> Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen.
When I started reading the article, I thought the whole point was gonna be that the author doesn't take care of the apartment.
The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely are. Is this a case of a total lack of self-reflection? Or a post to scare people away from becoming landlords?
I had the same thought after reading the first few sentences. Bathrooms and kitchens especially have to be cleaned regularly, and not just superficially. Otherwise, what the author describes happens.
Fwiw, most mould is caused by buildings. Poor ventilation, leaks, no waterproofing, substandard building materials.
Yes, you can avoid mould in older buildings by carefully airing out rooms and keeping things dry and away from walls. But not if the previous three tenants had a mould issue and the landlord just painted over it.
Yes, but no. We have historic, sometimes even mediaeval buildings. They weren't built with the current energy efficiency in mind.
Leaving the bathroom door open after showering. Not putting furniture flus against the wall are simple measures you could take that don't need structural adaptations.
I know there are plentiful of technical options but some common sense goes a long way.
It's definitely true that not all apartments are equally prone to mold, but individual behavior also has a huge effect on mold. If you know that you're living in a place that's susceptible to mold, you have to take that into account when deciding how to furnish your place and how to manage humidity.
Of course you should take care of your home, but to be fair, the moisture that caused the mold could have come from a leak elsewhere. The roaches could have found a way into your home from that crackhead neighbor's place through cracks and seams somewhere in the construction.
My first thought. I also encountered this problem and learned to clean the kitchen every night, never leave anything edible on countertop and floot, and store everything in good food containers.
The best thing I've found after dealing with mold is a simple 3% hydrogen peroxide solution that is sold in any drugstore. Put it in a spray bottle and soak the area deeply enough and it should kill it down to the roots.
And a plus is that when it breaks down the only fumes it gives off is pure oxygen, unlike other cleaners like bleach. It did such a good job that I use peroxide as a general purpose cleaner now.
I will add one note that you should rinse your hands regularly if cleaning with peroxide. Just a few days ago I had a leaky spray nozzle, and the peroxide was on my finger long enough that it was able to soak in. It turned my skin chalk-white and caused an uncomfortable bubbling sensation inside my skin. I had no idea it was even a reaction that could happen. It only lasted for a few hours, but it's not something I would want to happen again.
You should note that while a single use (like to kill mould) may be fine, regular use on stone, metal or wood (i.e. most stuff in a bathroom) is not recommended because it is a powerful oxidizer that will considerably damage these surfaces if used regularly. That's because it releases hydroxyl radicals that destroy not only molecular bonds in stains and microorganism cell walls, but also attacks treated surfaces and corrodes metals.
I think apartments needs maintenance and it's hard to communicate to the landlord there is a problem or fix or find someone to fix it. The mold is very common.
The mold is very easy to remove when it's small but it becomes exponentially bigger growing.
Go on Amazon search for anti-mold cleaning product and a spatula. When you see a mold 1cm large get on a chair spray and scrape. It will take 5 minute. If you wait 3 months thinking you should tell the landlord and then the landlord will call someone then the mold will have become 100 square cm, it will be a 100 minutes to clean.
The roaches too if they are in your kitchen call a exterminator. Don't leave food out at night, clean all crumbs.
If you don't take care of those things even in a a new building they will appear on their own after 2 years.
Living in a city in Europe in a very decent apartment in a building that was erected in the 1880s (sic), this article made me chuckle - but also feel bad about how the throwaway society of the 21st century has extended even to things that are supposed to last.
Yeah, similar. The place I was in in the Netherlands was a converted office building (originally made iirc in the 1960s or 70s) but refurbished to apartments post the turn of the century.
In the many years I lived there... the place was pretty much identical. Sure, it'd probably need a deep clean for the (faux?) wooden floor that gets dirt into the crevices... but that's it?
Even back home in India, we've lived in buildings made around the 1990s iirc. They're perfectly fine, and apart from outdated floor plans, there's nothing problematic about their age at all.
Though, I just remembered one thing. In India, everything is made of concrete, and even in NL, beyond the outer concrete walls, the inner walls - even though often drywall-like - are very "high quality". They're extremely soundproof and fireproof (the latter of which I unfortunately learnt post a fellow neighbour's fire. Their room was burnt down to the bedframe, the neighbours were just fine. Never leave your cooking unattended, folks!)
I feel sorry for the author if they ever manage to buy a house or apartment. The two year rule of their experience (not mine) will suddenly accelerate!
