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Twitter is getting evicted from its Colorado office over unpaid rent
A judge just evicted the company from its Boulder, Colorado office after three months of unpaid rent, totaling over $75,000, as originally reported by TechCrunch. This all started after the landlord took the company to court, according to the Denver Business Journal. The judge sided with the landlord and has given Twitter 49 days to vacate, so the end of July.
Zillow's new search tool helps find housing for those in need
Escaping homelessness is an enormous undertaking, not least because so many landlords and property managers have strict criteria for new tenants. Those that have been homeless are often unable to provide rental histories or sizeable deposits, for example. Now though, property platform Zillow is teaming up with a housing company in Washington to help tackle the problem.
Dish launches a WiFi and TV service aimed at apartment dwellers
Last week Dish announced a new service designed to make smart home technology available to all, now it's launching another service that makes modern tech accessible to everyone. "Dish Fiber" is a combined WiFi and livestreaming TV bundle for those living in multifamily communities, such as apartment blocks and student housing.
Tenants win right to have physical keys in NY smart lock case
The landlords of one Manhattan apartment building have agreed to provide physical keys to tenants who don't want to use smart locks. The decision was reached in a preliminary settlement after tenants sued their landlord for installing Latch smart locks last year. As CNET reports, this marks one of the first times legal professionals have had to weigh in on how landlords can use smart home technology.
Airbnb taps San Francisco's biggest landlord for short-term rentals
Airbnb is recruiting San Francisco's largest landlord to allow tenants to offer their apartments as short-term rentals. In return for Veritas Investments serving up five of its buildings, Airbnb will give it a cut of the nightly revenue (10 percent, according to the San Francisco Chronicle), as part of the incentives it launched a year ago.
Airbnb sued by major US apartment landlord
Here's a huge one for the ever-growing pile of lawsuits filed by and against Airbnb. Apartment Investment & Management Co. (AIMCO) has sued the rental service for "helping tenants breach their leases," according to The Wall Street Journal. Denver-based AIMCO, one of the biggest landlords in the US, owns and manages over 50,000 apartments across the country. Real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors told the WSJ that this is the first time Airbnb has been sued by a major landlord. Other apartment owners might now feel emboldened to follow suit if the service refuses to cooperate with them.
PSA: Landlord, tower defense hybrid Unholy Heights now on Steam
Humans are awful, and Unholy Heights would like to prove this to you on Steam for $3.99 by simulating the attempted murder of peaceful monsters via waves of humans. When you aren't using tower defense strategies to address the threat the human race provides, Unholy Heights works as a landlord simulator. Your tenants are monsters, sure, but they're monsters with needs and feelings. They'll need to eat, go to work, find somebody to love and be satisfied enough with their room to stay the night. If you don't cater to their individual desires, there might not be enough tenants to summon when the humans come a rabblin' to your property. The game's Steam page notes over 20 different monster species and a quest system to unlock new furniture and creature types. It also suggests that monsters can be romanced with "inappropriately shaped erotic cakes," meaning that there's true potential for the best path to romance since Viva Pinata's interpretive love dances.
Cozy could make renting much more comfortable for both landlords and tenants
Renting is a pain. Sure, it saves you from financial doom when the housing market collapses, and it certainly is a lot more affordable when you're feeling a bit resource-constrained, but it can cause some massive headaches. Depending on your market, scoring a place may require applying to dozens of potential landlords, spreading your precious, personal information with wild abandon to folks you've never met. It's no pleasure cruise for those landlords, too, who have to chase down references and decide which of a pool of total strangers is most suitable to move in. And, when a rent check gets lost in the mail, nobody's happy. These are just some of the issues that Cozy is looking to solve. The service, which formally launches today and is backed by Google Ventures among many others, is looking to reboot the way that renters and landlords interact. More info after the break.
Sanyo creates inspection robot to check structural integrity
This certainly won't go down as the first underfloor robot we've heard about, but apparently, Sanyo's aiming to use all these fantastic ideas to actually bring a product to market. The fairly attractive bot is designed to cruise underneath apartment buildings, offices and essentially any other place of residence to check for structural damage, and it boasts integrated sensors that enable it to avoid obstacles while on duty. Apparently, the creation -- which can scoot about for just over two hours on a full charge -- can beam back live video of what it sees, and landlords can zoom in on curious spots to find out if there are indeed any problems that need attention. Unfortunately, we're hearing that it won't be on sale till next year, but it shouldn't cost much more than ¥1,000,000 ($8,736) when it finally arrives -- which, by our estimation, is a small price to pay to avoid months of back problems and terrifying encounters with all sorts of rodents.[Via AkihabaraNews]
AT&T preps landlords for iPhone campers
Those who've started taking notes in order to keep track of all the iPhone launch details still floating in can add one more, and thankfully for those worried about their own safety come next Friday, you'll be relieved to know that this one involves crowd control. Two documents outlining how managers should "prepare landlords for the iPhone launch" explain that stanchions (you know, those annoying cattle herders that keep you in order whilst waiting in the airport) should be made available at almost any cost, so it's pretty safe to say they know you (and your posse) are coming. Additionally, it's noted that AT&T stores will be staying open only until 10:00PM unless individual managers choose to keep the overtime clocks a-rollin', and venues located within enclosed malls will be closing at their normal times. Guess we can't blame 'em for trying to make us all happy campers.
