this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Unethical Life Pro Tips

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An Unethical Life Pro Tip (or ULPT) is a tip that improves your life in a meaningful way, perhaps at the expense of others and/or with questionable legality. Share your best tips you've picked up throughout your life, and learn from others!

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

i assume she also had to photoshop her w2, which is required to provide. forging government docs can't be good... as is getting blacklisted from renting apartments. i am curious about how below she is from meeting the requirements (you need to make 40x the rent).

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You might not be prepared to take the risk, she was, and it worked. Whining about people not following the system in a rigged system is absurd.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

You know the landlords are cheating the system.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I made a fake pay stub to prove I was still working with no gaps in order to get a good job. I have zero remorse.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I never had to provide my W2 to a landlord. Then again, I'm in Cali ... is it that different in NYC?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yup. I’ve always had to provide that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm from CA and moved to the East Coast and can tell you the rental process here is insanely bad regardless of what people from here will tell you. CA has inherently less tenant protections in leases than a lot of places here, that's a fact. your security deposit is probably less safe there. as a normal renter that has a mostly stable life and keeps a nice living area though, it's completely useless. in fact, I prefer it.

here, both NY and MA, brokers here are not outlawed and not culturally taboo here. listen to this as a Californian and tell me how this isn't completely criminal: in NY and MA, you usually need to find a broker. pay them ONE MONTH RENT and all they do is forward you the documents to sign and send emails to the landlord. in California, a lot of these rental practices are just non existent if not illegal. people here will tell you that brokers are great because they can just find a place for you with less work. which is just entitlement. also when you move out, you MUST let brokers show your place. that means they CHANGE YOUR LOCKS and EVERY broker will have a key and free reign to show your apartment whenever theyd like. I'd give all my tenants protections just to not deal with that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

oh and I got carried away with anger. East Coast is the only place I've had landlords require invasive proof of income. I even had a place that required me to provide a schedule of when I'd be working from home since they don't allow people who spend too much time in the apartment to rent since utilities are covered. full time, in person employment only. in fucking sane.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not only is that corrupt, but that's fucking criminal.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

5 years of pay stubs, certification to be able to rent an apartment in the state of New York, annual FBI background check, a clean history showing no travel outside of the United States in the last 10 years, no DUI, certification that you have never owned a television, license to not own a pet, 7 years of tax returns. United States birth certificate not in a red state...

It can be pretty difficult to rent an apartment in New York these days. Not to mention all the fees for above can add up to tens of thousands of dollars per year!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

no travel outside of the United States in the last 10 years

Excuse me? This seems completely out of line, of course people want to travel outside the US, and I guess I'd never ever qualify... I somehow find this hard to believe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

W-2 arguably isn't a gov document unless and until it's filed with the IRS.

The employee doesn't do that, and wouldn't file a W-2.

Is it ideal? Nope, not by a long shot. Is it an effective way for desparate people to do what they need to do? Yep.