4 ms·

New rental trend? A $200 'work-from-home fee' tacked on to Bay Area lease

23 points by randycupertino 3mo ago

randycupertino 3mo ago
Here is the screenshot of the original rental ad, with an also dubious $500 move-in fee: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1v3n4kw/are_you_serious/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1v3n4kw/...
red-iron-pine 3mo ago
that application fee is a scam man but one of the pieces that didn't make it to the top of reddit's discussion was that it's a shared-living situation, not your own apartment or isolated basement. its shitty, but it's not like a landlord trying to regulate how often you're in your own private apartment
- notfromhere 3mo ago
  you're renting a space per month, and they're essentially adding an extra fee if you're doing more than sleeping there. kinda nuts
  - gtowey 3mo ago
    The expectations of some bay area landlords when renting space in their own home are bonkers I've seen it all: not allowed to use the kitchen, not allowed to have guests, curfews, some are even contingent on not allowing the tenant to be there on the weekend at all.
richwater 3mo ago
Why are we writing articles about some random, single-event rental ad. What are we doing here?
al_borland 3mo ago
Assuming nothing illegal, it isn't the landlord's business what a tenant is doing inside, working or sitting around watching TV... why does it matter? They should just be happy the person has a job and can pay the rent on time.
- Grombobulous 3mo ago
  If you really want to do something this dumb, I think it would be less dumb as a landlord to implement this as a discount. Submit a pay stub and job offer letter referencing hybrid/in-office/in-person employment and get a $200/month discount. The idea of this is not completely crazy. I definitely wear on my home hardware when working from home. However, the rent is supposed to already be covering the typical amount of wear and tear and there’s no need to get this silly about it.
  - sitkack 3mo ago
    what if you are retired? or unemployed? or sick? what are the limits for all of those? no the idea is stupid and greedy
    - crote 3mo ago
      > no the idea is stupid and greedy We're talking about landlords here. What else did you expect?
  - al_borland 3mo ago
    Even as a discount, I don't see the logic behind it. Why should someone get a discount on rent for leaving for work every day? I work from home and there is no way I'm putting an extra $200/month of wear on everything because of it. If anything, being home allows me to catch issues early before they become a bigger problem. The one place where I've seen something like this, but not framed this way, was with a reverse commute. Someone in the city, commuting outside of the city for work each day. Leaving during business hours frees up parking during the most in-demand times, and they are only there during off-peak hours. As a result, they got cheaper parking. With this being a house, that wouldn't make sense. The reverse commute thing only really makes sense for a large lot or garage shared with the public or monthly pass holders.
deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]
strathmeyer 3mo ago
[dead]
b3ing 3mo ago
If the FTC had enough time, people and competence, they could get rid off all the apartment junk fees like: valet trash, forcing you to have a cable subscription plan, package locker fee, etc
NearAP 3mo ago
Context matters... According to the article, the lease (rental rate) includes fully paid utilities and internet. The landlords are then saying - if you're going to work from home full time, we'll raise the rate by $200. One can dispute the figure/amount but the logic seems reasonable i.e. if you're working from home full time, then you'll probably run the AC for way longer than if you went to the office 5 days a week for at least 6 hours each day, you'll user more internet and/or we might need a higher speed internet/bandwidth, you'll use more power, etc.
- protocolture 3mo ago
  >then you'll probably run the AC for way longer than if you went to the office 5 days a week for at least 6 hours each day, you'll user more internet and/or we might need a higher speed internet/bandwidth, you'll use more power, etc. This also covers adult children playing games all day, or a variety of other situations. Seems weird to single out work from home.
  - NearAP 3mo ago
    The point I think the landlords are trying to make is that if you spend majority of your time at home, they assume (expect) the utilities to be higher. Keep in mind this is a 1 bedroom ADA and so they’re probably targeting a specific type of tenant.
    - therealpygon 3mo ago
      I think the point being made is how this is different from stay-at-home parents? I would also add another example: home-bound elderly or disabled people? Is it acceptable to charge those categories a different rate, given the reasoning being applied is simply “being home more”?
      - NearAP 3mo ago
        I'm afraid I don't understand this logic. Their own logic seems to be - the rent covers all utilities (they have assumed a certain cost for utility based on some logic that assumes the tenant not being at home majority of the time; they're then saying - if you're going to spend more time at home, we assume you're going to go over our utility estimate). Also, it's a 1 bedroom and they have a target renter in mind. Maybe they aren't expecting (planning) to rent to elderly folks or disabled people; Maybe their target is a working professional.

