I live in Dallas, Texas.
Hello and good morning,
As you can see from the time of this post, I am at my witts end with this landlord.
First let me say that I was STUPID enough to convince my husband to sign a TWO year lease. We rent a house for $1450/month. It is the BIGGEST mistake I have ever made renting. I moved from Canada about three years ago and I know this would not even be allowed there!
OK, we moved in on September 4/2004, our landlord had the use of the garage for two months (which was originally suppose to be one) for a fee of $200. To make a long story short, he had no where to put his items and that was the agreement prior to moving in. Another mistake! We made another mistake by agreeing to $5/per day thereafter because we were told it may be a few addtional days and is why we added the $5/day charge to the lease. He was in the process of waiting for his house to close.
So, we move in and the first thing we notice is the bathtub is not draining when we finished giving our two year old a bath. The tub seems to be on a slant and the drain is on the HIGH end, which means, we have to push the water up the tub in order to fully drain it. If we did not, there would always be about 1.5" of water in the back of the tub.
The, prior to us moving in, we asked that the carpet be shampooed because we have two children that are allergic to cats and they had one. When we move in the place is FIFLTHY to say the least. My 2 year old went to look out the window (there is curtains) and when she came back to the couch, her jean dress was filled all the way down her back with cat hair.
All three bathrooms had urine around the bottom of the tolilet. The master bathroom had tissue stuck to the urine. There was over an inch of dust on the baseboards throughout the entire house. There was items left in the kitchen drawers, along with dead bugs, feces, dust, dirt and everything else that goes with that. The heating unit (cupboard) has mold on the bottom shelf from a previous leak which he said is fixed.
He promised to have a whole list of repairs done by the beginning of December and we are still waiting. He has fixed items at least three times with a band-aid and continues to do so in order to show he is making an effort.
We have had to call him at least once a week since we moved in with little to nothing getting resolved. Our back pipe was missing the tap on top and the water would shoot in the air when I turned it on (imagine the sight the first time that happened and I was not expecting it). He told me that was a cosmetic repair until the plunber let him know it was not so it was fixed. In the meantime, he sent a letter stating the plumder would fix a bunch of other items and once the plumber was here, told him not to do it while I was standing in the kitchen with him!
Then he comes two days later, after sending him a 30 day notice, and says he told the plumber to fix the items and would call him back. That was November 10/2004-It is now January 6th/05.
Prior to moving in, we were told by the landlord and his fiance that we would have a garage door opener and on the way out from signing the lease, his fiance says, don't worry we will have the garage door opener on before you move in.
One his items are out of the garage and I start asking him to fix items, he claims he never promised us an opener and "we did not sign a lease with his fiance, we signed one with him" so we have no rights!
Oh, he called us the day prior ot moving in and asked us if we would mind "chipping in 25%" fior a NEW garage door opener because he did not know what was wrong with the old one! Of course I said no.
There is exposed wiring outside the garage where the light was and he is saying it is a cosmetic repair.
The shingles on the roof sound like someone is walking on it when it gets windy. He asked me if any shingles blew off and never checked it out. The people who fix roofs were here almost everyday after he moved out saying the roof needs to be repaired asap. He told them to stop harrassing him!
The dishwasher overflows when we use the sink for more than 5 minutes (the dishwasher is hooked up to the garbage disposal). He probably did it himself like everything else.
Our windows leak, front is inside the windows. He told us to buy duck tape and waether strip and to deduct it from the rent as well as the maid cost. He agreed that since my mother-in-law (who lives in Ohio) was here and started cleaning already, he would pay her. We deduted it from the rent this month. A total of $199.02 and on the 3rd at 12:01am, I get a email saying we are behind on the rent and now owe him $25 late fee plus $10/day until the rent is paid. Which is not what our lease said. It states $10/day for a maximum of 30 days.
He has "fixed" our back gate with a chain which he has come to repair 3 times. Now, with the rain we have had lately, the gate is wedged into the fence so we can not get out.
