Ghetto Landlord

[aidan80 9]

When I first arrived in the US to marry my wife we hadn’t quite worked out the fine details of accommodation. We quickly discovered that without credit or a credit rating or two decent paying jobs renting a decent place was close to impossible. I had no EAD at the time and my wife brought home just barley enough. A friend of a friend “allows us†to rent his place which luckily wasn’t in the ghetto but looked like it belonged in the ghetto! We patch it up, bomb it clean it and chase away the lizards, patch up the holes (thank god for duct tape) and move in. That was over 2 years ago…

The house which is about 60+ years old appears to have its original breaker. Part of that breaker finally dies 3 weeks ago plunging half the house into darkness. We live in Florida which means no lights, no outlets and no A/C as we have window units. We go back and forth with the landlord to get it fixed, he drags his feet in the end it turns out he isn’t willing to pay $500 for the new breaker and its installation. Instead he states that it’s a rip off and he can get one at the hardware store for $150 and install it himself. No fcuking way…

After threatening to move out if he doesn’t get it fixed right away by a licensed electrician he agrees. We insist on moving things along by paying the electrician out of his rent this month and agree to supply a receipt. He again agrees to this demand but isn’t happy about it, not a happy landlord … I had a feeling in the end his greed would get the better of him and it did. I also had a feeling if we didn't push the issue hard we'd never get it fixed. You don't even want to know how big our "landlord's" house is or how many businesses he owns.. the cheap #######.

We’ve been looking for another place to live for a while and we’ve been searching for jobs in another state. We need to report this scamlord when we leave.. This so called person we’re renting from disgusts me to the point of being sick, I’ve never met anyone so greedy, twisted or crooked in my entire life.

I thought I’d share our experience with everyone and get some opinions...

Edited February 8, 2008 by aidan80

[britty 1]

I think the landlord has the right to make repairs in any way he sees fit, as long as they adhere to code. I think I am right in assuming from your thread that you were reimbursed for paying the electrician? Regardless of what property, money or assets the landlord has, as long as he maintains the property and keeps up with repairs, he doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong. I don't think you should have to pay any out of pocket expenses to keep your rental home in reasonable condition, this is absolutely the responsibility of the landlord.

[aidan80 9]

I think the landlord has the right to make repairs in any way he sees fit, as long as they adhere to code. I think I am right in assuming from your thread that you were reimbursed for paying the electrician? Regardless of what property, money or assets the landlord has, as long as he maintains the property and keeps up with repairs, he doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong. I don't think you should have to pay any out of pocket expenses to keep your rental home in reasonable condition, this is absolutely the responsibility of the landlord.

Thats the thing, he has no idea what the codes are nor did he care when I told him. He actually does not have the right to make repairs to the electrical system as he's not an electrician. He didn't care about fixing anything until we threatened to move out, only then did he want to fix the electric it by spending as little as possible. We where not reimbursed for the electrician we are using what we pay this scumbag in rent to cover the electricians costs. That man had no intention of ever paying for anything, us forcing him to allow us to use his "rent" was the only way. Thats the thing he hasn't maintained the property, fixed anything or even been to the place in almost 2 years. Anything that broke or needed fixed we had to do it e.g water heater, electrical outlets, windows, doors, floors, holes in the wall (not caused by us).. the list go's on and on like the energizer bunny.

Edited February 8, 2008 by aidan80

[Alex+R 0]

I don't know all the laws, but in Florida there are certainly going to be laws protecting renters from their landlords, and the landlords are going to have to keep things reasonably safe and working in pretty much every state. Google "renters rights Florida" and you will find several guides and maybe a Florida renters' rights center. My internet is really slow right now otherwise I'd get some links.

[aidan80 9]

I don't know all the laws, but in Florida there are certainly going to be laws protecting renters from their landlords, and the landlords are going to have to keep things reasonably safe and working in pretty much every state. Google "renters rights Florida" and you will find several guides and maybe a Florida renters' rights center. My internet is really slow right now otherwise I'd get some links.

Thanks, but I doubt we have many if any rights. The property isn't up to standards not the electricity anyway. Our lovely landlord refuses to sign a new contract/lease with us and it's been like pulling teeth to get a receipt from him when we pay. He also stopped taking our cheques or money orders and instead demanded payment by cash only. We also found that the original lease/contract we signed with him wasn't actually legal.. the man is as bent as a $6 bill.. we're bailing out and reporting him when we leave. We should just leave, hire a lawyer and sue him into the dirt.

[mawilson 2,133]

Aidan,

You're an IT professional....... what on earth are you doing in a ghetto?

You should be making tons of money and living the good life.

Seriously man, something's amiss.

[aidan80 9]

Aidan,

You're an IT professional....... what on earth are you doing in a ghetto?

You should be making tons of money and living the good life.

