Month: August 2020

The housing community seemed kind of dead so I thought I’d post here.

First time renewing a lease in Houston. It’s my understanding that rent prices are not regulated so it’s based on market rate (am I wrong?). New concept to me since I’m not from here but it is what it is.

New mgmt wants to increase my rent (2br 2b) by $140 for ‘early renewal’ and $181 at lease expiry. I have had a pest infestation since day 1 and have have 4-5 treatments in my apartment throughout the year. They have also done what they call ‘renovations’ a few months ago:

-4 new light fixtures. -2 New ceiling fans (one came dangerously loose pretty quickly). -new kitchen appliances. -Replaced kitchen counter top. -removed an ‘outdated’ mirror that I loved. -put new cabinet doors on the same old painted over 1000 times cabinets. -new bathroom towel bars–most of which came off the wall almost immediately and needed repairing. -resurfaced the bathroom counter top and ruined the sink in the process with whatever adhesive they use.

It’s an older apartment so obviously I wasnt expecting this when I moved in. Even with the changes is this a justified increase for these renovations? Even with the pest problems I’ve had? As a tenant in good standing with 0 late payments, would I be able to negotiate a lower rate?

TLDR: Is an increase of $140-$181 a justified price for an apartment with pest problems and poorly done renovations as a tenant in good standing?

While I’ve known for over 10 years now about the impressive tower farm that’s south of the city, one thing I just learned is that the towers are apparently visible all the way from the George Bush airport on a clear day which is amazing. This leads me to this question which is where’s the farthest distance you’ve seen those towers?

Also, if I’m correct, only one of the towers has red lights at night, while all the other towers have the blinking white lights at night, and it’s cool seeing them all blink at night. And the one tower with the red lights is the middle tower on the right when traveling south on the Fort Bend Tollway. Did I get that correct?