I rented two apartments and it was quite stable each time. Normal breakdowns happened, but they were repaired on the owner's cost. They now serve people who live there now.
I know it's just a blog post, but I wish I knew what "level" of mold and roaches we are talking about.
Seeing mold in joints is not unusual depending on the conditions, but it's also easily fixable.
For cockroaches either there is none in your area, either get one in a year "by mistake", but if it's a recurring events the problem is likely food or garbage that sits longer than it should.
This doesn't hold up for me in Japan. My apartment is in a building that's 10 years old now, and I've been here since it was new. Japan famously builds for a 20-ish-year depreciation schedule, although buildings like mine often stay in operation for 40 or more years. The build quality is honestly through the roof. Even the materials that are "builder quality" like unit kitchen and bath or veneer floors are still built to last, with minimal maintenance, and maximum convenience. As for the neighbors, they're mostly passing strangers. A few of them are busy bodies who love to force management to post "reminder" letters on the bulletin board. In other words, typical ultra-passive-aggressive-obsessive types. But most people that I encounter are delightful, and everyone just stays out of each other's way. Building maintenance is an old lady who tried to retire, and the building residents literally demanded that she un-retire and come back. This building is absolutely spotless and everything is ship-shape at all times. Most people own their units. I rent from the owner. In the time since I've lived here, I've bought multiple other properties, but I remain here because it's so damn easy and great.
Same in Germany, I have been here for 11 years and no issue. Only maybe the balcony that could use new floorboards but I don't care too much.
But why is she talking about broken treadmills? If I want to go to the gym I go to an actual gym... everything else is just an excuse to jack up the rent?
It’s not perception as your friend alleges nor is it a conspiracy but rather all dwellings, apartments included, require continuous maintenance. Different levels of effort at different intervals. Skip it, and problems start to compound.
By the default nature of the bathroom being a humid environment (relative to the rest of any house), my wife and I squeegee our shower after each use, and attack the tile weekly in order to keep it free of mildew.
It’s easier for both the current tenants and landlords to defer maintenance by respectively, moving to a new building that matches your expectations and renting your unit to someone whose expectations matches the current state of the unit.
Both approaches don’t require addressing the previous maintenance “debt”. That’s why it feels like it’s all downhill after the first 2 years — either inside your unit, or in the building’s common spaces, or both.
> I've noticed this myself with every apartment I've ever lived in. Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen. Once the lease is up for renewal, I'm dying to leave. I then move into a sparkly, new apartment where I repeat the process all over again.
Except for the leak all of these issues are mainly caused by the tenant. Mold growing in the bathroom is because they're not airing it properly and don't clean it. Roaches and other insect infestations mostly appear because of mishandled food waste and not cleaning the kitchen and floor sufficiently.
"If when I go to the lavatory I don't pee, if you'll excuse the expression, into the bowl but on to the floor instead and if Zina and Darya Petrovna were to do the same thing, the lavatory would be ruined. Ruin, therefore, is not caused by lavatories but it's something that starts in people's heads. So when these clowns start shouting "Stop the ruin!" - I laugh!'"
The first few months, you're so impressed how smart everyone is, how competent, what a great organisation it is. By 18 months in, you've decided everyone is an idiot, the organisation is utterly hopeless, and at 2 years you quit.
Never experienced anything like this with apartments though - lived in my last one for 9 years and loved it.
I've lived in the same apartment for more than 15 years and I haven't experienced this. Some things have become somewhat more run-down but overall it's fairly stable.
Let's imagine that every rental property goes through a cycle when the owner sees that they are unable to find tenants willing to pay enough money, so they decide to invest money into improving the property, then for some time they think "meh, it's good enough" so it slowly degrades.
When you are looking for a new apartment you are always trying to find the best place that fits your budget, so you will always find it near the peak of the cycle and see it going downhill in front of your eyes.
> Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen.
When I started reading the article, I thought the whole point was gonna be that the author doesn't take care of the apartment.
The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely are. Is this a case of a total lack of self-reflection? Or a post to scare people away from becoming landlords?
I had the same thought after reading the first few sentences. Bathrooms and kitchens especially have to be cleaned regularly, and not just superficially. Otherwise, what the author describes happens.
[delayed]
Fwiw, most mould is caused by buildings. Poor ventilation, leaks, no waterproofing, substandard building materials.
Yes, you can avoid mould in older buildings by carefully airing out rooms and keeping things dry and away from walls. But not if the previous three tenants had a mould issue and the landlord just painted over it.
