MyNewPlace Blog

Smoking in rental apartments is a controversial topic. On one hand, it seems reasonable that one should be free to do all legal activities within their own home, rented or not. On the other hand, when does this right to privacy infringe upon the rights of others?

The State of California may soon be intervening on the side of non-smokers.

Senate Bill 1598, authored by Senator Alex Padilla (D-San Fernando Valley) and passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 29^th, would provide legal protection for apartment owners who want to ban smoking in their apartment complexes.

The bill does not seek an outright ban on smoking in apartments, an action that some anti-smoking groups have pushed for, who claim that the bill does not change the status quo. This middle of the road approach protects private apartment owners who want to ban smoking in their apartments from lawsuits.

Apartment owners, however, already implicitly have the right to enact regulations and prohibitions in their apartment buildings, including any those pertaining to smoking. So, what does the bill actually accomplish?

All court cases that we have seen have involved non-smokers filing suit to force apartment owners to take action to prevent second hand smoke under the Fair Housing Act, or suits between neighbors not apartment owners facing legal recourse on the grounds of rights to privacy or a ‘right to smoke.'

Many apartment owners have already ‘cleared the air;' by prohibiting smoking in their apartment buildings, they can command higher rents as well as slow depreciation and mitigate the risk of fires.

The law may have the effect of creating publicity about the benefits that apartment owners may reap by going smoke free; smokers that rent apartments in buildings that change policies will face the decision of whether to move out or to take it outside.

Be on the lookout for tips in our apartment guide on the topic of settling disputes between apartment neighbors.

Have renters had problems with a neighbor who smokes? Would you pay more to live in a non-smoking apartment building?

Should MyNewPlace add a Smoke Free search filter?

We were perusing Sara Gebhardt's Apartment Life column in the Washington Post and ran across a subscriber's question about paying their rent with a credit card. This sounds like a great way to earn rewards from your credit card company…free flight to Vegas, here I come!

Housing is usually one's largest monthly expense, be it a rent or mortgage payment. Typically, tenants pay their rent by check each month. Instead, consider paying your landlord by credit card.

Your landlord should be happy with this arrangement; landlords will enjoy having scheduled monthly payments and not having to worry about getting late apartment rent checks.

You should be happy about this arrangement because you will be able to take advantage of all those rewards that many credit cards offer. You can sign up for credit cards that offer rewards on gas, flights, and a host of other things. For the average renter, you'll be able to put between $6,000-12,000 worth of payments towards a new vacation or to help you pay for gas.

If your landlord doesn't offer this service, get a group of fellow tenants together and jointly request that they accept credit card payments. They can use services such as Property Solutions in order to offer this service.

Of course, you will need to be careful about putting such a large expenditure on your credit card bill. Interest and fees resulting from late payments on credit cards are usually higher than your landlord would charge. Also, not paying your credit card bills can hurt your credit much more quickly than late rent payments to your landlord.

As long as you pay your credit card bill on time, however, it seems like this could be a great idea for both you and your landlord. Imagine receiving a free flight each year just for paying your rent!

Have you had problems convincing your landlord or property manager not accept credit card payments?

Let us know how you have taken advantage of reaping rewards by putting your rent on a credit card.

Last night, as I helped my friends bring a brand new 46″ plasma TV into their apartment, I thought that it was an appropriate time to delve more deeply into the details of renters insurance.

We've written about renters insurance before, but this time we will run through a how one would get a quote on the internet. We chose to use the State Farm renters insurance quote calculator. For a rental apartment in San Francisco with 3 applicants and 5 rooms, the quote calculator determined that they would each need to pay a total of $125 per year to cover $10,000 worth of personal property with a $500 deductible.

This plan also provides $100,000 of personal liability coverage and $1,000 for medical payments to others. Personal liability is when you are protected from others suing you for damages that you incur to other people or their property. If someone was to bring a claim against you, the insurance company would pay $100,000 towards the total costs incurred.

Below is a step by step run down of getting this particular plan online.

State Farm inquires about your insurance history; if you answer yes to any of these questions, you will need to provide details and speak with an agent in person or over the phone.

The questionnaire then proceeds to ask you about the features of your rental apartment that may affect the risk that the insurance company is undertaking; if your apartment has deadbolt locks, fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, smoke detectors, burglar alarms, you are likely to save on your premium. When calculating the premium, they also consider the proximity of your apartment or rental home to tidal bodies of water and fire departments.

When you are looking at apartments for rent, you should consider these features not only because it will reduce your premium, but also because these risk factors are important to consider for your own safety.

