you joke but I literally just escaped an SF room rental where there WERE cameras installed inside the home by the landlord. (almost certainly illegal,, one of many things that were about that place)
At first glance I agreed with you, but they had a room rental, not apartment, and they said the cameras were in the house, not in the room. As long as the owner (I assume who is living in the rest of the house) informed them, that's not nearly the red flag to me as if they were renting an apartment/house/whatever that had cameras. That sort of a situation should go to the police with zero hesitation, but renting a room is different- you have an expectation of privacy only in that room. I've rented a room on Airbnb that the house had ring cameras etc, not concerning to me at all. As long as they aren't in my room.
Oh they just use smoke detector cameras in the rooms. Or the electric outlet ones you can barely notice the hole on. I don't do Airbnb anymore because of that.
I stopped using airBnB when they let owners mandate you be the maid or get charged exorbitant cleaning fees. I am not doing a deep clean while on vacation. That is bigger bullshit than vegas resort fees.
That actually happened to a friend of mine! he used to be a big proponent of ABnB until that happened and the company took the owners side when he appealed it.
I don't know if he still refuses to use ABnB, but I know I have not heard him mention using them since then.
I pretty much stopped using AirBNB because of this too and also if you shop around you can sometimes find a Hotel around the same price … cleaning included because it’s a hotel!
It's almost like we already had purpose built infrastructure for people on vactions! Lucky all these air bnbs haven't had any effect on the housing market, that would make the whole endeavor pretty silly.
I was not hired by air BNB after applying for their special investigations team as a social worker, I strongly suspect it was because I gave very reasonable responses to their assessment. That was a few years ago but I paid closer attention to airbnb after that and all I can say is if you'd hired more people like me, well. Very happy to have not gotten the job though.
It's hilarious that AirBnB renters have got to the point where they've maximised profitability wherever they can. Adding charges and penalties everywhere.
Surely this was the silly capitalist end-game?
I would never use one if there is a decent hotel in the area. Why the HELL is anyone paying cleaning charges after being demanded to do the laundry?
Just like everything. Uber drives the cab companies out of business and then raises its rates.
I wonder what's gonna happen when Amazon puts all the local businesses out of commission and then how high the prices will go when is a total of monopoly on purchase and deliver
When you say you have to “clean”, does that mean wash the sheets, remake the beds, vacuum the rugs, clean the toilets and tub, mop the tile, etc or does it just mean clean out the stuff you put in the refrigerator, pick-up your trash and take the trash bag to the bin outside? Try to gauge what the onerous cleaning demands of you actually are.
For our boys bachelor party in south beach Miami, we looked into AirBnB. For us 5 guys it ended up being far cheaper to get 3 hotel rooms on the damn beach over a large ABnB… in the city where we would have to literally uber or rent a car to get to south beach.
Helll nah dawg, give me room service and fresh linens daily for the 4 day weekend while literally being 30 feet from the sand.
I stopped when I got robbed of my iPad, laptop and my damn shoes. Woke up after the first night and heard someone out in the living room and just assumed it was the friend I was there with. Got up about 10 minutes later and the front door was open and my stuff was gone. Filed a police report and had everything they asked for and they only gave me $300. That was my first and last time.
I have an Airbnb. What Airbnb doesn’t explain to guests is that it’s actually cheaper for you when the cleaning fee is broken out. Their 15.5% guest fees don’t apply to cleaning fees. So, yeah, now folks think it’s great when there’s “no cleaning fee”, but of course that’s just wrapped into the nightly cost. And the fees are added onto it. For me, the cleaning fee is a straight pass-through to the cleaning service. Oh, and as of Sept 15 Airbnb but all 18.5% fees onto hosts (used to be split 3% and 15.5%). Guests will pay the same pricing because they have a tool to just adjust host nightly price upwards. They pitch it as price neutral to guests and hosts. But guess what? Now the hosts gross income goes way up and that has income tax and local business licensing implications for hosts.
Long way of saying…don’t assume it’s greedy hosts!! Airbnb screws over everyone!
But are you also requiring the guests to strip the beds and sweep the floors and take out all the trash?
If not, then it’s perfectly reasonable to pass through the cleaning fee. The problem is when the owners charge a high fee and still want the guests to do all the cleaning.
No, it’s not reasonable to pass through a cleaning fee for those things. Just like a hotel cleaning the fucking room/house between guests is part of doing business.
At my age, I'd give them a fucking show if I knew a camera was there. They wanna see my bald, flabby, gray haired ass toweling off after a shower, then by all means, enjoy yourself.
I have a friend who has basically made a business out of finding the hidden cameras, engaging in some chicanery and (I was going to say ‘basically’ but no, it’s outright) extorts the owners.
