Vent about our Landlord

[Minnymouth]

WELL SCAMMER,

SOMETIMES - you even amaze me!!!!!

You are a usefull source of information when you want to "spit" it out................

Thanks for the suggestions,

Minny

[scammer]

WELL SCAMMER,

SOMETIMES - you even amaze me!!!!!

You are a usefull source of information when you want to "spit" it out................

Thanks for the suggestions,

Minny

yea, I think I will open a little thread, kinda like lucy had in peanuts titled;

"Scammer's, Renters question thread, answers 5 cents"

[Jenny]

Didn't you know about this place before you rented it? It sounds like it had a lot of problems when you moved in. Given the age and the problems, why would you pay anything to the landlord for a plumbing problem you know for a fact you did not cause? Why did you even rent it?

If you're going to move, pick a good place in good condition with a landlord that has some sort of history or references.

I can't imagine why a landlord would go through elaborate measures to evict you. If you've paid your rent on time and haven't caused any damage (aside from the plumbing stuff that you can prove isn't your fault), the landlord would have to be psycho or something to want to plot to evict you by causing a plumbing problem and then blame you for it.

[SinkingFast]

check in sheet for your protection and lanlords, keeps everyone honest, and always ask for a walkthrough upon vacating

Hindsight being 20/20,............ I thought about that the other day.

I don't know if Hubby did one with her or not. I wasn't here when he did the move in stuff. But I think NOT to a pre occupied walk thru. And if we wisk off into the nite on her, we definitely won't be doing an exit inspection with her or one of her sons. I think it would be best to get someone in here to walk thru that will say, "Yes I saw it and it was fine. They left it clean." etc.

The attny says he won't include her in the initial petition. He'll add her after we move. He said he can ammend any time in the 90 day time period after we initially file. The attny can include actual dollar amounts for rent and such and leave other things "open ended". So if she wants to claim damages, let her. That will covered in our BK claim against her. Wording to the effect of "as yet to be determined" I think was what was said. I'll be sure to meet with the Landlord Tenant Law attny to discuss how best to cover us. What approach to take in our BK petition.

She's an independent. She rents this house and a couple others. But,......... One of her son's has his own property management company of rental homes. Small side business. His main business is construction. Another son has gone uptown. He has multi-plexes. Newer construction. Hubby was actually living in one of the new multi-plexs when he first came here. We found out when we met our Landlord that the owner of Hubby's apt complex was her son. She bragged.

I had already been working on a "back story" as it were. I don't like to lie at all. I will tell bits and pieces of the truth, but I won't lie. So I was trying to piece together what to say to another prospective Landlord. The paralegal at the attny's office said to tell people, "We were having sewer problems in the basement and the Landlord refused to fix the situation." The truth.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated, Scammer. I do have to find another place to live.

[Jenny]

I think you might have problems renting another place if you include charges from a previous landlord in bankruptcy. You may be in the "right" in this case, but it might not matter. Hopefully someone has some suggestions for you and your family.

[scammer]

I think you might have problems renting another place if you include charges from a previous landlord in bankruptcy. You may be in the "right" in this case, but it might not matter. Hopefully someone has some suggestions for you and your family.

good, but a few more things, I can look at someones credit file and read exactly what is going on, and then look them straight in the eye and ask them, "so your going to file bk" Its impossible for someone to respond to that question, but say yes. Your housing should be established before your credit file starts burping outloud your intentions. I am not an expert with bankruptcy, and I haven't had to worry about it with a tenant. But, other property owners in my group will not touch anyone until after there case is discharged. I forgot what the reason was, but I know I am right. If this is not were you want to live for the next year or two, you better change relatively quickly. If you bolt, you lose the deposit, which it sounds like, there not real quality landlords and will steal it anyhow. You would also owe the remainder of the lease, so what. The toughest part is then like Jenny's other post, you have bad credit burping your intentions and no tenancy history. That leaves you dealing with more shitty landlords. My advice is go with a corporate landlord, only way your going to have a respectable home, and professional landlord. This will probably mean an apt. but hell, if somethings wrong, call the 24 hour maintenance dept. In closing, when you blow a lease diplomatic ties are broken with that landlord, and evidence of a falling out are prevalent. Hence the reason for a corporate landlord.
pardon my crappy typing skills, always in a hurry

by the way, when your a slum lord the game is to steal the deposit, slum lords know you don't have alot of choices, This deal with one burner working, by the time I got done with them, I would have had all new appliances. Not your fault if they mysteriously stop working. People don't screw with my stuff cause it is nice, no benefit, besides if they damage beyond normal wear and tear, guess who pays.

[SinkingFast]

Didn't you know about this place before you rented it? It sounds like it had a lot of problems when you moved in. Given the age and the problems, why would you pay anything to the landlord for a plumbing problem you know for a fact you did not cause? Why did you even rent it?

If you're going to move, pick a good place in good condition with a landlord that has some sort of history or references.

