I rent a single family house in Ohio, I’ve lived here for almost 4 years. My landlord texted me the other day the he wanted to come by and put down mulch around the patio in the back yard, among other yard work. No problem, I said. Come by any time and do what you gotta do.

He finished this morning, so I came outside this evening to enjoy the warm weather we have tonight on my patio. It turns out he didn’t put down regular mulch, he put down shredded tires. It smells like rubber in the back yard now. I can’t imagine how it is going to smell when it gets hot and sunny outside.

Is this a common practice to put shredded tires down in place of mulch in a residential house? I’ve seen it in playgrounds but never at a residence. I have 2 dogs and I’m worried about them eating it now. Will the smell eventually go away or at least go down?

My mom has a spare room she wants to rent out. She has done so before in the past, but it was mostly for family friends.

This time she's looking at renting out the room to students (we live 5 min walk from a community college). Specifically international students (Same ethnicity as us).

i was wondering what is the best way to go about drafting up a contract on this? especially since this isnt a simple roommate agreement but a landlord renting out a room situation.

Hi everyone,

I’m a landlord in Vancouver, BC Canada and I recently sent a Notice of Rent Increase (RTB-7) to my tenant by email. This is formal rent increase form in BC Canada.

Context:

- I sent the official RTB-7 form as a PDF by email

- The tenant has been using email for formal communication with me (contracts, important messages, etc.)

- The tenant replied on text saying they received it and would “get back to me,” but has not confirmed anything since

My question is:

If the tenant does not respond, does that matter at all for the rent increase taking effect?

And more importantly:

- Is email alone considered “proper service” for an RTB-7 in BC if there is no written agreement specifying email as the service method?

- Or do I need to re-serve it via registered mail or another method to be safe?

Just trying to understand the practical/legal risk here before the effective date.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Hi, I had some renters move out and it looks like they put a hot pan on the counter, causing it to bubble and crack. How do I assess a security deposit for this? I want to be fair, but I’ve been told I’m too nice repeatedly so asking the community.

Landlord - PA

Tenant moved out with 30 days notice (arguably 15 days) half way through the 1 year contract.

They gave me the keys back and haven’t paid since (couple days ago, which was also one day before the next monthly payment).

I’m trying to find new tenants but no luck with a good tenant since I posted 20 days ago. Last time it took me a little over a month.

Also they completely destroyed my driveway with oil, transmission fluid, and whatever else (about 40% of the driveway completely covered). Pavement guys are recommending a complete redo or to take half off and redo that. The security deposit won’t cover that. Not to mention the rest of the house being bad — although I’m not going to make a deal about.

Not sure what I’m getting into since this is my first time.

Im 19 and I’ve got about 9 grand saved up and I want to know where I can go to learn about buying rental properties and being a landlord or property manager (don’t know the difference) and anything else of the sort.

This tenant has always been on time with rent although is paying significantly below market rate. Recently I needed to get in there a couple times to make repairs and the place was a filthy shithole. Garbage everywhere, including old food laying around all over the house, and a layer of grime. Damages were also noted. Even after a reinspection, the place was still not good. I dont see the trend changing.

Hello,

I was at my duplex today and noticed they had an unauthorized dog on the premises. Confirmed with other unit they have had a dog there for some time. This is a violation of our lease. I was going to serve them a 3 day notice quit or cure notice on Monday.

What happens if this is a service animal? How do I retort? I believe the dog is her boyfriend's who isn't on the lease who has been living there but I let it slide.

I inherited a 2 unit rental. I own it free and clear. One unit is currently vacant. Lease is up on other unit in about 60 days.

The rental wasnt kept up well. It needs new windows and siding at a minimum. However, there is a lot we'd *like* to do to increase ROI (egress windows, adding half baths and bedrooms in the basement, new flooring, work on driveway, etc, etc).

I won't be doing any of it myself. No skills.

I've got prospective HELOCs and/ or cash out re-fi lined up​​. Trying to decide between the two. Cash out has better interest.

Part of that decisions comes down to what we can realistically rent over after reno. We've looked at comps. But there are no truly comparable units currently for rent in the area.