Seriously man, something's amiss.

Apparently I'm not an "IT Professional" until Monday week, least not in the US! What's amiss.. is credit, when I moved here I had none.. 0 I had plenty of credit back home, enough to buy a house (which I never bought)! I didn't even have a social security number.. I still haven't manged to buildup a huge amount of credit and my wife had little or none as well at the start. . Renting isn't easy if you don't either make tons of money (I made 0 back then) or have good credit (I had 0 back then).

The main reason we're still living here is we are planning on moving out of this state ASAP and we don't want trapped in a lease with another "landlord" or the expense of first, last month rent and security deposit with another landlord! We're not in the ghetto but this house belonged in the ghetto before we patched it up as does the landlord. It's a normal, nice working class street, not rich and not poor. I'd love to be making tons of money only jobs appear to be getting tight. We been applying out of state for a while and it's a matter of the right thing coming up on the right area before we can move on out this place and into a real place.

Ah well we all start and restart somewhere! I just wanted to complain about our ghetto house! It could be a lot worse! At least the ghetto electrician will be over tomorrow to install a new breaker!

[mawilson 2,133]

Aidan,

You're an IT professional....... what on earth are you doing in a ghetto?

You should be making tons of money and living the good life.

Seriously man, something's amiss.

Apparently I'm not an "IT Professional" until Monday week, least not in the US! What's amiss.. is credit, when I moved here I had none.. 0 I had plenty of credit back home, enough to buy a house (which I never bought)! I didn't even have a social security number.. I still haven't manged to buildup a huge amount of credit and my wife had little or none as well at the start. . Renting isn't easy if you don't either make tons of money (I made 0 back then) or have good credit (I had 0 back then).

Oh, ok - that makes sense. Good luck man - hope you get your life back on track real soon!

[aidan80 9]

Aidan,

You're an IT professional....... what on earth are you doing in a ghetto?

You should be making tons of money and living the good life.

Seriously man, something's amiss.

Apparently I'm not an "IT Professional" until Monday week, least not in the US! What's amiss.. is credit, when I moved here I had none.. 0 I had plenty of credit back home, enough to buy a house (which I never bought)! I didn't even have a social security number.. I still haven't manged to buildup a huge amount of credit and my wife had little or none as well at the start. . Renting isn't easy if you don't either make tons of money (I made 0 back then) or have good credit (I had 0 back then).

Oh, ok - that makes sense. Good luck man - hope you get your life back on track real soon!

Strange isn't it...

Thanks, I'm sure all will be good soon!

[jundp 191]

Aidan,

Sorry you are having to go through with this. I am going through something similar with a landlord. I have been in my house for 5 years and after my original 12 month lease expired we never renewed just went to a month-to-month lease. Well, P is here now and we're looking for a new house to rent so that when he moves here permanently in the summer we'll be in a decent house. My current landlord has not EVER fixed anything in all the years I've been here unless I've whined and complained and thrown a right hissy fit. Or done it myself and taken the money out of rent. Anyway, I gave her my required-by-law 20 days notice and she's trying to hold me to the 40 day agreement on the original lease that expired 4 years ago.

You do have rights and you have quite a few of them. You need to research Florida's landlord/tenant act and see what your rights are. In many cases unless you put requests and/or complaints in writing you won't have any recourse for a lawsuit, but you may be able to save some sanity and get this guy to have to be a proper landlord.

Good luck!

[aidan80 9]

Aidan,

Sorry you are having to go through with this. I am going through something similar with a landlord. I have been in my house for 5 years and after my original 12 month lease expired we never renewed just went to a month-to-month lease. Well, P is here now and we're looking for a new house to rent so that when he moves here permanently in the summer we'll be in a decent house. My current landlord has not EVER fixed anything in all the years I've been here unless I've whined and complained and thrown a right hissy fit. Or done it myself and taken the money out of rent. Anyway, I gave her my required-by-law 20 days notice and she's trying to hold me to the 40 day agreement on the original lease that expired 4 years ago.

You do have rights and you have quite a few of them. You need to research Florida's landlord/tenant act and see what your rights are. In many cases unless you put requests and/or complaints in writing you won't have any recourse for a lawsuit, but you may be able to save some sanity and get this guy to have to be a proper landlord.

Good luck!

I understand.. it's the same here! Only way to get the electric fixed is to pay for it out of our rent. That or let the landlord "fix it himself"?.. I know there are rights we have and I think just before we leave if we report him to the city, power company that should shut this place down right away. He won't be able to rent it without power and he'll have to bring it up to standards before the city will ok the power company to switch it on again. I did however report the illegal cable (which he had us paying for at the start) to the cable company. They didn't care, people at the call center didn't care, installers (all 3 of them) didn't care. So we're paying for basic and still getting everything..

Good luck on your move, we're hoping to bail out ASAP!