Frustrated with piece of shit landlord

[caitie_didntParticipant]

It might be worth one more phone call warning him that you will consider legal action if it doesn’t get fixed. If your first message was along the lines of “still no water and would really appreciate this getting fixed asap”, a second message could be more of “according to Ohio tenant law statute XYZ, landlords are responsible for providing sanitary water etc etc (whatever the actual law is). It’s been 24 hours and I haven’t heard anything from you about when this will be fixed. (if tenant law specifies how quickly it must be fixed, put this in the email too!) I am expecting that you will take care of this in accordance with the law.” (you could add that you have no choice but to take legal action if it doesn’t get fixed, depending on how comfortable you are with throwing that out there).

Sometimes putting the scare on a sketchy landlord and showing them that you actually know what your rights are is enough to get them to do what needs to be done.

[jlyfshParticipant]

Will.i.am can I just say that I was actually relieved we lost the house we were going for when two days after moving in to our new rental the hot water heater broke and they found a clog in the sewer line about 80 feet from our house. i was one happy renter not having to pay the plumber bill on that one. i had to sign the form saying the work had been done and the bill was over $2000! i did a happy dance someone else was paying it, haha.

and i agree with people about only speaking to a lawyer if you think it won’t negatively impact the rest of your time in your apartment. since you are month to month it would really suck is you pushed him to far and you ended up with nowhere to live in the middle of the home buying process. i know it’s not fun to deal with the issues you are and it’s not fair, but sometimes you just have to have the this too shall pass mind set. just keep picturing the wonderful place you will be living next and keep leaving messages!

[rachelParticipant]

Will, it’s that rainy day fund that will keep me renting for quite some time. I was walking my dog the other day and one of my neighbors was having his roof fixed (It was a really windy winter here). That kind of shit costs like, what? 10k? I don’t even know, but I know it will be quite a while before I have that kind of cash socked away such that it won’t totally kill my savings to be able to use it.

[Will.i.amParticipant]

@Rachel: That’s the point I’m driving home here. Everyone can theoretically afford a house payment, taxes, and the insurance. It’s that roof that needs replaced, and they don’t accept payment plans. Trust me, living in an apartment sucks. I can hear my neighbor breath and I’m sure he can hear me pass gas, but it’s worth the security that I can put back money. I could put back money in a house too, but I would be too afraid of a major incident happening and my savings be depleted.

My Manager gave me the best advice on a house. He said, if you can afford it and the mishaps, then sure buy a house. If your apartment living isn’t bad enough to drive you crazy, stay there and keep saving your money. Wait to get a house when you can truly afford it alone, or you decide to get married or move in with an SO. Otherwise, the investment isn’t as good as it seems.

[AnnaParticipant]

Well, I just got home from my house showings and finally my water is back on. Another hour and 15 min and it would have been 24 hrs. I really can’t deal with the stress of living here anymore. I don’t even know if I’ll have running water day to day, I’m getting sick from black mold, and I constantly worry about crackheads breaking in and stealing stuff because it happened once. My landlord’s crackhead son and his buddy broke in while my ex and I were both at work and stole a $1000 rifle. It was just a good thing I’m smart enough to have renter’s insurance.

I appreciate the concern but I’m done with this shitty apartment and apartments in general. In the last two months of living alone, I’ve doubled my savings account because I got a huge raise and buy a lot less food now. I’m confident that I’m ready financially to own a little house.

[katieParticipant]

ok, wanna hear about my stupid landlord?

so first he is a real estate agent. i met him the first weekend i was here and i asked him where he was moving to -maybe another investment property (what i assumed my house is)?- and he goes, oh no im moving into my parents house to save money.

landlord red flag #1

so then, i get this weird notice on my door and i open it (no name on it envelope part) and it is a notice that Citi Mortgage has been to the house looking for my landlord

red flag #2

citi mortgage leaves us another envelope

#3

we are still getting a lot of his mail, and you know how most letters are too small for the envelopes? so jake gets the mail one day and he wiggles one of my landlords letters from his bank… and we see through the clear part where the address is under his name “payment overdue” -no numbers or dates or anything, just that he is overdue.

