This piece is run with an anonymous byline as a courtesy to the writer, as the post could affect their ability to obtain housing.
In my first apartment out of college, my roommate and I rented a well-maintained, spacious apartment with a built-in cabinet, hardwood floors, and an original clawfoot tub. We fell in love with its charm and the rent was pretty affordable.
The building was a two-flat that the landlord had lived in for over 30 years. Our first meeting with our landlord was weird: He kept complaining about his old tenants, and was a little sharp to me on the phone. He over-explained things to me in a way that at the time of the showing seemed kind and grandfatherly. He also mentioned that he liked renting to young women, which I generously assumed was just because young women could be generalized as neat and quiet. I was young, so I didn't realize that these weren't cute details but were instead hints that the situation would become less than ideal.
As time went on, we found out he was too attached to the apartment, and that living there would mean that we had to live his way. At first it was little things—when we moved in, he said we weren't allowed to move the large, ugly rugs that covered the hardwood floors because he didn't want to hear footsteps. Or, when some blinds needed to be replaced, he turned it into a several-months-long saga of emails and visits. We joked that he was our third roommate because we saw and heard from him almost daily. Then it progressively got worse. He began peering into our windows and sending us sneering emails about how we should clean more often. He was intrusive and regularly insulted us. We felt like unwelcome guests in our own home. Once, he yelled at me, "I am the landlord because I am the lord of the land."
Finally, we realized we couldn't live there any longer. First we tried to negotiate an early move-out and offered to pay a service to find new tenants. Then, we tried to get subletters, but he harassed them when they came to see the apartment. Ultimately, we decided to consult a lawyer to see if we were within our rights to move out. The lawyer argued that we were and sent a move-out letter to the landlord explaining why on our behalf, claiming that the landlord broke the law through his actions. We knew there was a possibility that our landlord would sue us for the remaining rent, but our lawyer said that usually people don't want to deal with the headache of fighting a legal battle and won't sue. But our landlord wasn't a usual person and sued us anyway.
Thankfully, after a few months' wait and an appearance in court, he lost. Though I gained some knowledge on the process of small-claims court (and a healthy dose of distrust towards bitter old men), it ultimately was a pretty traumatic experience—in all honesty, it's pretty hard to think back and write about this, but I think it's crucial that I share my experience so another person doesn't get caught up in the same situation. Here are five things I now tell everyone if their landlord is causing problems.
from Apartment Therapy | Saving the world, one room at a time https://ift.tt/2QdbI8T
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