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Renters Union: Fair Representation for Leasing Tenants

By msarko on 9/3/09 3:26am
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Anyone who has ever been in the lower income brackets has had to deal with less than satisfactory conditions in a rental property. Negligent building managers, sub-code utilities, ancient appliances, pests, loud neighbors... it's being stuck between the rock of a low income and a hard place called no representation. One tenant going up against a property manager is a losing battle and if that tenant is forced to live in low-rent housing, he or she certainly doesn't have the extra scratch to pay court fees, let alone hire a lawyer. Even if worthy disputes did make it to litigation, where would the prosecuting tenant live in the meantime? Perhaps low-income renters ought to do what low-wage workers did in the early 20th century: Organize.



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Making Use of a Small Space

By sarajean on 6/18/09 7:06pm
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If you’re faced with moving from a house to an apartment, you’ve got a lot of good things in store for you—little to no maintenance, no property taxes, and possibly even perks like free water, trash or cable services. You probably even have at least a semi-furnished place awaiting where you don’t have to buy a fridge or a stove, saving you big bucks.

But the one thing that many apartments lack is sheer space. Sure, there are some huge lofts and really great multi-bedroom digs out there, but the average apartment is pretty cramped. So the question remains—what do you do with all your stuff?

Here are a few tips and tricks to use when you’ve got a small living space. (These can come in handy wherever you live—including small houses, too.)

Use every inch in site. If you have a jumbo space not in use but you still have piles of stuff, it’s time to rearrange.

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