Our garage door opener which we did get when we did not bother him for two months, is now not working and he is blaming it on the garage door installer when we had problems with the door prior to it being installed and he knows this.
We had to threaten to leave the house if he did not come out and fix the back door. Our kids were freezing on X-Mas because a huge draft is coming from the side of the fireplace. My older daughters bedroom ihas anattic and is letting a lot of drafts through there also.
The back door has also been repaired by him four times and still is not fixed. he is now on vacation until the 10th and we can not get out our back door, right side of the garage. Our windows are leaking. Our diswasher overflows onto the floor.
The list goes and we have a $1950 deposit with him.
We can not afford to leave since we are liable for the remainder of the lease, not to mention the cost of a lawyer.
Our back door has been shaved for some reason. So the lower you go the larger the gap gets. He was here on the 27th and said he would have the door off for 2-3 hours and would cover it with plastic like they use in the butchers.
He gets here are 10:15am, measures the door he has worked on many times. Leaves and comes back about 15 minutes later. Takes the door off and puts it outside the fence. In the meantime, he hangs a piece of plastic with three nails on the top of the door frame. It was windy and that was all that was holding the plastic so it was blowing the bottom and sides out the door. If that was not bad enough, he let it blow and then used his shoes to keep it outside. Left our door off until 5pm that night with the baby in the house, and all he did was add some yellow expandable foam to the bottom hold on the inside of the rotten door. Once the door was on, he added a piece of weather strip on the outside.
During all this time the door was off, he spent three of those ours banginf tacks into the attic door to hold one sided weather strip. I am a women and I know you don't need nails for weather strip! It sticks itself....
Seriously.... What can be done? I have so many pictures, problem is, I can not afford $200/hour for a lawyer.
Why is it that as long as the landlord shows up to the house for these repairs, we are stuck because he is showing an affort? What kind of country is this where a londlord can come and take a door off all day at the end of December with a baby in the house and we are the ones who have to find an attorney to leave or even try to break a lease?
PLEASE HELP!!!! I am loosing my mind with this guy and he knows it!
Hello and good morning,
As you can see from the time of this post, I am at my witts end with this landlord.
First let me say that I was STUPID enough to convince my husband to sign a TWO year lease. We rent a house for $1450/month. It is the BIGGEST mistake I have ever made renting. I moved from Canada about three years ago and I know this would not even be allowed there!
OK, we moved in on September 4/2004, our landlord had the use of the garage for two months (which was originally suppose to be one) for a fee of $200. To make a long story short, he had no where to put his items and that was the agreement prior to moving in. Another mistake! We made another mistake by agreeing to $5/per day thereafter because we were told it may be a few addtional days and is why we added the $5/day charge to the lease. He was in the process of waiting for his house to close.
So, we move in and the first thing we notice is the bathtub is not draining when we finished giving our two year old a bath. The tub seems to be on a slant and the drain is on the HIGH end, which means, we have to push the water up the tub in order to fully drain it. If we did not, there would always be about 1.5" of water in the back of the tub.
The, prior to us moving in, we asked that the carpet be shampooed because we have two children that are allergic to cats and they had one. When we move in the place is FIFLTHY to say the least. My 2 year old went to look out the window (there is curtains) and when she came back to the couch, her jean dress was filled all the way down her back with cat hair.
All three bathrooms had urine around the bottom of the tolilet. The master bathroom had tissue stuck to the urine. There was over an inch of dust on the baseboards throughout the entire house. There was items left in the kitchen drawers, along with dead bugs, feces, dust, dirt and everything else that goes with that. The heating unit (cupboard) has mold on the bottom shelf from a previous leak which he said is fixed.
He promised to have a whole list of repairs done by the beginning of December and we are still waiting. He has fixed items at least three times with a band-aid and continues to do so in order to show he is making an effort.
We have had to call him at least once a week since we moved in with little to nothing getting resolved. Our back pipe was missing the tap on top and the water would shoot in the air when I turned it on (imagine the sight the first time that happened and I was not expecting it). He told me that was a cosmetic repair until the plunber let him know it was not so it was fixed. In the meantime, he sent a letter stating the plumder would fix a bunch of other items and once the plumber was here, told him not to do it while I was standing in the kitchen with him!
