My landlord is a big jerk!!! (long rant)

loveysmummy

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Alright, he may be one of the few cat-friendly landlords in the city...
But I get so irritated when Landlords are vicious about getting their rent on the
1st every month, but then try to avoid their own responsibilities!!!

Example in point: This month, we couldn't pay our rent until the 3rd as BF had a problem cashing his paycheque for the full amount without a hold. (he just started a new job and its not direct deposit)...

We let the landlord know on the 1st as soon as we knew. They said it wasn't a problem but that as it was late, we would lose our place on the list for a parking space and be bumped from number one to number 4.

Its very cold here in winters so you need an electrical space which are hard to come by...

Anyway, this really irritates me as when we have asked for things to be fixed, its either not their problem or they take their time getting to it.
When we take showers, the tub is almost full!!! when we are done as the drains are so old..We have asked them to come in to look at it, but they shrug us off saying its not their responsibility or hand us a bottle of drano and act like they are doing us a huge favour...!!!

Also, when we first moved in, the caretaker was up at our door almost daily yelling as the apt. below us complained of water leaking into their apt. She said it was because we didn't close our shower curtain properly...I explained to her numerous times that our floor wasn't wet so how could it be our fault?!
I finally asked her to come in RIGHT AFTER my shower to see that the bathroom floor wasn't wet. It was finally determined by a plumber that it was the water getting behind the tiles in the bathroom!! It was their fault all the time and not even an apology!

To top it off, cleaning my tub is hell because rather than pay for a new tub liner, they PAINTED the bathtub!!! Argh. I realized this when I was cleaning and paint chips were coming away from the enamel underneath!

A friend in the building has asked for her smoke detector to be fixed 3 times (it does NOT work at all )..They haven't gotten to it in months!
ANd that is a life or death situation.

Since they told us about the parking space thing, I am going to start keeping a log of all the things that need doing, when we ask them to do it and how long it takes for them to do it or if they say no and shrug us off....

ARGHHH.....I HATE renting.

Thanks for letting me vent!
 

amandaofcols

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I feel your pain! That's why I am so terribly relieved that I now own my own home!! Yeah, now I'm responsible for fixing everything, but at least it gets done in a timely manner!
 

milopixie

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I've noticed a lot of landlords are good for getting your money on time, but not at doing anything else in a timely manner. Mine is like that too, I'm still waiting for my new stove & new exhaust fan, I've been waiting since November of last year!!!

If it gets to something really bad, like smoke detectors, is there an owner that you can contact? I've thought about that at my place, but haven't done anything yet.
 

rockcat

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Originally Posted by milopixie

I've noticed a lot of landlords are good for getting your money on time, but not at doing anything else in a timely manner. Mine is like that too, I'm still waiting for my new stove & new exhaust fan, I've been waiting since November of last year!!!

If it gets to something really bad, like smoke detectors, is there an owner that you can contact? I've thought about that at my place, but haven't done anything yet.
Can you buy your own smoke detectors and deduct the price from your rent?
 

ugaimes

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Oooh, he sounds like a jerk!

There are agencies that you can report negligent landlords to. I think there are places in each city where you can make those reports. Maybe contact city hall and find out who you can speak to?

He does have an obligation to fix things that go wrong in your apt. through no fault of your own (after all, that's why we all pay exorbitant amounts in rent!), and if he's not doing that, he's negligent.

Good luck
.
 
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loveysmummy

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Thanks guys..It is the owner we speak to sometimes and sometimes its the caretaker...
They are both good friends and have the same attitude about things...

Amy, we do have the Landlord/tenancy agency..and I am going to look up their site and see what rights a tenant has. BF says that people don't realize the rights they actually have as tenants, and that landlords are powerless when it comes to certain things..

But you want to keep the peace at the same time you want things to get done, you know???

The friend with the smoke detector suggested that if I start things with them, they could "make your life hell"..But I really don't know HOW they could do that...

Another thing was our air conditioner. We have the cheap kind in our building,but it should at least work. We did get two new ones but BF had to carry them upstairs himself and install them himself (he offered to be nice)..One other thing: They didn't put the air conditioner covers on last winter as the caretaker was TOO SCARED to climb the ladder to the third floor, so they just put them on the 1st floor!!! We complained about the heat bill as its high anyway, but they then answered that they went door to door asking everyone if their heat bill was higher than normal and they said it wasn't...Yeah, I am so sure you did that....


I do know that you can't just fix things yourself and deduct it from your rent.
You have to submit a complaint and let the agency contact the owner.