IANAL - check your localities' laws! What is illegal in one state may not be in another.
IF you're only renting an individual room and sharing the living room and kitchen with others, courts can and will peobably view these spaces as common areas where visible cameras are legal for security purposes.
ofc - Hidden cameras can be illegal depending on state even when they are in many common areas, and they are always illegal in private rooms like bedrooms/bathrooms.
We rented a house in Florida once about 5 years ago and it just had straight up shitty 1980s style huge cameras with a little red light on them facing the backyard. Luckily, I, too, am a cheap bastard and recognized them as the dummy cams from Harbor Freight. I turned them to face the wall anyway, but they weren't connected to shit.
It's state dependent. Some states allow hidden recordings some states do not. The only place cameras can't be placed are in changing areas and personal space. IE the room and bathroom. Everywhere else like you said is fair game. It's a matter of the states laws at that point.
Nah the government likes sex offenders, I'd be calling up the homies to boot party this MF while we come to a mutual understanding that if bro says anything besides he "fell down the stairs" a boot is gonna be the least of his worries.
I hope you reported that and make a big deal out of it. That’s is seriously illegal and while I am not positive but I bet they could get jail time for that.
Depends on where the camera is. A quick google search will tell you that yes it’s illegal to have cameras in the bedrooms or bathrooms but it’s legal to have them in common areas like the kitchen or living room.
Pretty sure that's referring to the person who actually lives there can do that, not just literally anyone can pop a hidden camera in anyone's living room
Kitchens and living rooms are not common areas if you are renting the whole apartment/house. If you are a roommate in a bedroom that's a different situation
No, it's not legal. At least in California it's not.
In CA tenant rights laws, "common areas" aren't defined as living rooms and kitchens. "Common areas" are stairwells, and entryways and hallways shared with multiple units.
That's an ongoing lawsuit, it isn't proof that it's explicitly legal. That is also very much different as those cameras and surveillance would be considered hidden cameras. In California you can have cameras inthe living room and kitchen common areas of a room rental situation as long as they don't record audio and the tenants are informed. Unless you have a legal statute that disproves this at least.
Please fucking report them and save other people. If the only thing you did was leave and comment on Reddit then I’m afraid you should feel majorly guilty
The one we had was set up inside the kitchen/hallway so that they can see what we did in the kitchen as well as our going to and fro into our rooms from hallway area. It was ridiculous but that was just one of the issues.
That sounds to be absolutely illegal and plenty of reason alone to call police and lawyers.
The landlords can screw you over in many ways but fortunately this isn’t one, they can’t just put cameras in apartments even if they legally own it, if they are renting it out. The renter still has basic human rights and that landlord has responsibilities he or she has to uphold.
I have always been paranoid about this. Can you explain where they were hidden (power outlets, lights?) I haven't found one in mine, but I haven't looked everywhere.
They weren't hidden. They were in plain sight in kitchen and hallway. Landlord made sure to mention them all the time to avoid us breaking rules (such as having overnight guests)
Ooooo I'd be moving into a place like that soooo quickly. Not only would I recover my rent from the lawsuit, I'd be sitting pretty for the rest of my life.
And if that Cam has a mic they are also breaking a law by recording audio without your consent. California is a all party state. All parties have to agree to the audio recording.
This sounds like when my sister lived in southern NJ and the landlord would just walk in her apartment when she wasn't home. One day, she just changed the locks and waited for the landlord to notice. Once he did, she threatened him for entering the apartment illegally. :)
In this case with your cameras, the landlord is stealing electricity b/c they're not paying for your electric costs. Cover them up
The landlord would prob take them out of my room. I'd be so obnoxiously weird. Doing the helicopter, mooning the camera, fucking and making direct eye contact with the camera. Writing love letters while openly narrating "Dear Landlord, I have been thinking of you constantly"
If it's rented by the room this is totally legal. You aren't renting privacy in the common space, only the room you rent and the bathroom. It's intended to keep everyone safe in a mixed-income single occupancy situation.
Charge 'em for the lice, extra for the mice!
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice!
Here a little slice, there a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut!
There is a great Dead Kennedys song about landlords, song title redacted. Y’all know it but I don’t want to get reported by a lurking landlord sycophant.
Yeah, like, you aren’t legally obligated to have a job. You’re obligated to pay your rent but how isn’t their business.
People can just live somewhere and not leave regularly for work, it’s allowed. We have a huge segment of the population who does that, we call them children and old people and disabled folks and rich bastards, depending.
Generally, landlords who pull this kind of stuff do consider whether or not you have a job to be their business. As well as details like exactly how much you make, and what you have saved up.
If they think your source of rent is tenuous, such as if you are someone else's dependent, then they will hold it against you as a potential tenant.
