Where Can I Report a Bad Landlord? (Howe: sale, apartment)

[romygirl]

Fortunately, I moved out from the bad landlord situation in June and my new landlord is normal and friendly. However, my previous landlord (i.e. the bad landlord) has yet to return my deposit.

Brief history. I lived in a duplex in Montrose for nearly 3 years. The original landlord sold the property to a new owner. The new owner called me the day the sale was final and two days before next month's rent was due to tell me he was raising my rent by $100 (I was on a month to month agreement). The apartment had the original 1930's kitchen and whatever charm it might have had before certainly didn't exist any longer. The bathroom was upgraded somewhat and the entire house had a mold problem. I told the new landlord he would need to justify the rent increase or I would be giving him notice. He told me that he saw no reason to invest thousands of dollars into something he wouldn't see a return on earlier than two years. I sort of thought the same thing for myself except with no improvements I would just be paying more for nothing. I invited him to my house to show him the specific things I thought stood in the way of a rent increase.

However, when he was in my/his house he was so rude and arrogant that I knew writing a check to him each month would give me health problems. I let him know I would be looking for a new place and when I got one, I gave him 30 days notice. He demanded that I give him payment for the calendar month as the lease dictated. I did. (I wish I hadn't!) He sent me an email that said he would have only raised the rent if improvements had been made. This was just one of the lies he told.

I moved out in early June, he had tenants installed less than two weeks after I left. I left nothing behind in the space and cleaned it thoroughly.

Now it is August and I have yet to receive any deposit back nor have I gotten any sort of itemized list of costs spent on my behalf to restore the place to move in condition.

In addition to collecting my deposit, which I am pursuing, I would like very much to make sure that other tenants are made aware of his bad landlord ways but so far have not found any place online that seems appropriate. Is there any place to report the bad behavior of landlords in Texas?

[Poltracker]

Nope. Your only recourse is to file against him in JP court for your deposit X3.

[romygirl]

well, boo. Thank you for your confirmation of my suspicion before I wasted a lot of time searching for something that doesn't exist. These are one of those times where I don't like living in Texas.

[jfre81]

This person wants his/her landlord's name dragged through the mud publicly.

There used to be this wonderful little message board where you could do this, you didn't have to sign in and anything went. It got taken down a few days after 9/11. Wonder why. Web 1.0 was the bomb diggity.

[romygirl]

Sure, I would love to drag his name through the mud publicly but only to people who might be unlucky enough to engage in a contractual agreement with him. Now I have to rely on karma.

[sevfiv]

I think you should name him, especially if you have details and have exercised due diligence (which it seems you have). You wouldn't be dragging his name through the mud - looks like he's the one that has taken care of that.

I would try to publicly post your experiences including the property address and his name, but only after you've maybe tried to contact him again to collect money owed or at least get an explanation of his neglect to your situation (unless you have already and are sure he's ignoring you).

Others are right, though - Texas ain't the best place to rent. The TAG office might be of some help, but probably not:
Texas Attorney General

[jfre81]

If you didn't cause the mold problem through negligence then according to the AG's page (if I'm understanding it correctly) the landlord should be responsible to fix something that can be a health hazard.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by romygirl

In addition to collecting my deposit, which I am pursuing, I would like very much to make sure that other tenants are made aware of his bad landlord ways but so far have not found any place online that seems appropriate. Is there any place to report the bad behavior of landlords in Texas?

Well, Google tends to put anything controversial or provocative at the TOP of search engine results. This means that if your landlord is named Mr. Bad Landlord and you create a Web page called MrBadLandlordRippedMeOff.com, if anyone uses Google to research this person, your Web page will come up first or close to the top of the Google results. And many tenants will use Google to research a landlord before signing a lease.

If you just recount the facts on the Web site without using over-the-top language, truth is (usually) a defense against libel or slander lawsuits.

Just one idea!

[modster]

Usually a landlord has to give 30 days notice to change the rental rate too.