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That's quite a story about sleeping naked on a couch with a baby nearby all to get out of a 5 minute repair in housing that you are receiving at a subsidized cost. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Next time, have the maintenance guy wait outside for a second while you tell your wife to put on clothes. Then let him in to do the mandatory repair. Or move to non-subsidized housing if you do not like these rules.
Its taken you 4 days to think up something to make You look good! Sorry I not buying the nude dh sleeping on the couch!
As we often read, a person presents a scenario where they are fishing for validation of their position. When they don;t get it or they are confronted with a differing opinion, they try to present their case in such a way as to save face. In this case, the OP pinned a whole lot of their justification of their state law while ignoring (probably why they never responded to my requests to cite the exact law) the application of law for the Chapter they reference where it states clearly and specifically: "This chapter shall not apply to any occupancy in a public housing unit or other housing unit that is subject to regulation by the department of housing and urban development"*. That rendered their entire argument moot. So that is why we are now reading these "reaching for straw" types of responses.
Not trying to pick on you, but you could reverse your statement: Allowing the busy maintenance man 5 whopping minutes to fix the problem at your apt immediately would foster a good relationship with your LL/management who is trying to schedule things efficiently (and is actually taking care of you by maintaining your place!). Sending someone away for an hour when all they need is 5 minutes and they're already there probably felt fussy and difficult from the other perspective. Surely you can see how that might be the case? Again, not trying to pick on you and perhaps you had a very good reason. Just think about it from the other perspective...
Very true and human nature...
I contract with a small lawn and garden service and they have a set schedule, weather permitting.
It is owned by an older gentleman and it amazes me how differently he is treated by tenants... some will make sure the areas are clear and others could care less... he is paid to cut, trim and rake... not move a mountain of lawn furniture and toys and whatnot...
The maintenance guys are people too... you get more with kindness than vinegar...
....... here to check on a few things and take care of the door hing we talked about when we had the State inspection.................... .........come back in 1 hour or so. ......... tell him im not denying your entrance ,......... Arent they suppose to give me 24 hour notice or let me know?........................Was it to much to ask him to come back in 1 hour?
It sounds like you knew about the door hinge. This one is a bit gray area because they don't have to give you 24 hour notice if you request a repair. You didn't request this repair, but HUD did.
Yes, it is unreasonable for you to expect the repairman to wait around for an hour while you do what? Hide your illegal cat, or get your unauthorized tenant out, or remove your pot plants?
My theory is this: If a tenant requests a repair, I make the effort do the repair promptly, no matter how inconvenient for myself. But if they are difficult about getting a repairman in, then once they refuse the repair, they can do without the repair until it is convenient for me to do it... which might be weeks or months later.
Location: St Thomas, USVI - Seattle, WA - Gulf Coast, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by key2success
Since your a girl you should understand what I would say and also if you have a baby.
What if your husband left to the store and your were naked sleeping on the couch which is near the front door in view when he left and your baby was sleeping in the room . Your husband come back home from the store and the maintenance guy wants to enter. Your husband let him enter knowing you were naked in full view and as the guy come in he sees your naked body, you get upset at the husband for letting him in knowing you were naked and to the run to the room to grab close. You yell, then you wake up the baby. Now you have to live with the fact that the maintenance guy have seen you fully naked every-time you see him every day and on top of that your upset at your husband
Know the this could had been easily avoided by the husband asking the maintenance min to give them a few minutes or come back in 30 min
You catch my drift IslandCityGirl?
First, throughout the majority of this thread you said 1 hour. You switched to "30-minutes" or "a few minutes" after getting some advice that you perhaps could have done things differently. It's not a big deal, and I'm trying to be sympathetic, but come on. We can look right back through the thread and see the story change.
Second, is this a hypothetical, or is it your scenario in this specific situation (pretty dramatic how it all plays out with the yelling spouses and flashing the maintenance guy! Wow!)? If the latter: 1 - Ask the maintenance man to stand outside for a brief moment while you kindly check on the status of your potentially sleeping, unclothed family inside. Maybe kindly nudge your spouse to go into the bedroom? Maybe not. Maybe yelling and flashing the maintenance guy is more realistic. 2 - Explain your situation on this thread in a way that will allow posters to comment in a more productive way. We do want to help you, but partial information does not allow us to do so. If you had a sleeping baby inside, checked on that situation prior to sending your maintenance man away for an hour, half hour, whatever it is now, and also explained the fully story to him when doing so, you more than likely would have been responded to with sympathy from him as well. Clear communication is amazing that way.
Also, please notice in my last post that I was very careful to give you the credit that you may have had a very good reason. I absolutely gave you the benefit of the doubt. I simply encouraged you to see things from the other side, and I still do. Lots of problems clarify and become resolved by doing so.
Yes, it is unreasonable for you to expect the repairman to wait around for an hour while you do what? Hide your illegal cat, or get your unauthorized tenant out, or remove your pot plants?
My theory is this: If a tenant requests a repair, I make the effort do the repair promptly, no matter how inconvenient for myself. But if they are difficult about getting a repairman in, then once they refuse the repair, they can do without the repair until it is convenient for me to do it... which might be weeks or months later.
I actually agree with the tenant here - the maintenance man approached her with NO notice, out of the blue, to fix an issue that was found weeks ago. Everyone's jumping down her throat for asking him to come back in an hour, but expecting her to be ready for an impromptu visit for 30+ days, is ok? Yeah that makes sense.
In this scenario, her requesting an hour leeway is very accommodating. To be fair, the repair man or property management company could give her advance notice and this would be a non issue.
