Kate Hackett
We’ve all been made painfully aware that rental prices are out of control; some cities, like Austin, TX, have seen hikes of up to 40% on units, which means people are forced to try to find somewhere cheaper or lose a LOT more of their monthly income to rent.
A viral video by TikToker @cal_cifer_2.0, Callie, details her discovery that her neighbor was paying significantly more than Callie was for the exact same apartment.
Y’all, we got some community drama going on. Let me tell you about it. Just for some context: when I moved into my current house, about three years ago, I was paying just over a thousand dollars a month.
I have renewed since then twice or three times, and I am currently paying right under 1300. Well, I had a new neighbor move in right at the turn of the year and we would always wave. We, like, chit-chatted but I never actually had a conversation with her.
And then, yesterday I noticed that she was talking to some of our neighbors that are a little bit farther down the street.
Obviously didn’t think anything of it, you talk to your neighbor. But then the next time I went out, I noticed that she was a couple doors down talking to that neighbor and it kind of looked like she was going door to door. Well, today, I was going out to go to the store and she saw me and like waved that I should stop. So I stop and we’re chitchatting, whatever.
And she says, ‘Can I ask you a personal question?’ I suppose. She says, ‘What, what are you paying in rent?’ And I tell her, and I explain what it was when I moved in, etc. Her face goes bright red.
She goes, ‘That’s, that’s what I thought.’ And I said, ‘If you don’t mind me asking, why?’ They are charging her almost 1900 a month and we all have the same one-bedroom model; Is that legal?
There are a few instances where it might make total sense to charge a little more for the same model: pets, the number of people living there, length of tenancy.
But still: a 46% increase is pretty wild.
@cal_cifer_2.0 Can they do that?! #badlandlord #rentingproblems #inflation #monopoly #landlordsfromhell ♬ original sound – Callie 2.0
People sided with @Cal_cifer_2.0, but pointed out it’s probably legal.
Others noted that you should never disclose your rent to anyone:
Others noted that it’s not necessarily some “greedy” landlord trying to scam renters, but that due to rising interest rates their costs may have gone up significantly:
What do you think? Is this just one of those ‘Shitty but fair’ things that happen in life?
