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Caught a landlord's bait and switch with a simple weekday drive-by | Apartment Hunting Hacks - Librear

samf95•2mo ago

Caught a landlord's bait and switch with a simple weekday drive-by

I was set to sign for a unit in Portland that looked great in photos, but when I drove by on a Tuesday at 4pm, the parking lot was full of semi trucks idling and the 'quiet courtyard' turned out to be a loading dock. The ad said 'no commercial activity nearby,' which was a total lie. I crossed that place off my list and started checking every listing at random hours before even scheduling a tour. Has anyone else had a landlord try to hide something that only shows up during work hours?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_chen1mo ago

Wait, did the ad really say "no commercial activity nearby"? Because that's a weird thing for a landlord to claim in writing when the evidence is literally idling trucks outside the window. Most of these places just say "quiet neighborhood" or "convenient location," which is vague enough that you can't really call it a lie. If they actually put "no commercial activity" in the listing, save that screenshot, because that's a written claim you could use if you wanted to make a stink with the city or a tenant rights group. The day I moved into my last place I found out the "off street parking" was a gravel strip behind a bar that got towed every Friday, and I wish I'd had it in writing like that.

grantnelson1mo ago

That screenshot is the whole play here. I had a landlord pull the same thing with a "quiet building" line, and when I pasted the ad next to video of the bar band shaking my walls, the city actually made him fix the soundproofing. Save everything in a folder with dates, because a written claim plus a photo of trucks idling is hard for anyone to wave off.