Good Apartment with Bad Landlord - Stay or Go? (tenant, construction, rental)
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I recently moved into a new place with the intention of this being my long-term home for a while after many short-term rentals (I am an expat, and have been looking for a good 'forever home' in my new country). I asked several questions of the landlord before agreeing to move in, and it turns out he lied on all fronts. Moreover, he's neglected to fix a broken appliance (came with the rental, his responsibility) I've let him know about multiple times (I went the entire month without it being fixed still - the guy is ... well, just utterly dishonest). I am withholding some of the stories to keep this from turning into a rant, but he lives next door and it makes me uncomfortable having him as a neighbor when he can't even be a decent landlord. On top of this, I had a serious problem with another neighbor he flat out refused to help with, and I spent many hours dealing with police reports I had to translate to a foreign language, etc. only for him to come over later and tell me he fixed it for me (****ing lying bastard).
The place itself is nice, the neighbors seem okay, but it's not as sound isolated as he promised, and he is refusing to be of any help in dealing with some of the issues I'm facing in the apartment. I am sick of moving and the housing market is a bit convoluted here as it relies on tourism for lots of the economy, and we are nearing summer again after being locked down the better part of this past year.
I have to decide today, effectively, what to do, as I will leave him with 'last month' of rent if I will leave, or else will need to pay again. I don't like the idea of paying when he's mostly just created problems for me, but at the same time, need to maybe shelve some of my anxieties and concerns to simply keep a better roof than some alternatives over my head (though not better than all, for sure).
TL;DR: Would you put up with a highly dishonest landlord that makes you uncomfortable and lives next door for a good apartment, or take your chances with something new and leave?
What country are you in and did you research their landlord/tenant laws?
No one can ask that question for you but I will ask you this.... how good of a place is it if you have to involve the police when dealing with a neighbor and you have a landlord who won’t fix an appliance after a month?
how good of a place is it if you have to involve the police when dealing with a neighbor and you have a landlord who won’t fix an appliance after a month?
You aren't happy there. You know you aren't happy there. So move and try again.
I wonder if you are trying to get upper middle class service whole living in the low low economy rental? Maybe up your budget and try for a better place? You have to pay for good management and good maintenance, and it doesn't come cheap.
To say I have problems wherever I live is quite a jump... where would you get this from... a couple posts from a couple places of the goodness knows how many I've lived (40 years old, have lived all over the place, including 10 different countries). Also, not in Vail, that's where the account was created.
Portugal, and I've spoken with a lawyer (had one retained for immigration stuff, but he's a general practitioner). I have no real recourse here, he just suggested I leave because the guy's a shadeball.
Well... I'm not in a cheap situation. I did up my budget beyond what I had in mind, which was already enough for something good. I've had zero landlord issues here, just this guy. But I've also been through a slew of short-term rentals, and cannot handle moving over and over... frankly, it's just the country in part. Construction here is incredibly shoddy (the upper floor of my duplex is literally just a quarter-inch sheet of plywood laid over a a few beams, and this is not so unusual), and property owners are known to be a bit ... opportunistic. I figured with the landlord next door, he wouldn't start creating problems, but...
The other thing is that it seems most responses are coming from the U.S. As a note, things in most of the world are not handled like the U.S. in terms of rental management. We do not have property management companies in Europe, or anywhere else I've lived outside the States. You rent from the owners. So things can be very hit or miss. I've had great people I've rented from to date, this is the first person that's given me trouble, but at the same time, it's also one of the nicer places I've seen in this city. I am being picky in taking only top floor places, because of the construction mentioned (if you have someone above you, there is endless noise from people so much as walking around in socks, it just thuds and creaks all over the place because insulation is a foreign concept here). This greatly limits what I can rent. I've been looking for 'the perfect place' since I arrived this past July, and it's just REALLY hard to find. I actually had a good option at one point I sort wish I jumped on, but hesitated because there was a 30m crane outside the window, and the owner couldn't comment on the construction project timeline. Didn't want to be seeing or hearing that **** for the next year or two (things move slowly here).
So.. what country are you in and did you research their landlord/tenant laws?
And yes, Europe most certainly does have property management companies and do countries not in Europe. I don’t live in the states and we have them.
Of course you’re going to get response from the US.. this is a US based forum. Not everyone is from the US, but they usually mention that up front.... you did expat but you didn’t say where you were.
Advice is the same... only you can answer the question you asked. But if it was me, I’d move
If nothing is going to be resolved by the landlord then it is wise to look for other property and leave this place.
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