[tasuki]

> 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?

[cam_l]

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.

[GJim]

> most mould is caused by buildings.

An honourable mention to fitting Cavity Wall Insulation, heavily sold and encouraged by UK government energy saving schemes thorough the 1990's and 2000's.

Except by stuffing the wall cavity, you provide a nice moisture bridge to outside whilst simultaneously stopping air circulating in the cavity and whipping away moisture; thus an explosion of mould.

The policy was a disaster, as getting the stuff removed costs a small fortune.

[zrail]

I think this depends on the construction of the rest of the house. A typical stack built house in the US will have extensive insulation in the exterior walls, but it's paired with a number of different layers intended to expel moisture.

As a retrofit without those things I guess I can see it being problematic.

[skyberrys]

Maybe everyone here can help me. I bought a house with an accessory addon already built, but it's walls and roof are very cheap aluminum. It's a constant source of mold. I'm at the point where I want to demolish it and rebuild properly. Some contractors I've spoken with instead encourage me to just frame out inside the existing aluminum box and get double pane windows instead. I don't think that will solve the problem though, these cheap aluminum panels are so full of mold now how would putting fresh wood over the panels solve anything, in 4 years I'll just have more mold growing over the interior frame out if I don't demolish and rebuild the whole thing with proper moisture barriers on the exterior and underside of the accessory room.

[IIsi50MHz]

The walls are getting below dew point when they cool and/or the humidity is too high for extended periods. And the walls have dust or other surface accumulations conducive to mold. Insulating the exterior and keeping the interior humidity low will help. Thoroughly clean and dry the interior walls, removing all mold and all other surface accumulations. Keep the interior above dew point.

[sidewndr46]

The walls are aluminum? Where do you live?

[skyberrys]

Trailer park in California. It's a prefab kit built accessory room. The main part of the trailer is normal, just this accessory room is built out of aluminum panels (about 3' x 9' per panel) and then plenty of single pane windows.

[IshKebab]

Who has cavity wall insulation removed? The effect on your heating bill is going to be much worse than a small amount of mould, and I'm unconvinced that it makes it worse anyway - one of the main causes of mould in my experience is poor insulation! It makes the walls cold, which means you get condensation on them, and if you have poor ventilation in the rooms then you get mould.

If you have this problem, then the only thing I found which helps is fungicidal wash, and keeping furniture away from the problem walls (especially north facing corners of the house). I suspect wallpaper would also help but I never tried it.

[EliRivers]

Who has cavity wall insulation removed? The effect on your heating bill is going to be much worse than a small amount of mould

Some of these houses have been transformed into being unfit for human habitation due to the damp and mould. In some cases, the botched insulation has resulted in an increase in heating costs (along with the damp and mold). Some have suffered structural damage due to the botched insulation, costing tens of thousands to repair.

[IshKebab]

How did they botch it? Definitely a [citation needed] here...

[amluto]

Here’s an extremely snarky take, from an author who is very much an expert in the field:

https://buildingscience.com/documents/building-science-insig...

[GJim]

> The effect on your heating bill is going to be much worse than a small amount of mould

A small amount of mould?

Oh you sweet summer child! You really need to see the damage it can do.

[InsideOutSanta]

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.

[phantom784]

Even if you're renting, it's worth keeping an eye on the humidity and setting up dehumidifiers if it's consistently getting high.

[W3zzy]

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.

[stefan_]

It infuriates me to no end that we are expected to put up with building design and technology from 1900 as a consequence of the obsession with "property values must go up" (notwithstanding the property) and a healthy helping of "regulations are only ever added to, everything old is forever grandfathered".

Like, central ventilation is not magical unobtainable technology. Simple heat recovery even vastly improves heating costs in a way insulation never can.

[sokoloff]

What’s the alternative? Governments pass regulations and all buildings must be adapted within 12 months? 36 months?

What of the buildings that don’t comply in time? Or can’t find trades to do it in time? Or we notice to our eternal shock that projects to ensure code tracking are priced at a serious premium?

Or, how many improvements to code would we decide weren’t desirable because of the costs of retrofitting, so now we lose even the low slope of improvement versus today.

