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I've had both good and bad experiences with private landlords in the past.
Good:
Rented an apartment in a two family home. My landlady was my bosses mother's best friend, and she traveled a lot with her job. She wanted someone in the ground floor apartment that she could trust to keep an eye on the place and bring in her mail when she was gone. I was single and worked f/t plus went to school, so I was very quiet and I'm a very clean person. She told me that if I wanted to paint, she'd be happy to pay for the paint if I did the work or got a friend to do it. I didn't bother because the place had been painted about a year earlier and was fine. I did pull down the kids wallpaper from the one bedroom and repainted that wall. It was a gorgeous apartment with hardwood floors and exposed brick on one wall in the kitchen. I hated leaving it, but after the landlady sold it, the new landlord was a total jerk, so I had no choice.
Rented a cottage on a farm. Great landlords, left me alone, took care of any needed repairs quickly, stayed out of my business, and the rent was fair.
Bad:
THE WORST--rented an apartment in a two family. The fridge broke and I lost two weeks worth of groceries, and it took them almost a week to replace it. (It was going to cost more to repair than it was to buy a new one.) They refused compensation for the spoiled food, saying I should have told them sooner that it was broken. I had been telling them of a fluid leaking from it for weeks, and they kept saying it was probably something I spolled on the floor. They accused me of swimming in their pool while they were gone, which was a total lie--I had left work at 7:00 am and not returned until after midnight. The wife got very nasty when I told her that I didn't really care for country music which she freaking worshipped and told me that good Christians listen to country and I needed to go to church more. The hose to the washing machine ruptured when I wasn't at home and flooded the apartment below me. (I wasn't doing laundry at the time.) They tried to blame me! When I moved out they claimed I had spilled nail polish on the carpet (it was there when I moved in and I had put a bound edge run over it and they knew it--they did relent on that.) Then they tried to claim I stole the shower curtain. There was no shower curtain there when I moved in, the one I was using was one I had bought and had in my previous apartment! There were no screens in the windows and the wiring wasn't sufficient for an air conditioner. It was just terrible! I stayed there less than six months before I moved out. Thank God my lease was written so I could leave with 30 days notice.
I was renting a place in a downtown area. It was an older building. The landlords turned out to be slumlords. There were so many things wrong with that building, everything from no hot water to the ceiling in my kitchen collapsing--like in look up at the sky! And on top of it they didn't want to let me out of the lease, even though it was uninhabitable. I called code enforcement and the health department. No fire detectors, blocked rear stairway full of construction material, "skylight" in the kitchen, the list went on. They let me out of the lease. About six years after I moved out the place burned down. Kids in the basement apartment playing with matches. It was fully engulfed in minutes. Not surprising. Thank God everyone got out.
I've rented 3 times in my life. The first 2 times were from private landlords and I couldn't have asked for better experiences:
I was in the first apartment for 12 years and only left because of a new job in a different area. The new area I moved to is where I rented from the the second private landlord. I stayed for 7 years until I had to move for family reasons. I actually rented twice from the 2nd landlord...first an apartment and then a small single family house. They had a vegetable garden on the property that their tenants were allowed to take freely from. If you wanted to plant your own garden that was okay too. Both those private landlords never once questioned or delayed when I would contact them about something needing repair. If I wanted to do home improvements to the properties neither landlord had a problem with it (of course it wasn't anything destructive and I talked to them first about what I wanted to do). In fact in both cases they told me to buy the supplies needed then deduct the cost from the next month's rent, which I never did but appreciated the offer. And when I left the 2nd place the landlord paid me for the refrigerator, washer and dryer that I couldn't take with me.
The 3rd time I rented was a nightmare. It was in an apartment complex and along with the usual annoyances that brings, the management was arrogant and uncaring about what went on in the complex. I'll live in my car before I'll EVER rent from a complex again.
I've had both good and bad experiences with private landlords in the past.
THE WORST--rented an apartment in a two family. The fridge broke and I lost two weeks worth of groceries, and it took them almost a week to replace it. (It was going to cost more to repair than it was to buy a new one.) They refused compensation for the spoiled food, saying I should have told them sooner that it was broken.
