Renter Rights
18 articles
How to fight a security deposit deduction and actually get it back
A questionable deposit deduction isn't the end of it. The process to challenge one is short, cheap, and tilted more towa…
Your landlord sold the building. What happens to your lease?
Getting a letter that says the property has new owners tends to read like an eviction warning. In almost every case the …
Michigan landlords must now offer a fee-free way to pay rent
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bills requiring a fee-free rent payment option and allowing electronic deposit refunds. In …
How to actually get your landlord to fix something
Asking nicely works until it doesn't. Here is the sequence that turns a broken furnace into a legal obligation, and the …
Rats, no heat, and a water bill: why tenants in five Jersey City buildings stopped paying rent
Five west-side buildings are on rent strike over conditions their tenants say include rats and missing heat. In New Jers…
HUD narrowed assistance animal rules, and most ESA advice online is now out of date
For years the answer to whether a landlord could charge pet rent for an emotional support animal was a clear no. At the …
How to calculate prorated rent, and the one method that quietly overcharges you
Moving in mid-month means paying for part of it. The math is simple, but landlords use three different day-counts, and t…
Police say rent checks were intercepted at a Georgia apartment complex, leaving tenants facing eviction
A Georgia case shows the rare scam a renter can't see coming: your rent gets paid, someone pockets it, and the eviction …
Military renters can break a lease without penalty. Most never use the right
Federal law gives service members a lease-termination right that overrides whatever the lease says about early exit fees…
When your landlord can walk in, and how much notice they owe you
A landlord owning the building does not mean they can come in whenever they like. Here is what notice actually requires …
85% of San Francisco landlords fear application fraud as AI made faking paystubs easy
Rental scams usually mean a renter losing a deposit to a fake listing. This is the other direction, where AI-generated p…
The insurance your landlord sells you at signing often pays them, not you
Plenty of renters sign an insurance add-on at the leasing office and assume they are covered. Many of those policies are…
Serial squatter sentenced to 20 years after decades of evictions across Texas and Colorado
The woman Texas prosecutors called a serial squatter got 20 years. She also passed the same tenant screening that reject…
Colorado now makes landlords advertise the real price. Eighteen other states are trying.
The fight over rental junk fees has moved from cities to statehouses. Colorado's new all-in pricing rule is the most agg…
Gwinnett County approves $8.9 million plan with rental and down payment assistance
Gwinnett commissioners approved a HUD-funded plan covering rent help, down payments and new housing. Here is what is in …
A Kentucky landlord must sell his rentals over sex-for-rent claims
A landlord accused of offering rent forgiveness in exchange for sex has agreed to sell his properties and leave the busi…
You may be owed money from the $360 million RealPage rent settlement. Here is how to check.
A $359.9 million settlement covers renters whose buildings used RealPage pricing software over a seven-year window. Chec…
Seattle bans pet rent and other rental junk fees, but not until 2027
Seattle's council banned pet rent, package fees and other add-on charges in an 8-0 vote. The rules don't take effect unt…