[mrngld]

This is a fairly well-trod path in economic policy circles, especially in Europe. You can either grandfather in buildings, perhaps with rules that line up with maintenance schedules anyway so that when something breaks anyway you replace it with the new standard (the HVAC world understands this well with refrigerants), or you sign yourself up for stunning, astronomical expense.

Not to mention, a lot of places around the world care about the look and character of historical locations. If a structure wasn't designed for central HVAC, for example, then there's often nowhere to hide the condenser units, air handle units or the ductwork. Same with insulation -- if that exterior wall wasn't intended to have it you've got a couple options and they both hurt.

Last of all, I'll mention labor. The type of skilled labor that can do any specific trade at all is relatively rare in the aftermath of the "college-or-bust" era, but the kind of labor you'd want for renovation work (fast, efficient, can tackle multiple different aspects at once without calling in different trades, and gets it right the first time to minimize disruption/call backs) is even more rare. To carry out some kind of massive renovation project at a national level even with infinite money you're talking about a generational timeframe just due to labor constraints.

[Pragmata]

Government removes regulations and let property owners make whichever decisions they feel is best for them individually.

[Natfan]

consider Japan's housing market for ideas

[W3zzy]

Who's talking about 1900? We have a part in the city that was built in the 1600's. These buildings have thick stone walls that are prone to condensation during the summer. It's easy to deal with when you open a window in the morning or keep the bathroom door open after showering.

These buildings will have ventilation eventually but the code needs about 20 years to take full effect.

Mind you that people have been living in those buildings for hundreds of years without issues but tennants these days don't seem to have the basic skill of airing their place.

[blitzar]

My home from the 1700s would have been demolished and rebuilt from scratch dozens of times if this was the reality we live in.

Not everyone lives in a disposable McMansion in a gated community.

[inglor_cz]

A large-scale overhaul of the entire country's housing stock is not realistic for multiple reasons, including shortages of qualified people.

There is a lot of old buildings out there.

[Hnrobert42]

Yeah. The last two apartments I've been in have had leaks. I begged the landlord to open up the walls and dry them out. They just painted over it, so I moved out. Sadly, that means two other people now in apartments can never figure out why their place smells musty and they feel a bit congested all the time.

[whywhywhywhy]

Yeah I thought this was gonna be about landlords hiking the price beyond market value after 2 years. But honestly both those issues are just the apartment is deep cleaned before you move in and this person doesn't know how to or just doesn't clean their bathroom properly, not cleaning bathroom fan filter and leaves food waste out in the kitchen.

Probably would have a better experience if they hired a cleaner.

[itake]

> roaches in the kitchen

roaches need to come from somewhere. Even if your apartment is spotless, someone else in the building might not be...

[cryptonym]

If you see more and more of them in your kitchen, you most likely are not cleaning it properly after every meal.

Sure, if your kitchen was on the moon, you wouldn't have a bug issue. That would still be dirty.

[victorbjorklund]

More than what? If my neighbour has 2000 roaches in his apartment. Then it would not be strange 10 walks into mine. And if they do they of course gonna hang out were they find the most amount of food (even if you clean odds are there is going to be more residue etc in kitchen vs bedroom)

[close04]

I had neighbors with filthy apartments who thought the solution is routine spraying. Every time, the roaches would take shelter in mine through unknown passages.

[cryptonym]

In the post, every time they move, they happen to have neighbors that brings roaches and they must move out again after 2 years...

[fg137]

Can confirm. Used to live in an apartment where I did everything I could to keep the place clean. Cockroaches kept coming back.

The solution? Moving to a different place. Never seen a roach ever again. Even moving to a different apartment inside the building didn't help.

Hint: it's the neighbors.

[W3zzy]

But is it the landlord's issue?

[ElProlactin]

Most leases have clauses stating something to the effect that tenants are responsible for keeping their units reasonably clean and sanitary. If tenants start complaining about roaches, a good landlord will do a bit of investigation and remind tenants of the importance of cleanliness, proper disposal of trash, etc.

[a_t48]

At least in Oakland, it's the landlord's responsibility to manage pest control. It needs to be done at a building level, or else the roaches will just get shuffled around.

