Very Unfair ways of treating people….

By amanda scarbrough

 So my boyfriend and I agreed to rent his grandfathers house from the family ( each child had a hand in the deal since the house was left to them 5 people total). It took them 3 weeks to agree for us to rent it , previous to our move in the house had been on the market " for sale by owner" for 4 years with no action and mind you no one living in it. The house was built in the early 50’s , clay tile, nasty worn matted shag carpet, wood stove, cracked slab floors,drafty windows,cracked ceilings,leaking plumbing,out of date electrical outlets..ect. And just to top it all as we were moving in we found that in the attic there had been a frozen pipe bust causing a huge leak later resulting in thick nasty black mold! We delt with it as best we could since the rental deal was already into play. We ended up having to fix all the issues needed to live in the place out of pocket. ( MIND YOU THE FAMILY WANTED TO HELP OUT SINCE MY BOYFRIEND HAD JUST LOST HIS HOUSE TO FORECLOSURE AND WAS SITTING ON UNEMPLOYMENT FOR OVER A YEAR SINCE HIS UNION LAY OFF, I TOO ONLY WORKED PART TIME AND WAS A FULL TIME STUDENT RAISING A CHILD AFTER A DIVORCE.) Nether of us had much money and the whole entire family knew this it was no huge secret. Problems started right away, day of move in every family memeber showed up, in the way, fussing and cussing and making comments about how nasty the house was but so glad someone is living there for a change. His aunt then speaks up to say " well i hope by you living here now this helps the house sell" I guess it was a misunderstanding that we wanted to rent to own but now we find out the house is still for sale. Its a huge 4 bedroom,1bath slab home on 7 acres with a big metal shed/ tool shop. Anyways we kept our mouth shut not to cause issues. Two weeks since the move in pass and we get a knock on the door its a real estate agent letting us know hes taken pics of the land and house and put a sign in the yard. Hell opened up from there it led into last minute calls from the real estate agent of showings,strange people just driving up to the house all house all hours of the day and night, nocking on the door with a million questions, driving threw the yard ect… some would insist on me showing them around. I as a mother and often times during these unknown drop buy viewings would be alone with just my young child, I would end up scared since they would keep pushing and not leave, also worried about the things that were ours in and around the house.We asked about putting up a sign asking them to only come on the property with an agent, but the family said no, let them look. So then came more last min notice of showings,then one day out of no where a call from the real estate office stating the guy who made an offer on the house wanted to view it again, the family didnt even think they needed to let us the renters of this news. During this showing the guys real estate agent clearly felt she had better things to do so she sent her husband a former agent to show them the house, he was outside with the man while the guys wife was inside alone, which i would think isnt a good practice. We came house to find a bunch of our things messed with, drawers open, tv on, battery packs put into game controllers and the xbox turned on a few things on a list of many. The " agent" also left the front door unlocked when leaving. I had driven by at one point during the showing to notice the two men outside and to see the lady walk out of the house unattended. I parked up at the top of a hill close to where I could see them, I watched them go to the shed mess with the key code and the door came up( in the tool shed was a boat and very costly tools) some time passes and they left. Days go buy we find out the offer was dropped due to the family refusing to repairs on the house and the real estate agent with the house on the market calls asking for the key code to the shed, my boyfriend points out that he must already have it since the last people were able to see in the shed, the agent swears he has never had it nor ever given it to any agent showing the house. STRANGE ISNT IT!  Several weeks pass after this and now suddenly another offer comes but once again we find out over a week later but at least this time it comes from the mouth of my boyfriends step-dad, from there it was said they would ask the buyers for extra move out time so we could pack, find a place and move. But this wasnt followed threw on at all we ended up with 28 days to do it all mind you Christmas and New Years fell with in those 28 days. So we rushed to find something ,praying to god someone would give us the time of day since my boyfriend had a foreclosure on his back and only a job on the books for 2 weeks at this point, and i was still a student but now unemployed. We found some luck but it took time to get everything done in order to move, plus there was only us two moving things. Also at this point knowing the house would sell the offer was put out there that all the rent we had payed in at $300 a month ( fixes would be taken out of the rent , which at the time was very nice) would be given back to us, this sounded great with everything we had went threw up to this point. We get a sudden call from the agent that a man will be by at 2pm to inspect the slab, as hes telling us a nock on the door and the man was there already.Then this man informs us that another guy will be coming over the weekend to inspect the overall house, no one in the family tells us