You can also contact the agency and see how many complaints a landlord has had over the years too. I had a landlord I did go to court with once and it turned out she had 10 open files of complaints on her...Wish I had known that at the time!!!
 

mferr84

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Sounds like the house I just moved out of on base in Cali. AND the apartment I lived in before in texas. My tub in my house was painted and it was all chipping off and clogging up the tub. And our apartment in texas, we were on the top floor and the pipes in the bathroom were so messed up, half the time you turned on the shower, the pipes in wall would start banging really hard, and the sink leaked so bad it would leak all over the bathroom and into the hall.. during the day while we were gone... but none of this was their problem

I know it's irritating. That landlord(like a lot of others I know) sounds like a lazy jerk!
 

kittylover4ever

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Landlords, Oh, I remember them well.........my old landlady just used to walk right into my house, unannoucned. I was sitting there at the kitchen table one time in a tshirt and underwear, and she came in to say hi! We lived in a duplex and she lived next door! I learned to LOCK my doors after that!
 

blue_monday_88

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Oh believe me, I sympathize with you and whoever wrote "Landlords seem quick to collect their money"...but when it comes to holding their end of the bargain, where are they?

My first landlord was all right - a little unapproachable but he did what he had to when we asked.

My second landlord spoke little English and had a THICK Italian accent. I was constantly asking him to repeat what he said. When he *wanted* you to understand what he was saying, he spoke fine. Then he'd play the "I-Don't-Speak-English-Card" when he was caught doing something, well erm ILLEGAL (like coming into our apartment...when we're home...just because he "heard a noise" but not because "he was nosy!")

So we moved to the building next door. Maria & Joe were wonderful, took care of everything, charged us very little for rent. We called and they were over the next day to fix something.

Then they sold the building. Conveniently, the new owners kept my boyfriend and I as defacto "supers" on site because they lived kinda far away...although we didn't receive a break on rent nor any compensation for doing repairs in *their* building...and let me stress *THEIR* building. When I say minor repairs, I mean 8 hours of my boyfriend's time on his day off to bring their building up to code (and no extra "dollars" in the envelope when we put in our receipts for parts)...Boyfriend was at fault making like it was OK, but it wasn't the first time they took advantage of his kindness.

So we moved to a managed property, which strictly abides by renter's laws, and we thought all our problems were solved...NOT!! Our apartment was supposed to be painted and ready to live by the time our lease began. We moved in the middle of the week...and they were STILL Painting on the weekend. Also, no window treatments were provided so we had a bright-a$$ sun reflecting off the Hudson River every morning. So right off the bat, we had to spend tons of money to live comfortably. But I mean all in all, not bad right?

Well, then comes the stove smokes even if we try to heat leftovers at a low setting and .it sets off the detectors. We tell them the third time this happens and they're all, Well you're due for a new stove anyway...we'll put in a request for it. OK fine. FIVE MONTHS LATER our house is still smoking when we try to cook a meal, and we get our stove THEN (guess they didn't use Sears LOL). Still not that bad, right?

Before that, they touted their on-site laundry facilities which is a big bonus for me, I am a freak about laundry. However, they only had 4 washers and 4 dryers for the whole building. OK so you just need to make sure no one is using them when you want to do it. Still not bad. Well, I've been there for 10 months and two seem to be working at any given time, and even then, not that great...and the dryers FUGGEDABOUTIT!!! Only two work AT ALL and one out of the two that work makes this weird noise that sounds like it's going to explode! We tell the mgmt company and they're like "SIGH, not our problem." Um, who's is it then? Tell the owner and he gets all attitude-y like, "Call mgmt." WTH? It's not like its a free service, we certainly pay for it one way or another...

So now I have to again take time out of my schedule to go to the laundromat down the street every week...which wouldn't be so bad if their equipment wasn't circa 1955 (think Happy Days). So now I have to DRIVE to the laundromat...which still, isn't that bad beacuse there is one locally...but with rising gas prices and all, we really need to conserve. Again, not that bad.

Well, the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was the ENTIRE WEEKEND WITH NO HOT WATER. None. At all. Meaning I had to shower at my gym which is by my job, only about 40 minutes away on a good day. No one is in the office on the weekends, so we call the emergency number...the owner. He gives us cr@p about it...saying, "Oh *maybe* Monday?" Mind you, it's Saturday morning. Sorry, but that's unacceptable. If he lived there, I'm sure he'd be singing another tune. We call the management office, and not only are they like, "Don't complain." They give us a song and dance about how being Saturday, no plumbing supply place is open past 12. Excuse me? The Home Depot, 15 minutes away, is open 24-7. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

But that's not all with the hot water...I am off on Fridays, and it seems like if I don't get in the shower before like 11 am, I can't take a hot one until roughly 3 or 4 pm. kind of bites, on my day off, if I want to socialize OFFENDIN. Where's the super in this scenario? Oh, he's never anywhere to be found. He's also one of the selective English people. But when you try to speak Spanish (and I speak limited amounts, enough to get by when I need to, one has to, in my neighborhood) to him, all of sudden, he doesn't understand THAT either!!!!!

