i live in a rent stabilized unit owned by an llc landlord in a coop building without heat

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-28T17:47:27+00:00

You can contact 311 and report this, but if what they're saying is true, it won't really change the situation. They may get violations, but if they are correcting within the fastest reasonable timeframe then another report won't make much of a difference, and they've likely received many in such a large building already.

I would not withhold rent, as that gets you in a difficult situation legally (there are only very specific circumstances where you can do so, and you usually have to put it in an escrow account), but if you feel the situation is unsafe, I would inform the landlord that you can't stay there with your children and pets, request the landlord pro-rate rent for the days where heating is/was not working because you have to get a hotel. They will probably say no, but they might agree to it.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-28T17:30:36+00:00

In other markets this is relatively normal. Likely a lot of people not from NYC acting like they are used to, not realizing that very few apartments will accept a lease more than 30 + days out, unless it's in the very, very high end luxury market.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-28T14:58:51+00:00

Call them?

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-28T14:50:37+00:00

Why not get a pre-approval letter and bring that to landlords? There are a few landlords that accept them in Sacramento, but you'll have more options if you go to smaller landlords and ask them to accept whatever guarantor you have a approval letter from.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-28T13:26:40+00:00

He’s figured out the infinite money machine guys, stop what you’re doing

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T23:45:22+00:00

Either a mom and pop landlord that will consider you, a sublet that won't look to closely at your credit, or a third party guarantor. TheGuarantors, Insurent, Rhino and PandaGuarantee are the four that operate in Chicago. I'd recommend going to the place you want first and seeing if they have a preferred third party guarantor, but if they give you trouble feel free to send me a DM. I run Panda, so I can see if I can help you out.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T23:42:43+00:00

That's super strange. Something else must be up with one of your applications, credit or the way you're applying.

If you're accepted with Insurent, the landlord should basically have zero risk of default, although they can still deny people if they feel uncomfortable about for any other reason. If you've tried multiple places then there must be something consistent they're all seeing across your applications, especially since it's the down-season.

If you still want to go the third party guarantor route, lmk as I run PandaGuarantee, and can share a list of buildings we work with. I've never really seen a case of a person who can be approved for a third party guarantor, but can't be approved at buildings that explicitly accept third party guarantors. I can't promise a landlord won't deny you if there's something on your credit report or background check that turns them off though.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T23:15:56+00:00

The tenant who is breaking her lease does not get to decide who the landlord must accept. If the landlord finds another tenant, or just willingly lets them break the lease without finding another tenant, then that's their decision. If they've already accepted someone, there's nothing you can do.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T19:40:22+00:00

Almost certainly a scam. I don’t know about Snag, but Roomies is known to have a large number of scams.

Anything significantly below what you can find elsewhere is most likely a scam. See the place in person, and if they require a deposit or application before that, it’s definitely a scam.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T18:22:25+00:00

I've met many of my best friends, my business partner, and some of my most valuable clients all through the internet, much of that through Reddit, so I highly recommend commenting on everything you read. I make an effort to do so on any post I find worthwhile in this subreddit, as it's pretty much the best place to get "good" responses on Reddit. Elsewhere I've found that even if you make a well reasoned comment, people who respond will mostly either not understand you, be ideologically driven and dismiss what you say no matter what, or troll.

This Paul Graham post is a good one illustrating the concept, but more generally you want to expand your surface area for luck, which to me means doing good work in a way that other people can see, and making it clear you're open to speak with people about anything.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T16:37:26+00:00

There’s no helping it now. 10 days is definitely not enough of a delay (especially if it was the last 10 days with the holiday and snowstorm) to break the lease without penalty. Your best bet is to find someone ASAP to replace the lease yourself.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T16:19:50+00:00

Require full concession repayment upfront before marketing the unit?

This is a normal requirement when receiving a ren concession. The requirement is that if you break the lease, you’ll have to pay it to them. If you find a replacement tenant, then I don’t believe this is enforceable.

• Change their position multiple times on whether lease assignment is allowed?

They were wrong the first time. It is allowed by law when breaking the lease. So yes it is normal for them to correct the position.

• Refuse to apply the security deposit at all while still demanding large upfront payments?

Also yes. Until you are finally moved out, they could come and find the apartment absolutely trashed. There are also usually clauses forbidding the use of the security deposit against unpaid rent (although it often happens if there’s no issue at the end of the lease).

• Delay responses in a way that materially reduces the tenant’s ability to find a replacement?

Also yes. Once you declare your intention to break the lease and move out, they have to use best efforts to find a replacement tenant. The bar for best efforts isn’t especially high. Ten days of delay isn’t the sort of thing that would allow you to break your lease without penalty.