Yes, but no. We have historic, sometimes even mediaeval buildings. They weren't built with the current energy efficiency in mind. Leaving the bathroom door open after showering. Not putting furniture flus against the wall are simple measures you could take that don't need structural adaptations. I know there are plentiful of technical options but some common sense goes a long way.
It's definitely true that not all apartments are equally prone to mold, but individual behavior also has a huge effect on mold. If you know that you're living in a place that's susceptible to mold, you have to take that into account when deciding how to furnish your place and how to manage humidity.
Of course you should take care of your home, but to be fair, the moisture that caused the mold could have come from a leak elsewhere. The roaches could have found a way into your home from that crackhead neighbor's place through cracks and seams somewhere in the construction.
My first thought. I also encountered this problem and learned to clean the kitchen every night, never leave anything edible on countertop and floot, and store everything in good food containers.
> roaches in the kitchen
roaches need to come from somewhere. Even if your apartment is spotless, someone else in the building might not be...
But is it the landlord's issue?
The best thing I've found after dealing with mold is a simple 3% hydrogen peroxide solution that is sold in any drugstore. Put it in a spray bottle and soak the area deeply enough and it should kill it down to the roots.
And a plus is that when it breaks down the only fumes it gives off is pure oxygen, unlike other cleaners like bleach. It did such a good job that I use peroxide as a general purpose cleaner now.
I will add one note that you should rinse your hands regularly if cleaning with peroxide. Just a few days ago I had a leaky spray nozzle, and the peroxide was on my finger long enough that it was able to soak in. It turned my skin chalk-white and caused an uncomfortable bubbling sensation inside my skin. I had no idea it was even a reaction that could happen. It only lasted for a few hours, but it's not something I would want to happen again.
You should note that while a single use (like to kill mould) may be fine, regular use on stone, metal or wood (i.e. most stuff in a bathroom) is not recommended because it is a powerful oxidizer that will considerably damage these surfaces if used regularly. That's because it releases hydroxyl radicals that destroy not only molecular bonds in stains and microorganism cell walls, but also attacks treated surfaces and corrodes metals.
Good pointer. Bleach isn't more effective than regular soap or hydrogen peroxyde.
I think apartments needs maintenance and it's hard to communicate to the landlord there is a problem or fix or find someone to fix it. The mold is very common. The mold is very easy to remove when it's small but it becomes exponentially bigger growing. Go on Amazon search for anti-mold cleaning product and a spatula. When you see a mold 1cm large get on a chair spray and scrape. It will take 5 minute. If you wait 3 months thinking you should tell the landlord and then the landlord will call someone then the mold will have become 100 square cm, it will be a 100 minutes to clean.
The roaches too if they are in your kitchen call a exterminator. Don't leave food out at night, clean all crumbs.
If you don't take care of those things even in a a new building they will appear on their own after 2 years.
Living in a city in Europe in a very decent apartment in a building that was erected in the 1880s (sic), this article made me chuckle - but also feel bad about how the throwaway society of the 21st century has extended even to things that are supposed to last.
Yeah, similar. The place I was in in the Netherlands was a converted office building (originally made iirc in the 1960s or 70s) but refurbished to apartments post the turn of the century.
In the many years I lived there... the place was pretty much identical. Sure, it'd probably need a deep clean for the (faux?) wooden floor that gets dirt into the crevices... but that's it?
Even back home in India, we've lived in buildings made around the 1990s iirc. They're perfectly fine, and apart from outdated floor plans, there's nothing problematic about their age at all.
Though, I just remembered one thing. In India, everything is made of concrete, and even in NL, beyond the outer concrete walls, the inner walls - even though often drywall-like - are very "high quality". They're extremely soundproof and fireproof (the latter of which I unfortunately learnt post a fellow neighbour's fire. Their room was burnt down to the bedframe, the neighbours were just fine. Never leave your cooking unattended, folks!)
I feel sorry for the author if they ever manage to buy a house or apartment. The two year rule of their experience (not mine) will suddenly accelerate!
That mold in the bathroom is most likely your fault, though.
I rented two apartments and it was quite stable each time. Normal breakdowns happened, but they were repaired on the owner's cost. They now serve people who live there now.
I know it's just a blog post, but I wish I knew what "level" of mold and roaches we are talking about.
Seeing mold in joints is not unusual depending on the conditions, but it's also easily fixable.
For cockroaches either there is none in your area, either get one in a year "by mistake", but if it's a recurring events the problem is likely food or garbage that sits longer than it should.
