I've got eleven months to go on a lease, and a whole slew of problems with a new (to me) apartment, and a cheap, possibly negligent landlord. How do I remedy them? LOTS of details inside. But if you don't want to read the whole kit-and-caboodle inside here are the Cliff notes: (a) Landlord took more than weeks to fix the unusable bathroom sink; blamed the repairman. (b) Landlord expects me to find/select/transport the washer/dryer he’s obligated by lease to provide, and was missing on our move-in, and for less than $200. (c) Landlord flat-out refused to clean disgustingly smelly carpets we encountered on moving day (d) Landlord reneged on verbal agreement to replace crappy kitchen linoleum (e) Landlord made repeated, guilt-trippy and borderline abusive calls about first month's rent, and (bonus) (f) makes (super odd) references to lesbians. [Way too many details inside; you probably don't need to bother reading unless you want specific specifics]
After long and futile summer craigslisting, my girlfriend and I went to a realtor to find us an apartment [Boston area] for one year, beginning 9/1. The realtor found us a fair (not exceptional) apartment for a fair (not exceptional) price. Since it met our needs (though not, as I’ve said, exceptionally) we took it. I forked over a lot of money up front (first month, last month, month security, and half-month’s fee to realtor) totalling about 5K. Since then we’ve had a number of issues with the landlord. In order of occurance:
[The sink] The landlord was unable to do a walkthrough until September 5th, though we moved in on the 1st. On the 5th we informed him the sink was unusably plugged. Stuck full of hair. Wouldn’t drain. Landlord said he’d take care of it immediately. He blamed the issue on previous tenants; “butches, lesbians; don’t know where to wash their hair, always washing their hair in inappropriate places.” But he didn’t do anything. We still couldn’t use the sink two weeks later… at which time I called and asked the landlord what was happening. He said he’d already sent the handyman over, who’d said there wasn’t a problem. After consulting the handyman, Mr. Landlord called me back to tell me the handyman had visited unit number 3, instead of our unit, number 2. Within 24 hours the handyman came to fix the leak, so we considered this issue closed. Until…
[The washing machine/dryer] Our lease specifies we’ll be provided a washer/dryer, though if either breaks they will not be repaired. Due to some miscommunication, the machines vanished with the previous tenant (Mr. Landlord: “girls have no respect for property, got no respect at all, take anything isn’t nailed down, even took the bins in the fridge”). He did not provide replacement appliances at move-in. Girlfriend and I were understanding, and said we could even do without a dryer, as long as we got a washer soon. Mr. Landlord asked if I’d do the legwork and get a washer for him. Stupidly, I said yes. But now he’s asking me to find one for under $200, used, (including, presumably, delivery). I’m not sure I have the time/information to do this on my own. Not to mention, issue number 3…
[The bedroom carpet/THE STENCH!] The previous tenants (Mr. Landlord: “butches, lesbians, who hate men – like some of ‘em Catholic nuns I know I went to school with”) moved out on the last day of August, letting us move a little stuff in before they were totally gone. There were no in-between days for Mr. Landlord to do work on the place. It was left in decent condition, with carpets vacuumed. Not spot-clean, certainly not as clean as I’d leave the place, but adequete -- barely. However: the bedroom stank. Stank like stagnant poop residue in the corner. Or a dead animal in the wall. Or a pet’s tank overturned on the floor. Badly enough that girlfriend and I had to buy an air purifier, and have to air the room out all the time. During the walkthrough (9/5), girlfriend and I told Mr. and Mrs. Landlord that we were bothered by the stench, and wanted the carpets professionally cleaned (nothing in the apartment had been touched by landlords at all, remember). Mr. and Mrs. Landlord flatly refused, on the grounds (a) they claimed not to smell anything (b) “that is definitely the tenants’ responsibility.” Since then, we have been trying to live with the smell (which has abated a bit, but is nevertheless unpleasant...) and would probably have just rented a steam-vac, but for…
[The kitchen floor] Prior to signing the lease, when still considering the apartment, I remarked to the realtor that the kitchen linoleum was in terrible shape: cracked, scratched, buckled, patched, broken, beat-up.
[Pics on flickr here]. And still before signing the lease for the apartment, I asked the realtor if he'd relay to the landlords that we wanted the linoleum fixed. He picked up the phone immediately and called the Mr. and Mrs., asked if they'd be willing to make this repair. They said they hadn't seen it in a while, but that conditional upon it being in bad shape, they'd take care of it. Satisfied, the realtor hung up the phone, we signed the lease, paid the money, and we got the apartment. I did NOT get a clause about the linoleum put in the lease; the realtor said that it would diminish my chances of getting the apartment if I appeared too needy up front. During the walkthrough on 9/5, Mr. Landlord said he ‘could get around to replacing it sometime’ but not immediately, or soon, or (I’m guessing) during my tenancy because expenses were tight. Honestly, I wouldn’t have moved into the place if I’d known he’d be so disagreeable. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was…
[The rent check issue]
(i) (9/29) I got a call yesterday morning, from Mr. Landlord saying he didn’t get my half of the rent. I explained that my girlfriend would be paying all of the rent this month, because I’d paid all of the fees on the place before move-in, and cash was a bit tight. He was irritated, and said he expected rent by the 25th (as it says in the lease). I explained that my girlfriend had sent him two bank checks on the 20th, and that he should take another look around – at least one showed as ‘delivered’. This actually took three phone calls, because landlord does not have his ‘money girl’ on hand.
(ii) (9/29)Another call from landlord, yesterday afternoon, saying the checks /did/ come in the mail. Followed by a tirade about how expects it on the 25th, as outlined in the lease. I explained that it was mailed on the 21st, and that, frankly, 4 days was ample leeway for something to arrive by mail from one end of town to the other. And that next month I will send it earlier.
(iii) (9/29) Received another chiding call from landlord about an hour after (ii) concluded, telling me that I had seemed initially like a nice person and he didn’t expect this kind of thing from me. Told me I had him over a barrel, and how was he supposed to pay his bills if our bills weren’t paid on time. And how is he supposed to pay his mortgage on the place if we don’t get him our rent by the 25th (or 17th for an out-of-state check)? I tell him I don’t know… my girlfriend sent him two checks on the 20th, mailed on the 21st, etc., etc., etc….
(iv) (9/29) I ignore a call at night from the landlord. I’m sick of talking to him.
(v) (9/30) I ignore a morning call from the landlord. I’m sick of talking to him.
(vi) (9/30) I call the landlord back, feeling guilty and a little harassed. Landlord starts in on my ‘irresponsible behavior, because it turns out my GF’s checks are from an out of state bank (though they was a cashier’s check sent directly from Bank of America), and that as explained in the lease, out of state checks are due on the 17th, and that we’re ‘off to a bad start’ and that I’m causing him ‘a lot of stress and anxiety, stress and anxiety, because how am I gonna pay my stuff if you pay your rent late?” Yet again, I explained I had not sent any check, that he needed to talk to my girlfriend, but for what it was worth we’d get him everything on time next month. [[This means that if we’re going to pay with out of state checks, and need to allow him ample time to process the paperwork, and need to mail them more than 5 days in advance we will need to post the checks around the 10th of the month prior to the month for which we are paying. Am I nuts? Is this incredibly high maintenance? ]]
Metafilter, what do I DOOOOO? How do I get my issues fixed? Do I stand a chance at getting this resolved?
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posted by mr. remy at 6:02 PM on September 30