[ElProlactin]

Yeah a good landlord will do pest control but cockroaches are...cockroaches. If you do pest control but have tenants who are leaving food waste out, not disposing of trash properly, etc. it will be a game of whack-a-mole.

As far as communities are concerned, the best places to live are the places where landlords/management and residents/tenants both do their parts to keep things clean and habitable. Teamwork makes the dream work.

[a_t48]

Definitely, it needs both sides.

[inigyou]

a "good" landlord will lecture the tenant without solving the problem and a "bad" landlord will double the rent

[ElProlactin]

> ...a "good" landlord will lecture the tenant without solving the problem

Huh? When it comes to pests, it takes effort on both sides, especially in environments that are prone to pests. A landlord can pay for regular pest control services but if there are tenants who don't store and dispose of waste properly, it can reduce their efficacy.

[fg137]

Good luck with that. I have seen landlords that flat out deny there is a roach issue.

[W3zzy]

I meant that in our country vermin is a tennants issue, not the owner's. Only when the state of the building (large holes) facilitates the ingres of insects or rodents you could mobilise tge landlord.

[lucastamoios]

Yeah, I think that is the case: the 2 years may be a reflection on the level of care they give.

We built a house and after 2 years it started to need more maintenance, it is normal. I fixed it and every now and then I need to do more. Just regular adult life.

[rubenvanwyk]

Agreed, when I was reading this I thought "but this is normal adult life?"

[saulpw]

Renters are not generally able or willing to do basic home maintenance, so

[bartvk]

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.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

> roaches in the kitchen definitely are

I used to live in a nice apartment in downtown Baltimore. It was a first-story rowhouse in Charles Village (a nice area, back in the 1980s).

It had roaches. Every building, for miles around, had them.

I used to put out lines of borax, and the little bastards took out straws, and snorted them.

I guess maybe new buildings, get a grace period, but roaches are impressive little beasties.

[yardie]

Roaches in a clean, maintained apartment means there is a problem elsewhere in the building. We had a small infestation. And no matter how many times we called the exterminator they kept coming back. Found out one of our neighbors was a hoarder. He passed away, they deep cleaned the apartment, and the roach problem stopped right away. Roaches still need to feed and breed. Once you take that away no more roaches.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I guess it depends on where you live.

Baltimore is a tough town. The roaches have a reputation to maintain.

[tartoran]

Do you actually believe roaches in Baltimore have evolved in a different way or is it the locale?

[redwood]

The point is in a high density urban environment it's the neighborhood not just your specific building and in some places it's not realistic to imagine the entire neighborhood to be thoroughly clean.

New York City is certainly a good case in point with the city's massive amount of garbage placed on the sidewalk once a week

[ChrisMarshallNY]

It’s a joke.

Nevermind.

[serial_dev]

It could be the author's fault, but IMO more likely the apartment's, the landlord's, and/or the neighborhood's fault.

With mold, I guess the people living there have some influence, they might never open the window, they might shower 50 minutes, etc... but there are some places where no matter how careful you are, mold will show up. And even if a perfect tenant with the perfect process for preventing mold might be able to keep it away, you can't be expected to meet those standards. Some buildings are just more prone to mold than others.

Same with cockroaches... Sure maybe OP never cleans up in the kitchen and leaves chinese take out in the sink for a month. It can also be that their neighbor is extremely messy, or one window is next to the trash, or that the pipes have something nasty in them that never got cleaned out, so no matter how clean your room is, the roaches still get in somehow.

[teekert]

Same here. Especially that 2 year window... That was about when mold took over my bathroom. Then I wiped it all with Chlorine based cleaner, installed a duct with fan which works for up to 2 hours after detecting motion, made a grill in the door and there has been little to no mold since (in year 4 now).

But there may also be an element of insufficient building codes? Mold comes with poor (and inhomogeneous) heating, insufficient ventilation, bad moisture shielding (hot moist air should never enter and cool down in a building's structure), cold-bridges (not sure what the English term is for parts of a house significantly colder that other so moisture settles there). Ventilation holes should be well defined, and not via cracks that also let creatures in... Etc.