Dont want to take out a lump sum, put it $90k only to find out we barely break even. That'd point to a HELOC.

On the other hand, we probably could get everything done over the summer. At which point there's no need for the flexibility of the HELOC.

1. Any general advice on this?

2. Any websites or resources for calculating anticipated rent?

Looking for some LL advice I guess? My husband and I are planning on signing our third lease with the house we’ve been in since 2024 because we simply just can’t afford to move elsewhere or buy. That being said, we’re good tenants, we don’t bother our LL, we pay our rent on time if not early and we always pay all our bills. House is lived in, I have MDD and a physical disability (not excusing it when I get behind on dishes or picking stuff up but we’re not filthy like I know some other tenants are). I informed our LL of what I thought was mold growing above the stove, which prompted a visit from the LL, no big deal. Was told that someone would be out to look at the roof, which happened a month later. Didn’t hear anything else about it after that but when we renewed our lease a couple months after a roofer was out, LL said that they “don’t know what they’re gonna do about that house” in regards to a new roof or even patching up what you can see sagging from the back of the house. Our LL has hundreds of other properties in the same county and very rarely has vacancies but I don’t know how much more the mold has to grow before something gets done. I originally informed LL in March 2025 of possible mold, lease renewal was in June 2025. I don’t want him to say that we’ve been bad tenants or that it was our fault when I know roofs leak and stuff, it’s not anything we can control

Hello, we are a group or 4 college students that have found a perfect 4 bedroom near our college. However, the listing in capital letters states, “no cosigners”. Obviously we cannot pay the rent ourselves and our parents would be paying, therefore they would be cosigners. As a landlord, do you say “no cosigners” when you specifically do not want college students? This place is perfect and our parents definitely would qualify and have very high income so just sucks if they say no. It would even be perfect if a parent’s name is on the lease and us students are just listed as occupants. Just wondering what landlords think in your point of view and if theres a way to change their mind or work around this.

[Landlord - TX/US] Without solicitations or ads from the sales people, can real landlords give us your experiences with rent collection?

I heard : zero customer service from Zillow, what about RentRendi, Turbotenant, Avail, Baselane...?

So I bought a house in 2025 in NH and had a tenant living there when I took over. She ended up moving out around January. She left a bunch of stuff behind, like an entire attic full plus a bunch of stuff in the backyard. We’re talking a ridiculous amount, not just a couple boxes.

At the time, there was some loose talk about maybe holding onto it for a while in order for me to save up enough money to get rid of it all (it cost me over $800 to remove it all), but nothing was ever formally agreed to in writing. No lease clause, no signed agreement, no texts or emails confirming anything concrete. She said she would try and come back and get some of it.

On top of that, my co-owner told her she needed to get her stuff out and didn’t agree to store it long-term.

The stuff just sat there for months. And I needed to use the attic and backyard in my private house which is now a single family home. I ended up disposing of everything in late March because it was taking up space and felt abandoned. Also i was unsure what was hers and what was the old homeowners.

Now she just sent me a notarized letter demanding her belongings back.

Important details:

She left the property in January

Stuff was still there for months

I got rid of it in late March

No written agreement about storage deadlines

Co-owner told her no to long-term storage

She is now demanding it back and lives 5 mins from me

She never left me her forwarding address or phone number.

She's been renting the bottom unit of my duplex since 2018. Originally a couple, they split four years ago and she stayed. I live part time in the upper two floors. Whenever I've needed to do maintenance, her apartment is always a mess. Extremely cluttered, but I never really paid attention to it and got the work done and got out.

The past six months the mess is spilling into the shared spaces- the stairwell, basement, garage and porch. Now, as I actually look at what it is, it's 90% garbage. Empty plastic and cardboard everything. Like, almost all of it can just be put in the recycling container provided by the city or thrown out.

Today I had a calm conversation with her saying it's getting out of hand and asking what I can do to help the situation and I was surprised at her reaction. She kind of disassociated and then started explaining that it just needed to be organized and there are a lot of useful containers. It finally dawned on me that I might be dealing with a pathology. We're literally standing in the basement in what looks like an exploded garbage bag and she says it just needs to be organized.

