4 Things I’ve Learned About Renting After Living in 10 Crappy Apartments

Over the course of my rental history, I’ve lived in 10 different apartments. Some of them, like my current one, have been fabulous — a great landlord, beautiful layout, pleasant neighbors. Others have been, for lack of a better term, complete garbage. I’ve faced everything from simple heating issues to more serious problems, like a fully caved-in ceiling. But you can learn from my subpar renting experiences — here’s a breakdown of the various situations I’ve faced, and what to do in case you run into the same.

Chicago has some pretty renter-friendly laws, including one that sets a minimum temperature for heating in the winter. I was unaware of these laws until my landlord refused to increase the heat higher than 55 degrees in frigid temps of January. I complained multiple times to him, but nothing changed. I moved out after a year.

What I Wish I’d Known: You can research renter laws in your city and see what the minimum allowable temperature is. If it stays below that after asking your landlord to fix it, you can call the local housing department and file a complaint.

Thanks to intel from the person living in the apartment below mine, we discovered that my shower pipes broke in the wall, and anytime I showered, it poured water into her apartment. My landlord’s recommendation? Take baths once a week and have my neighbor put out a bucket. Um, no! I showered at my friend’s apartment for about a month because I didn’t know what to do.

What I Wish I’d Known: You should report your landlord to the local housing department if they won’t fix a problem like this. You can also hire a plumber on your own and withhold that money from your rent payment.

One particularly wet spring, I returned from walking my dog to see that the entire dining room ceiling had collapsed onto my table because of water damage. I cleaned up as best I could, laid out a tarp and buckets to catch any extra water, and patiently called my landlord to come fix it. I ended up calling every day for two weeks until he finally had someone fix it. Now I know that living without a ceiling for two weeks is unacceptable.

What I Wish I’d Known: Again, local renter laws are key here. You can usually withhold a portion of rent until a major problem is fixed, or hire someone to fix it and have the repair amount taken off your rent, just like with the broken pipes incident.

I rented a house built in the early 1920s with an unfinished basement. Since the home was so old and the foundation had settled, it left plenty of gaps for critters to sneak in during the winter. Thankfully I never had to deal with a loose opossum or squirrel, but I did have a family of mice living in the house at one point. I called my landlord and the maintenance line, but they both took a pretty long time to get back to me. It ended up just being easiest to tackle the problem myself.

What I Wish I’d Known: Putting out no-kill traps is a good first step, and always make sure to fill the gaps where animals can get in with steel wool.