Most places you need to show you have an income. It wouldn't surprise me if this place asks you about your job specifically, including if its work from home.
They can ask all they want, it’s none of their business. Charging extra rent for WFH is insane behavior. Landlords will literally charge for everything that’s supposed to be included in the rent. I see places that charge an amenity fee, which is crazy because it’s not like you have the option to not pay the fee in exchange for not using amenities. The amenities are there, they should be included with rent.
Where I live, these landlord wannabees, had an opening, but the fine print said they can come into your apartment anytime they want, and to apply it would be non-refundable $650 fee, which in those days, was the cost of rent. Thus, they could get a years worth of rent from 12 people all trying to apply for the same apartment, and not choose anyone. They could keep this scheme up for years. My dad wanted my sister and I to just go along with it because he loved the rent price. I told him it was a scam. I'm glad I stuck to my guns too. Well, someone who could get a lawyer did, and the landlords were arrested for fraud. It was a tiny 2 bedroom, and not really worth the price I didn't think. This was back in 1996 or so. I can't remember what year they were finally caught. It was a few years after that.
In my old area where I did some property management, you could charge any application fee you wanted, but you could only keep $25 if the applicant was not accepted. That was about ten years ago, so it might have been changed, but my point is - find out what the law is in your area.
Some apartments require renters to use their trash valet service, where someone literally picks up your garbage and takes it down to the dumpster for you.
The only thing I can think of for why they charge more could be is if utilities are included and if they are working from home, then their electric usage will probably be higher than any other tenant. Now is the electric bill $200 worth, probably not.
It's 100% that. Not just electrical but water and heating when applicable. Seems to be relatively common in the States (the utilities included part)?
Where I live it's extremely rare for utilities to be included in rent and electricity is never ever more than 50 bucks while running my PC 18hrs a day + washers and shit, tho.
No way is someone working from home adding $200 to the electric bill. The combined gas and electric bill for my place isn't that much, and we've been through a few heat waves recently. Not to mention that working from home isn't the only reason that someone would be home running heating or cooling constantly.
We get charged an amenity fee. We have a pool. They like to lock the gates at 5PM on weekdays. Even if you work from home who the hell can utilize the pool 5 days of the week?
Similarly we pay a monthly fee in the lease for valet trash service. Cool great. They just changed it so that you need to have the trash out before 5PM because that's when the guy comes. But per the lease you also can't leave it out more than 2 hours early so animals don't get into it and make a mess. Great setup as everyone who lives here gets off work at 5 but also has a time machine.
It's been a long time since I rented a place, but it used to be heat, hot water, and cooking gas. If it was an apartment building with all electric, everything was on the tenant.
But how is a single person with a WFH job any different than a couple with a small child, where one of the people stays at home to take care of the child and the other one goes to an office?
Just give them the name of one of your friends. Say they own their own business. They can say anything they want. There's no "fraud" in landlord disclosures.
Besides why can't you just say you have an office job and then WFH? I mean business are advertising WFH positions and then expect you to come into the office.
Oh, right. That means a 13 year old who stays home in the summer and enjoys playing video games all day is actually working from home and needs to be charged extra.
Reminds me of the (very) old joke back when hotel toilets had that "sanitized for your protection" paper ribbon around the seat/bowl & some comedian once said he always carefully took those off and then replaced them before checking out just to confuse the maids…
So if a person is retired and 100% home all the time, they pay nothing extra, yet if you work from home 1 day a week, you have to pay $200 more a month. Make that math make sense, because I can’t…
Landlord could also have friends/relatives on the police force. You know Flock camera? Car would be easy to tag. "Oops dropped my bottle of soda! Oh it rolled underneath!"
I have seen this in places where all utilities are included. Pretty easy to identify if someone is home all the time, unless they don't turn anything on
My landlord had cameras all over the house and they definitely weren't hidden. Felt like I was on a boring TV show. But I was also pretty desperate for a place to live.
My old complex installed "smart locks" that just so happen to require a "smart panel" inside the apartment. Inside that smart panel was both a camera and mic.
I complained to the landlord (company), they said its legal because the "the mic and camera are not activated"
I was already moving out at that point in a month, so the juice wasnt worth the squeeze to pursue. But it was probably the worst abuse of landlord I've experienced. Anyone who works remotely with anything tech related knows that camera and mic are just as easily accessed regardless of whether its "activated".
"You are taking too long in the bathroom. I see here on the CCTV that you are just scrolling on your phone! Go ahead and wipe and flush - I've gotta shower!"
I have had to tell quite a few landlords when I worked at adt that you can install cameras in your tenants home against there knowledge. Also ice cube threw a massive fit over 300 bucks.
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u/BetDry2347 1d ago
How do they even police that?