In the policy options and endorsements section, insurance companies usually have a limit on how much they will pay out for the items listed below. Make sure you check to see how much your insurance company pays out for items such as jewelry, furs, computers and firearms, as they may have restrictions.

Be sure to check the terms of your rental agreement. You usually will need to make claims in a timely fashion. As long as you make accurate statements on your questionnaire you should be covered against all kinds of risk. Imagine if that 46″ inch television had fallen down the stairs during the move. That kind of awful scenario can be avoided with the purchase of renters insurance.

Has anyone been either saved or burned by renters insurance policies? Tell us your stories in the comments section. Also look for more articles in our apartment guide.

The town of Oxnard, California has voted to prohibit smoking in senior public housing complexes in the downtown area. The measure passed unanimously at a city council meeting on March 25^th. Oxnard's new legislation makes it the third town in California to restrict smoking in multifamily apartment rentals.

Calabasas and Belmont had both previously passed local ordinances in response to a growing numbers of complaints from renters who were affected by secondhand smoke.

These towns have taken bold stands on the issue of smoking in apartments. As we related in an earlier post on smoke free apartments, the issue can be quite contentious. Local ordinances generally draw the ire of civil liberty groups over the protection of an individual's right to privacy.

The matter has been quite difficult to resolve in the multifamily industry; unless the apartment is delegated by its owners as smoke free, the issue often is left to be hashed out between neighbors.

At least in once instance, a neighborly dispute about smoking has led to a negligence lawsuit. Galila Huff, of New York City was sued for endangering the health of her neighbors and their 4 year old son.

The lawsuit was settled out of court after Aerus, a manufacturer of home cleaning products, offered to install air filters and purifiers in both apartments.

If not for the intervention of the company, however, it is difficult to predict how this matter would have played out in court. How can a balance be struck between the right to privacy, especially in one's home and his or her effect on their community?

Is this issue best left to be settled amongst neighbors or should local municipalities start getting involved?

Have you ever tried moving your desk, armoire, a bookcase and your bed simultaneously? It sounds like a task that Sisyphus himself may envy, doesn't it? With Mein Casulo, you can do just that.

We originally saw this new product for apartments over at the Sellsius Real Estate Blog and wanted to share with MyNewPlace visitors. We think that the Casulo just might be the answer for those leading flexible and mobile lifestyles.

Below is an demonstration of how to assemble the Casulo:

Since the demonstration videos on youtube are either silent or in German, we have added an audio track that goes along quite well with the demonstration.

Hit both play buttons twice on the youtube and the audioplayer below. (it is not exactly Dark side of the Moon and the Wizard of Oz, so don't feel like you are missing out if the synchronization is off by a few seconds)

Think of the Casulo (Portuguese for ‘cocoon') as the Swiss Army Apartment. This new innovation in apartment furnishings is a box (pictured below) that contains an armoire, a desk, 3 stools, (one is height-adjustable), a bookcase with six shelves and a bed with a mattress.

turns into:

All your essential bedroom furnishings for your new apartment will spring forth from this unassuming and easy to move box in a matter of about ten minutes. Designed by Marcel Krings and Sebastian Muhlhauser, Casulo is a great option for anyone who moves with a car or moves around a lot.

Imagine living in New York City and be able to move your bulkiest items uptown using the subway.

What do you think? Would this type of convenience appeal to you?

Part of the appeal to rent an apartment instead of buying a house is the basic jettison of homeownership woes. Along with neglecting structural repairs, one can basically feel pretty good about not having too much liability or needing to take out comprehensive insurance coverage plans to protect your home and investment.

It is important, however, to understand that your landlord's policy only covers the apartment building, and not any of your possessions. If a fire or flood was to devastate your apartment, your landlord would be covered, you would still have a place to live, but all your possessions, if destroyed or damaged, would be your problem.

Purchasing renters insurance is an especially good idea if you live in a city and your apartment may be susceptible to being broken into and your possessions stolen. There is not much recourse unless your apartment and the things in your apartment are covered.

Renters Insurance is great because for a low premium you can cover all of your belongings and set your mind at rest. You can also purchase plans that cover liability; this would cover injuries that occurred in your apartment and damages that may be caused by you, such as the untimely explosion of a waterbed.

Insure.com has a pretty comprehensive list of the destructive events that renters insurance will cover, including some of the following:

• Fire and lightning
• Windstorm and hail
• Explosions
• Theft
• Burst pipes

When looking at a policy, be sure to evaluate whether your plan offers “actual cash value" (ACV) or “replacement cost." ACV will appraise the value of your items at the time they were damaged or stolen, whereas replacement cost plans will buy you new items.

