Personally I hate the way LL will just stand back and let you be stressed out while someone they approved to live there is causing distress, It's called taking responsibilities for your choices and as the spewey douche bag pointed out they would rather sit back and "Feel sorry for you" and do nothing. You sound just like a landlord all right... useless However my issue is quite different... When I moved into my building after some hardcore stress from transglobe I gave them a second chance, It is becoming a nightmare. To start I would like to go over what happened in the first place I lived in, First we were lied to about the facilities being updated "Soon" by transglobe so we were stupid and over looked it, Next I have this guy befriend me only to find out he is a wannabe career criminal and the guy sets up to break into my place while I am gone and my girlfriend is out to pick me up, He was aware of all these facts and only had about 7 mins to do it in. So my gf leaves to get me and the lock on our door is jammed, We get home and notice nothing at first, Later on we notice $200 missing(rainy day money) Hell my gf told me he was gonna break in when she picked me up. So right away we of course call the police(POS organization they are were no help) They treated us like we were the criminals. And then we started getting infestations of omg many different insects from roaches to water mites, The grounds not being kept up and suddenly we are getting blamed for not cleaning up after our dog(I no longer have my loving dog due to this) and we were just to find out the super was not(WTF eh?). And then of course the problem comes up our super does not speak english(How did she get the job?) The we lose our hot water and water pressure for 2 weeks at which point we decided to move, We contact transglobe and they charge us $250 so we could have 1 day to move. I knew the super at the point he was dating my sister so I was like ok lets set up plans to paint before we move in(I dont like white walls) and we had it all set up then we go into paint and we find out they have another super and she tells us we can't paint and we dont even have the place for sure(Which we did hence the $250 dallor charge which BTW I would like to point out I got told I paid $50 more then I was supposed to and did not get the money back), After an almost argument about the issue with this new super we finally work out that we can do it seven days later, And so we get everything together for that day and show up paint and all and guess what? Once again we are told we can not paint in the apartment because their is no proof that we are going to be living there.(something we had already dealt with previously with her lazy ass)BTW this was a week before we were to move in and now they are telling us they have no knowledge even though we paid the money, So three days prior to moving in we finally get to paint. The move in went smooth thankfully to all who helped. So we are now moved into this second transglobe location and figures something goes wrong, Our fridge is not working and the $200 worth of food went to waste, We saved what we could in a cooler, Any idea how long it took them to get us a new fridge? Another two weeks and of course transglobe cared enough not to replace the money we had lost, Instead they ignored it. Is this the end? So we are paying extra for parking(which we have not been able to park in since winter hit since it got covered in snow and they lied saying they were going to call snow removal), Included in our rent is access to a hottub(Has not worked since we moved in), Sauna(mens side does not work), Work out room which is only about 15% working and neighbors who disgust me in many ways from not picking up after their pets to cooking rotten fish(never smelt anything so rancid). We even had damage to our car and someone steal an ornament off your apartment door. Now at this point any one would be angered because contacting them to fix it is a long ignored process. So thats it right? No sir our nightmare from our previous place has followed us here, Once again in winter we have no hot water, this is my 5th day and all they are doing is waiting for a part. This is my peev off in this one... Do they not do atleast yearly inspections on this boiler that could if goes wrong kill many people? and why would they not have extra parts just for this very moment? So come down to the part this is all about... I have contacted transglobe several times about this and have got no responce on these issues, not even so much as a return email saying they are looking into it. Why? Because they are not. Now I want to sue, I am stressed out because they bring you in with this "We are here for you" BS, and then drop the ball.

Luyza, the problem with your particular landlord may be that he feels that since he has told you that he is showing the apartment at any time, he may think that he has already given you the 24 hour warning. I'd call or email him and stress that you expect 24 hours notice before he enters your place, each and every time he is going to show the apartment. I once got a letter from a landlord that said something like, "This is your notice that from [date] until [date my lease ended] we may enter the apartment at any time to show it to prospective tenants." I asked if I could get a phone call, even just a few hours before he showed up. Nope. He walked into my apartment with a couple, while I was in the shower--I was working a weird shift and 4 pm was in fact the "morning" for me. Then he saw why I wanted advance notice. If you absolutely can't get him to give you notice of his showings, even after you quote the law to him, can you fix up your bathroom or bedroom as a safe place for the cat? Put a sign on the door, "Please keep cat inside." It's not perfect, but it might help. I know that if I started to crate my cat every morning before I left for work, it would take about three days before he started hiding so that I couldn't find him. I'm wondering what the legal ramifications would be to the landlord if your cat got out and was lost. Since the cat is your property, the landlord might be held responsible. But that's something that would probably vary from state to state. It's understand able why the landlord doesn't want to give you notice. If someone calls about the apartment, he wants to be able to show it right away. He's afraid that if the prospective tenant has to wait a day, they might find something else. But this is one of my tests for future landlords. Do they respect the privacy of their tenants? It's a strike against them if they seem to disregard warning a tenant that they are about to enter the apartment for a showing.

Moonshadow, you are amazing. What a through contribution! I know when I used to rent, I would make a list of any little issues the house had. I'd send a copy to the landlord and invite him/her to inspect the house before I moved in. I did this because I didn't want to be blamed when I moved out. Never lost a deposit because of that well filed list. Dated photos are helpful too. I've had some great landlords in the past but there have been a few doozies too. I lived in a rental for 5 years. The oven didn't work and it was on my list, along with dates and times I phoned him about this situation. Finally I gave up and purchased my own range. I called him to tell him I was putting his range on my back porch and he should come pick it up. I noted all communication on that list regarding that stupid non-working range oven and thank goodness. He never picked up the range so I took it to the dump after a year on my back porch. When I moved he tried to keep my deposit. I mailed him another (updated) copy of my list that included my "journal" of our communication regarding his range. I offered to go to small claims court and let the judge decide if I should get my deposit back. He quickly returned my deposit. Fact was, he never did anything he said he was going to do. The only time he returned a phone call was when my hot water heater went out. I responding to his voice message informing callers that he was out of town, explaining I had no hot water and I was going to call in a repairman to fix or replace the hot water heater. He called me when he returned, just to get mad at me for being unwilling to go without hot water for a week and a half. I told him he should have contacted me before he left town to let me know who was going to be in charge of his rental while he was gone, but since he didn't, I acted on his behalf. He paid for the repairs, I guess. I never heard from the plumber either way.

I say you keep it, and if they should question it, you threaten them to sue them for the amount over and above the money you have to put out. They know they don't deserve their deposit. Take a lot of photos (I'm sure you did already). Even a video. Send them an inflated (if even necessary) listing of all the issues and costs. And the smoke alarms? Oh, not only do you get to charge them for the actual smoke alarms, assess a fine per smoke detector for each one that was removed. I know this is different but we had an issue with dd at PSU, worst landlord situation I have ever seen. They actually made up stuff in order to keep the deposit. My husband & I were the ones who went, cleaned and had the place sparkling. We even took photos for proof. Put in NEW smoke alarm batteries. They dinged them for unbelievable things, including smoke alarm batteries, and fined them for not having working ones...umm, they were working just fine. We told them we had photos as proof, they told us they didn't look at photos as proof. Kid you not. Someone saw the photo of the stove after we cleaned it, and actually asked if that was our new stove in our kitchen reno! So, I do not think under any circumstance you owe them anything. Buy them a $5 coffee pot at Walmart if necessary and tell them you have no proof of what the condition of their coffee pot was. Somehow I think they are living somewhere and using their coffee pot just fine. This is what the security deposit is for, please don't give them back their money! oh, and welcome back. we missed you!