Comments on: Dear PoP – A Note to College Interns & Recent Graduates (by Pretty Smart)

By: Disappointed in PoP

Disappointed in PoP — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:40:53 +0000

This is my first time posting, but I felt obligated to because I’m really bothered that PoP would publish this. It’s mean. And it unfairly labels all recent graduates and interns as irresponsible and selfish. I realize a whole bunch of them are, but there are also a lot of irresponsible, self-dealing and greedy landlords out there too. Pretty smart got stuck in a bad situation, but that is what security deposits are for. Also, you do have right to inspect your property, and you probably should have done so.

Sure, interns and younger people can be irresponsible, but maybe instead of ranting and raving on a website, you should have sat them down and ranted at them instead. Then they would be learning a valuable lesson, and we all would not have to hear about it.

PoP, I have always admired your upbeat blogsite–please don’t stoop to letting such negative posting on here.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:26:22 +0000

seems like the mold (or at least the lek) was a pre-existing condition… 3 months and half the room was covered? you really knew nothing about this before renting it out?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:16:11 +0000

For the record, students make terrible roommates too.

Try living with a full time student when you’re a full time employee. Not only do they think coming home at 3am wasted every week night is normal, they bring their friends, who hook up on your couch. Students don’t value a dollar, they mooch off you like they’re still in college, and for god’s sake STOP TALKING ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL. Every conversation is about what they learned that day/week/month and who said what in class. News flash: there are more interesting things in life than your over-priced education that your parents pay for.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:58:12 +0000

Pretty Smart, are you really blaming the temporary tenants for the mold? I think you need a reality check. For the price you were renting the room to them, I bet they probably thought the mold was included.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:04:32 +0000

I can understand being frustrated about this irresponsibility. as someone who will be subletting their apt in the near future, thanks for letting me learn from your mistake.

By: Sam E J

Sam E J — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:03:28 +0000

I am glad people put Pretty Smart in her place. As a landlord this is part of the cost of doing business. If you don’t understand that then you probably shouldn’t be a landlord. You have to price your rent and your security deposit to cover this kind of damage.

As a renter they have no ownership claim in the condition of the property it is your job to make sure that it is well maintained.

By: dcpublius

dcpublius — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:36:03 +0000

Was the property in tip top shape to begin with? It looks like old crappy carpet with holes in it to begin with.

Certainly, the tenant should let you know what’s going on, but when you rent a ratty place out, the renter isn’t going to care if it’s just a little more rundown because of issue A or B.

By: L

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:34:28 +0000

While obviously the behavior of the tenant was weird (only explanation I can think of was that they weren’t at the apt much / sleeping somewhere else most nights but even that’s no excuse) but my question is: would the damage have been any less if they had contacted you right away? I mean, I’d still be pissed (and baffled) if this happened to me but dealing with maintenance (including major things like this) is part of being a landlord. It’s a business. This could have happened even if the tenant had behaved responsibly.

In cases where the damage done is a lot more than what’s covered by the security deposit, I wonder if there’s a way to go after the tenant in small claims court (when the damage is the tenant’s fault — which doesn’t sound like the case here– I doubt they *caused* the mold, they were just stupid for not telling you about it as soon as they saw it).

By: Mal

Mal — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:18:49 +0000

Totally different commenting than I thought, but I consider myself a pretty darn good tenant. Back in Philly during college, I lived in a house with 6 guys, one girl, and myself, and that place was a dump – roaches, mice, etc. We weren’t particularly dirty but it was just the life of a rowhome in West Philly. When our lease was up, I asked my landlord if he had a studio/eff/1br that I could rent from him since he was a great landlord (he exterminated but our neighbors all had roaches and mice), and he was more than happy to because he knew how clean my room in the old house had been. When I left, he told me he was disappointed I was moving out of the area because he had the “college” apartments and also nicer more grown-up apartments, and that I was his best tenant he’d had in awhile. When I moved to DC, my landlord isn’t exactly bad, just… long-distance (he’s out in MD while my apt is downtown). Last September I was on travel for a week, and when I came back, the apartment upstairs had a leaky pipe and my water heater closet was FILLED with mold. Obviously I called my landlord right away and they redid all of the moldy parts (my water heater closet shares a crawl space with the kitchen, and the kitchen wall also had mold on it). I’m not sure why anyone would want to live with that?!

Pretty Smart – I’m really sorry that these idiots did this to you – but not all college kids are this bad! I’d say the fact that it was a 3 month lease probably was the kicker – even when I lived in Pittsburgh with a 6 month lease, you have the mindset that you aren’t there that long (I was still clean, but I could see the mentality). I agree though – checking in on the apt is your right as a landlord (is it? I feel like it should be!), but you’d think after only 3 months things couldn’t get this bad!

By: Petworth Man

Petworth Man — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:39:06 +0000

Snide, sarcastic and angry commenting is NOT part of the beautiful life.