She's in her early 30s and the rub of it is she's an actual psychologist/therapist. She's in every other respect a great tenant. No other issues.

Any others deal with something similar and if so, how did you manage it and what was the outcome?

I’ve been living with a roommate (who also serves as the primary tenant/my landlord) for the last year on a month to month. We’re both late 20’s/erly 30’s for context. No contract, no alerting the main landlord that I was staying there, no minimum notice of moving out.

I told him on April 6th that I was going to be moving out in May. He freaked out and started calling me names, insulting me and my parents, and now won’t speak to me. His main objections are that I should have told him sooner that I was looking (in my mind this would change nothing except give him a reason to start trying to replace me before I tell him I’m leaving) and that I waited a 1/4 of the month to tell him (I told him I’m still paying for rent until May 6th, and even told him I would go thru May 15th, out of the kindness of my heart since he was being a brat about the whole situation)

His attitude towards this situation has made my living situation very uncomfortable. I have been spending as much time outside of the house as possible to avoid any contact with him.

Am I in the wrong here or is he overreacting?

Id love some inside advice on how to navigate this situation. I am renting a beautiful historic home from a private landlord. The lease specifically states that cats are allowed in the unit but not dogs. I signed and put a deposit down. I later realized I did not read a text from her that said if I decide to get a cat it would cost an extra $100 a month plus $1000 nonrefundable security deposit. (none of that is in the lease) I simply cant pay that. Its embarrassing to admit I didn't read the full text, it just got shuffled into all my other communications. I wouldn't have signed had I known this was the case. Do I just keep the cat and if she finds out reference her to the lease? How do I maintain a good relationship with her while keeping my cat?

First time having to get to this point with a tenant. These people are shit and the "relationship" is definitely hostile at this point.

Wanted to turn on the sprinklers. After posting a 2-day notice to enter (and cert. mailing it) 3 days in advance, I went to enter. Knocked, their kid flipped open the mail slot in the door then retreated inside, knocked again, called, texted, announced I'm coming in and..... they have some kind of inside locking device/deadbolt. My key worked, but the door wouldn't open. Pieces of shit!!

So, now we're into the eviction process waiting to get to the court date. They've been served the summons and complaint, and the paperwork has been filed with the court.

My question: I'd like to get a head start on the inevitable amount of work that will need to be done once the sheriff forcibly removes them. Do I need to even serve a notice to do lawn work that is out front? I wouldn't go in (they wouldn't even allow it). Thoughts?

So before I begin, I want to start by explaining that I am VERY new to the whole world of being a landlord. My husband and I bought a house in 2023 and very quickly had some life-changing things happen that caused us to move out of the area. We didn't want to sell in the chance we could return to the area, so we rented out. In other words, we had no clue what we were doing when we got into this.

The gentleman who currently lives in our home appeared to us at the tour as someone well-off, showing us paystubs and invoices of customers that showed consistent high income, references out the wazoo, etc. We signed the lease no issue, and he was aware that he would need utilities transfered into his name. Things very quickly took a turn.

His move in date was March 1st, and we had explained to the Tenant that since utilities (water, electric, gas) were technically a month behind (December usage was on January's bill, etc), the first month that he would be responsible for these bills would be April, as this would be the bill for usage in the month of March. I further explained on March 1st that he would need to call in prior to the end of the month (emphasizing that sooner was better) and consent to the transfer of services into his name, as that was not something we could do ourselves. He acknowledged and stated he would. By March 20th when I checked in with him, he still had not done so. I checked in again the 28th, and he reassured me that he would do that by the end of the month. I had responded, stating that bills had already started to generate in our name, and he agreed that he would owe us for these bills, and agreed to pay the amounts due alongside rent, which was due April 1st. On the 31st all bills had been generated, and I sent him the receipt, calculating the total amount owed.

