Posts under '' Category

I’ve been in contact with my former landlords and now they are putting off talking about the deposit.  It has been a month since I have moved out and the landlords still claim they need to talk to some people.  Although since I last talked to them the husband has had some physical problems and been in the hospital, they have had a month to figure out what charges should be deducted from the deposit.  How long should I give them before I become much more presistent?

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

I posted about my property management company below, on August 22nd. I had a large leaking crack in my ceiling. I took the advice given and have not withheld rent. I emailed the company so that I would have a record, and told them that if it wasn’t fixed by the end of the weekend I would contact the health department to file a complaint. I immediately received a call saying that someone would be over Saturday. Long story short, someone finally came on Monday morning and fixed the leak. However, they did not fix the giant cracks and crumbling plaster. I understand that the leak needed to be fixed first, but is this reasonable? Is it still an issue the health dept would take action on? I don’t think the cracks are as huge of a deal as the leaking water in my living room, but it’s still something that needs to be repaired.

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

I have been renting a “mother n law” suite that is attached to the main house for 3 months now – in Georgia. There is also a tenant living in the garage that has been converted into a studio like carriage house.. The main house has a completely different address from mine – the street name adjacent to the main road. The tenant in the carriage house and I share the exact same address… All of the breakers, etc are in the main house which I have no access to unless those tenants are home.. My question is, does it sound like this property is zoned in a legal fashion? We do not have fire extinguishers in any of the units either…. Also, the owner is currently advertising the main house for rent and the rent amount includes utilities which have limits per month and if the renter goes over those amounts they are responsible for paying, BUT everyone on the property shares ONE meter. Is that legal?? Any info or guidance would be great!

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

For one year, my boyfriend and I rented a single family home.  We moved out 8/10/08, per the termination date of our lease.  During the time we lived there, I got sick, drank a little too much Ny-Quil which, mixed with my other medicine, completly knocked me out…. in the bathtub.  My tub, which was upstairs, overflowed.  The overflowing water caused there to be some minor water stains going down the wall directly underneath in the kitchen, as well as damage to the ceilng in the kitchen.  I immediately advised my landlords of the damage, and they came over and checked it out, saying we would be responsible for getting the ceiling fixed, or they could hire somebody but it may have been more expensive.  He also stated nothing like this had ever happened, even though there appeared to be a clear seam in the ceiling from where a section had been cut in previosly, as well as several cuts in his trim around that same area of ceiling.  There was also a grey colored area on the bathroom floor when we came to look at the place before renting, but they said that was just from people not closing their shower curtain good enough to keep water from spraying out.  Anways, I hired a man to come and repair the ceilng, and he also checked the floor of the upstairs bathroom to make sure no further repairs needed to be done, because obviously he would’ve loved to find more work to be done so he could charge more.  However, he said no damage to floor and no repairs were required.  He put in new sheetrock for the ceiling and we painted it to match the current paint color.  Now, two weeks after I’ve moved out, I got a phone call last night from my former landlord saying that there was a bubble in the bathroom floor and the estimate to have the floor repaired was $1170.00, meaning they would be keeping my entire deposit.  I asked why neither myself or my boyfriend had been called and given the opportunity to be present at the time of their walk-thru inspection, or at the time of the floor inspection.  She couldn’t answer.  She tried to say that, had I given her the required 30-day notice before moving, that they would’ve done the walk-thru before we moved out to make sure everything was ok.   I then advised her that the lease clearly stated that 30-day notice to vacate was required ONLY if the lease had been converted to a month-to-month term.  She stated that was correct.  I then asked her where was something in writing stating that the floor wasn’t already needing to be repaired before we moved in, and she said she didn’t have anything but that the previous tenants would be more than happy to say that the floor wasn’t like that when they moved out and they received their deposit back.  To me, that is heresay, not proof, and if a landlord called me and asked if there was damage before I moved out, to a dwelling I had lived in over a year ago, I would say “no” too.  Anyways, I’m getting all of my paperwork from when the ceiling repair was done and the structure was checked, as well ad photos showing the floor had been repaired after we were told nothing had ever happened.  Like I said, no walk-thru was ever done before we moved in to inspect for pre-existing damages, nor was a walk-thru done anytime during our tenancy.  The only walk-thru inspection that we’re aware of is the one they did after we moved out when they found this “damage” to the floor.  If any walk-thru was done during our tenancy, we were never notified prior to or after the fact, but it is possible because our home was on the same lot as our landlords, so it was litterally 10 steps for them to walk to the house.  Not too much to stop them from coming in at will why we weren’t home.  I guess what I really want to know is, do I have a chance of getting my deposit back?  I am low on funds, so I was hoping to avoid a legal situation, but I am willing to pursue this on principle.  I didn’t have to ever tell them about the ceiling.  I could’ve gotten it fixed and they would’ve been none the wiser, however I wanted to be an honest tenant because I noticed that it looked like damage had occured in that same area previously, eventhough we were told that it hadn’t.  Please help me, I’m desperate and really need that security deposit.  I’ve heard the horror stories about getting a security deposit back, I just don’t want to let another shady landlord get one over on the tenants who are pretty much at their mercy.  Thanks for any help you can offer.

