Show Me the Money

The landlady finally sent me my deposit. I'm going to cash the check tomorrow and hope it doesn't bounce.

It's been like pulling teeth to get this woman to give me what she owes me. I called her the other day and asked, "Why haven't you sent me my deposit yet?"

She claimed to not have my address, which I emailed to her daughter 9 days ago, as she requested.

I reminded her of this fact, and she said her daughter couldn't get the address because "she hadn't been at work because of the holiday."

Your daughter got 9 days off work because of Thanksgiving? You live in a million-dollar house and have no internet access at home? Your daughter makes Facebook status updates through telepathy?

I told her to stop lying. I ran through a string of lies she's told me, as she kept trying to interrupt me with "Excuse me! Excuse me!"

I called her a liar. It felt good. I knew that even if she didn't send me the money right away, I still ruined her day by calling her in the morning. I live close enough to get mail from her in 1-2 days so I said that if she didn't pay up immediately I'd know.

I told her to send a money order and she ended up sending a check, but for now, I have a small victory.

Good News and Bad News

I'm currently in a new apartment. Wooo!

The other week I saw an ad looking for a roommate, and I pounced. The timing was perfect because my internet got cut off, and the city sent a notice threatening to shut off the water. There were two rat incidents this month as well.

I moved the weekend before Thanksgiving, and waited until I was done moving to notify the landlord because I was afraid those deadbeats would stop paying even more utility bills.

I called the landlady, expecting to hear a long sob story from her. Perhaps she was so surprised by the departure she didn't have anything to say, but she calmly made an appointment to meet with me last Tuesday to get my keys and return my deposit.

I suppose I should have expected it, but the bitch did not show up.

I sat in the empty house waiting for her. 15 minutes after our scheduled appointment time I called her.

"Mrs. ____, are you stuck in traffic?"

"I can't come today. I'm out of town."

"What? What do you mean you're out of town? You picked this day and time for us to meet."

"I'm not coming. I'm out of town."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was a sudden thing."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I don't have your phone number."

Liar! How in the hell did you call me early this month to hassle me for more money?

She then suggested we make another appointment during Thanksgiving weekend. No lady! I'm leaving town. I'm not coming back just so you can stand me up again.

I was so mad. Knowing how shady these people are, I had prepared a document for her to sign, stating, "As of this date, I've inspected the house, and Snark has returned the keys and is no longer responsible for anything that happens to the house, has paid all her bills, etc. etc."

Now she has my deposit and can accuse me of vandalizing the place or stealing the ugly crap she has stored in the garage and living room.

I absolutely did not want to retain possession of the keys during the time the house is empty, especially during the holidays, with a big "FOR SALE" sign out front. I went to the landlady's real estate agent's office, gave her secretary the keys, and got a receipt for them.

That wasn't ideal, but I hope it was the best I could do at that time.

The landlady "promised" she'll mail me my deposit check.

If it doesn't come very very soon I'll make it clear to her that crossing me is not worth $200.

Gobble Gobble

I have been very quiet because I've been busy moving, and dealing with a broken laptop and internet issues. (I'm on a borrowed computer and connection).

Yep, I found a new place to live. I'll spill on the details regarding my Super Bitch Landlady in the future, when the holiday crazy-time is over.

Have a happy turkey day people.

I Need to Move

I am officially fed up. Those of you who have been following my blog know about the litany of horrors I've been subjected to at my crappy apartment. My horrible landlord bullied me and my roommates because we were students that were too poor to hire a lawyer and too busy with school to fight a lawsuit.

My landlord lowered the rent in September (for the month of October) because I had no hot water for 12 days and they were afraid I was going to move.

Today Mrs. Landlord called me and says I didn't send her enough rent money for November. "Oh no, you misunderstood. The discount was just for October only. The regular rent applies from now on."

I kept living here because of the discount. She certainly gave me the impression that the discount was permanent because they were selling the house and couldn't get anyone else to rent.

Her husband happened to be at the house when she originally offered me the discount by phone in September. I immediately typed up a revised rental agreement and had her husband sign it because I didn't trust these people. I was right.

The landlady tried to weasel out of our agreement by saying, "I don't know anything about my husband signing any papers."

I gave him a copy to take home. It's not my fault he lost it. I can send you another copy.

"Well, the house is in my name. I take care of everything for the house. He can't make deals with you."

Then why is he willing to sign agreements?

"No, no, the discount is just for October. You need to send me more money now."

That's not fair. By signing, your husband told me I would pay the discounted rate perpetually. If you disagreed, you should have notified me right away, until waiting for me to pay for another month.

Her justification for charging me extra was "Oh woe is me. I have $800 in bills a month and your rent won't cover it."

Your money management problems are not my problem.

She continued to whine, "You know, your water bill was $400."

Um, that's only because you didn't pay for months, until the utility company shut off my water.

