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15 votes
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California passes strongest right-to-repair bill yet, requiring seven years of parts
39 votes -
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4 votes -
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69 votes -
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49 votes -
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22 votes -
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23 votes -
Abortions rose in most US states this year, new data shows
26 votes -
The housing crisis driving America’s teacher shortage
27 votes -
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21 votes -
Noah Kahan - All My Love (2022)
9 votes -
US extremists keep trying to trigger mass blackouts — and that’s not even the scariest part
29 votes -
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19 votes -
Google goes to trial in biggest US challenge to tech power in decades
32 votes -
Speaker Kevin McCarthy directs a House panel to open an impeachment inquiry into US President Joe Biden
37 votes -
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10 votes -
Investigation launched into tape of Seattle police guild leaders downplaying death of woman struck by officer
24 votes -
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14 votes -
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23 votes -
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11 votes -
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41 votes -
How much of your US city is parking lots?
30 votes -
US railroad inspectors find alarming number of defects on Union Pacific this summer
33 votes -
Philadelphia to cap section of I-676, reconnecting Chinatown
21 votes -
Chicago: Fifty years after it was promised, the South Red Line Extension is slated to get a $1.973B grant
13 votes -
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17 votes -
Boatlift - The spontaneous evacuation of lower Manhatten on 9 11 2001 - narrated by Tom Hanks
7 votes -
Toyota takes its biggest US port off the grid with hydrogen system
35 votes -
Germany wins Michigan’s first international fireworks competition
19 votes -
EU ‘gatekeeper’ list has five American and no European companies
43 votes -
Where have all the girlbosses gone?
20 votes -
‘Something happened, somehow something got mixed up’: the at-home DNA test that changed two families for ever
22 votes -
Opinion: The Kids Online Safety Act would harm LGBTQ+ youth, restrict access to information and community
38 votes -
Elon Musk’s X sues California over content moderation law, claiming it violates free speech
25 votes -
A miracle in Missouri? The nun who put her abbey on the map
7 votes -
What’s going on with these viral, right-wing country music hits?
48 votes -
The IRS plans to crack down on 1,600 US millionaires to collect millions of dollars in back taxes
48 votes -
Obituary: Remembering Doug Lenat (1950–2023) and his quest to capture the world with logic
12 votes -
US and Vietnam ink historic partnership in Joe Biden visit
15 votes -
Analyst Hubert Horan on Uber's first reported profit
5 votes -
In a first, NASA's Perseverance rover makes breathable oxygen on Mars
18 votes -
Hollywood’s latest pirate site blocking injunction covers ‘future content’
15 votes -
Petition: Bring back KFC potato wedges
29 votes -
Disney’s wildest ride: Iger, Chapek and the making of an epic succession mess
23 votes -
The San Francisco Bay Area is in a ‘losing battle’ with exotic fruit smugglers - fruit flies threaten California crops
15 votes -
Ozempic cuts alcohol cravings. Liquor companies aren’t ready.
30 votes -
Tempest over Texas: The crash of Braniff International Airways flight 352
6 votes -
Is this really what renting is like now? (Pennsylvania, USA)
Just coming back into the rental market after owning a home for a short time. I found a place that would be great. Then, I got the lease. This thing is a nightmare. Here are a few of the greatest...
Just coming back into the rental market after owning a home for a short time. I found a place that would be great. Then, I got the lease.
This thing is a nightmare. Here are a few of the greatest hits:
- The lease lists my rent and then says they can charge "additional rent" which is "all added charges, costs, and fees for the duration of this lease." So, sounds like they can just make up a number and add it to the rent and I have to pay it?
- The landlord will make a "good faith effort" to make the apartment available to me when my lease starts. Shouldn't the landlord actually do that, not just make any sort of "effort" to do it, "good faith" or otherwise?
- If the unit is damaged such that I cannot live there while repairs are being made, the landlord "may" issue me a credit for the days I can't live there. What criteria will the landlord use? If they decide not to, that means I'll be paying rent for an apartment I cannot occupy?
This is a short lease — I've seen much longer in my time renting — but even so, I could come up with a dozen more examples like this. What is going on here? I've read the law in the area, and I suspect some of the clauses in here are actually unenforceable. For example, the lease allows for automatic rent increases at lease renewal without notification while the law requires 60 days notification, and it requires me to notify 14 days after notification of a rent increase if I do not accept where the law says I have 30 days to do so.
But how did we get here? I just want to pay a specified amount every month in order to be able to live in a space someone else owns. This should be relatively simple, but it's turned into this weird whack-a-mole game where every lease is a document of all that landlord's past tenant grievances they are trying to now avoid in the future, along with any other unreasonable terms they think they can get away with. Regardless of what the law is, the lease can say anything. If I read it and decline to sign, the next person will probably just sign it and hope for the best.
For those of you who are renting, how do you deal with this sort of stuff? Are there reasonable landlords still out there? Is the right way to buy a home just to escape from unreasonable lease terms, even if you don't really want to own?
Update: Possibly important context- This property is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
47 votes -
Chaos, comedy, and ‘crying rooms’: Inside Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Tonight Show’
25 votes