I can't imagine why a landlord would go through elaborate measures to evict you. If you've paid your rent on time and haven't caused any damage (aside from the plumbing stuff that you can prove isn't your fault), the landlord would have to be psycho or something to want to plot to evict you by causing a plumbing problem and then blame you for it.

We had no clue about the house. We're new here. We were coming in from out of town, and we had a week to look for a place to live. Hubby had gotten out and looked some, but houses were too small, or in far worse shape. At the time we came, there was this house and one other. We went with this one because it had fewer steps for Mom to deal with.

There was water in the basement when we came to check on cable outlets for the cable company. Either the Landlord's daughter or one of her Daughter-in-laws was here, with another lady, and some children. They were using the pool. The house has a pool and the Landlord's family uses the house when it isn't being rented. We pointed out the water in the basement to the Adult Female family member. That's when she spilled the beans about the horrendous back-up that had ruined the carpet downstairs. She would tell the Landlord about the problem and it would be fixed before we moved in, she said.

When the Landlord sent the letter, she sent copies of the bills for all the work she's had done on the sewer lines. First she had the tank pumped. Evidently it was determined then, that was not the problem. A week later, another company flushed the lines. The handyman, told me they never saw anything. No sign of a plug that the power rinsing broke loose. He said that when they came about 6 weeks after we'd moved in and had our 1st back up whilst living here. They flushed the lines again at that time. Same thing. Nothing. The Handyman was confused, but he had the showers going, flushed toilets, had sinks running, and ran water out of the washing machine. All that water going at once, and no back up so he hoped they'd taken care of the problem.

When we had the 2nd back up, the Handyman came again to assess the situation and advise the Landlord what to do. The Handyman was confounded but thought the blockage may be in the Vent pipe, not the sewer line. A blockage in the Vent pipe can cause the same problems becasue the water needs an air vent to flow out. The Handyman, to his recollection, did not think they'd ever cleaned out the Vent pipe. So, the Handyman recommended to the Landlord that she get the Vent Pipe cleaned out this time. She decided the handyman was wrong. The blockage had to be in the sewer line. So the Landlord sent one of her sons, the next day, with a rental roto-rooter unit, and Son worked on cleaning out the lines.

With the roto-rooter unit, son got out a couple tampons, a piece of fabric that looked like it had been cut from a T-shirt, a plastic bag, rubber bands, gobs of hair matted in greasy, slimy black stuff. I don't remember what all it was. But when the Son saw the tampons, his whole demeanor changed. I could tell he thought it was our daughters. The Son said over and over while he was finishing up working, "You've gotta be careful what you put in the lines. What you flush down the toilet." I told him over and over that we'd lived on a septic for years with no trouble.

I don't put food down the garbage disposal. I pour excess grease off into saved coffee cans and toss it into the garbage. If a skillet or pan has a smaller amount of oil or grease in the bottom, we wipe it out with paper towel before the pan gets washed, and put the oily paper towel in the garbage. And, our girls have been raised to not flush tampons. They've been told about the damage flushing tampons can do to septic systems. We can't control every bit of hair that might get into the sewer lines because we do shower. But no one cleans out a hairbrush and puts wads of hair in the toilet and flushes them.

I chatted with the Landlord immediately after her Son had been here. I could tell she thought it was us too. I assured her it wasn't. Reminded her about the Vent pipe. She blew that off again. She told me we needed to be careful what we put in the lines. Then she went on to tell me she wanted us to place a waste basket in each and every bathroom. There must be a waste basket in each and every bathroom. Huh?? The half bath is right next to the kitchen where there's a garbage can. I have a trash can in my bedroom up stairs. And the downstairs bath has a trash can right around the corner from it. If we use a tissue or Q-tip or something in the bathroom, we carry it to the garbage can.

When we had the 3rd back up she was mad, I could tell. She was short and snippy on the phone with me. We had 3 or 4 phone calls back and forth and not one lasted an entire minute. That's when the sewer guys showed up early and she was here, waiting with her key to let them in. No knock. No Hello. Or anything. About a week later, she left an evelope in our mailbox with a copy of the bill and a note saying she, "felt like we were responsible and we should pay her for the bill." We said No. I mentioned the Vent pipe again. She said she didn't believe it was that. Said she didn't feel well. Didn't wanna fight with me about this. And she hung up.

We had already planned a clean out day for that day. Weather was warm. Everyone was at home on that particular Saturday, so we went on with our day. We're still going thru stuff from the move. The kids ran 4 car loads of stuff over to Goodwill and we took one truck load. Old clothes they can't wear any more. Stuff that's been hung onto over the years that we don't use any more. Things I woulda got rid of on the other end, but just didn't get to before the move. This time, she calls Hubby's cell phone. I don't now what she said, but Hubby told her, "Your words are meaningless" and hung up on her. Immediately, she called him back and asked him if we were moving. He told her that it was none of her business what we were doing and hung up on her.