"I pay $85 a month so you can have internet."

That's a flat out lie. For $85 a month I should have data packets being delivered to me by cherubs carrying silver platters.

I read her the riot act. I told her the lack of communication between her and her husband was not my problem and I was fully paid for the month. I am not sending her any more rent money.

I'm sure these bastards will "forget" to pay the utilities this month again in retaliation. I'm moving. I would rather live in a cheap motel than deal with people who barge in unannounced. (Earlier this month they sent a repairman over with his own key. He unlocked the door and walked into my apartment without knocking while I was home). I'm going to store my belongings at my parents' house and live with the bare necessities.

Too bad I couldn't have decided this before I paid for November. December will find me in a new address.

Comfortable Bathing

I Have Hot Water.

Yes!

Mrs. Landlord actually showed up at my house yesterday to wait for the Gas Company guy, after I threatened to move out. I made it clear to her that her duty was not to just let the GC guy in, but to get me hot water. If the GC guy couldn't fix the problem, she was going to buy a brand new water heater that day, and have her husband or a repairman install it. I said, "I can stay here and pay rent for next month, or you can refund me half my September rent and deposit now. It's your choice. I can write you a check next month, or you can write me a check this month."

Mrs. Landlord came over in the morning and I went to work. When I came back, there was a service report from the GC guy on the kitchen table.

It turns out it was a simple pilot light problem. That's what I told them last week.

If they had listened to me last week, when I said, "I think it's the pilot light and I'm willing to take Friday off work to wait for the GC," we wouldn't have been in this mess.

Instead, they dragged their feet and lied to me. In the end, Mrs. Landlord had to take the day off work, drive 170 miles round trip in her giant gas-guzzling SUV to my place, sit in the hot house (without AC) and be so bored out of her mind she cleaned my kitchen.

I have no sympathy for her. She brought this on herself.

The Hot Water Rant

I am officially sick of living in my place. I have not had any hot water since September started.

Warning: Depressing post ahead! Skip and wait for the next post for something cheerier.

There was a gas outage in my area during Labor Day weekend, while I was gone. (This was not the landlord's fault . . . yet).

I realized on Tuesday the 2nd that I had no hot water. I found out that the Gas Company was in the process of restoring services to everyone.

I waited for them to get to my neighborhood. By Thursday I realized something was wrong and I called the GC saying they skipped me. Because I was just a tenant, and not an account holder, they said I could not request service, and my flaky landlord had to make the call. (I can understand this policy any other time, but this is just stupid when the GC knows for sure there is a problem in the neighborhood).

I called the landlord's daughter on Thursday since she was in charge of the GC bill, and left a message. She emailed me Friday saying she was going to contact the GC to send service people.

Then silence.

On Sunday I called Mrs. Landlord. She insisted her daughter didn't tell her there was a problem, but said she will call the GC on Monday morning to make an appointment and call me.

I ended up calling her Monday night, and she said the GC is coming Tuesday afternoon.

I realized she lied about calling when her husband showed up instead. He couldn't figure out the problem, and asked me for the GC account number so that he could call.

Um, no. I don't have it. That's why you're here.

He called his wife and daughter and they ignored his calls. (Gee, now you know how that feels Landlord). He hung around for a bit, desperately making more last-minute, half-assed repairs before some homebuyers showed up that evening.

His wife eventually called, then talked to me, saying that it was not a gas problem, but a problem with the water company. I thought this was ridiculous. She insisted she called some "association" that collected "hot water fees" for the area, and they promised I would have hot water that afternoon.

That evening, I was still taking cold showers. I called Mrs. Landlord, who did not pick up the phone.

Today, Wednesday, I called Mrs. Landlord again, and was told the number was disconnected.

WTF!?

I got ahold of her at a different number. She said she would call the "association" again.

She called back later and said, "I think it is a Gas Company problem. Can you call them?"

1. I told you that a week ago.
2. I tried. I'm not an account holder, remember?

She whined about "having to make all these calls" for me, but did call the GC.

She then informed me that they are coming tomorrow (Thursday the 11th), but did not know what time.

Excuse me? You don't have an appointment? I took Tuesday afternoon off at work to wait for the imaginary GC repairman you lied about, and now you want me to take Thursday off too, and wait at home all day for someone you might be lying about again?

I told her I am going to work and she is taking the day off tomorrow to come wait all day at my house.

If I don't have hot water when I come home tomorrow, things are getting very ugly.

The House Saga Continues

I left the house on Friday to spend the weekend at my parents' home. When I came back on Monday, both my roommates' bedrooms were empty.

I assumed that they were upset because the landlord is selling the house, and decided to do an emergency move. I wished they told me, but I thought maybe something happened over the weekend. (When I came back I saw that the cheapass landlord had decided to staple down new carpet on the stairs, without ripping out the old carpet, while I was gone).