Just because she asks for him to come back after an hour - doesn't mean she's doing anything illegal or against the rules. What if she just NEEDED to go to the bathroom or pick up somethings around the house (some people have preferences on how clean their dwelling should be to allow guests) - or God forbid maybe she had to drop something off at home and run back out. No where in her post did the OP say she expected him to wait around. If he's in maintenance he could have said ok - I'm going to move on to this project - can I come over at X time/date?
I mean jeeze, it would be courteous for the apartment complex to give her notice or at least give her a call and ask what time would work.
I actually agree with the tenant here - the maintenance man approached her with NO notice, out of the blue, to fix an issue that was found weeks ago. Everyone's jumping down her throat for asking him to come back in an hour, but expecting her to be ready for an impromptu visit for 30+ days, is ok? Yeah that makes sense.
In this scenario, her requesting an hour leeway is very accommodating. To be fair, the repair man or property management company could give her advance notice and this would be a non issue.
Just because she asks for him to come back after an hour - doesn't mean she's doing anything illegal or against the rules. What if she just NEEDED to go to the bathroom or pick up somethings around the house (some people have preferences on how clean their dwelling should be to allow guests) - or God forbid maybe she had to drop something off at home and run back out. No where in her post did the OP say she expected him to wait around. If he's in maintenance he could have said ok - I'm going to move on to this project - can I come over at X time/date?
I mean jeeze, it would be courteous for the apartment complex to give her notice or at least give her a call and ask what time would work.
I agree 110% with this. I don't know many people who would be willing to let LLs in without any advanced notice whether the tenant was aware of any problem or repair when an inspection was done previously or not. This was by no means an emergency situation. If LL/maintenance slipped up or just didn't do their job as they should have and were now under the gun to get it done it still does not make that an emergency repair and require immediate entry without notice. Based on what OP has stated, maintenance caught them off guard and tenant only asked them to come back later on the same day. They did not forbid them to ever enter nor were they asking for an extreme length of time to return.
It doesn't matter if the repair will take 2 hours or 1 minute. Doesn't matter how easy or how difficult the fix/repair is. People should be able to expect some extent of privacy and not always have to worry about their LL or maintenance person possibly stopping by without advanced notice at any time they want and be able to just invade/interrupt their privacy. Surprise inspections by licensed professionals that are mandated for specific government programs is one thing, but not your LL or maintenance person to fix/repair something even if it is required for Section 8 that is not an emergency and could have been scheduled ahead of time.
People are making all sorts of assumptions and judgments here and should instead just stick to the fact that a tenant should be allowed the right to get some advanced notice for nonemergency repairs whether it happens only once or not. Sometimes it may be okay at the time to let them in and sometimes it may not. It should not be assumed that just because it is not okay with the tenant that they are doing something wrong or illegal or whatever. I can personally think of many, many reasons why an impromptu visit would not be okay with me either and not one of those reasons would be for doing anything wrong or illegal and I would expect people to understand, appreciate and respect that.
I have a LL that lives about 40 miles away and he is notorious for pulling this same thing on me. He either will just knock on my door when he is on the property mowing the lawn or call and say he is pulling up the street to do something else and wants to know if it would be okay to come in now to fix something that is a nonemergency repair that I had requested previously. I don't care whether I am the one that requested the repair or not. Sometimes it works for me to let him in now but most times it doesn't. I work out of my home so I assume he figures just because I am home or he sees my car that it must always be okay to pull this on me without ample advanced notice even though my lease states 24 hour advance notice for nonemergency repairs. It is not my problem that he lives 40 miles away if that is why he feels he can consistently do this or thinks he can. He could easily call me the day/night before to give me some notice. I like my privacy, value it and pay for it and I should be honored it to the extent of my lease agreement and the law for nonemergency repairs.
I just wish some that rented would respect my time and not expect maintenance to drop everything on a Sunday morning because they locked themselves out of the house... of course the cagey ones will say the lock doesn't work!
One way to keep landlords at a distance is to not have the landlord responsible for landscaping and lawn mowing... I have property, including single family that include yard maintenance and others that don't... the ones that do could have someone working in the yard M-F between 8 and 5.
I have tenants at single family homes that I might visit one time in a year... they are that good and appreciate their privacy and my time.
Others are serial callers as in several times a week and expect same day service... maintenace got a call at 11 pm last Saturday saying the power was out and the child's nebulizer was not working... an electrician responded at midnight... and found the tenant's power strip was defective... 100% nothing to do with the home... they had 6 things plugged into the power strip.
So it goes both ways...
Another is plumbing issues... like the toilet is overflowing and flooding... it is 99.9% the tenant's fault... I can't count the number of times kids toys, feminine hygiene products, car keys, cell phones, etc... have ended up in the toilet... and why do people think flushing a second time will make it all better?
The bottom line is it never improper to ask... for tenants that require formal notice... we go by the book... 48 hours in advance a notice is posted and a call made that states Maintenance will be at your home Monday morning between 8 am and 10 pm to replace garbage disposal, repair sticking window, etc... up to the tenant to be there or not or to have someone else there.
Unless it is an emergency repair... after hours and Sunday are off limits... the last thing I want to do on my Sunday is change a light fixture you broke...
Another way to greatly limit landlord intrusions is for landlords to stop including free standing appliances... the best decision I have ever made and it has eliminated most emergency calls and about half of my maintenance calls.
It seems like you're grabbing at straws now, OP. It doesn't take an hour to tell a naked family member to put some clothes on or move to a room that the maintenance man won't need to be in. I'm sure the maintenance man would have waited 5 minutes so that you could walk in and make sure your family was "decent," while possibly doing a very quick pick-up. You could have also told the maintenance man that there's a sleeping baby in the house. Most people would be quiet to avoid waking up the child.
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