Then he comes two days later, after sending him a 30 day notice, and says he told the plumber to fix the items and would call him back. That was November 10/2004-It is now January 6th/05.
Prior to moving in, we were told by the landlord and his fiance that we would have a garage door opener and on the way out from signing the lease, his fiance says, don't worry we will have the garage door opener on before you move in.
One his items are out of the garage and I start asking him to fix items, he claims he never promised us an opener and "we did not sign a lease with his fiance, we signed one with him" so we have no rights!
Oh, he called us the day prior ot moving in and asked us if we would mind "chipping in 25%" fior a NEW garage door opener because he did not know what was wrong with the old one! Of course I said no.
There is exposed wiring outside the garage where the light was and he is saying it is a cosmetic repair.
The shingles on the roof sound like someone is walking on it when it gets windy. He asked me if any shingles blew off and never checked it out. The people who fix roofs were here almost everyday after he moved out saying the roof needs to be repaired asap. He told them to stop harrassing him!
The dishwasher overflows when we use the sink for more than 5 minutes (the dishwasher is hooked up to the garbage disposal). He probably did it himself like everything else.
Our windows leak, front is inside the windows. He told us to buy duck tape and waether strip and to deduct it from the rent as well as the maid cost. He agreed that since my mother-in-law (who lives in Ohio) was here and started cleaning already, he would pay her. We deduted it from the rent this month. A total of $199.02 and on the 3rd at 12:01am, I get a email saying we are behind on the rent and now owe him $25 late fee plus $10/day until the rent is paid. Which is not what our lease said. It states $10/day for a maximum of 30 days.
He has "fixed" our back gate with a chain which he has come to repair 3 times. Now, with the rain we have had lately, the gate is wedged into the fence so we can not get out.
Our garage door opener which we did get when we did not bother him for two months, is now not working and he is blaming it on the garage door installer when we had problems with the door prior to it being installed and he knows this.
We had to threaten to leave the house if he did not come out and fix the back door. Our kids were freezing on X-Mas because a huge draft is coming from the side of the fireplace. My older daughters bedroom ihas anattic and is letting a lot of drafts through there also.
The back door has also been repaired by him four times and still is not fixed. he is now on vacation until the 10th and we can not get out our back door, right side of the garage. Our windows are leaking. Our diswasher overflows onto the floor.
The list goes and we have a $1950 deposit with him.
We can not afford to leave since we are liable for the remainder of the lease, not to mention the cost of a lawyer.
Our back door has been shaved for some reason. So the lower you go the larger the gap gets. He was here on the 27th and said he would have the door off for 2-3 hours and would cover it with plastic like they use in the butchers.
He gets here are 10:15am, measures the door he has worked on many times. Leaves and comes back about 15 minutes later. Takes the door off and puts it outside the fence. In the meantime, he hangs a piece of plastic with three nails on the top of the door frame. It was windy and that was all that was holding the plastic so it was blowing the bottom and sides out the door. If that was not bad enough, he let it blow and then used his shoes to keep it outside. Left our door off until 5pm that night with the baby in the house, and all he did was add some yellow expandable foam to the bottom hold on the inside of the rotten door. Once the door was on, he added a piece of weather strip on the outside.
During all this time the door was off, he spent three of those ours banginf tacks into the attic door to hold one sided weather strip. I am a women and I know you don't need nails for weather strip! It sticks itself....
Seriously.... What can be done? I have so many pictures, problem is, I can not afford $200/hour for a lawyer.
Why is it that as long as the landlord shows up to the house for these repairs, we are stuck because he is showing an affort? What kind of country is this where a londlord can come and take a door off all day at the end of December with a baby in the house and we are the ones who have to find an attorney to leave or even try to break a lease?
PLEASE HELP!!!! I am loosing my mind with this guy and he knows it!
