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We moved into a home last Saturday and have had some troubles. The A/C wasn't working upon move in, a lot of the elec. sockets are shot, there is some crazy wiring (kitchen light has to be off for the dishwasher to work), and the pool wasn't opened as it should have been. We are renting through an agency and the owner is out of country, so I'm trying to be patient. I purchased fuses for the A/C (told to by the owner via the neighbor) and was told to take it off my rent, so I plan to.
The agent told me the day we looked at the home and the day we moved in that the grass cutting would be taken care of the first time. Well, I gave her a week and I saw no gardener. I called her Friday morning and asked her about it. She called the part of the agency that handles it and then she called me back. She told my husband that "the neighbors across the street were supposed to do it and you should just take care of it yourself" and then she rushed him off the phone before he could ask questions.
I don't mean to be petty and I try not to complain, but I'm on the verge of losing it. Is it wrong for me to want to take the initial lawn care off my rent? I'm paying a premium rent for this home and I think the agency should eat the lawn service because they dropped the ball. Can I do this? Should I just swallow it? My husband has been outside for hours cutting two foot high grass.
I wouldn't worry about the grass at this point but the electric issues. So far you have a (probably) dangerous circuit in the kitchen and, I'm not quite sure what you mean, bad outlets. Does this jurisdiction have a rental licensing program? If so, you should call the appropriate agency to determineif the house has been registered and inspected as a rental.
I'm not sure about the rental licensing program, but I can clarify what I meant by "bad outlets". The outlets in the master, kids, and downstairs bath do not work. The outlets in the master bedroom sitting area don't work and all the outlets outside don't work. I've checked the breakers and none of them are tripped.
I'd be on the telephone to the agency about the electric. If you have to turn off the light to get the dishwasher to run and none of the outlets work, AND no breakers tripped, check your fire insurance policy.
The hell with the grass!!!!!
Demand an electrician be there Tueday morning.
I would put everything in writing and make sure you have taken pictures of the grass before it was mowed and dated. Send it by certify mail and ask for a solution and/or ask to deduct if from next month rent and don't forget to ask them to respond before a certain date...
And, I see a lot of "they said..." things. If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. They said they'd pay for lawn, fuses, etc. They won't, unless it's written in an amended contract. If you pay partial rent, the owner may come back on you later as not paying full rent. Rather, pay your rent and send them an itemized bill for your extra services.
If they are not working in clusters, that sounds like GFI to me if its not breakers.
Look around for outlets with little red and green buttons on them. Hit the "Test" button and then the "Reset" button. See if they work now.
The outside outlets could be controlled by a GFI somewhere else, like in your garage.
90% of the time, when tenants call me with electrical problems, it turns out to be a GFI tripped.
Your story sounds like you could have more going on than this, but still, this would be the first thing to check after the breaker box.
In my area the GFI's are white. Before I read your post, I immediately thought of GFI's.
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