Renters are people too

Recently my wife and I thought we might try a new apartment complex. Living in Houston there's no shortage of complexes to choose from. It all comes down to where you want to live, how much you want to spend and what amenities you're willing to live with or without.

But during our hunt one fact became strikingly clear to me. Renters get no respect.

From one complex to another there's really no uniform means of dealing with a renter. In fact, if I didn't know better I'd say apartments really don't WANT anyone to rent from them. There's an automatic, built-in distrust of anyone who might want to rent a place instead of buying one. You go into the whole business with two strikes against you no matter what.

Renters get treated like pariahs, undesirables, ne'er-do-wells. When you go in to a complex you can't even get a tour of the place without turning over your driver's license or ID. Then you're read a list of "allowed" and "not allowed." And you're immediately treated as if you were trying to get away with everything in the "not allowed" column.

Pets. Who doesn't own a pet? Sure, lots of people. But for those who do, why are we penalized for it? Think about this... when my wife and I move into a place we pay one deposit. Whatever it might be, we pay it once and that's it. Heck, if we have a couple of kids we still pay one deposit. But if we have a PET... well, first of all why are we paying a deposit for a pet if we've ALREADY paid a deposit for the apartment in the first place? And second, why are we being asked to pay a deposit FOR EACH PET??

Application fees. Why should I pay for you to do a background check on me? If you don't trust me then it's your problem. I'm about to sign a contract that obligates me to pay you a large amount of money each and every month for the duration of my stay. If I don't pay then I don't stay. But don't charge me a fee just because you want a sure thing. In Vegas you can buy insurance on a hand of black jack if the dealer throws an Ace. Otherwise you're just taking a gamble he won't hit 21. Same should be true for renters...metaphorically speaking.

Lease agreements. First of all, if I were to enter into a contract with anyone else I have the right to modify the contract. They don't have to sign, they can refuse. But I can change it if I want because a contract is an agreement between two parties. Agreement implies that BOTH parties are satisfied with the terms. But in an apartment you are expressly forbidden to modify the lease. Why? Shouldn't I be able to dictate the terms of where I'll be living?

Free access. If you rent, the owners tend to have free access to your home. They can technically enter at any time. That's a no-no in Kevin's world. This is my home. I have complete control over who enters. Vampires can't enter without permission and neither can you. I'm paying a hefty price each month for the right to hang my velvet Elvis on the wall and that means I don't have to let anyone in if I don't want to.

Notice to vacate. Now this one really, REALLY has me fired up. It used to be you had to give a 30 day notice if you intended to vacate an apartment. I could live with that. 30 days was a decent amount of time to find a new place and get your stuff packed and moved. Recently, though, they've changed it to 60 days notice. Now how can that possibly work? No apartment complex is going to hold a place empty for 60 days. And moving into a new place while having to pay rent on the old one is both difficult and infuriating. So in effect the apartments are trying to make it impossible for you to leave.

An extension of the 60 day notice thing is that even if your lease is up and you go "month to month" you're STILL obligated to 6o days! What the heck is THAT about? I'm not even in a contract anymore and yet I'm still bound by a contract?

So what's a renter to do? We get no respect, no help, and no chance to improve the situation. There are associations out there (the Houston Apartment Association is my local bunch) but their hands are tied when it comes to certain aspects of the lease. So how do renters fight back against unfair policies?

I hate this attitude of, "Well, that's what you get for being a renter." That's just dung, and everyone should know better. For some, renting is either the only lifestyle they can manage or the only one they care to have. My wife and I are not in a position to buy a home right now so renting is for us. But we're constantly being penalized for that choice. Is it really better to buy a home when we don't even know if we want to stay in the area? Is that really "less wasteful?" I keep getting told that I'm throwing my money away on renting, but how much would I stand to lose if I suddenly couldn't pay a mortgage? I'm a freelancer... money is never stable.

So I've decided it's time someone took some action in regard to the rights of renters. And, of course, the only person I know who would care enough to do anything is me. But if YOU, fair reader, would like to step up and lend a hand I certainly won't turn it down!

Just drop me a line with your ideas, advice or insight and we'll see if we can make a renter's life a little better.

J. Kevin Tumlinson is the Editor of ViewOnline Magazine. He is a producer for Hat Digital Media and writes regularly for the Houston Chronicle. He is renting this blog.

posted by Unknown @ 7:09 AM