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Long story so please bear with me. Might make one of you say "my renting story isn't so bad."
Moved into a part of town that is not horrible, but has higher % crime, kind of uglier personality neighborhood from the previous neighborhood for a yard for my two dogs and gf's sanity even though I was fine taking the dogs for 2-3 30-60 min walks, jogs each day.
Its only been 6 days and I am beyond frustrated and angry...
Was promised the carport and front driveway upon move in verbally...the downstairs neighbors had filled the back garage and carport full of stuff so I had to put my outdoor stuff in a small porch storage behind the side backstairs of my entrance...the shed absolutely could not be seen from the street. Fine, I could deal with that for a week. They had 2 junk cars in the street in front of the house too so I could barely park for the past week.
Fine, they would be moving out soon.
We did drive by numerous times during the day and the neighbors seemed fine since they were all essentially not there or all napping. We also drove by from 8-10 PM which most of them weren't there during the time. The party didn't start until 10:30 PM.
To start with: 8 people lived in the downstairs duplex with only 4 people on the lease plus people going in and out all the time. On top of that, they loved smoking on the staircase to my front door( I told them I was allergic, which I am), let their dog out every time they saw that we had our dogs out on a leash (did not restrain their dog ever, I had to grab their dog and lead it back to them), did not clean up after themselves, slammed the doors at 2 in the morning( I talked to them very nicely about), blasted their music at 7 in the morning(again), snored so loud so I could not sleep until 4 in the morning. After talking to the landlord because they wouldn't stop, they lightened up a tiny bit. Still, they clearly did not want us living there.
They were suppose to be out on the 5th, started moving on the 5th until 2 in the morning.
This is the part that gets interesting. Some of my stuff was behind the storage behind my staircase covered by the trash can on one side, you can literally only see it if you leaned your head out of their window. My toolbox, a bunch of firewood, lighter fluid, and my dog's pooper scooper were stolen last night.
I couldn't prove it was them, but honestly, people in this neighborhood leave out bikes, grills, lawn chairs, stuff all of more value than my very used toolbox and very used pooper scooper. I know they did it to get back at us for telling the landlord what was really going on there.
I talked to the cops and they can't do much besides ask nicely about.
I can't sleep tonight, and probably for a while because I have the funny feeling that since they've gotten away with it, they seem like the type to keep coming back at it. They also have a bunch of friends living in some slummier apartments down the street.
I've decided to take my patio shed to my parents work to lock inside their warehouse. Basically leaving nothing but my car outside. Even that I am very weary of.
On top of that, my landlord just informed me that the downstairs had been sprayed for bedbugs a couple months ago, but the people weren't very cooperative so he didn't know if all the bugs had been killed so they will have to spray this upcoming week and I have to remove all valuables and disconnect my fridge and deep freezer full of food.
I essentially cant stand the neighborhood either, just from walking my dogs, seeing people leave their dogs on chains all day, tell each other their going to shoot each other's dogs/or owners dead if they don't shut up their dogs up/stay in their yard, letting toddlers play outside with no adults watching them...
The lease buy out is $900 plus my deposit will not be refunded...Would you just stay and put up with the year lease or get out asap?
Is there hope at the end of the tunnel...
Last edited by Keliko; 05-07-2012 at 12:22 AM..
Reason: *just seeking sound advice
That said... do you have renter's insurance to cover your loss?
No. I gotten a quote but didn't start it. I thought I would get everything of mine, the girlfriend's, and third roommates over and assess how we were going to divvy up all the stuff we bought together for the common areas.
In my opinion you should move as it's not going to get any better. Maybe you can work something out with your LL and save some money on the buy-out as written in your lease. Find another tenant, maybe. Why would your security deposit not be refunded? Read what your state laws say about security deposits. If not listed in the first "sticky" on this forum page, google, "(your state) landlord tenant laws security deposits". It really is too bad but this just isn't a good fit and it's not worth living there for another year. Good luck!
I'm 100% in agreement with STT. Only I'd go one step further: I'd discuss with the landlord that you were not provided what was agreed upon and he specifically withheld pertinent information (bedbugs) that you should have had prior to moving in. You could probably win in small claims court to not have to pay the lease breaking fee or last month's rent.
If I were in your situation, I would be considering asking him to ALSO cover moving expenses and filing a small claims action if he said no.
maybe pay for a half hour consult with an attorney? Since the stolen items (and police report) and bed bugs, possibly a way to get out of the lease without having to pay a fee.
Sounds like a bad neighborhood. I can only imagine what it will be like in the summer when folks go outside more often and when the kids our out of school and it stays light outside until pretty late.
Might be worth it to lose the security deposit plus $900 just to leave. However, maybe decent tenants move below you and possibly it won't be so bad going forward. After all, they are probably the ones that stole your stuff. But what if folks with lose dogs and loud motorcycles move in below...which might fit well with the neighborhood.
wOw! I am so sorry you're having to live with this. As a landlord, I wouldn't have let it gone on...secondly, If for some reason I wasn't aware(hard to believe unless they live out of town) I'd definetly rectify the situation ASAP. Do try and talk with the LL...and if you're not happy, take the loss, learn a leasson and move on...just know all LL's are not like that.
It makes no sense that spraying for bedbugs would include your having to disconnect your refrigerator and freezer. Also, if you end up getting bedbugs in your own unit and your stuff, this will be expensive for you. (Read up on it at bedbugger.com to see what hoops people jump through to get rid of these things.)
If you can handle the financial loss, I would suggest leaving. It sounds like a bad situation that is going to get worse.
I've never seen a bedbug, and have no experience with them, but based on what I've read about bedbugs I would be MOST upset about the fact that the landlord is only now informing you that there may be a problem, after you've moved in.
If you lose all your furniture and most of your belongings because of a bedbug infestation? And you could have been warned before you moved in? That's absolute worst case scenario and would make losing a tool box and pooper scooper seem like a minor loss.
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