So it may not be all OP's fault. But it sure sounds like it.

[esperent]

I've unfortunately lived in too many houses where mold becomes a problem. It's never my fault, it's always been because the house is old/doesn't have proper damp proofing/cheap paint was used, or no damp proofing applied on exterior walls. I clean it, of course, so I'm not literally living in a house with moldy walls, and I keep the house as dry and ventilated as possible. But in certain climates it's nearly inevitable to get mold during winter or the humid season unless the house is very well built and modern.

The worst, and again very common, is when the paint is so cheap it can't be cleaned easily - when you use anything that can actually clean the mold (soapy water + a bit of vinegar is my preference, but baking soda, very weak bleach solution, or commercial mold cleaners) it also destroys the paint.

[mrngld]

Do you have HVAC? Maybe some of my difficultly understanding is being American I'm in a hotter, much more humid climate, so we've got central HVAC. A key feature of heat pumps isn't just that it lowers the temperature of the air, it also reduces humidity.

I've got a lot of exposure to new home construction here and can tell you I don't even know what "damp proofing" is, and our bathrooms don't need special paint. They're ventilated and we have HVAC. Beyond that, if homeowners take 30 minute showers with scalding hot water and the door closed then, well, the outcome is inevitable no matter what you do. Not just mold but you'll start damaging fixtures, etc.

It's hard to get old caulking clean and keep it mold free, just gotta recaulk regularly, but I'm somewhat skeptical of blaming paint.

[ipsento606]

> Maybe some of my difficultly understanding is being American

In the UK, in winter, ambient exterior air is both fairly cold (let's say 40F) and extremely humid, often around 80% relative humidity.

Houses are both poorly insulated and poorly ventilated. Heating is (relatively) very expensive.

Most housing units don't have clothes dryers, and it's common to dry clothing indoors on wire racks.

The net result is that you end up with extremely humid indoor air in the 55F-65F range, while the exterior walls and windows of the building never really heat up properly.

It's a recipe for condensation on the interior surfaces of those walls and windows.

You can fix this either by heating the building enough that the exterior walls actually heat up beyond the dew point (which few people can afford to do), or by keeping windows open in winter to provide some ventilation (which makes the already-poorly-heated building even less comfortable).

[esperent]

No, I've never seen a residential house with HVAC, even in big apartments. It's all split wall mounted AC units here, or if you're fancy a ceiling version that's basically the same. I think Americans call these heat pumps?

[quickthrowman]

Split AC systems remove moisture from the air when they’re running too, that’s why there’s a condensate drain on the evaporator (and the condenser, but that is outside).

[esperent]

They remove a small amount of moisture, yes. It's nothing compared to what a dehumidifier removes though, even if they're in dry mode.

[quickthrowman]

A condensate dehumidifier is just an air conditioner where the condenser is inside the same space as the evaporator. It uses vapor compression refrigeration.

Granted, the condenser and evaporator both condensing moisture inside of the space does remove more moisture so you’re correct about it being more effective, but an A/C unit does a pretty good job where I live, and cooler air holds less moisture.

I never deal with cold and damp conditions, a dehumidifier probably works well in the UK. I’ve lived in forced air and radiant heated buildings and they both dry out the air like crazy in the winter so dehumidification isn’t needed, humidification is.

[HPsquared]

There is specific kitchen / bathroom paint that is smoother and has some anti-mold ingredients. Makes a huge difference to use the correct paint in a damp environment.

Condensation itself is a function of the air conditions (temperature and relative humidity ie dew point) and surface temperatures. All surfaces should be comfortably above the dew point to prevent mold. You can use a hygrometer to measure the air, and an infrared thermometer to measure surface temperatures.

[esperent]

Absolutely but one thing about living in rented accommodation - you rarely get to choose the paint.

I agree that a dehumidifier helps but you basically need one in every room. Where I live you can easily take out 10 liters a day from every room during the humid season (which is the maximum capacity of the machine I rented).

[account42]

Might be different but repainting your apartment is expected from renters here to the point that contracts often state you need to do it every X years and before moving out.

