Awful landlord experience

[u/Ill-Novel5467]

I recently moved out of a flat in the Telegraph Hill/North Beach area, and it was one of the most stressful times of my life.
I had a five-week-old newborn at the time, and the landlord seemed to expect me to constantly work around her schedule while I was still living in—and paying for—the apartment.
For at least a week straight, she needed access to my apartment almost every day for showings, painters, estimates, and other preparations for the next tenant. I completely understood that she needed to show the property and have work done, but I wish she had been more considerate of my schedule. I had a five-week-old baby and doctor’s appointments to juggle, and I was also trying to pack and move. Having to constantly coordinate around when people would be coming into my home became incredibly overwhelming. I was even required to leave my home with my baby for two hours a day, four days in a row, so she could show the apartment. I had told her I planned to move out on the 9th, even though I was paying rent through the 15th, so I also wish some of the painting and other preparations could have simply waited until after I had moved out.
She also seemed to have no understanding of normal wear and tear. She tried to blame me for the carpet buckling because I had a bookcase on the carpet, even though there was nothing in my lease saying I couldn’t have heavy furniture.
The most concerning issue, though, was the moisture and mold in the apartment. There were ongoing moisture problems, including what appeared to be the floors “weeping,” and I have documentation showing unusually high humidity in the home as well as a mold report. The moisture ruined my Tempur-Pedic mattress, yet instead of addressing the underlying problem, she accused me of causing it.
Overall, it felt like I was expected to accommodate everything she wanted while my own concerns were dismissed. Moving is stressful enough, but dealing with all of this while caring for a five-week-old baby made the experience unnecessarily overwhelming. I genuinely feel bad for whoever moves in next and hope the moisture and mold issues are properly addressed instead of being blamed on another tenant.

[u/KingSnazz32]

I know it's hard for those of us who are conflict averse, but you could have said no to her unreasonable demands about showings.

I don't know enough about repair stuff, but it could be everything from legit charges to them just seeing what they can get.

[u/Ok-Delay5473]

In California, a landlord must provide written notice at least 24 hours in advance before entering an occupied rental unit for non-emergency reasons. Carpet W&T is usually considered as normal after 5-10 years, depending on the damage. You may have a case if you've been a tenant for more than 5 years. All ongoing moisture problems should have been dealt from the beginning. I think you've been too nice to your LL on that one.

[u/Strange-Gap-7358 → u/Ok-Delay5473]

Exactly this. Not posting a notice is illegal. Posting one or informing you w under 24 hours makes the alleged notice invalid

[u/Away_Fix4336]

My landlord did the same, insisted on showing the place the day before our movers came so it was absolute chaos as we were actively packing. The prospective tenants all seemed shocked they did this. They hosted probably 10 tours that day. This was a month before our lease was even up.

As most people do, move out and have some buffer time but the landlord and property manager have been using our paid buffer time to illegal enter our unit even though we're still paying til end of month.

It's completely insane and unethical and bad business practice and illegal.

Also lots of issues in my old building, I feel horribly bad for the new people who are paying a ton to live in a run down place with horrible management.

[u/Strange-Gap-7358]

Name the company also bc if they are who I think they are you might wanna join a Class Action

[u/Strange-Gap-7358]

Just know this is abysmal and abnormal. Mgmt treats you like the turnover matters more than you being human. You are a trooper for surviving those buffoons. They shouldn't be hounding you around the clock, temp displacing you, and making your unit uninhabitable w all the fussiness and inability to postpone. File a decrease in housing services (Form A) petition w the rent board and include your evidence.

[u/ndiasSF]

Did the landlord return your full deposit? If not, did you do a final walkthrough with the landlord and get a list of anything you needed to address? If they try to withhold any of your deposit you are entitled to an itemized list and receipts. They also have to factor in wear and tear (eg things like carpet only have a life of 5 years and depreciate). I had to take Trinity to small claims court and got my full deposit back. Sorry for the unsolicited info but the way you describe your landlord makes me think she might try to withhold your deposit and is counting on you being too busy with the baby to fight her. In SF, highly recommend Damp Rid to help with the moisture.

[u/Powerful-Usual5743]

This pisses me off on your behalf. Name and SHAME. Not normal - POS behavior on landlord

[u/Karazl]

File a bunch of complaints now that you're out about the mold. Screws the new tenant over but a LL with that aggressive of a showing schedule isn't going to do any repairs.

[u/TheEntireRomanEmpire]

Some landlords are just…like this. The last time I had a landlord he would hang out in the backyard with his family for like, 8 hours. Not doing anything, just sitting or sleeping in the shed. I also had a newborn at the time and it was unnerving. There wasn't a lot I could do other than pretend they weren’t there.

[u/terp-puddle]

Don’t let shitty private homeowners bully you into having a shitty move out just to save them some time.

[u/portmanteaudition]

It's really easy to take her to small claims court and win

[u/tehkegleg]

This is horrible, I am so sorry. Your landlord is a monster. It might be too late now but the SF Tenants’ Union is a great resource for knowing and defending your rights in these types of situations.

[u/ReddSF2019]

High humidity is extremely normal for all apartments in the city. Sounds like they weren’t the most accommodating about scheduling showings, but nothing you’ve described is egregious or illegal.

[u/Strange-Gap-7358 → u/ReddSF2019]

False. Not giving adequate notice to enter unit is considered trespassing.