renters

Fees — service fees, convenience fees, transfer fees, delivery fees, bank fees — are ubiquitous and, more and more, a standard part of commerce in the gig-age of the 21st century. Despite the pervasiveness of fees, they can still give consumers sticker shock. After clicking Apple Pay to buy that $25 late-night Grub Hub order, it turns into nearly twice that once tip is added — or when those $100 tickets to see that up-and-coming band quickly turn into $200 tickets. The impact on consumers’ wallets isn’t small. Take credit…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain With a severe shortage of affordable housing in the United States, renters living along the East and Gulf coasts are uniquely vulnerable to hurricane disasters. Two new studies based on data from 2009 to 2018 show that renters living along the East and Gulf coasts of the United States face rent increases, higher eviction rates, and a lack of affordable housing in the aftermath of a hurricane.…

DC fast charging network EVgo has announced a new deal with rental car company Hertz that offers drivers renting an electric car from any Hertz location in the US with discounts on charging for a year, with no subscription or session fees. EVgo is also following in Tesla’s footsteps and building prefabricated models for its charging sites. The new deal with Hertz particularly targets first-time electric car drivers who opt to rent one first before buying. By enticing potential new EV owners with…

Denver resident Charlene Taylor found herself in a bind after her daughter died in a car accident in 2020 while in the middle of a home sale. Her three grandchildren, who ranged from 13 to 21 years of age at the time, needed to find a new place to live and Taylor’s one-bedroom apartment was way too small to host everyone. After obtaining assistance from Denver for a few years for an affordable townhome that allowed the family to stay together, Taylor and her oldest granddaughter, Chantie, purchased a home in Montbello…

Minimum-wage workers shouldn’t bother trying to find a two-bedroom apartment — anywhere in the U.S.According to a new federal report, “in no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. can a worker earning the federal or prevailing state or local minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent by working a standard 40-hour work week.”The “Out of Reach” report reveals in stark terms the financial challenges facing renters, particularly in California. A California renter needs to make $42.25 an…

Evelyn Arceo holds down a full-time job as a baker at Universal Studios Hollywood, earning $19 an hour. But even when she gets a few hours of overtime at the theme park, the single mother of four can barely afford the rent of her one-bedroom apartment in Panorama City.On her salary, buying a home is out of the question.Already, her monthly rent of $1,300 is “just too expensive at this point,” Arceo said, with late fees of $40 to $50 compounding her financial plight. “I don’t think I’ve ever been on time on my rent.”…

Librarian Miki Goral has lived in the massive Westside residential complex Barrington Plaza for more than three decades. She swims in the large, heated pool nearly every day and, from her one-bedroom apartment on the 10th floor, she has a view of the ocean. The building is a 15-minute bus ride from her job at UCLA and it’s rent-controlled, allowing her to retain some certainty over housing costs even as rents in the neighborhood have skyrocketed. Like many of the plaza’s long-term tenants, Goral had planned to stay for…

The architecture of buildings around Denver stands as a testament to years past. Styles of older homes can run the gamut from a classic bungalow to a Victorian to a Tudor, just to name a few. But sometimes those buildings were constructed with outdated materials like asbestos. Today, asbestos can still be found within insulation and popcorn ceilings, hiding in walls only to be discovered during a home renovation or the replacement of a waterline. And when it’s found, it can be more than just a nuisance: It can pose a…

March 29, 2023 5:30 am ET The owners of New York private members club Fasano Fifth Avenue opened in spring 2021 with 12 fully furnished luxury rental residences on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, aiming to meet a demand for bookings of 30 to 60 days.  The new business didn’t turn out as planned. Some guests checked in for a stay of a month or two but ended up staying for a year to 18 months and more. “The…

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, March 9.As pandemic-era renter protections wane, the number of eviction cases is rising back to pre-COVID levels in L.A. County.For many renters facing eviction, navigating the protections at various levels of government has been challenging.Times reporter Paloma Esquivel covers housing and recently spent a lot of time in eviction court, seeking “to put a face on some of these policy decisions.”“One thing I realized in reporting the story,…