[esperent]

Definitely not normal here although in my current house I did repaint with good paint, but I had to ask the owner permission first.

I think that the owner needing to repaint between tenants is considered normal wear and tear here.

[Natfan]

i've always assumed that the letting's agency will _definitely_ take my deposit if i fsck with the walls

[ipsento606]

> All surfaces should be comfortably above the dew point to prevent mold.

I agree that this should be the case, but actually achieving this in the UK (where heating is very expensive and housing is poorly insulated) is prohibitively expensive for many people.

[HPsquared]

Dehumidifier is an option as well, and/or heat-recovery ventilation.

[modo_mario]

>But in certain climates it's nearly inevitable to get mold during winter or the humid season unless the house is very well built and modern.

Do you keep it warm? These things were often built with a fireplace inside.

[slibhb]

Get a dehumidifier and put it in the room with the mold problem.

[sn]

There's a relatively easy technological solution to mold: buy a dehumidifier.

We bought two after moving to Ireland. Both have drainage hoses. One has a pump and empties into the kitchen sink, the other has no pump and the drainage hose empties into the shower. No more mold problems.

[collabs]

Thank you for sharing. Do your dehumidifiers run all the time? Do they have some kind of auto on / auto off feature? Do you run them on some schedule? As necessary? I am thinking it would be very easy for me to forget unless it is a set it and forget it kind of thing.

[operation_moose]

Another "recently Irish" here -

Ours has been on constantly for nearly a year. Any decent one has humidity set points - we set ours for 55%. It's a bang-bang controller with a 5% range - it'll run until humidity drops to 52%, then turn off until it rises to 57%. During the winter our single one struggles to get much below 60%, we might add a second next year.

An unexpected benefit (for us, as its not something we're used to) is its virtually "free", as we don't have to run the electric clothes dryer anymore (nearly €4/load). We just hang the clothes on a rack by the dehumidifier and it dries them out in a few hours. My wife is starting to prefer it as its not destroying clothes nearly as quickly.

[jurgenburgen]

> An unexpected benefit (for us, as its not something we're used to) is its virtually "free", as we don't have to run the electric clothes dryer anymore (nearly €4/load). We just hang the clothes on a rack by the dehumidifier and it dries them out fairly quickly.

It’s not free as the dehumidifier has to do more work. If you have a modern heat-pump clothes dryer you might be using more electricity by abusing your humidifier like this.

[operation_moose]

"Free" as in our electric bill was basically unchanged before and after it; and we still get 10-15% lower humidity on average which has taken care of our (minor) mold problems.

[542354234235]

I used to be in a house that needed a dehumidifier. I bought one with a built-in pump to empty the water tank, which can be tapped into an AC drain line, sink drain, or directly outdoors, depending on your situation. You can set many of them to run constantly or when humidity is above a certain level.

If you live in a hot/humid location your HVAC is much better at dehumidification than a dehumidifier, since a dehumidifier outputs a ton of heat to operate. But in a cool/humid location, you can definitely rig up one to be decently set and forget. You still need to perform maintenance (cleaning the grill, adding a bit of white vinegar to the water tank to kill growth buildup, etc).

I actually put mine into the HVAC cabinet and used a smart plug and smart thermostat to turn on the dehumidifier and the HVAC fan to dehumidify the house. But that’s way more than you need to do for a small apartment.

[buellerbueller]

I have two humidifiers running constantly in my unfinished basement; they drain into the sewer line.

[lwhi]

You need to tell the landlord.

I think a lot of people are worried about informing the landlord (especially after two years) as market rates will have risen, and getting stuff fixed might prompt a rise on their own apartment.

[Slow_Hand]

This has been my experience as well. Many owners want to know about issues before they fester.

I'm fortunate to have an attentive property manager and a landlord who is interested in doing the preventative maintenance to keep the units from degrading.

I inherited a mold and moisture problem under the kitchen sink when I moved in, one that I neglected for a while. As soon as I told my landlord they sent a crew out to tear down the wall, fix the plumbing, and rebuild it in a more robust manner.