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

i’m renting a house in northeast nj for 2000 a month.  i talked my landlord down from 2200.  now, there are problems with the plumbing, the hot water in the shower doesn’t work.  the air conditioner can never achieve the temperature you set it at unless you stuff an extra ac unit with exhaust in the fireplace chimney and you put a sprinkler on the roof ( it’s a slate roof ).  there are holes that mice can and do get in through.  they have eaten all my power bars and m&m’s and such.  none of the windows have screens so i can’t open them unless i want bugs.  there is a severe mold condition due to hot water leaking from the shower.  there’s no gfi in the kitchen.  there are no locks for the garage door so i use chains to keep all the equipment safe.  i bought a rider mower, 3 blowers, a weed wacker and a snow thrower as i’m responsible for maintenance on the grounds.    in honesty i just mow the lawn and blow the leaves and don’t do much more.  i’m not the neatest person so the place is a little messy and so are the grounds, but pretty easy to correct. because i haven’t been able to get help and i’m single.  the faucets are old and i constantly have to replace washers.  the handle on the sinks faucets only works on one of them so i have to switch it from cold to hot.  now, since he came down in price he says i have to take care of upkeep ( this house was built in the 40’s and everything is as was, old old old.)  i told him he is obligated but he says it’s in the lease that i have to maintain it.  i said he is obligated to the warranty of habitability and he said if we want to go by the letter of the law i have not been keeping the ground to the letter of the lease and he’ll have all sorts of inspectors come in.  it was never mentioned that i would be getting less service, though service was poor to start with, in exchange for the drop in price, it’s not even legal.  i am working steadfastly on getting it neatened up and getting the grounds neater.  the place is so drafty that last year it cost my 750 bucks just to keep the temp between 62 – 65. i don’t really fear an inspection but i don’t know how i could get screwed with an inspection.  to be honest i wouldn’t mind getting out of this place and getting it declared for non occupancey i would be ok with becausei could live in an apartment much cheaper.  .where should i go with this.  my lease expires in june and i have asked for a copy as i can’t find the one i had gotten originally.  i really think this guy is being a bad landlord and nto conducting himself honorably and i wouldn’t mind skewering him.  oh, and one more thing, i can never speak directly to him.  i always speak to his assistanst in the office and she relays what i say and relays back to me what he says.

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

I lived in a furnished duplex for about a year and a half on a month to month lease.  I thought I had a good relationship with the landlord, but now that I’m trying to get my deposit back they are accusing me damages that I had no part in.  There were stains in the bathroom when I first moved in that I assumed were some sort of laquer or clear coating (I believed that they had renovated the place), but the landlord is accusing me putting the stains there.  Also, since I have left they have washed the sheets and mattress pad and said that while washing them that the sheets turned a reddish brown color and started to have an odor; and the mattress pad dissolved and the same color and odor appeared.  What should I do?  I didn’t have any part in these issues and the only other people in my place were their repair guy to repair the ceiling and lights damaged during the monsoon season; a cleaning lady that I had come to my place twice (it was a cleaning lady that my landlords told me about); and my parents who were out over Christmas.  How should I go about getting my deposit back?

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

My husband and i have been living in the basement apt of a single family home for 3 yrs under our grandfathers rules, his landlord passed away after him renting the house for 16 yrs. a new landlord bought the property and said he wanted nothing to do with the tenants in the basement (which was us) mind you we had no lease at the time with the man who owned the house. Our grandfather was then evicted after awhile for reasons i will not say.

