Patty Argandona    |    Waltham    ,    Massachusetts 02453    Landlord Complaint 22-9785

This is my second complaint. I first contacted your company when I moved out, and suspected problems with getting my security back. Now the landlord has e-mailed me saying she is not giving me the security back, and charging me for various items not in my lease. In addition, she is charging me for "floor damage." The floor in the living room was unfinished and very scuffed up when I moved in. We had discussed the possibility of me adding polyutherane before moving in, but I ran out of time. In addition, I did not have the money and the landlord was unwilling to pay for the materials or my time. As it is, I painted large areas of the house. They were in serious need of painting. They had not been painted in many years from the look of it. I painted them unpaid and no deduction from rent, even though it was a lot of work! The main reasons I moved out is the landlord was constantly contacting me asking me to pay for things not in the lease, and a general feeling of being harassed. Here are some examples of harassing behavior: I was called and e-mailed during work hours on several occasions. I was called multiple times about mysterious black bags she supposedly "found" in the yard. I found this very suspicious. She went to the house on more than one occasion without giving me notice. She went in when one of my dog sitters without permission when I was out of town. She was keeping things in the upstairs and the basement of the house, and wanted to come in and out of the house to get them. I asked her to select one day to pick them up. She refused. We also had a disagreement about lawn care. My son had been mowing the lawn. The lawn mower, which was very old, broke down. We were blamed, though I think it was simply wear and tear. It was quite old. Nevertheless, I gave her $100 to fix the lawn mower. She never fixed it. She told me I needed to pay a landscaping company to mow the lawn. There was nothing in my lease about lawn care, so I refused. I should have refused to pay the $100. She came and mowed the lawn one day, and tried to charge me $40 to mow it plus gas for a borrowed lawn mower. I refused the charge, since it is her lawn, but did pay her $10 for the gas for the mower. I paid by check. There is proof. An additional issue was the water bill. It was in her name. She never showed me a bill, but would simply send amounts and ask me to pay it. I did at first, since they were supposedly in Germany and could not switch it into my name. When they came back to the area (she and her husband), I was told the bills would be put in my name. This was never done. I looked up the tenant responsibility for water bills, and found it is typically the landlord's responsibility and calculated into the rent. If there is something in the lease the tenant is only responsible if a bill is shown and the tenant is only responsible for actual usage and no additional fees. Additional fees are the responsibility of the home owner. The landlord also refused to give me her address. I was expected to deposit the rent into her bank account every month, which I did. Originally, I was told they were in Germany and had no way to get rent checks. We tried direct deposit, but it didn't work. I was asked to deposit the rent. I found this odd, but I did it. I was trying to help out since they were away. They came back to the States and supposedly moved to NJ, but refused to give me an address. These landlords never came to fix anything except a gutter. We were told this would be the case in the beginning, so I expected that. I never asked for money for things done around the house, but they need to know the amounts for which I can ask them to be responsible. One of the charges I was given was for a futon mattress. They asked us (my son and I) if they could leave an old futon behind. They said the mattress needed to be replaced, but we could do what we wanted with it. It was a non-usable futon. It was simply used to block off the upstairs, which we were told we could not use. Now they are trying to charge me for a new mattress?! Again, there is nothing in the lease regarding the futon. I was also charged for a can of WD-40 I never used. The landlord asked for this once before. I bought a new one, anyway. There is a brand new can in the garage and she is still trying to charge me for WD-40! I was also charge for fire wood??? I never used the fireplace. I was told it needed a chimney sweep. I was told I would have to pay for it. I didn't want to do that, so I never used the fireplace. The landlord never showed up to pick up the key. She sent her mother, so she probably hasn't even seen the place since I moved out, and I was refused a walk through. I cleaned thoroughly, and I have pictures.