Here is the screenshot of the original rental ad, with an also dubious $500 move-in fee: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1v3n4kw/are_you_serious/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1v3n4kw/...

red-iron-pine 3mo ago

that application fee is a scam man but one of the pieces that didn't make it to the top of reddit's discussion was that it's a shared-living situation, not your own apartment or isolated basement. its shitty, but it's not like a landlord trying to regulate how often you're in your own private apartment

notfromhere 3mo ago
you're renting a space per month, and they're essentially adding an extra fee if you're doing more than sleeping there. kinda nuts
- gtowey 3mo ago
  The expectations of some bay area landlords when renting space in their own home are bonkers I've seen it all: not allowed to use the kitchen, not allowed to have guests, curfews, some are even contingent on not allowing the tenant to be there on the weekend at all.

richwater 3mo ago

Why are we writing articles about some random, single-event rental ad. What are we doing here?

al_borland 3mo ago

Assuming nothing illegal, it isn't the landlord's business what a tenant is doing inside, working or sitting around watching TV... why does it matter? They should just be happy the person has a job and can pay the rent on time.

Grombobulous 3mo ago
If you really want to do something this dumb, I think it would be less dumb as a landlord to implement this as a discount. Submit a pay stub and job offer letter referencing hybrid/in-office/in-person employment and get a $200/month discount. The idea of this is not completely crazy. I definitely wear on my home hardware when working from home. However, the rent is supposed to already be covering the typical amount of wear and tear and there’s no need to get this silly about it.
- sitkack 3mo ago
  what if you are retired? or unemployed? or sick? what are the limits for all of those? no the idea is stupid and greedy
  - crote 3mo ago
    > no the idea is stupid and greedy We're talking about landlords here. What else did you expect?
- al_borland 3mo ago
  Even as a discount, I don't see the logic behind it. Why should someone get a discount on rent for leaving for work every day? I work from home and there is no way I'm putting an extra $200/month of wear on everything because of it. If anything, being home allows me to catch issues early before they become a bigger problem. The one place where I've seen something like this, but not framed this way, was with a reverse commute. Someone in the city, commuting outside of the city for work each day. Leaving during business hours frees up parking during the most in-demand times, and they are only there during off-peak hours. As a result, they got cheaper parking. With this being a house, that wouldn't make sense. The reverse commute thing only really makes sense for a large lot or garage shared with the public or monthly pass holders.

deleted 3mo ago

[deleted]

strathmeyer 3mo ago

[dead]

b3ing 3mo ago

If the FTC had enough time, people and competence, they could get rid off all the apartment junk fees like: valet trash, forcing you to have a cable subscription plan, package locker fee, etc

NearAP 3mo ago

Context matters... According to the article, the lease (rental rate) includes fully paid utilities and internet. The landlords are then saying - if you're going to work from home full time, we'll raise the rate by $200. One can dispute the figure/amount but the logic seems reasonable i.e. if you're working from home full time, then you'll probably run the AC for way longer than if you went to the office 5 days a week for at least 6 hours each day, you'll user more internet and/or we might need a higher speed internet/bandwidth, you'll use more power, etc.

protocolture 3mo ago
>then you'll probably run the AC for way longer than if you went to the office 5 days a week for at least 6 hours each day, you'll user more internet and/or we might need a higher speed internet/bandwidth, you'll use more power, etc. This also covers adult children playing games all day, or a variety of other situations. Seems weird to single out work from home.
- NearAP 3mo ago
  The point I think the landlords are trying to make is that if you spend majority of your time at home, they assume (expect) the utilities to be higher. Keep in mind this is a 1 bedroom ADA and so they’re probably targeting a specific type of tenant.
  - therealpygon 3mo ago
    I think the point being made is how this is different from stay-at-home parents? I would also add another example: home-bound elderly or disabled people? Is it acceptable to charge those categories a different rate, given the reasoning being applied is simply “being home more”?
    - NearAP 3mo ago
      I'm afraid I don't understand this logic. Their own logic seems to be - the rent covers all utilities (they have assumed a certain cost for utility based on some logic that assumes the tenant not being at home majority of the time; they're then saying - if you're going to spend more time at home, we assume you're going to go over our utility estimate). Also, it's a 1 bedroom and they have a target renter in mind. Maybe they aren't expecting (planning) to rent to elderly folks or disabled people; Maybe their target is a working professional.