Our landlord is a slumlord!  We lived in the basement apt with no lease and in living conditions not fit for a rat. mold in the walls bad plumbing, the house should have been condemned. the landlord never fixed anything! we were offered the upstairs apt if we wanted to stay then he charged us 150 more then what we had been paying pryor plus a security deposit of the full rent. we didnt get ours back from when we moved in the basement. he has trash all in the yard that he wont dispose of he says its our responsibilty to get rid of it he brings up his other tenants all the time to us when its none of my business he drinks and makes threats. we are on a 2 week lease because my husband collects unemployment……….i mean i could go on and on i just went to court today because he gave us an eviction when i wasnt late on my payment, he dropped it of course after he saw me and seen the papers i had SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! i have 2 children and my husband and i are good people, we dont deserve this. i cant even live in peace not knowing if something else is gonna go wrong and i dont know the steps to take to make this slumlord back off!

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

My husband and I recently moved into a condo. We moved in on July 11th 2008 and we got a refrigerator that worked on August 8, 2008. We came to an agreement with the landlord/prop management on compensation to us for the inconvience. We could of asked for more but we were trying to be good & understanding tenants. We sent in our rent check and found out that my husbands bank account had fraudulant activity (someone took everything we had). We thought that the bank had paid the check and charged us a fee but we got a call on the 10th saying that the check came back as NSF. We told them the story and they said to send the amount back w/ a NSF charge. We were ok with that. But then we get a letter on Aug 21 with both checks in it saying that we had to send in a money order. ALso enclosed was a seperate letter claiming that we owe more that what the first letter (enclosed in the same envelope) stated. As to make it even worse, we recieved at letter today (Aug 23) saying that now we owe even more money & if we don’t within three days they will take possession of the premises. FIrst, none of these letters were sent certified mail or were they summons. Second, they have failed to repair a crack in my front window (which was agreed upon when we moved in for them to repair). Thirdly, I have had a clogged kitchen sink since around the 10th of this month. They have yet to send someone out to fix it. Can they evict us in three days? What can we do??

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

I just moved into an apartment 3 weeks ago. I was pleased with the apartment even though it wasn’t in the greatest of condition, because I am a pretty laid-back renter. A few stains on the carpet and cuts on the countertop didn’t bother me. Then, Sunday, 5 days ago, I came home from a day out of town to find a huge leaking crack in my ceiling. There’s an apartment above mine, I believe that the leak is from their AC. I immediately called the rental office and talked to a maintenance person, who said they would be out on Monday. No one came on Monday, and I’ve called every day since (it’s now Friday afternoon). The ceiling is sagging, it drips a lot when the upstairs neighbors are home, and the crack is getting bigger. It’s about 18 inches long and I’m running out of buckets to catch the drips. How long is it reasonable to wait before lodging a complaint? Can I withhold rent until they fix the ceiling and the leak? Are they in breach of contract (I’ve heard a lot about the "implied warranty of habitability")? I’ve found out that this property management company has a horrible reputation, and tons of buildings, so I’m sure they have a lot of experience dealing with irate tenants. I’ve also had sudden asthma attacks since I moved in, which I *never* had before. I’m wondering if mold is growing in the ceiling and causing my illness, because it looks like the ceiling has been patched before.

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)

Okay here is my story. I was going to rent a house which initially I had the choice to go month to month or sign a six month lease. I decided to go with the lease and then found a house I wanted to buy instead on a foreclosure. Since this is a long process, I asked the lease to be changed to month to month instead of the six month lease. At first the landlord wanted to work with me but then advertised it on craigslist and found somebody else to rent it for the next month. To get out of my lease, she had my pay the rent for august and had somebody to rent it in September, but then they decided to rent it on August 16th instead. So the landlord sent me a refund check for a portion of the rent I paid but it is 200 hundred dollars short. This means she was paid an extra 200 bucks for August above what her rent she charges. I know it is only 200 bucks but it really pisses me off she is double dipping on my dime. What would you do?

Report Violation / Spam

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	General Violation Offensive Spam Broken Link(s) Error / Glitch Other
Write in Words: (Optional)