This doesn't hold up for me in Japan. My apartment is in a building that's 10 years old now, and I've been here since it was new. Japan famously builds for a 20-ish-year depreciation schedule, although buildings like mine often stay in operation for 40 or more years. The build quality is honestly through the roof. Even the materials that are "builder quality" like unit kitchen and bath or veneer floors are still built to last, with minimal maintenance, and maximum convenience. As for the neighbors, they're mostly passing strangers. A few of them are busy bodies who love to force management to post "reminder" letters on the bulletin board. In other words, typical ultra-passive-aggressive-obsessive types. But most people that I encounter are delightful, and everyone just stays out of each other's way. Building maintenance is an old lady who tried to retire, and the building residents literally demanded that she un-retire and come back. This building is absolutely spotless and everything is ship-shape at all times. Most people own their units. I rent from the owner. In the time since I've lived here, I've bought multiple other properties, but I remain here because it's so damn easy and great.
Same in Germany, I have been here for 11 years and no issue. Only maybe the balcony that could use new floorboards but I don't care too much. But why is she talking about broken treadmills? If I want to go to the gym I go to an actual gym... everything else is just an excuse to jack up the rent?
Has the author tried cleaning his bathroom?
No they leave it to the landlord when they move out and wonder why they didn't get their deposit back.
Apt username for this question.
Replace 'apartment' for 'codebase' and this still stands.
If it's true, then I think you are cursed and I hope you never move into a complex I'm living in ;)
Damn I was hoping for some sort of explanation. This rule doesn't apply to me, my apartments are pretty good even after two years.
I do end up changing apartments after the two year lease period because I get bored of the area or the landlord raises the rent.
> The hell? Call me a wuss, but I don't want to worry about who I'm riding the elevator with, not when I'm paying as much rent as I am.
Frankly, I wouldn't want to ride the elevator with the author either.
It’s not perception as your friend alleges nor is it a conspiracy but rather all dwellings, apartments included, require continuous maintenance. Different levels of effort at different intervals. Skip it, and problems start to compound.
By the default nature of the bathroom being a humid environment (relative to the rest of any house), my wife and I squeegee our shower after each use, and attack the tile weekly in order to keep it free of mildew.
It’s easier for both the current tenants and landlords to defer maintenance by respectively, moving to a new building that matches your expectations and renting your unit to someone whose expectations matches the current state of the unit.
Both approaches don’t require addressing the previous maintenance “debt”. That’s why it feels like it’s all downhill after the first 2 years — either inside your unit, or in the building’s common spaces, or both.
> I've noticed this myself with every apartment I've ever lived in. Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen. Once the lease is up for renewal, I'm dying to leave. I then move into a sparkly, new apartment where I repeat the process all over again.
Except for the leak all of these issues are mainly caused by the tenant. Mold growing in the bathroom is because they're not airing it properly and don't clean it. Roaches and other insect infestations mostly appear because of mishandled food waste and not cleaning the kitchen and floor sufficiently.
"If when I go to the lavatory I don't pee, if you'll excuse the expression, into the bowl but on to the floor instead and if Zina and Darya Petrovna were to do the same thing, the lavatory would be ruined. Ruin, therefore, is not caused by lavatories but it's something that starts in people's heads. So when these clowns start shouting "Stop the ruin!" - I laugh!'"
"The Heart of a Dog". M.Bulgakov.
Can't say I agree. When I used to rent I lived in the same apartment for 3 years, and not a single thing changed about it.
I had a very similar experience with jobs.
The first few months, you're so impressed how smart everyone is, how competent, what a great organisation it is. By 18 months in, you've decided everyone is an idiot, the organisation is utterly hopeless, and at 2 years you quit.
Never experienced anything like this with apartments though - lived in my last one for 9 years and loved it.
The author definitely reeks.
Do you clean your apartment?
That apply for jobs too
I've lived in the same apartment for more than 15 years and I haven't experienced this. Some things have become somewhat more run-down but overall it's fairly stable.
Let's imagine that every rental property goes through a cycle when the owner sees that they are unable to find tenants willing to pay enough money, so they decide to invest money into improving the property, then for some time they think "meh, it's good enough" so it slowly degrades.
When you are looking for a new apartment you are always trying to find the best place that fits your budget, so you will always find it near the peak of the cycle and see it going downhill in front of your eyes.
Just a theory.
have fun constantly paying increasing market rates as you move into a new apartment.