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My husband and I rent a SFH. The house was built in 1961. It has been upgraded a little bit - half of the basement was finished sometime in the 80s (I think), and the kitchen was redone in the last few years. These upgrades were a big part of the reason we selected this house.
However, in the 9 months we've lived here, it's become clear that these upgrades were done on the cheap, with shoddy materials. Every time something breaks - which is often - the property manager is aghast by the hack job he's had to fix.
We are starting to worry that the owner did not get a permit for the work she did on the house and used the cheapest unlicensed labor that she could find. While this doesn't matter so much when you're talking about a shoddy paint job, it does matter when you're talking about wiring and plumbing. And there are some funny things going on in both arenas.
In short, I'm not *terrified* to live here, but I am mildly concerned. We would be very happy to move and take our impeccable rental history to a responsible landlord. The problem is that we're less than 1 year into a 4 year lease
Bottom line: what would you do in this situation? Thoughts?
make sure you have good renters insurance ... and pray ..
the wireing and the plumbing are a concern .. BUT as long as the pm is good about getting out there and fixing the mess then you should be ok .. if its something really dicey in the wireing then call the city inspectors in .. .. yup it might cost you the house but better safe than sorry ..
Just curious... why did you sign a 4 year lease? One of the biggest benefits to renting is the flexibility to move.
I know. I easily count this lease as one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I would give ANYTHING to go back in time and not sign it. It's just that my husband and I have moved six times since 2006, due to job transfers. We are so, so sick of moving. Especially now that we have small children. When it became clear that work would be keeping us put in the same geographic spot for a few years, we were happy to sign a long lease accordingly. We really didn't think we would WANT to move before the four year lease was up.
We also thought it would save us money. Because we live in one of the few areas of the country that still has a tight, expensive housing market, rents around us just keep going up. With a long-term lease, we were able to lock in a relatively reasonable price. We thought we were doing a financially savvy thing.
We never imagined a situation where we would worry that the house was unsafe. We've rented a million times before, and we've never encountered anything like this. Most landlords keep their properties in decent shape because they see it as an investment, especially at the price point we are paying. We just had the terrible luck to get a landlord who doesn't give a s*@&, and geniuses that we are, we rewarded her with a 4 year lease
I was certain you have your reasons... just curiosity on my part.
I think the real problem would be if the Landlord was unresponsive... so far, it sounds like needs are being addressed.
Good Luck
Thanks The landlord is responsive, yes...but very reluctantly so. I think she is often pushed by the property manager, so I'm thankful that we were at least smart enough to go through a management company.
Like this most recent repair, it took almost 8 weeks for the PM to get authorization from the landlord to spend money on it. (It was a broken dishwasher, not a structural concern, fortunately.)
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The landlord is responsive, yes...but very reluctantly so. I think she is often pushed by the property manager, so I'm thankful that we were at least smart enough to go through a management company.
