Mine, for example, has not paid my water bill, which our contract plainly states is his duty; the water company are threatening to shut me off; and the scum has gone off on Christmas holiday and can't be reached! I am extremely annoyed, an extra expense is really the last thing I need at the moment.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Ours charges us an illegal water bill.
I'm still thinking of calling code enforcement and reporting it.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by King of Men: Mine, for example, has not paid my water bill, which our contract plainly states is his duty; the water company are threatening to shut me off; and the scum has gone off on Christmas holiday and can't be reached! I am extremely annoyed, an extra expense is really the last thing I need at the moment.
Sorry man, I once saw a house that had a hose connecting the gase line from next door to theirs. They knew when the person who read the gauges came and took down the contraption every time he came and put it back up when he left.
Is there some sort of legal authority you can appeal to for him failing to own up to his contract?
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Yes, probably; for fifty bucks I don't know if it's worth while, though. I'm sure he'll pay me back. It's just hassle.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Document it, and take it out of the next months rent.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
quote:Ours charges us an illegal water bill.
I'm still thinking of calling code enforcement and reporting it.
Illegal how?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
It's illegal to charge tenants for water in our county.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Then why wouldn't you report him?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Because it's not anonymous and we don't have a great relationship to begin with, and I'm not sure if it's worth the pain.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Document it, and take it out of the next months rent.
Agreed. Make sure to get a copy of the paid receipt and give it to the landlord with your short-paid rent check, along with a letter explaining what you did and why. And keep copies of all of it for your own records as well.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Because it's not anonymous and we don't have a great relationship to begin with, and I'm not sure if it's worth the pain.
This is what your landlord is counting on. It's what so many bad landlords count on, that their tennent won't think it's worth the hassle to report him to the Housing Authority and deal with whatever repercussions ensue. A former roommate and I had a similar problem, we had problems with the plumming and the oven in the house we were renting. We reported the problems every month when we paid the rent, but nothing was done. Finally, when we were moving out, we basically told the guy, we're not painting the house, we're not paying you the full last month's rent, and you will give us back the full deposit, or you'll be reported to the HA. He agreed to everything, but we'd have been better off reporting him much earlier in our tennancy, then we might have had an oven that didn't become as hot as possible, no matter what you set it at, and the plumming might not have backed up all the time. Oh, and he might have had the roof fixed so that we didn't get dripped on during rainstorms.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Because it's not anonymous and we don't have a great relationship to begin with, and I'm not sure if it's worth the pain.
More often than not, you can start by getting legal forms that inform the landlord that they must do something about the problem within a certain amount of time (in Idaho it was 3 days). You must also inform them of the penalties for not complying. If they don't comply and you have informed them with a legal document, you can sue them in small claims court (again in Idaho, you can sue for up to three times the damages). It is also illegal (at least, in Idaho) for a landlord to evict someone for giving them a written document like this. More often than not, just that notice is enough to get a landlord off their butts.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Well, I don't want to deal with his abuse (he yells.) I'm kind of afraid of him. Seriously. I'm not afraid of him kicking us out, I'm afraid of him making our tenancy more miserable than it already is.
I do intend to turn him in when we move out. I don't care what he does after we're gone, he won't have our new address.
Posted by Oobie Binoobie (Member # 8059) on :
quote:Originally posted by Boris: More often than not, just that notice is enough to get a landlord off their butts.
That's really true; about 15 years ago, when I lived in Utah, I wrote such a notice to get the landlord to fix a big leak in the window frame; we were getting quite a large draft.
I phrased it the way those legal documents Boris is talking about phrase it, and the leak was fixed within something like two days.
Of course, then they kind of took revenge, holding on to my deposit and imposing junk fees which weren't worth the effort to recover. Use the legal recourse only after everything else is exhausted.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
In some areas (and/or in some lease agreements) it is illegal for renters to "short" the rent check to recoup expenses that the landlord has agreed (or should be covering.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Most places it is legal, but only after you have notified the landlord of the problem and he has failed to address it.
Most places you have to place it in escrow, unless you pay to have it fixed.
That is why I said document it.
Posted by NicholasStewart (Member # 9781) on :
I had plenty of good and bad expierences renting. All the more reason to buy a house when it is financially possible (and the right thing to do).
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
I am extremely annoyed, an extra expense is really the last thing I need at the moment.