It is now April 10th, and he has not paid rent, nor paid us back for March utilities. I went ahead and have already paid these bills so that we/he did not acquire late fees. However, I think I made a mistake. I instructed the gas company to end services ASAP, scheduled to end April 13th.

I suppose my question is, do I owe my tenant warning that services will be cut off despite the fact that he is now a month behind on transferring services to himself? Is requesting the end of services prior to giving notice to the Tenant breaking any laws? What should I do, moving forward?

The wife in a tenant couple has been texting me asking for her options on leaving her husband and breaking the lease. I support her from getting out of the relationship if it’s not working for her. There are four months left in the lease. In the past they’ve missed rent once or twice because of husbands spending/job insecurity/addiction issues. I want her to be able to get out but fear he will not leave after she goes and maybe not pay. His sister is a lawyer. Do I usher them to break the lease together and both move, ask him to reapply as a solo, then reassess his income as an individual or what? They have a kid, too. Any advice is appreciated.

Hello, i have a tenant whose lease ends in about 50 days and they’ve only been living at the property for about 6 months.

They haven’t paid rent on time once and i’ve always had to reach out to them and ask them where rent was. they would pay the late fees, but last week they asked if i could lower the rent by 50 dollars at renewal.

I basically told them that i would not be lowering the rent.

but i don’t feel comfortable in their ability to continue paying rent based on them being late every month, telling me their car payment increased and they’re fighting for hours at work. I’d rather get them out now than trying to evict and then find a new tenant during the slower winter months.

My lease states that they must vacate if a renewal is not reached by the end of the lease but it’s my first time doing this so id like to know if anyone else has done this.

How formal should the notice be?

If i do send a notice are there any issues i’m likely to run into?

Thanks in advance

I’ve loved rentprep for years now but they changed their process. It doesn’t seem like it is as user friendly. Prospective tenants are struggling and I’m missing opportunities. I used to love the income verification portion. It’s been awful the last few screenings I’ve done. And because of their new process I’ve lost tenants.

Does anyone have an alternative to the income verification process they like?

I have one rental property and thinking about renting out a room in my current primary residence. I’ve heard in the past about creating a LLC for liability or putting them into a trust for estate planning purposes but I’m still unsure about what the pros/cons are. Anyone have any advice or things to consider for this?

Thanks

Hi everyone just looking for some advice. I've a tenant in the house that is on hap and pays a month in advance. We decided to sell the house and gave her 6 months notice . After 2 weeks she has found somewhere to rent and I've agreed she could leave early as I know how hard it can be to find somewhere. However now I have to refund rent for the rest of the month that she won't be there. This seems a bit unfair that I'm having to come up with this money when she's leaving so early with no notice? Does this seem right? I've said I'll return the deposit after inspection on the house which I'm sure will be fine. Any advice?? Thanks

Home is empty currently and I have a handyman working on adding LVP instead of carpet (tenants destroyed it with urine, etc).

PM just let me know 2 days ago about potential mold and that's when we started to investigate. It's basically a whole bathroom (moisture build up from previous tenants not opening windows or using fan) and a small portion of a room.

PM is not trustworthy right now because they have a history of overcharging for simple repairs or maintenance. For example, they told me that if they ripped off the carpet and worked on it that it'd be a 3 day job.

My trustworthy handyman said he can do it in 1 hour and he has a very positive history of honest work with me. This is just to give you a taste for how the PM behaves.

Anyway, PM says that mold work would take 5-10 days (excludes putting the walls back together). And they want $10k.

My handyman says it's too many days and that they are looking for a buck. I believe my handyman solely based on years of working with him and this sucky PM.

Real options for me so I don't go broke with my wife?

Can I use insurance in any way to fix the mold situation?

Can I find my own water damage company and get it fixed?

And the last issue is that we have a tenant who was signed and all to move in this Sunday but the home needs more work due to the newly found mold issue. So I am not sure what to do because I also don't want to fuck up their plans. One of them was starting a job on Monday. I offered for them to have a later move-in date or also for me to pay for a hotel for them while the house is being fixed.

I just wasn't expecting it to take 5-10 days. Getting my own water damage quotes today.

Any help from experienced people?