I don't even have a particularly nice apartment. My apartment just turned 100 years old, but it's maintained well enough. I've been here seven years now. I keep my house clean, don't leave food out, and still see the occasional cockroach in the kitchen. Probably once every 1-2 months. Fine.

[fg137]

Lots of landlords don't care. They don't live in those apartments themselves. The best bet is to move. Don't ask how I know.

[adhoc_slime]

Roaches are notoriously hard to get rid for a reason. If you don't call an exterminator with the proper poison almost any effort you make will be moot.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that roaches will move with you. My partner's old apartment had roaches and even though we took great care to clean and separate everything, keep all of her kitchen stuff in tubs and slowly sort through it they still managed to come to the new apartment.

The author lacks self-reflection if they truely thing each brand new place suddenly gets roaches.

[virgilp]

> If you don't call an exterminator with the proper poison almost any effort you make will be moot.

Nah, not true. I lived in a student housing that was positively _infested_ with cockroaches (and had stuff like wood paneling on the walls, just to get an idea - i.e. lots of places for roaches to hide). We managed to largely get rid of cockroaches in our room (you still get the occasional one, because well, you had to open the door, and hallways were infested as I mentioned).

It's not _that_ hard, there are a lot of solutions. You need to do 3 things:

a. seal all holes/cracks/niches (e.g. with silicone). cover ventilation holes with nets. Install sponge/rubber bands to make sure doors/windows close well.

b. kill them once when you move in (after doing the work at point a) using copious amounts of insecticides; then install roach traps (sticky ones are good) to catch the occasional one that makes it through your defenses. Keep occasional spraying in the corners/ behind the fridge/ near the pipes/ in places where they are likely to gather.

c. Keep it clean/ don't offer a lot of incentives for roaches to come over to you (no breadcrumbs all over the place, food in closed containers etc)

Do these well and you should be largely roach-free, regardless of the building. But yeah, it's an annoying fight if the building itself is infested.

[throwawayffffas]

I lived in an old but thoroughly maintained building, every 6 months and at the beginning of summer, there was a thorough extermination routine applied through out the whole building, you could see a ring of dead roaches around the building the next day, 2 to 4 weeks later you would start spotting them in the apartment again. They leave and die and new ones move in. In old buildings they are just a fact of life, keep your home clean and crumb free and they will prefer your neighbors.

[JackFr]

My building is 15 stories, built in 1916. I’m on the 2nd floor. Every apartment can sign up for the monthly exterminator when he comes to do common areas. Are there roaches? You bet. Not a ton but you’ll see one or two a few times a month.

[qup]

I have a business where it's important we don't have roaches.

So we spray more often.

It costs me $83 per three months. I haven't seen a roach in sixteen years.

[astura]

My parents used to be landlords. For years they always bought used appliances for the apartments to save money until a used stove came with a surprise roach infestation. New appliances only after that.

[bluebxrry]

> The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the... roaches in the kitchen definitely are

"Definitely"? A unit can look clean after treatment while still being mid-cycle. Rent it during that window and the roaches come back through no fault of the tenant.

It wouldn't even be that crazy to postulate the life-cycle of a roach could track the 2-Year Apartment Rule (minus any residual effects of the extermination).

I don’t know how you get a moral judgement out of this article. That's misdirected blame. It pressures tenants into staying quiet or spraying their own units for a building-level problem.

edit:

From this article on the American Cockroach https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/american-cockroach

> Development to adult averages about 15 months, varying between 9-1/2 to 20 months.

> Buildings with multiple dwellings usually require the treatment of each unit.

This pretty much contradicts blaming the tenant and the roach development aligns with the 2-Year Apartment Rule. It says apartments usually require each unit to be treated. That means no single tenant can do that. That makes it a building-level infestation by definition.

[tasuki]

> "Definitely"? A unit can look clean after treatment while still being mid-cycle. Rent it during that window and the roaches come back through no fault of the tenant.

"A unit" can, sure. But, "every apartment I've ever lived in"... come on! From TFA:

> 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.

If this doesn't set off all the alarm bells, I don't know what does.

