fishythepete t1_j6p59be wrote on January 31, 2023 at 10:20 PM

Reply to comment by canibringmydog in Legal help for tenants? by throwawayRI3742

In RI get what you bought. Sure, if you rent an illegal basement apartment your remedy is basically to leave, and that’s worse than a place where the remedy is the landlord gives you more than what you bought, protecting those who may not enter transactions with their eyes wide open.

But ultimately you get exactly what’s on the label, even if it means RI isn’t as good at protecting you from yourself. If the landlord doesn’t provide an essential service, escrow the cost of a new place or your increase in cost for takeout because your stove is busted and withhold from rent. That’s a remedy. So is a 20 day notice to cure if you’d rather leave.

As an adult I prefer contracts be enforced as if both parties were adults, but I admit the steep learning curve can be punishing.

canibringmydog t1_j6pjty6 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 11:58 PM

You move into a place. They say heats included. A year later they raise the rent, heat is no longer included, and split utilities among the apartments based on occupancy. Why? Bc there’s nothing explicitly saying they can’t do that.

Rent jumps from $900 to $1500 (so they can “renovate” lol and then successfully charge that much) to people who don’t know any better trying to save money by leaving Boston. Why again? Not because the landlords costs went up. Not because the people paying $900 were bad tenants, but because the landlord can.

Laundry machines were included in your rent, communal, but still, great, right? Wrong. They never work, they never will work, and your rent will not be reflecting that inconvenience. Why? Because there is nothing saying that’s illegal either.

So you opt to move. Congrats! You get to lose your deposit (because they always take as much of that as they can, right?). And now you get to put a new deposit on another apartment, but that landlord is charging first, last (if your credit score is too low) and security. But wait… that’s illegal in RI! Lol cry about it! No one cares.

These are just some of the things I have seen happen to my neighbors, and people I know within the last year or two. I truly do not know very many people. Tenants in this state get absolutely railed.