My rented home (a rant)

In late August of last year, SWMBO and I found this neato 2 bedroom house w/ a decent sized backyard complete with a already planted garden (pumpkin, peppers, tomatoes and something I didnt recognize) and a pretty spacious one car garage. Rent was a little high, but we need room for our child who would be crawling any day now...so I paid the first months rent and the deposit and we moved in.

Flashforward to this very moment:

I LIVE IN HELL.

Ok, slight exaggeration. But consider that we have had 2 episodes of mold in our bedroom closet, a screen door that practically fell off its hinges after letting it shut on its own, a non-functioning fan in the living room, a bathroom door that doesnt close all the way (knew about this, but pisses me off now that everything else has happened), and the final straw today is the fan/light combo in the kitchen just quit working completely. No warning, just stopped working.

Oh, also consider I have an ******* neighbor that wants to come point out the property line every time I mow. God forbid I be off it by 2 inches, but hey, its cool if he takes a half a swipe into my yard. Yeah, it is cool, but if you wanna ***** about property lines, stick to that ya know?

I called the manager today and told him that stuff needs to start getting fixed around here. He told me 2 months ago that he had spoken to the owner who lives out of state, and was told the windows were going to be replaced as well as the siding come spring.

Well guess what mother****er, its almost summer. Lets get a move on

The manager and I have discussed the mold issue at length. After a final discussion today he's agreed that if I want to move out in a months time cause nothing is being resolved, I'll get my deposit back.

This place is honestly a nightmare. But god damn, I dont wanna move again.

I think I'd start looking for a new place, especially one with less ******* neighbors. Too bad nobody here posts up places for sale or rent, at least not that I have seen.

You would never have trouble brewing.

I don't know what the laws are by you, but around here the landlord is most certainly responsible to get those things fixed ASAP. If they do not you are entitled to pay for it out of pocket and then deduct the cost from the rent(submit the receipt as proof).

Don't move to Massachusetts

When you complain to a landlord about crap wrong with your rental, they look at you as if you've sprung a second head, then tell that if you don't f*ing like it, you can leave.

Only problem is that if you're renting with a dog and (and 2 cats), you might as well have 2 heads, a foreign accent, and bad credit - nobody wants to rent to you.

The place I rent now with my ("boyfriend" - it's a long story) is owned by one of the cheapest landlords I've ever had - but at least he mows the lawn and shovels the snow. It has offstreet parking (a bonus in the Boston area), a mostly dry basement, huge kitchen, space for a garden, and accepted the pets.

We've also had mold in the bedroom closets (badly insulated walls in dark, cool places), a broken handle on the back (screen) door, drafty rickety windows from the dawn of time, and a oil burner that is leaking (again).

I'm about to sign a lease for another year, because it's the best option we have at the moment.

I am truly sympathetic to your plight, BB.. renting SUCKS.

Unfortunately, with two bouts of mold it sounds like the wall needs to be ripped down to studs (or further) and rebuilt. There's also likely some sort of leak letting moisture into the wall that needs to be addressed. We had the same issue in a townhouse apartment we were living in. The whole family developed asthma in the time we were living there. That mold is toxic stuff and shouldn't be messed with, especially with a little one in the house.

Get your deposit. Move ASAP. Pay a little more for a landlord that cares.

Dude, that sucks! But I agree, get your deposit and get the F out. Sounds like you have a small child that definitely doesn't need to be exposed to the mold!

Just move out !

Here in Wa we have an entire group of laws protecting the tenant of a rental.

Your mold problem would get you out of rent until the problem is fixed...
A broken hot water tank you you can start to charge the owner of the property...

If I were you I would look to see if your state has a "landlord tenant act"



http://www.rentlaw.com/illinoistenant.htm

http://tinyurl.com/267to9r

I have both lived in rented properties and rented properties to other people. In both cases the other people were complete ********.

I don't know if it would apply or how you might go about it, but I've heard that if you can get a judgement against the landlord, then you can get your rent put into an escrow account until all issues have been addressed satisfactorily. In such a case, you would still be paying rent so they couldn't assess any late fees, but the landlord wouldn't have any access to that money until the problems are fixed to the standards of the state. Maybe worth looking in to?

I'd move AND I'd report the mold to the health board as it's a hazmat issue; this has the added benefit of making life difficult for the owner & mgr. But no matter what I'd move, provided I could find a decent & affordable place. Regards, GF

gratus fermentatio said:

I'd move AND I'd report the mold to the health board as it's a hazmat issue; this has the added benefit of making life difficult for the owner & mgr.

Click to expand...

Yes, you can do this. Since the place is rented, it falls under a whole different set of rules than homeowner-occupied. Your local health department will likely regulate this. The local/county/state health code will have a provision for these types of situations. They will come out and look at it, write a report and require the owner to fix it. Unfortunately, they won't get into much detail as to what exactly needs to be fixed and how because most health inspectors don't know jack about construction, but at least the law is on your side.

I assess buildings for problems like these and specify/manage repairs for a living. Let me know if you have any questions. If there's one thing I can tell you, it's that the definitive source of water intrusion needs to be stopped. Only then can decontamination and repair occur.

I'd first document all of the issues with the house (the mold, windows) and tell the landlord you are moving, and that you want your deposit back too. If he tells you "no" then threaten him with the evidence of the mold. Make yourself a bigger pest than the deposit is worth.

I feel for you dude. I've rented all sorts of place. We had one where the landlord just wanted tenants to be able to sell the apartment tenanted (but didn't tell us that), so after 3 months, it went on the market, sold, and the new owners wanted to take posession vacant! That pissed me off!
Then the one after that sold after a year (the apartment market was pretty volatile at the time).
One place I lived in was such a hole, but it was OK 'cause the landlord didn't care what we did either, and it was cheap as, so we lived in filth for a while (batchelor pad with 2 mid 20's dudes, it was pretty feral).
But now I'm real lucky to have a good landlord who looks after the place (and expects us to do our fair share too), but we got to move into a brand new house, and even though the landlord lives out the front he keeps out of our faces (and it's real good when something small needs a repair). So good landlords do exist....
It sounds like you're probably not going to get a result that won't taint your future attitude to the place now.... perhaps it's best to bite the bullet and bail.

If you do move, definitely still register or complain to the proper authorities. Just think of the next poor sap that moves in and within a few months there is more mold (because he'd probably just paint over it or something).

What part of IL? I've rented in multiple parts of the southern part of the state. I'll be more than happy to point you to someone reputable if I can.

Until then, do what I did when I had a slumlord in Carbondale.... Throw a "cheap meat" party and duck out on the deposit. We threw a party, and told everyone to bring a cheap cut of meat/rotting vegetable. Tossed a huge party in the yard and told everyone to toss the nastiness inside.

Almost ended up in court. However when I explained to the landlord there was nothing in the contract about us cleaning up the property, plus the countersuits about insect infestations they backed down. Best $225 I ever lost

Have you contacted your local code enforcement officer yet? Explain what's been going on with the house (they can't do anything about ******-bag neighbors, unfortunately.) They may force his hand to make him fix the problems with the electrical system and the mold. If you don't want to go that route just yet, call up the management agency and tell them you are considering going to the city about this stuff. If they blow you off, go to the city anyway. The worst thing that can happen is code enforcement will look at the problems and determine the place is unlivable in it's present condition and you will be forced to move. You should be able to get your deposit back in full, though.