So, as you know, Joe and I are starting the long and seemingly never-ending process of searching for a house. Last year we started really late in the year, thinking oh no big deal, our lease is up in January and there are tons of houses on the market, we will definitely find exactly what we want, for the perfect price, and everything will work out just fine. WE WERE SO WRONG!
We live in Stow, meaning its a pretty pricey area, but Joe and I both work in the Stow area, so this is a prime location for us. They have great school systems (big deal for us because we don't want to move around!), everything is right here as opposed to Hartville, having to drive all over creation to get a freakin 6-pack, there is shopping, and we are extremely close to the highway. Although I would love to live closer to family and friends, this is where Joe and I want to call home. When we looked at houses the first time, we set a limit for ourselves, and all the houses we looked at were pieces of crap (and that is being nice). We saw mold, dirt, animals left behind... you name it, I am sure we saw it. One Saturday we looked at 22 houses in our marathon home hunting day... still nothing.
So when our lease was up in January we were stuck. We hated our old apartment. It was tiny and we were literally on top of each other all the time (not that way :-P) and to boot... they were raising our rent 75 dollars for the next year. SEE YA!!! We found an older place, with less amenities for much less rent. BINGO... This will be a great place to hang until we find a house.
Well, when we signed the lease, our landlord made it sound as if it was really easy to break the lease if we had to because people want to live here (our neighbors have all lived here upwards of 10 years, don't ask me how... or why). Anyway, so we have a great opportunity coming upon us here shortly, so me being the nice tenant that I am, call the landlord to ask him again how hard it is going to be. Well, yesterday he was definitely singing a totally different tune. JERK. Now, it is going to be almost impossible to break our lease, according to him... well we will see about that.
Let me give you a list of reasons why apartment living sucks...
1. There are so many unsupervised children around here that they want my dog to come out and play with them... SERIOUSLY... go find your mom!
2. We have a convicted rapist living next door. That's right... no one told us this and now I am nervous about being at home alone. He did time for raping a woman... wouldn't you be just a little nervous about that?
3. My immediate next door neighbor smokes pot... REGULARLY. And... right outside our window, so we get that lovely scent wafting through our apartment all the time. She is a really nice lady, but smoke in your own house.
4. One man in our complex has an anger issue and beats his wife. I am scared that he may come outside one day so mad....
So, in a nutshell, I guess it doesn't matter where you rent, RENTING SUCKS! Hence, some of the reasons why we are going to try and get out of our apartment. Wish us luck!
2 comments:
so, your renting experience sounds just like ours!
the townhouse we lived in when we lived in hartville was nice but our neighbors were freaking psyco!
i regularly experienced: that pot smelling wafting in, the screaming/drunk/angry neighbor who beat his wife/girlfriend/babymama and the jerky landlord!
i hope you can get out of it - and that the house thing works out.
oh ya - and we got the mold and the left behind pieces of trash as well!!
we'll both find what we are looking for!
so here's my legal advice.
1. get everything in writing. you need to send the landlord a list of complaints and emphasize your fear of bodily harm. you have the right to live peacefully. and in fact, i would send it registered mail and/or hand deliver. and i know it will sound crazy but take a picture of yourself giving him the letter. trust me, he will try to say that you never sent it.
2. in said letter, set a deadline. ie..."if these issues are not resolved in 30 days i will be giving you my official 30 day notice" (you need to do some research on that, but most states it is 30 days...some are 60 though)
3. take pics. when/if you end up in court b/c he most likely wont give you your security deposit back, you need to have hard proof of exactly what was going on and exactly how you left the house on that day. (literally every inch of the place)
4. keep notes. "may 25th heard violent fighting next door and was scared" "may 30 rapist was giving me the eye" "may 28 complained to landlord about leaky faucet and wasnt fixed" or whatever.
the shoulda/coulda/woulda is that you should have gotten it in writing that it was ok to leave early. or made sure you signed a month to month lease b/c now, the only way you will get out of it is if you can prove un-safe or uninhabitable living conditions. good luck though. i really hope he eases up.
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