A little while later, I got a message from the landlord asking, "What's going on? Your roommates moved out and haven't paid the August rent or electric bill?"

I replied that I had no idea they planned to move immediately, and I only found out myself an hour ago. (I'm glad we have separate rental agreements, and I'm not responsible for paying their share if they skip town).

Later that day, Female Roommate called me and explained she and her boyfriend (Male Roommate) had a big fight on Friday and broke up. He started saying vindictive, nasty things about tossing out her belongings.

She did not want to risk him carrying out his threat, and moved all her items to her mother's house while he was at work. He probably came back, saw she was gone and decided, "To hell with it, I'll leave too."

Female Roommate says she paid her August rent, but not the electric bill, because she loaned the boyfriend money.

I'm not sure how much of what she told me is a post-breakup smear campaign, but she told me he has a gambling problem, a drinking problem, and a "woman problem."

(I actually thought this was funny because "woman problem" could have referred to other things besides infidelity).

Holy crap.

It's too quiet in the house for my taste, but I'm glad they're not playing out this drama while still living here.

Another Kind of Home Invasion

I came back from Europe about a week ago, but I've been silent due to my internet being cut off. Yes, my landlord "forgot" to pay the internet bill again. (I'm blogging from a friend's house). I was hoping to regale you with tales of my travel adventures, but I've been rather distracted.

I found out yesterday morning that my landlord is trying to sell the house, when a realtor showed up and said, "What? They didn't tell you?"

I stood there in my pajamas as she explained that he's been thinking of selling the house for a while, and she reminded him several times that he needed to notify his tenants. He kept insisting, "Yeah, I told them, but when you go to the house can you pretend you're a repairman or something?"

That bastard. Instead of telling us at the beginning of the summer so we could find new places to live, he decided to squeeze another few months of rent out of us. It didn't matter to him that trying to find an apartment right before school starts, after everyone else has signed their leases and found roommates, is rather difficult.

The newest roommate moved in 2 months ago. I'm sure the landlord knew at that time he was going to sell the house, but why consider the inconvenience to others when you can wring a few dollars from a college student dependent on his financial aid check to pay the rent?

I was suspicious when I came back from Europe and found flowers in the yard, and new carpet in an empty bedroom. I thought, "He's too lazy to fix the porch light but planted new flowers?" It all makes sense now. He's attempting to do last-minute, half-assed repairs. The realtor told him he needed to change all the filthy carpet in the house. He only changed about 1/3. There are now 3 (obviously) different colors and textures of adjoining carpet in the upstairs. The new carpet is lumpy, has huge air pockets, peels up near the walls and has loose nails and staples. It also smells funny.

I've also been requested not to be present when prospective buyers come to see the house. He doesn't want me telling people about the rat infestation problem, the dead air conditioning, the dodgy appliances and the electrical problems. Screw you jackass. I'll play along. I won't be in the house, but it doesn't mean I can't hang out around the driveway. Perhaps I'll let the buyers in and say, "Hi, I'm Snark and I have to go take a walk because they don't want me to talk to you. I'll be around nearby. Thanks!"

If the buyers are smart they'll chase me down and I can let them know to expect $9,000 in repairs the moment they move in. (The dead AC is over 20 years old. Every repairman has said they can patch it, but it'll break down very soon, so they recommend a $9000 replacement. I'm sure the landlord will cheap out and do the patch).

Yes, you heard right. It's been 6 weeks without air-conditioning in the house. There were two heatwaves during this time, with temperatures over 100 degrees.

In the next few weeks I'm supposed to expect a stream of strangers going through my bedroom, poking into my closets. The realtor has informed me that legally I can't "obstruct his fiduciary rights" so I have to accommodate anyone who wants to wander in and steal my stuff, even if I'm not home. (The realtor has keys that she's leaving in an electronic lock box attached to the house, that only "authorized" people can access).

I asked for 24 hours notice any time someone needs to enter, but I'm not optimistic about that. My landlord has shown up in the past unannounced. One time, he brought his son and entered with his own key, without even knocking. He walked in on my roommate, who just came out of the shower wrapped in a towel. There was no apology.

The realtor brought an air-conditioning salesman to the house yesterday to give a repair estimate. He needed to get into the attic through the entry in my bedroom. As usual, a shower of dust, rat feces and plaster came down onto my bed and floor. When I went down to the garage to get the vacuum cleaner to tidy up (yet again) I found out that the landlord took the vacuum. I had to borrow one from a friend in order to make my room livable. Sadly, I expect this to repeat as last-minute repairs continue.

I am worried, but not in panic mode. The housing market is poor, and the greedy jerk has an asking price that's $50,000 to $60,000 too much, according to the realtor. Plus, even if the house sells right now the escrow is going to take one month. I'm thinking of alternate housing options, but homelessness is not imminent.