#4

and now, tonight, just a minute ago, a lady with a freaking badge came knocking on my door asking for my landlord. i tell her i am his tenant, i rent here.. she takes down my name and how long i’ve been renting. i tell her that i have been collecting the notices from citi mortgage (assuming she is from there) and she isnt even associated with citi mortgage! she is a detective something, court transcriber something something and my landlord has a court date coming up. and so she goes, im really sorry im not even involved in the citi mortgage problem… and then she tells me to look up my rights as a tenant because he very well might be getting foreclosed on, especially if he has a bank coming to see him AND a civil court pending.

#5

if i have to move again im gonna kill somebody, first of all. and second of all, if you get your rented place foreclosed on, you are the worst landlord in history. does that even happen?? omg. so stressed. i did just google it though, and they cant just kick you out- at the least you would have 90 days to leave, and usually if you have a written lease you can stay for the terms of the lease as long as you keep paying rent. still though. god damn it. stupid people!

[JKParticipant]

Wow Katie, how awful! I hope everything turns out for the best, keep us updated!

[Addie PrayParticipant]

@katie, here’s some non-legal advice: stop paying rent. see what happens. … do you have a lease? he represents, in short, that the piece of property is his to lend. when he takes your rent but doesn’t pay the bank, he’s in default with your lease (likely – i obviously haven’t seen your lease). … because i predict what’s going to happen is that they’re going to evict you despite you paying rent to the douche landlord and you’re going to be out money and a home. …. but i dunno, this is not legal advice. i don’t know property law or the terms and conditions of your lease or *anything*, really, pertinent to your situation, i’m just saying…

[JKParticipant]

AP has a good point there.
And maybe start house hunting?

[LiliParticipant]

@AnotherWendy–Oh kay….BUT, what about all the talk of precautions and safety nets we had in the threads. Its never a bad thing to have some safety nests (esp if they’re monetary) and a nest egg=safety net…

[LiliParticipant]

OOPS wrong house thread. Re-posting.

[katieParticipant]

well, i read online tonight that stopping payment of rent is not a legal way to hold your landlord in breach of the lease- but that was just in terms of them not fixing things on time, not on something like me getting evicted because of his stupid money problems…

yes, i do have a lease. it was drawn up by a real estate company, so i am hoping just that makes it “more” legal then just a verbal thing we might have made, or even something i could have made in Word. its whatever real estate company’s standard lease agreement.

from what i read there is three different petitions that the bank can file. they are not allowed to just evict me, like i said. but, i can be given a notice to vacate within 90 days after a judge signs an order of sale if the bank is able to sell the place… so. i dunno. it did say that if you have a written lease and you are a bona fide tenant, you should be pretty safe.

what does suck is that if i lived in chicago, i would legally be required to be notified if the house was in foreclosure… but i dont live in chicago, so i dont get that. lol

[katieParticipant]

mostly, im really worried about my security deposit. because if he was so hard off for money, and i hand him a check for 1500 dollars that doesnt need to be given back to me *theoretically* until a year from now, i might use it.

[LiliParticipant]

Katie, um Addie and HMC, they’re kinda amazing. I think we the DW community are SUPER lucky to have them as friends. I think they’ll help navigate you through this unfortunate mess. I wish i could help, but the one time I had a semi icky housing situation, i had my ex’s lawyer dad on my side and it helped me TREMENDOUSLY, so now i have nothing to really say other than he wrote letters for me to send. And then told me what monetary amount to send with what final letter.. it was super cool. Wish you luck in this sticky situation!!!

[katieParticipant]

haha, lili, thats the greatest part about knowing lawyers when you in some kind of trouble- they dont really explain what is going on, but it just works. its nice.

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