Appliances at one time represented half of my rental calls... sometimes it was improper use and other times the appliance just stopped working...
It might be a local area thing... just about all apartments here are now rented without free standing appliances... so, unless it is a built-in, it is not furnished.
It lets me concentrate my efforts on the shelter part of being a Rental Property owner and leaves the appliances business to those that sell and repair them
Spoiled food should be covered under your renter's insurance policy... did you make a claim and have it denied?
Appliances at one time represented half of my rental calls... sometimes it was improper use and other times the appliance just stopped working...
It might be a local area thing... just about all apartments here are now rented without free standing appliances... so, unless it is a built-in, it is not furnished.
It lets me concentrate my efforts on the shelter part of being a Rental Property owner and leaves the appliances business to those that sell and repair them
Spoiled food should be covered under your renter's insurance policy... did you make a claim and have it denied?
Yup, it wasn't enough to hit the standard $500 deductible. The apartment came with appliances, I actually had a newer fridge that I owned when I moved in but sold it because they wouldn't take their piece of junk out and let me use mine.
Like I said, it had been leaking a brownish fluid for a couple of weeks, something I had mentioned to them several times and they dismissed. (It turned out that this fluid was needed for it to function, and if they had it repaired when I first notified them, it would have been a $50 fix.)
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,426,436 times
Reputation: 4611
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
Yup, it wasn't enough to hit the standard $500 deductible. The apartment came with appliances, I actually had a newer fridge that I owned when I moved in but sold it because they wouldn't take their piece of junk out and let me use mine.
Like I said, it had been leaking a brownish fluid for a couple of weeks, something I had mentioned to them several times and they dismissed. (It turned out that this fluid was needed for it to function, and if they had it repaired when I first notified them, it would have been a $50 fix.)
The fluid leaking was "Freon" the same is used in "air conditioners"
When my landlord gave me no notice and wanted me out in three days, i tried to find a website to rate her. I had used a website in college called ratemyprofessor.com, so i looked for a website similiar. I did find one ratemylandlord.com | landlords | search for landlord There are very few ratings on there, I am assuming its either newer or not a lot of people know about it. I did post my landlord and gave her low ratings, it did make me feel a little bit happier tho hoping that people would find what i had wrote about her.
Yes and then we will add a RENT MY TENANT. Sounds great!
I'm not sure if this is the right thread but will give it a shot.
I've come into a very strange situation. I think my LL wants me to move out because the 'new' downstairs renters don't want to keep up the place and I, and other tenants, are complaing.
But you need more info. The new neighbors are the son of a tenant in the next door building, the mother has the apt above her. They are wanting the whole clan in these buildings. They also think they have the run of the neighborhood at this point.
At this point I get the feeling that our owner is intimidated by the son and is going to let them walk all over him to get what they want.
I pay my rent on time. I've also started looking at the laws in our state. Most laws deal with eviction type senarios. HELP.
The LL legally has to honor your lease and give you a notice of non renewal, generally 60 days, the lease should state the specifics, verbal agreement 30 days.
You or the Landlord can give notice, without reason, you should start looking for another place to live.
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,426,436 times
Reputation: 4611
Quote:
Originally Posted by cdcollins
I'm not sure if this is the right thread but will give it a shot.
I've come into a very strange situation. I think my LL wants me to move out because the 'new' downstairs renters don't want to keep up the place and I, and other tenants, are complaing.
But you need more info. The new neighbors are the son of a tenant in the next door building, the mother has the apt above her. They are wanting the whole clan in these buildings. They also think they have the run of the neighborhood at this point.
At this point I get the feeling that our owner is intimidated by the son and is going to let them walk all over him to get what they want.
I pay my rent on time. I've also started looking at the laws in our state. Most laws deal with eviction type senarios. HELP.
My current landlord has let three weeks pass already without fixing a flooding wall. He complained to me about why I called the inspector and he had to pay a fine. He also doesn't want to let me out of the lease even though it us up. Now I think I will just move out a week earlier. Dealing with a crazy peson has affected the rest of my life too much that I will just eat the last weeks rent and probably have to sue for my deposit. I bet the place will be vacant for a few months while he tries to get over market rent.
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