this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
656 points (97.3% liked)

Lemmy Shitpost

26934 readers
3660 users here now

Welcome to Lemmy Shitpost. Here you can shitpost to your hearts content.

Anything and everything goes. Memes, Jokes, Vents and Banter. Though we still have to comply with lemmy.world instance rules. So behave!


Rules:

1. Be Respectful


Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.

...


2. No Illegal Content


Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means:

-No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)

...


3. No Spam


Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.

...


4. No Porn/ExplicitContent


-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.

...


5. No Enciting Harassment,Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts


-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.

...


6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.


-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.

...

If you see content that is a breach of the rules, please flag and report the comment and a moderator will take action where they can.


Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Memes

2.Lemmy Review

3.Mildly Infuriating

4.Lemmy Be Wholesome

5.No Stupid Questions

6.You Should Know

7.Comedy Heaven

8.Credible Defense

9.Ten Forward

10.LinuxMemes (Linux themed memes)


Reach out to

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules. Striker

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Security deposits should be held by the municipality. Should the landlord wish to claim it, they can prove their case in court.

Fuck the status quo forever. Unforgivable.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 64 points 7 months ago (7 children)

This is literally how it works in other parts of the world - do you guys just have to trust that your landlord isn't going to decide that they'd rather just keep your money at the end of the lease?

In NZ, the landlord is required to lodge the bond with a government agency, and in cases where there is a dispute a special court will adjudicate and issue binding orders as to how the money is to be divided.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 7 months ago (2 children)

In the US, landlords can basically do whatever they want, and the legal system is designed to keep peasants out.
It's called ~~Feudalism~~ Freedom.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There are laws and rules, but nearly no one has the time/money/energy to go after getting them enforced since it all ends up costing more money to pursue.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

My previous landlord owes me $3,200. I still have a few months before it's too late for me to take them to small claims court, but I'm chronically ill and simply don't have the energy. Which the landlord knew.

I left the house cleaner than it was when I moved in.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

This is an area of law governed at the state level. Some states are much better than others. Personally, I have not lived in a state that has a 3rd party hold the money (and I'm not sure if any do that). I did rent in a state where any charges that the landlord claims that they shouldn't is met with triple damages. So if they keep $200 instead of the $100 of actual cost to repair something you broke, they owe you $300. It really incentivizes landlords to only charge accurately (e.g., not for standard wear and tear), and generally deposits were much lower there than in other states I've rented.

Lots of states also charge interest on any deposit money not immediately given back to the renter.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Meanwhile, in Japan, you typically give they landlord gift money at the beginning of your contract. Literally money that isn't a deposit on anything, doesn't cover rent--it's just a gift. A mandatory gift which is given in addition to the security deposit and first month's rent.

It's called "key money" in English. Not every rental requires it, but the majority do. Moving in Japan is expensive.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah, key money is explicitly illegal in NZ - the only money you are allowed to collect is a bond of no more than 4 weeks rent (which has to be lodged) and the first weeks rent in advance.

The most common form of shady dealing is that the law requires that tenants leave the house in a "reasonably clean and tidy state" - landlords and the tenancy tribunal don't typically agree on what "clean and tidy" means, so "oh, when we did the hand over inspection we found some places you didn't clean absolutely spotless so we had to hire a cleaner and want to take that out of your bond" - if you question or challenge it they typically withdraw the claim because you were such a good tenant and just this once and not at all cos they are bluffing and know the tribunal would immediately tell them to get bent, but that requires you to a) know your rights and b) be willing to call them on it, and people are typically neither of those things.

Landlords will typically also add something to the rental agreement or whatever requiring you to have the carpets professionally cleaned before you leave - the tribunal has repeatedly held that this is unreasonable to require and as long as the carpets are clean then the landlord doesn't get to dictate how they were cleaned. Doesn't stop letting agents asking to see a receipt.

[–] prettybunnys 2 points 7 months ago

In my state the landlord is required to pay the security deposit back with basic interest that tracks savings account rates.

It’s not much, but there are laws in place, and more and more consumer protection laws put it place.

The USA was created by capitalism. We’re still going through a LOT of growing pains. Hopefully we’ll get there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Same for the UK but also fuck you the landlord is going to get most of it anyway and if you complain we will give you back £50 to shut you up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Hmm, ‘A special court’ possibly gives even too harsh an impression of a tenancy tribunal hearing to the 3rd-party litigation capital of the world! Mine was just over the phone, pre-covid, landlord was no show no answer, got the bond. The legal advice I got leading up to it was free and easy to access. To be fair though, OP is saying the landlord should need to legally justify withholding the bond in court by default, which isn’t exactly how it works in NZ, although the effect is similar in most cases.