3 Things I Learned From the Worst Renting Experience of My Life

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Gather ’round for a story from the trenches of renting. 

Over the course of my life, the vast majority of my living situations have been rentals — I’ve rented homes and apartments in multiple cities and states, and I’ve had a variety of experiences.

When I first arrived in my current state of residence (where I intend to become a homeowner again) several years ago, I moved into an apartment sight unseen. I was moving for a job, and lacked the time and money to make a separate trip to view rentals, so I did the best I could to find something decent via the internet. The apartment turned out to be a lemon, with irresponsible and largely unresponsive management.

A bad situation

My now-former spouse and I arrived after two days of driving (we moved from 1,400 miles away) to find a filthy apartment with a broken front door lock, windows painted shut, non-working air conditioning, and no smoke detectors. That first night, the situation was so bad, we ended up putting a hotel room on my credit card so we would have a safe and clean place to sleep, and we could re-evaluate the apartment in the morning. Unfortunately, it didn’t get better once we had rested. But we had to unload our trailer so we could return it to the rental place.

Other problems soon appeared, including catastrophic water leaks from the upstairs bathroom that resulted in huge water-filled bubbles in the paint on the ground floor ceiling. The humidity in the apartment was so high that my laptop bag and cloth lunchbox grew mold (and had to be thrown away) and paper turned to mush. The apartment complex’s maintenance was overworked and without resources to fix the problems, and management wouldn’t return our calls.

We coped as best we could while I was getting used to a brand-new job; the apartment situation added a considerable amount of stress. This went on for 10 weeks. Finally, we moved out, into a rental home in another part of town. Here’s what I learned from navigating this experience.

1. Always get a copy of your lease as soon as you’ve signed it

When we arrived, at 9 p.m., exhausted from two days of driving and little sleep, we had to sign the lease immediately to be issued keys. This is not so unusual, but at the time, we were told that we would be given a copy of the lease the following week when the management office was open. That day never came, and when the problems with the apartment mounted, I emailed repeatedly to get my copy of the lease (by then, I wanted to know how to break it).

Finally, I got a response from the rental office. The administrative assistant admitted in her email back to me that we had “signed a lease for a different property,” and could come by anytime to sign the lease for the actual place we rented. A lightbulb went on above my head. I had, in writing, that my lease was invalid. This meant we could move out without incurring a lease-break penalty, right? Time to ask a lawyer.

2. If you think you need a lawyer’s help, you do

By this point, I was juggling all of my apartment concerns alongside trying to get used to my new job. Thankfully, I had a lot of local contacts through work, including a board member who worked for the neighborhood association where I was renting. He suggested I attend a free “ask a lawyer” night at the community center. I had no money to pay a lawyer, so this was my chance to ask one about the situation and get advice. This was important, as I was flying blind for what my rights were under these circumstances.

The lawyer was extremely helpful, and recommended that we draft a letter to management. The letter outlined problems with the apartment, management’s lack of response and resolution, and the fact that we didn’t have a valid lease, so we were moving out. I sent this letter via email, fax, and certified mail, so there would be no way for management to deny having received it.

3. It’s better to lose money than sacrifice your health and safety

Having sent the letter (and we never got a response, by the way), we found a house to rent and moved out a few weeks later. We forfeited our security deposit, which was definitely a blow to my bank account (moving around so often is expensive). Ultimately, we were relieved to be out of the worst rental I’ve ever lived in. It’s always better to lose some money rather than stay in a dangerous situation, like an apartment full of mold and leaks, and without safety equipment like smoke detectors.

Renting a new place comes with the possibility of having an experience like mine, but thankfully, this has been the worst I’ve personally been through. It’s made me a lot more vigilant about thoroughly vetting new rentals and ensuring I get my questions answered and a copy of the lease as soon as I sign it. Oh, and it also serves as motivation to buy a house soon, so I never have to go through this again.

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