anything at all by this point. So weekend comes the inspector comes by, cant believe someone is buying this house……. we point out that the fridge and stove dont stay and the ones that will stay are out in the shed( we had our nice side by side fridge and ceramic top stove in the house) he makes note of it and goes on, we also point out that we never used the furnace or ever had propane put into the tank and that it had been unused for at least 4 + years that we knew of. A few days later the phone blows up the step-dad and the aunt both had found out we said the stove and fridge didnt stay and the buyer was pissed( my thinking is the family should have made a note of the fact they had renters in the house and that what was in the house wouldnt be staying.) So now the inspector has to come back to test the other fridge and stove to make sure they work but we didnt hear of when this would take place. So 7 AM Dec 30TH,2010 We wake to a phone call from my boyfriends mother that the step-dad left 15 min ago and is set to be at the house any min. I wake to 4 guys standing in the next room all able to look in on me sleeping, and a propane guy there putting some in the tank ect….yet again wonderful to have some real notice! We have to move things out with everyone then some coming in and out. As the next few days went by the step dad and several strangers were there daily doing things ….. so he had time to tell us things needed to know …. so you would think right? This past Weds. we were moving things and the stepdad asked if we could be out sooner because the buyers wanted to sign over the weekend, my boyfriend as nice as he could said no we would be out the coming monday that was a few days earlier  than the given deadline from the agent and since we only had the two of us moving things that was pushing it anyways. The step dad said ok and acted like it was no big deal. Two day later we are there again moving things and the step dad is there too cleaning, or as i seen us trying to rush us but we never seen what was coming, 3pm rolls around and he comments to the fact he needs to get home to get cleaned up , my boyfriend asked why and we find out the people are signing on the house in about two hours, so there we are still have our things in this house, had the conversation with the step dad two days earlier about moving out quicker and thought we had a clear understanding, now our things are in someone elses home. We are in question if we will even be allowed to get the rest of our things, that answer had to come from the agent not the family. So sat we rush like crazy to remove everything that is left, mind you we are moving things out around the things the new owners have put in already. We call the step dad let him know that we are done and out, and we at this point are pretty much broke and down and out , my boyfriend askes for an idea of when the rent would be given back( mind you over the previous week this had come up 2 times both times it was no big deal , the step dad said i will get it today or tommarrow bla bla bla, also this house sale was a cash deal they all got the said shares in the house given to them friday when the signing took place, but they think we are stupid and said they didnt get the money) so when might we see it, he then tells my boyfriend that " your not to know this but" the $200 propane charge from the furnace inspection will be taken out of your rent as well as the $ 175+ from the plumber will also be taken out of it. Plus the aunt never would allow us to switch over the electricity bill into our names, it would be mailed to her then she would mail it to us, now we will also be paying for the furnace running since dec 31st full force in a house we werent living in anymore ( we started sleeping in the new place on the 30th) that too will be removed from our rent. I dunno were they think its just and fair but we didnt own the house nore sell the house and we werent buying it either , how in the heck are we responsible for those charges? So what once was $900+ back we will be lucky to see anything from it. Total bull! Oh but we did get a thank you from the step dad about how we pretty much sold the house for them since we fixed everything up making it a "home" and also the family is worried we might be upset with them and might not come around them , they dont want to hard feelings. Sounds like someone is holding some shame and  guilt huh!

Edited on: Friday, August 19th, 2011 7:39 am

One Response to “Very Unfair ways of treating people….”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

tosha jenkins

November 18th, 2011 3:34 pm

i really think your boyfriend have no backbone at all!! Why in the hell will you put up with that. no job or job all of that was you and your boyfriends fuilt!! next time have some balls and stop letting people run over you!!!!!!!!!

i dont feel sorry for you..closed mouths dnt get fed


Close


Yes, the RPA® Can Help You!

Filing an official complaint is the nation's fastest way to solve tenant problems.

Not Ready? Learn more...

Virginia Complaint Filling Deadline  Tips/Suggestion

Need Help Filing Your Complaint?

Agents Available Mon- Fri 10am to 10pm

Recently Resolved Complaints:

See how the Nation's Rental Authority has helped thousands of tenants already!

Ask Question:

Post a new question to the RPA Tenants rights forum.

You Have Tenant Rights.
Recently Posted Questions:

Over 4,000 questions have been asked by tenants including these new posts:

Tenant Rights Categories

Popular categories about renters rights.