Plus, when he's working on the hot water heater, he never tells anyone, not even management. Hey, you know what, if you need to do routine maintenance on it, fine. Give the tenants advanced notice. Or slip a note under their door. Not THE DAY AFTER a scheduled maintenance took place. "We will be working on the hot water heater Wednesday." Not acceptable when you receive it on Thursday @ 12:30 after midnight...oh by the way, we figured out there was maintenance on the heater when our showers were FREEZING COLD IN THE MORNING!! THANKS FOR WARNING THERE JACK!

So why don't we own? Easy -- we cannot afford to keep our lifestyle in NJ and buy a home. Prices are so outrageous, it's actually more economical (where we are in our lives) to rent.

So the moral of the story...moving out of this building...to a privately owned building by someone who knows the law and lives there so anything impacts her as well. We brought up hot water issues, and she's like "Hey I like hot showers. If have no hot water, I'm a crab and I'm going to figure it out." Score!

Anyway, sorry about my soliloquy
But I definitely sympathize...you're not the only one


To the OP -- You did everything you could in your power to inform the landlord that the rent would be 2 days late. I could see it being a week late that he'd get annoyed, but most laws (not sure what it's like in Canada) indicate that rent "due" on the 1st of the month is not considered "late" until after the 5th of the month. Not sure what its like for you. If I were your landlord/super, I wouldn't penalize you
. You were honest and were on time.
 

purr

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When one of my friends was having problems with the manager of her apts. she called a renters hotline that gave you free legal advice and renter information. I did a search for it but I only found one for Nevada, but you could try searching for one for your state.
 

milopixie

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Originally Posted by blue_monday_88

Well, then comes the stove smokes even if we try to heat leftovers at a low setting and .it sets off the detectors. We tell them the third time this happens and they're all, Well you're due for a new stove anyway...we'll put in a request for it. OK fine. FIVE MONTHS LATER our house is still smoking when we try to cook a meal, and we get our stove THEN (guess they didn't use Sears LOL). Still not that bad, right?

Before that, they touted their on-site laundry facilities which is a big bonus for me, I am a freak about laundry. However, they only had 4 washers and 4 dryers for the whole building. OK so you just need to make sure no one is using them when you want to do it. Still not bad. Well, I've been there for 10 months and two seem to be working at any given time, and even then, not that great...and the dryers FUGGEDABOUTIT!!! Only two work AT ALL and one out of the two that work makes this weird noise that sounds like it's going to explode! We tell the mgmt company and they're like "SIGH, not our problem." Um, who's is it then? Tell the owner and he gets all attitude-y like, "Call mgmt." WTH? It's not like its a free service, we certainly pay for it one way or another...

So now I have to again take time out of my schedule to go to the laundromat down the street every week...which wouldn't be so bad if their equipment wasn't circa 1955 (think Happy Days). So now I have to DRIVE to the laundromat...which still, isn't that bad beacuse there is one locally...but with rising gas prices and all, we really need to conserve. Again, not that bad.
Do you live in my apartment complex??? If we didn't live in different towns, I'd swear we lived in the same complex!! Only one of our 4 washers is broken though, lol.
 

blue_monday_88

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Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

Landlords, Oh, I remember them well.........my old landlady just used to walk right into my house, unannoucned. I was sitting there at the kitchen table one time in a tshirt and underwear, and she came in to say hi! We lived in a duplex and she lived next door! I learned to LOCK my doors after that!
Kitty Lover, I think I got you beat...

the second landlord I mentioned in my soliloquy...the one who spoke clear English when he wanted you to understand, then conveniently forgot when he was in "trouble" -- walked in on me three times...

Once was when I was getting out of the shower...I had been sick and slept past noon...I guess I was really quiet that morning because they were making a BUNCH of noise installing a new carpet in the hallway...anyway, I finally get up to shower...mind you, I was home by myself and I usually just strut around naked if no one else is there. This time, I was wearing a towel, I walk out of the bathroom and i see my landlord's grandson in my open doorway, installing the carpet (he had to open my door to get it fully in place)...I went "OMG!!!" I ran back into the bathroom...his wife actually called me and was like "OMG we had no idea you were home!" Of course, at the time, I thought it was funny but it didn't occur to me that prior to that face-to-face, I had no idea they were doing any work. But we laughed it off anyway...

the NEXT time was when my cousin got his own apartment and moved out...maybe we were making some noise helping him move, but he still had stuff in the apt. My boyfriend and I came home after leaving at like 9 am and not returning till about 3 pm, and our front door is WIDE open. We're like "OMG we left the door open???" Then we see oiur landlord snooping around my cousin's boxes and our other things. We were like "What's going on?" OK THEN he spoke perfect Italian -- which my boyfriend understood, to a degree. Then he left, and we were like "We're changing the locks."