[bluebxrry]

I'd extend some good faith to someone reporting a potential community health problem. And roaches in a kitchen isn't a smoking gun. Roach bait is food. Poisoned food, but food. You put it in the kitchen on purpose. Next to the food. That is how it works.

[pibaker]

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.

[wiether]

Author seems to imply that the issues are the landlord's fault though, since their theory is that it's on purpose to be able to raise rent on the next guy.

They also imply that is always happen.

  > I've noticed this myself with every apartment I've ever lived in.

Sure, you can have a mold issue in the bathroom because of poor ventilation. Happened to me in a flat. But if it happens every time, the renter can probably be the culprit.

Same for the cockroaches. You can be victim of a neighbor’s lack of care. But if it happens in every flat, maybe you're the problem.

I'm all-in for blaming landlord's of taking money from renters and not putting any money back on helping keeping the flat in a livable state. But some of the issue the author is pointing out, and the fact that they happen in every flat, make me think that maybe part of the blame is on them.

[whalabi]

The article seems mostly about noticing a fun coincidence backed by anecdotal evidence, except I’m currently going through the same thing, so I’m lending the theory more weight. (The elevators were always fine; now, two years later, they’re constantly out, and the garage door is busted for the first time.)

My thought was that it could plausibly be that renting goes in cycles: the building is desperate for renters, so they fix everything, advertise, and so on. Then, once they’re full, the company cuts costs by reducing maintenance. Then they lose renters, and the cycle continues.

However, I then thought about my last two buildings, which were cheaper, and things were just broken right from the start, so… who knows.

[jmaw]

I can see the greater complex-wide cycle argument for complex wide amenities, leasing office support, and maintenance request response/resolution times.

Everyone moves out, so the above issues become a higher priority until units are backfilled. Since units are filled, the above issues become less important (to the owners at least, not the renters). Then renters receive this worse service, start moving out in waves, and the cycle continues.

The mold, and in-unit plumbing, and insect issues seem more like routine maintenance types of things to me. But compounded slightly by longer maintenance request response/resolution times.

[antfarm]

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.

[hypendev]

> but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely are.

I would not agree.

Having lived in low budget apartments for quite a while as a student, a lot of these things are "a norm" and not really the renters fault, but the owners.

Examples:

I moved into an apartment that was "subterranean" level, meaning not fully basement but also not ground floor. When we were looking at it, it seemed fine, everything great, but bathroom had the tiniest vent window ever. I asked about the mold, and the owner was like "oh no, no need to worry about that, the ventilation is quite good actually even tho the window is tiny, we made sure of that" - and at the moment, it seemed so, the air was dry and there was no "humid" feeling about the room.

Well, well - the bathroom was humid as hell and would stay that way after the first shower, even with all the vents open and ventilation turned on. Even worse, the humidity in the rooms was so high that the paint on the wall stayed fresh for quite a long time, painting a few of my shirts that touched the wall. When summer came, the rooms became a hotspot for mosquitoes, and the owner would be like "ah just close the windows" - but that kept the humidity and heat in, making life unbearable and causing mold to erupt (also, because a lot of it was just painted over!! just painted over mold, like what the fuck?)

Another one had homeless people which started living around the building, leaving food and booze all over the place. To make it worse, large trash bins were outside our building, which lead to roaches coming in from the bins and from the balconies, under which the aforementioned people "lived". We couldn't do nothing about it, except ensure that there is minimal reason for them to come to us, lay traps around and ensure we have anti-bug powders around the perimeter. I talked to some of the neighbors that lived there for years and they said it happens nearly every summer.

The bed in the apartment started falling apart at some point, and going to fix it I noticed the bed _was fixed_ already, even tho it was said to be new - and it was fixed badly. The same owner charged me 2k for a "designer couch" that "we ruined", even tho before us moving in the couch was welded and nailed together, as it was obviously broken before, and the owner did not want to admit it even when shown the photo evidence.

Once I moved out, I saw what happened to the apartment on the next listing - the owner just painted over the kitchen cabinets, painted the bed, put a new mattress on it and said "all furniture is new".

So a lot of things might sound like they're the authors fault, but having met one too many "bad actors" in the renting game, I'm quite sure that some of these things might be the owners responsibility.