our family lifestyle only enriched my experience of life in the long run. This is not to say that renting makes you a permanent nomad moving from one area (and school) to the next; it needn't at all.

Yes, like you, I am sorry that we didn't buy a house several years back. Now we could never buy a $650K home in the Castro or Bernal Heights as some of our friends have. But don't let yourself get too down about ''missing out'' on some pre-boom glory days either. We don't have to deal with nasty neighbors who we know will live alongside us for the rest of our lives (or theirs, I suppose). When something in the house gets broken we can just call our landlords (and because we're lucky and they're great, they will fix it right away). We don't have to pay exhorbitant property taxes because of the dreadful Prop 13. And because we live in a rent-controlled unit, we can predict how much our rent will increase--which does away with one of the arguments against renting, that you can never know how much you'll be paying. Steel yourself against the American Housing Dream--sure, it would be nice to have our own place, but there really is so much more to living than owning a home!
brigid

We have even moved to Pleasant Hill b/c we could no longer afford Berkeley/Oakland. We rent a 2 bed/1 bath house with no insulation, a wall unit heater, old windows. The electricity is so bad that often blow a fuse when we make toast!! We don't have a dishwasher or a microwave b/c we don't have the electricity to handle it!! We have a huge yard and are in a good school district, but like I said, it's not ours and they can give us notice anytime!

The fixer-uppers go for so much that by the time you get in them, you can't afford to fix them up, even with a carpenter for a husband! We will never be able to afford a house and it is so discouraging. I remember looking at houses 6 years ago and thinking the costs were ridiculous-- back then we thought the bubble must burst and it is still growing!! I can not believe people will pay over a half a million dollars for a non- updated 2 bed/1 bath where you can't even tell which bedroom is the master, the kitchen is too small to eat in and the garage won't fit a car! The people have driven the market up this high, if people refused to pay those prices, then it never would have gotten so out of hand....

In the 60's, my parents bought their house for less than we bought our used car two years ago!!!!!!!!!!!! Prices of things have increased but salaries have not followed similarly, yet both my husband and I get paid more than we could in other places.....

Bush isn't helping as he works for the rich and there is an increasing separation between the rich and everyone else-- the middle class is disappearing... I'm with you.... I envy those that have it, I wish we could but I could not see strapping ourselves so tight either!!!
Perplexed in Pleasant Hill

we even went so far as to take a family vacation to portland back in september and actually met with a realtor there. spent days with this woman and saw so many lovely homes. all somewhat affordable, unbelievably! we did the research on the school districts, visited all the neighborhoods, asked for advice from this network and had to come to the conclusion that....we love the bay area even though we can't afford it. it would be a lovely life up there in the rain, but for some reason i still stay here.

i see my friends paying mortgages that are twice my rent for dinky little houses and condos in ''okay'' neighborhoods. just makes me crazy! i love ''my'' house! i wish i could afford to buy it though! so i have my good days and i have my bad days and i continue to pay my rent on time and scour all the real estate web sites. and it's not just here. oh no....i've looked! central valley, sacramento, north, south...can't afford anything in the entire state! boy did we miss the boat! if only i had known the market would go all screwy, i would have begged, borrowed or stolen to buy SOMETHING while we were back in college...what, 9 years ago?

it's funny though, because on one hand, it sucks. but on the other hand, we're living in a nice house, in a great neighborhood. i just can't bring myself to go into $500,000+ debt to live in a mediocre house.
---ME TOO!!!

Landlord has moved in downstairs, is being unreasonable

My son and I just moved to Oakland to be closer to his school. We rented a 3 bedroom house for a very large amount, and had plans to eventually rent the third bedroom out to either a student or au-pair to help with child care when I travel for business. An hour before I signed the lease, I discovered that the house had an in-law unit, which was never mentioned by the landlord. When I asked about it, he said that this unit was empty, and that he had not decided whether to rent it out eventually, or if he would keep it for his own occasional use when in town (he lives elsewhere). I asked him about the level of noise, since I like to listen to my stereo and my son and I like to dance. He said that I could do whatever, and that no one would hear a thing. I asked him about the utilities and he said that he would pay me back for the days he would stay there. I felt comfortable so I signed a year lease.

