Please Define A Good Tenant - Define A Good Landlord (Kenosha: apartment, lease)

[Hombre57]

I just moved here from New Mexico, am in Kenosha. My apartment is one step (maybe) above being a ghetto slum tenement!

I'll be posting pictures of the dump I live in. Show us all of the dump you live in!

These are photos of the furnace located inside of my living quarters, it make so much noise when it's running, it keeps me awake at night, and, it scares my dog so much, the dog runs and jumps on my bed and tries to hise behind me. Has anyone noticed that they paited the heater grilles over dirt and muck? Check out the vent flue on my hot water heater in my bathroom! Is that tape job legal, is it safe??

I'll be posting more pics of so called improvements my hap-hazzard maintenance man has done! it's shocking.

[jlawrence01]

When you post a message, why not be honest and have the title reflect what you post is REALLY about?

[MSPLove]

Slumlord - when you live in an apartment above a business and they turn off the heat, in the dead of winter, on Friday when they leave work, and turn it back on Monday morning when they get back.

He also turned it off nightly when he left work during the week. Didn't matter what the season.

Those were the days. lol

I would just, as a rule, avoid anything in a downtown area, especially above a business. The only time he really rushed to fix anything for me was the time my toilet was leaking into his business. In other words, it was directly affecting him. By the time I left that apartment, my gas stove had gone out, my fridge didn't work (but the freezer did), no light in the bathroom (and it was too high for me to change myself).

I chose it for price alone. You don't do that. Today if I looked at an apartment and saw I couldn't even change a bathroom light without a ladder, I'm not picking that apartment. In hindsight there were a number of things in that apartment that were clearly just.... no way.... lol
Live and learn.

[Hombre57]

Originally Posted by Minnesconsinite

Slumlord - when you live in an apartment above a business and they turn off the heat, in the dead of winter, on Friday when they leave work, and turn it back on Monday morning when they get back.

He also turned it off nightly when he left work during the week. Didn't matter what the season.

Those were the days. lol

I would just, as a rule, avoid anything in a downtown area, especially above a business. The only time he really rushed to fix anything for me was the time my toilet was leaking into his business. In other words, it was directly affecting him. By the time I left that apartment, my gas stove had gone out, my fridge didn't work (but the freezer did), no light in the bathroom (and it was too high for me to change myself).

I chose it for price alone. You don't do that. Today if I looked at an apartment and saw I couldn't even change a bathroom light without a ladder, I'm not picking that apartment. In hindsight there were a number of things in that apartment that were clearly just.... no way.... lol
Live and learn.

I consider myself as a good tenant, pay rent on time, never late, report problems, and keep my apartment clean and clean up after my dog. My landlord on the other hand has turned a deaf ear to my requests to have an exterminator come and spray the place for roaches. I do what I have to do to keep those critters out of my food and clothing.

What do you think I should do? Should I call Orkin and pay for the service and take it off the next rent payment? Maybe that would get the landlord's attention to address the problem?

Upon first moving into this place, the toilet backed up several times during a 2 week period of time until they fixed the problem correctly.

[Moosemom]

My husband is currently in a 1-bedroom and when he moved in there, we reported a bunch of problems ~ especially the noisy non-working air conditioner (which ran up the electric bill an additional $60). We thought that this was a fluke, but when DH went to move into the 2-bedroom two buildings over, the issues were awful. From a botched repair to a hole over the toliet, to nails sticking out into the walkway of the kitchen from the drawer and let's not forget the dirt all around the windows. He said he should have realized it was going to be horrible when it took him 20 minutes to get into the front door because the key wouldn't work on the door knob and than the door was stuck in the jam. BUT they made sure to point out that the carpet and counters was new.

[MSPLove]

Originally Posted by Hombre57

I consider myself as a good tenant, pay rent on time, never late, report problems, and keep my apartment clean and clean up after my dog. My landlord on the other hand has turned a deaf ear to my requests to have an exterminator come and spray the place for roaches. I do what I have to do to keep those critters out of my food and clothing.

What do you think I should do? Should I call Orkin and pay for the service and take it off the next rent payment? Maybe that would get the landlord's attention to address the problem?

Upon first moving into this place, the toilet backed up several times during a 2 week period of time until they fixed the problem correctly.

If I were you I'd be counting the days until my lease was up and saving that money up not for a repair bill, but for rent for a new place. And if you're a good tenant like you say, you should get your deposit back and be able to put that down elsewhere.

Good luck...

[tinas74]

If your apartment has a health hazard then you can contact HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and report the landlord. They come out and inspect and if he fails they make him fix it or take away his right to rent. Not pretty but most of the time people want to keep the income and fix it. Though its not pretty most of the stuff in the original posters pictures are just cosmetic, that tape is made for insulating those pipes and older buildings often look like crap. I rented a place once that had been so filled with cockroaches and crap the I had to use oven cleaner to remove the cockroach poop and grease that covered the walls, floors, and ceiling fan in the kitchen. A few weeks after I moved in our well dried up and the landlord took over a week to find a company that was cheap enough for them to fix our well.... no water for a week. Also I would check with HUD but I think its a law that if the landlord does not supply you with working heating or the ability to access heating you do not have to pay them rent. The poster that had the landlord turn off his heat can go to small claims court and sue him for every month he wasn't granted access to adequate heating.

[Hombre57]

Originally Posted by tinas74

If your apartment has a health hazard then you can contact HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and report the landlord. They come out and inspect and if he fails they make him fix it or take away his right to rent. Not pretty but most of the time people want to keep the income and fix it. Though its not pretty most of the stuff in the original posters pictures are just cosmetic, that tape is made for insulating those pipes and older buildings often look like crap. I rented a place once that had been so filled with cockroaches and crap the I had to use oven cleaner to remove the cockroach poop and grease that covered the walls, floors, and ceiling fan in the kitchen. A few weeks after I moved in our well dried up and the landlord took over a week to find a company that was cheap enough for them to fix our well.... no water for a week. Also I would check with HUD but I think its a law that if the landlord does not supply you with working heating or the ability to access heating you do not have to pay them rent. The poster that had the landlord turn off his heat can go to small claims court and sue him for every month he wasn't granted access to adequate heating.

It's darn funny that you mention pipes in your post. After I paid the security deposit and rent, and signed the lease, the maintenance man showed me a wire with a plug on it protruding from a hole in the wall under the kitchen cabinet, and told me when the temp drops below freezing to get an extention cord and plug it in or my pipes will freeze and he would have to pull the whole cabinet, tear out the wall behind it and thaw the pipes with a heat gun. OMG.