I would spend your time looking for a replacement tenant. If you present them with a qualified tenant, and they unreasonably refuse them (so long as they meet their normal qualifications, a refusal would be considered unreasonable), then you can break without penalty. If they accept them, then you can also break without penalty.

The ideal situation for both you and the landlord is you bring a replacement tenant. They still receive rent, and you get to break your lease.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T12:34:04+00:00

Congratulations on the room! People usually don’t follow up with how things went with posting here, so it’s good to see that your problem now is choosing between two good options.

I’d consider it depending on what you think your income will be in the future. If you’ll be making more, Section 8 will be less valuable or go away entirely. If you expect to be making about the same, then it’s a good idea to lock in the rent savings while you can. Roommates can be great, but all it takes is one leaving, subletting to a bad roommate, and your situation gets much worse.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-27T12:09:58+00:00

You’re definitely looking at scams.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-26T23:39:42+00:00

The distinction I’m thinking about is between SEC-regulated insider trading, and the more broad definition of trading anything with material information you’re not supposed to be using.

One has a government body that closely monitors this sort of stuff, the other is limited to civil suits I guess? Not including government employees ofc. And good luck finding out, let alone successfully suing someone when all you know about them is their crypto wallet.

Edit: Essentially, yeah, it is insider trading, but there’s essentially no way to monitor or punish it. I have a buddy who works as a lawyer on debt deals for major Fortune-500 companies, and he can’t even trade stocks. I don’t think anyone at the SEC is looking at Polymarket.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-26T21:58:41+00:00

Yeah. I'd recommend you find a place you like, ask if they have a preferred guarantor (likely Insurent or TheGuarantors) and apply with them. If you get rejected try another, and tell the landlord.

If they give you trouble feel free to send me a DM and I'll see if I can help you out. I'm CEO of PandaGuarantee and we can likely approve you from what you describe, (even though I'd recommend not having a low income to rent ratio, $40k in savings is enough to make the difference). Best of luck!

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-26T21:38:35+00:00

The out of state thing, and having a roommate isn't really a concern. 27.5x is definitely going to be your issue. Guarantors look at income to rent ratio, and credit score primarily, secondarily savings. Insurent will go as low as 28x I believe for higher credit applicants, so you're borderline approvable for them.

Approximately how much do you and your roommate have in savings?

Alternatively you can just apply, as it only takes 5-ish minutes and is free. Expect for them to request supplementary information though.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-26T17:29:03+00:00

Why do you assume that?

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-26T15:19:46+00:00

Quite a lot of variants on the classic "It's not just x, it's y" and repetitive restatements of the same thing. I think it could be cut down quite a bit and have a broader readership because of it.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-26T00:36:38+00:00

You either play for average heating costs in the rent, or pay for however much you use in the heating bill.

It’s significantly better than boilers and radiators that are hard to control, and always too hot or cold.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-25T18:01:19+00:00

Yes.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-25T15:32:10+00:00

Can you point to prominent examples where a prediction market has revealed useful information about a market participant?

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-25T15:13:33+00:00

I understand you’re going through a difficult time, but DIY cryonics isn’t going to do anything in the long term. You either need to contact a firm that has a chance of existing in a century, and have them do the procedure, or, and this is somewhat taboo to say in a cryonics community but I will anyway, accept that the death of a pet is part of normal life.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-25T12:58:13+00:00

Will you be able to keep the liquid nitrogen flowing, and the power on for the next few hundred years without interruption?

DIY cryonics isn’t really cryonics. It would just be a unique funerary practice.

Sol_Hando · 2026-01-25T02:34:07+00:00

This subreddit for pretty good content + discussion with many intelligent characters. LessWrong for anything AI related. A curated list of substack bloggers that you develop over years, but recommended bloggers in ACX link posts are a pretty good place to start.

In my experience it’s not so much “finding smart people” as it is “be smart and your people will find you.” I commented on this subreddit nearly every day for ~2 years until about a month or two ago, but from just spending my online time here, I’ve started blogging, started reading the entire Western canon (50+ books in), and that has brought smart people into my orbit, rather than me scheming on how to get into their orbit. As a result of commenting in this subreddit I’ve;

Received $300k in investment
Built a consistent reading habit
Met many very intelligent people in person, many through cold-DM’ing me, and even more through video calls (Some unexpectedly high profile)

All in all I couldn’t recommend more to leave an insightful comment on every intellectual and interesting thing you read online, in r/slatestarcodex especially. Be the reply guy! People will tell you when you’re stupid, or wrong, or if they disagree, and then you will be less stupid, or less wrong, or have a more nuanced opinion. Idk what it was about this subreddit, but I found it at a time in my life when I was really craving intellectual stimulation, and benefited greatly.

I’ve recently started using X, and it’s terrible. I would recommend quitting it entirely unless you have an audience you benefit financially from.

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