The following Monday, I got a call from the Leasing Agent. Our Landlord had called and whined and complained to the LA. So the LA was calling us to see if she could mediate in some way. The Leasing Agent was pressing real hard for us to pay the bill. "Can't you see how she would think it's you causing the problem??", the Leasing Agent said. I said if there hadn't been trouble with the house before we moved in, then yes I could see how she'd think it was us. If members of the Landlord's family hadn't used the house as a base for a camp at the University where an unknown number of teenaged girls had stayed here for week in July, right before we moved in, I'd consider it was us. If the Landlord had followed her Handyman's advise and cleaned out the Vent Pipe the 2nd time, I'd think maybe it was us. But we firmly believed there was a problem with the house that hadn't been resolved when we moved in and she was wanting us to pay for it.

About a week later is when the letter demanding payment came. I immediately called the Leasing Agent. During our previous phone chat the LA said she was gonna call the Landlord back and discuss what she and I had chatted about. Well, the Leasing Agent never called the Landlord back. In fact, the only contact the Leasing Agent had had with our Landlord was when Landlord called to tell the LA she was moving and update her contact info. The LA went on to say she places people in homes and apartments with both the sons and has placed several people in this house. There's never been a problem like this before. The Leasing Agent also went on to say that she's never seen a mean side to our Landlord. That's she's always been very sweet to deal with and no one else has ever complained about her. I said, "Oh Great. We are the odd duck."

I didn't think anything of that at the time. A day or so later a thought pinged in my head. With all the stuff you have to do associated with moving, and this is the only property that the Leasing Agent handles for her, and it's rented until the end of July, why take the time to call the Leasing Agent to update your contact info??!! Especially when you have 2 sons that do business with this Leasing Agent on a regular basis. One of them could give the LA Mom's updated contact info. Unless,........ The Landlord doesn't expect the house to be occupied until the end of July. Unless the Landlord plans to evict us. I told Hubby what I thought and he said he thought that I think too much. Then I had the nice little chat with the Landlord Tenant Law attny who said that yes indeed she could evict us if we don't pay up. She could claim we're abusing her house and want us removed to prevent further damages to the property.

Our Landlord has 5 grown, married children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren. Our Landlord isn't a well woman. She has congestive heart failure and other health issues. With so many kids and grandkids, including 3 sons that work right here, wouldn't you expect to see people constantly over there popping in to check on the Lady??!! Especially the sons who are so close by every day??!! But they don't. The only person who does come on a regular basis is the cleaning lady. Friends pop by every now and then and the Landlord goes out with them to shop or have lunch. Landlord goes out to the Doctor. There have been a few afternoon "family" get togethers over there on weekends and over the Holidays. But, by and large, her own family won't visit her much. She tries to tell everyone how to live, what they should and shouldn't do. She tries to run the show.

I am a person she barely knows. When I'd go over there to pay the rent, I'd have to stay as long as she wanted me to. You know how you can get stuck talking to people sometimes?? Some days she'd be in the mood to talk and I'd be there 45 minutes to an hour. Other times, in and out of the door in 15 minutes or less. In 6 visits paying the rent, she's told me how to wash and fold clothes, to be sure and close the damper on the one fireplace, how to arrange my furniture in the house, and what doctors we should go to. Not told in a friendly advise type of way. Told in the "this is how you should live your life" type of way. If she does that to a person she barely knows, can you imagine how she treats her family??!! Everyone we've met here that knows them can't say enough good about Landlord's Hubby who is deceased. But not one of the people has had anything good thing to say about her.

Long post. I'm sorry.

[jane taylor]

Dear Sinking:

I am so sorry that you are having to go through this! This lady is obviously not well, physically or mentally. She sounds like a major control freak and is extremely manipulative/passive aggressive. People like that are always sneaky. They get you back in underhanded ways. Most likely she has done this to everyone. People who don't know them well think they are wonderful. I can believe that she's told you how to fold clothes.

I know you know this, but document, document, document! Every conversation, everyone you talk to. And let her know you won't be manipulated.

Please keep me posted. PM me sometime if you'd like. You've been such a wonderful support to me and things seem to be leveling out for us (for a change!!). You can always vent with me!!

[SinkingFast]

Thank you so much, Jane for the kind words.

Scammer's comments about being with a "corporate" type landlord sounded good at the start. But we've rented before and I thought back over those rentals. The 4 apts were corporate run. But the 3 houses, prior to this rental, were rented from individuals. In the case of the houses, we rented from men all 3 times. Saw each one of those guys only once. At the start of the leases. That was it. Spoke with them on the phone like one other time, but never saw them again. Not one problem either way in dealing with the men.

I think if we do rent from an individual again, it'll have to be a man or I just won't do it. Or like Scammer suggested, go with a Corporate deal. There's a few property management companies in town that handle houses, but for the most part, we'll be looking at apartments.

[Minnymouth]

Its hard enough just dealing with bankruptcy, but also dealing with the headache of a landlord breathing down your collar (I think she's getting all her repairs done at your expense).... just makes it even harder.

Yes, its time to find another place to hang the hat...... If you have to rent - make it from a man or corporate housing. Men don't care "how you fold your clothes" and they don't have "nose trouble" either......

I know exactly what your talking about........ have rented part of my life.