Insurance companies such as Geico, Allstate, State Farm, and Esurance all provide plans that help you protect the things in your rental apartment.

For more information you can check with the American Renters Association's online guide. Also, look for MyNewPlace's upcoming release of our very own Apartment Guide, which will provide helpful tips and caveats on a plethora of issues pertaining to apartment searches, renter's issues, apartment issues and a host of other relevant topics.

Has anyone had any personal experience where renters insurance has saved the day? Are there some renters out there who wish that they had a flux capacitor in order to go back in time and buy renters insurance?

When renting an apartment, one usually feels as though they are free to do as they wish, as long as it is within the bounds of reason, legality and the terms of their rental agreement. Whether renting an apartment or owning a house, everyone wants to feel like the king or queen of their respective castles. Smoking, however, is a contentious subject; should one be allowed to smoke in his or her own apartment?

According to a recent article in Units Magazine, apartment owners are favoring a more restrictive policy when it comes to smoking and are seeing happier tenants and a higher demand for their smoke-free apartments as a result. A survey done by the Portland-Vancouver Metro Area Smokefree Housing Project found that 75% of renters prefer smoke-free apartment buildings and half would pay more for smoke-free communities.

Not only do non-smokers wish to live in a smoke-free environment, even those who do smoke recognize the dangers and the undesirable side effects of smoking in their apartments. The survey also found that only 11% of smokers actually smoke inside their own apartments; many cite preserving their loved ones' health and keeping their apartments clean as primary reasons. Property managers and apartment owners are now citing their smoke-free policies to potential renters as a selling point. Their apartments are cleaner, healthier and do not depreciate as quickly, and they mitigate the risk of the devastating effects of fires.

The issue has even attracted the attention of local city councils. When local governments get involved, however, staunch opposition typically emerges. Smokers do not necessarily have a problem with apartment owners prohibiting smoking, but when a local ordinance is passed, a tenant's right to privacy is commonly perceived as being infringed upon.

What do renters think? Should MyNewPlace add smoke-free as a search filter option? Do problems often erupt between non-smoking and smoking neighbors?

Send us your feedback or tell us your stories about dealing with this controversial issue.

They say that moving is the third most stressful event that can happen in a person's life, right after divorce and death.

Even though I much prefer moving to those other exciting options, having moved six times in the past two years, I can definitely empathize with everyone out there who's looking to relocate.

My most recent move was from New York, where I'd been living for about a year, to San Francisco. My inclination, when talking about it and writing about it, is to slip a “back" in front of the “to San Francisco," because when I made the decision to move here, it felt completely like a return.

After graduating from Berkeley a couple of years ago, I've returned to the Bay Area often, usually making a pit stop to see my college friends on my way from SFO to Sacramento, where my parents live. These visits back have always been lovely, and when New York's rough edges started grating on me, I felt like an idiot for having given up this compost-friendly, laid back, sandal-wearing city by the Bay.

But, the thing about moving is that even when you think you know what you're getting into, you don't. No matter how many times you've visited a city, bargained with a mattress salesman (they're worse than used car salesmen, I swear), or assembled and then Craigslisted your IKEA furniture , it's really, really hard to make a seamless transition from the old to the new.

That said, there are a few things that might help a little.

In terms of shipping, DHL saved my life. If you have a lot that you're bringing with you, this obviously isn't practical, but for those of you who can stuff everything into a few boxes, DHL has the most reasonable rates I've found. They pick them up from your place for a nominal fee and let you print out shipping labels online, which makes for a pretty painless shipping experience.

Yelp. There are a ton of sites out there that can help you figure out the best places to hang out in your new city when you don't yet have people to make your plans for you. Citysearch is pretty popular, and I know Menupages is particularly good in NYC, but Yelp is by far my personal favorite. It helped me pass as a New Yorker when I first moved there and helped me find a great vegetarian restaurant in Nashville where I didn't realize they existed.

1800mattress. Not always the lowest prices, but at least they give you a fallback number to bargain with, so that other stores can tell you that they're giving you deals that will put them out of business while still ripping you off.

Your parents. More specifically, your mom. Seriously, at any age, there's no one in this world who is as willing to help you pack boxes and send you food when you haven't yet stocked your kitchen (as if I actually cook after that..). Don't take them for granted, and don't be too stubborn to let them help.

Any other tips for moving out and settling in? Have you found MyNewPlace a helpful resource in your move? Let us know in the comments.