I have been renting an apartment in my complex for more than fifteen years.  I always pay my rent and take care of the property even calling security when I see something which could cause damage to the property.  Every time something has gone wrong, I have tried to be understanding and patient.  The landlord refused to give me a lease when the last one was up.  His representative has always seemed nice but she is at the other end of the state.  The hall bathroom linolium continually pops up from the floor because the heating pipes are too close to the surface, the shower spigots have never been sealed and the entrance to my apartment sits in several inches of water when it rains because there is no drain and it slopes into my entry.  In March, they found mold in the hall bedroom and began removing it.  This took over two months and during that time I asked for an adjustment in my rent.  They gave me a small adjustment but when I asked for another after three months of not haveing the work finished they refused.  The representative said I was lucky they hadn’t raised the rent this year.  So after more than six months the bedroom doors are still not put back, the screen on the window is leaning against the wall and the electrical is unusable because the cover plate is not on and it jiggles.  When they found aspestus is the apartment, they removed it by putting plastic over the door of the hall bedroom and venting out the window.  We could not afford to move, and they assurred us it was perfectly safe and refused to help us leave for the time needed to remove the aspestus.  Other apartments in this area are going for up to $300 less and are not leaking.  Today, I found a stream of water coming out of the hall bedroom and called to complain.  Her cell phone cut me off five times, each time I was able to only leave a piece of a message.  Finally, since this was a long distance call, I just said the hall bedroom was leaking and I was very unhappy.  She called me back, yelling that I was rude and that this wasn’t working out.  It seemed like a threat of eviction to me.  I’m tired of continually dealing with slow, uncaring maintenance and with people who seem to feel that I will take whatever threats and insults they hand out.  Frankly, I am fed up and ready to find another place to live.  The problem is that I have lost my job and though my husband works we don’t have much money to pay for moving.  If she evicts me, can I get my security deposit back, it’s $980, and do I have to pay the rent for this place when being evicted and not being able to use the bedroom?

Originally posted 2008-12-17 15:13:16.