Any advice for choosing a rental and avoiding a slumlord?

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pasadenabee_IHB

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The past two years, I've had a really bad track record for choosing apartments. I was planning to buy this summer, but I realize that is an emotional choice and not a sound financial choice in my area of Pasadena right now.



So, I'm looking for a rental. Does anyone have advice (besides google) on how to research properties and landlords before I end up in a bad situation again?



Also, I have a baby so I understand I should find a property built after 1978 to avoid lead paint. Unfortunately, that greatly limits my options and pretty much rules out single family units. I'm thinking I should look for a condo instead of an apartment building because if most of the people in the complex are owners and not renters, they might be more civil to each other.



I'm sleep deprived from the baby and lacking confidence so I would welcome any advice or opinions. I went from renting a single family home where the landlord (among other things) repeatedly entered without knocking or warning and threatened to take care of me with his "buddies from Inglewood" if I had a problem with that. From there, I moved in the middle of the night to a house with such a bad mold infestation it killed my cat and an unsympathetic landlord who turned out to be a white collar felon. Now, I'm in an apartment complex with a classic slumlord. When it comes to housing, I guess I'm an idiot. Ugh.
 
If the place has been repainted since 1978, I would think the risk of lead based paint would minimal. The issue there is that a paint chip would peel off and the baby would eat it. That is, this shouldn't be a problem in any place that is maintained at all. Just don't rent a place with peeling paint.
 
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