by lauracruz
Love windowfarm idea, worried about landlord restrictions on items on windows…
12:18 am in Getting Started, questions, Seeking Advice by lauracruz
My boyfriend and I are thinking of making window farms in our respective apartments. In his case it’s a fantastic idea because he has a huge glass door that gets lots of light and it overlooks the woods.
In my apartment it’s another story, I get lots of light …but I recall my apartment manager mentioning something peculiar when I signed my lease. My windows overlook the street, and they asked that if I wanted to put curtains, to have white ones or put a white liner….so that the entire apartment looks uniform. They also recommended not putting anything on the little ledge on my windows.
Has anyone had any actual issues with apartment managers/ landlords and restrictions like these?
I’m going to check out my lease again and see if there any actual statements there or it was just them being weird.
Wow. This is fascinating. I have been looking for a new apartment with the specific criteria of windowfarming in mind. I had one landlord tell me that I could not put a sign with the windowfarms.org url up because that would be considered advertising and would violate the terms of the residential lease. Where are the lawyers in the group? Are there any ways around these issues?
Thanks for the comment britta. I just checked my lease and there is indeed a whole section specifying windos drape colors, limiting things you can hang from balconies and building “uniformity”. Sad, but I will still try to figure out a way to incorporate this into my current apt without violating any lease terms.
If not, I’ll keep this in mind for a future apt.
Also, Im in Seattle. Not sure if there are any statewide regulations here.
Easiest method: Tell your landlord exactly what you want to do. Maybe include sketches of how it would fit in your specific window and maybe some pictures of the display that was at the Whitney museum. Use the angle that it will be simple (not colorful) and atractive, maybe even offer to use something white as your root cover.
Does your lease mention anything strictly forbidding potted plants in the windows? Cause if not then that’s really all you’re doing.
Also mention that something like this shows eco-freindliness which can do nothing but improve the apartment’s public image and maybe even attract attention of potential residents.
Just some ideas ^.^