So a couple of months later, he says to my boyfriend, "The man from code inspection comes tomorrow, I need your keys." We asked him that if were to make copies, just make a copy of the bottom lock, if the "man" comes as he says, we would just leave the top lock alone. He said fine. We get our keys back. Maybe the weekend or two weekends after that, I was sick (again) and sleeping in bed....I hear a knock on the door. I know it has to be our landlord. So I ignore it. I had both locks locked, he wouldn't come in right? WRONG! He let himself into the apartment and I ran out of my bedroom like a banshee screaming at him, "WHAT DID WE TELL YOU!?!?! WHY ARE YOU COMING IN HERE?!?!?!??!!?" Then he starts saying, "Oh I heard a noise." He walked with a cane and was like, "I was gonna hit it with the cane."

I said, "What if it was ME that was making the noise?? You know and I know there was NO NOISE!!!"

One month later, we moved.

Again, can you tell I love talking about my living experiences?!?!?
 

blue_monday_88

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Originally Posted by milopixie

Do you live in my apartment complex??? If we didn't live in different towns, I'd swear we lived in the same complex!! Only one of our 4 washers is broken though, lol.
Hey I see you are from Bloomfield! Score! I love that area, esp Montclair and Bloomfield Aves!
 

sofiecusion

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UGH!!! I do know the feeling...they are called slumlords!!!

My old landlord took advantage of college students. They didn't fix a lot of the stuff we put on our move-in report....thank goodness we went through everything thoroughly or else we would have been charged. For the students who stayed in the summer, they would have some reason to enter our apartment once a week. However, they did replace the windows (the week after Thanksgiving), and one of our new windows would not open at all for almost the entire 2 years we lived there!!! They would come in to clean our windows, foil our burners, look at our fridge from 20 feet away, and anything else they could think of to come in! I could go on. A few frustrated students created a website where students could voice their opinions on my old landlord. I never posted, but it was good to see that it wasn't just me or my complex that he owned!

The only good thing about them was that they allowed cats. Boy am I ever glad I don't live in student housing anymore!!!


Here is a website where you can give your apartment and landlord a review for other people to see in case they want to mkove in. It doesn't help you, but it sure may help someone else know what they are getting into if they are considering living there. It's where I looked while apartment hunting....

www.apartmentratings.com
 
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loveysmummy

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Originally Posted by blue_monday_88

To the OP -- You did everything you could in your power to inform the landlord that the rent would be 2 days late. I could see it being a week late that he'd get annoyed, but most laws (not sure what it's like in Canada) indicate that rent "due" on the 1st of the month is not considered "late" until after the 5th of the month. Not sure what its like for you. If I were your landlord/super, I wouldn't penalize you
. You were honest and were on time.
Oh nooo. You sound like you have it rough too! I can understand the part about not being able to afford a house and still maintain your lifestyle...


You know, if I recall, that is the same law here (rent not late til the 5th).
But our landlord seems to disregard this...Last week when I went out, I noticed that the caretaker had taped a PRE-EVICTION notice on my neighbours door.
I don't know the story but I stopped to read the letter
(how embarrassing too! Why not just slip it under the door?) ..

It was an intimidating bid at getting rent. These people have lived there a long time and I don't recall them ever having a notice like that before but essentially it said...Your rent is one week late and then proceeded to be embarrassing and bullying them into submission (ie, Your first priority SHOULD BE YOUR RENT!!..Vacancy rates are 0% right now..You will not find a place if we have to kick you out..blah, blah...
I mean they should have made arrangements but how embarrassing for them and they didn't go out all day so it was still there the next day.

I am going to look into some laws about fixing things right now...
 
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loveysmummy

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This is what I found out from the Landlord/Tenancy Agency in my city:

"Before the Branch becomes involved in a request for repairs, a tenant must first ask the landlord to do the repairs. A tenant is responsible to tell a landlord when repairs are needed. A landlord needs to know so they can fix a problem before thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s any further damage or loss. Ideally, the tenant should give the landlord a written request to do the work.

A request for repairs can include repairs to furniture supplied with the unit.

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If the landlord does not do the repairs, the tenant may complete a Tenant's Request for Repairs form. The tenant fills out three copies of the form and gives one copy to the landlord and two copies to the Branch. A tenant may later add repairs to the original request, but only after giving both the Branch and the landlord the additional requests in writing."

However, this doesn't help me when the owners says its our fault for clogging the drain...::censor::censor::censor::
 
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