@cal_cifer_2.0/TikTok

“Is That Legal?”—Woman Finds Out Her Neighbor Pays $600 More In Rent For Same Apartment

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.

low angle photo of high rise apartment building
Photo byMarla Prusik on Unsplash

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.

@cal_cifer_2.0 / TikTok

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.

@cal_cifer_2.0 / TikTok

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?

assorted-color concrete houses under white clouds during daytime
Photo byToa Heftiba on Unsplash

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

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?

h/t