finding places on craigslist Options

[gojira]

experience? why do people post ugly photos of their homes?

[mipadi]

I found my first sublet in New York via Craigslist. I met with the girl before moving in. She seemed nice and offered me the apartment, so I took it.

Turns out she was kind of crazy. Not in a stab-you-in-the-shower kind of way. She was just weird. I was glad to get out of there after five months. Although she was cool and let me out of my lease two weeks early, and she gave me my full security deposit back, so I'll give her that.

I dunno. Craigslist can be hit or miss. I'd only use it as a last-ditch option. I didn't use Craigslist at all for my current apartment, and I'm much happier.

[batman]

Turns out she was kind of crazy. Not in a stab-you-in-the-shower kind of way. She was just weird. I was glad to get out of there after five months. Although she was cool and let me out of my lease two weeks early, and she gave me my full security deposit back, so I'll give her that.

i sort of kept to myself and the guy i was subletting from kept to himself. he guilt-tripped me for leaving early... i told him i was going to leave in december, but circumstances changed, so i ended up needing to go in mid-november. he then started telling me that i promised i'd stay until january (i have proof in our emails that it was december, not january) and started saying that if i didn't pay for november, he wouldn't be able to make rent.

so then i was like, "... what happened to my security deposit? i'm technically paid up until the end of november. if anything, i should be getting half of that back."

and he was like "well money moves around a lot, i don't have it anymore."

which was when i was just like "well thats not my problem."

and he goes "ok well i can't MAKE you pay, but if you can live with yourself knowing that i'm in a tight situation right now..."

i didn't ask for him to give me half of the security deposit back just because a) i did feel bad about leaving early even though we didn't have a written contract, and b) i really don't think he would have given it back to me.

[mipadi]

so then i was like, "... what happened to my security deposit? i'm technically paid up until the end of november. if anything, i should be getting half of that back."

and he was like "well money moves around a lot, i don't have it anymore."

That's the danger in subletting. Technically, you're supposed to set a security deposit aside and not touch the money; it's not actually yours. (In fact, in New York state, a landlord who rents more than a certain number of units -- 6, I think -- has to put it into an interest-bearing holding account, and give you the deposit back with interest. Obviously this doesn't apply to a person who sublets an apartment, but it's still a fun fact.) Unfortunately no one ever does that.

I was lucky, but also kind of surprised, because I wasn't convinced I'd get my deposit back. Then again, the girl I subleased from was had everything spelled out to the T in the contract. She was pedantic to a fault -- when I drafted a contract to release me from the lease early, she got even nitpicky about comma placement.