The weekend I moved in, my landlord and his ''girlfriend'' started moving stuff into the lower unit and stayed there for at least 4 days. (they now stay there 99% of the time) They stayed up very late and their voices (very loud) carried through the vents upstairs. I could literally hear every word they said. On Sunday night, they had a dinner party on their deck below my bedroom, and I was unable to sleep until close to midnight. Since I have to get up at 5 to get ready for work, I was almost in tears and extremely exhausted. I even called-in sick one day. I tried to handle it very diplomatically but the landlord has turned it around by saying that he and his girlfriend wake up every morning at 5 because they can hear me get up (rooms all have hardwood floors) because the floor acts like a drum and they had no idea I get up that early. He said he would investigate getting the ceiling below insulated to dampen the noise but in the mean time I needed to try to be quit. Now, I am not a noisy person especially since my son is still sleeping at that time, as well as my nanny, who has since moved in with us.

A week later, some of my son's friends came over for a sleep over at my house and the landlord was very mad and told me to keep the kids quit in the morning and not let them walk in my bedroom. In addition, he was badgering my ''nanny'' when I am at work because she is not on the lease.

After numerous e-mails from my end to work this out amicably, I received an amendment to the lease with extremely ridiculous demands, such as not being able to do laundry before 10:00 am and 8:00pm, having to ask permission to have more than 8 people over, written permission to have anyone stay at the house for more than 3 days, no grease down the sink and the list goes on (3 pages). I refused to sign this amendment stating that I signed a lease already. I told him that I would have never moved in if I had known all of this up front, and that he was dishonest about the lower unit and he moving in with his girlfriend more than ''occasionally''. My landlord was very unhappy about this and even hostile.

Every time I now set foot in the garage to do laundry or go outside, he wants to talk about my nanny (which I said I have no problem putting her on the lease) and when she is leaving, about the noise I make and that I should put a rug on floor (I have one but it is not thick and big enough), and everything else he feels like badgering me about (did you water the plants in the front?). Last night he even sent his girlfriend up to complaning about us making noise at 8 in the morning on Saturday (it was actually more like 8:30 ) and playing our music and that we should be quit until at least 10:00am. ''this is not normal'' she said.

Well, I could go on forever. I regret ever having given up our previous home in which we lived for more than 5 years. We have always been very good tenants and never have a problem with our landlord or surrounding neighbors. I am nervous in my own house because I feel that he watches us all the time, am afraid to talk too loud and dread going to bed at 9:00pm since the landlord often stays up until 2:30 at night talking (and fighting). I feel hesitant about putting in ear plugs for fear that I cannot hear my son when he wakes up in the night, so he has been sleeping in my bed every night on those nights that there is even more noise.

I talked to the Oakland housing board about the amendment of the lease, which they said I do not have to sign, but what about the rest? I feel that the landlord totally misrepresented the case by moving in the unit below and now we are stuck for a year. It is already bad enough as it is, but now we have to look for another house next year. Moving is hard on all, but especially on kids so we wanted a stable place.

Does anyone have words of advise for us? Both legal and otherwise as I am at my wits end. a very tired single mom

I highly suggest that you go over there rather than leaving a message. They take walk ins M-Th. and it's normal business hours.

They must get a ton of phone calls so they aren't that good about returning calls or emails for that matter! However, I've been working with them with my landlord for the last 2 years and I've found them to be quite helpful. After this last bout of dealing with my landlord (and my neighbors), I decided to start looking for a new place. Life is too short and the rental market is good if you are looking. I now have 4 years of living to pack up in the next 30 days! I love my new landlords and can't wait to live in a place that is loved and respected by it's owners.

What are our rights as tenants?

Hello, we have just been notified that the house we have been renting for many years in the Bay Area is to be put on the market and that we will have to move. This comes as something of a shock (the day before Thanksgiving!), my wife is pregnant and we have a toddler and so we are interested in protecting our rights as much as possible. We have a good relationship with our landlord and have been good tenants and wish to remain on good terms with him so we can retain him as a reference.

We urgently need advice from anyone who has been in this kind of situation as far as:
- granting access to prospective homebuyers/realtors. what advance notification needs to be provided? how much time do people spend in your home looking at it? what is commonly done?
- how soon may our landlord push us out?
- what is a good source of information on our rights as tenants in the Bay Area?