I took my kids to church and have taught them to tell the truth. I have never been evicted, never been in trouble with the law, have always paid my rent or house payment on time and have excellent credit. I am known for sticking up for what is right. While the market is good I am hoping to buy another home to live in soon but a year ago I needed to become a renter again to live closer to my office in Pismo Beach. We like the quaint home and area but going from my new home an hour away to a 100 year old home (with needed repairs) was a big adjustment for my 17 year old son and I. We had a 3 bedroom 2 bath and moved to a 2 bedroom 1 bath with small office room and no garage, but storage space in the attic.
The landlord had raised the rent quite a bit from when my friends had lived here, the reason they moved, and I was told repairs were needed and would be done. The key would not open the front door to get in or to lock up when my son or I needed to be somewhere. The oven temperature was off, would not get as hot as I set it for, so I could not make Christmas or Valentine cookies which I always make for my kids. The knobs that turned on hot and cold in shower would spin without any pressure difference so we were never sure if we would have hot water or if knob would fall off. The toilet overflowed. The small bathroom vents would blow open and make us very cold. Gradually the landlord did fix those things after I paid less rent in March. He threatened to evict me and I did not want to make him mad so I apologized and paid the full rent. But he would not return my calls, would not come when he said he would, dropped by without any notice, did not communicate well.
The landlord was not hearing my requests for plumbing repairs so we could use bathroom sink and to get rid of skunks waking me up again and again under the house. After 5 months tenant attorney told me to withhold $200 from my May and June rent and said I should not have paid the money I withheld in March. The landlord was very mad and finally fixed the plumbing problem mid June when the back tenant also had bad plumbing problems. I gave him back 2/3 of the $200 I withheld in June since he repaired sink but he wanted it all. The tenant attorney said I did not need to pay him for when it was not repaired. They always wanted the money but did not care about needed repairs to make house livable.
Short time later the sink wouldn't drain again, toilet backed up and plumbing was not corrected until mid October after handing me a 60 day termination notice Oct 2nd, saying to leave when my 12 month lease is up. It was a retaliatory eviction which is illegal! He had also given me many 3 day notices to pay or quit because he didn't understand I was doing exactly what I had been legally advised. He did not want to make repairs..all about getting his rent. He hired a property management that was very mean and condescending. He told them he did not get my October rent which was not true. He was here working on exposed pipes he left for weeks blocking our walkways. He never mentioned to me to pay the rent to him. October 9th the manager pounded on my door with a 3 day notice in his hand. I told him I had paid as I always do, right inside the post office where the landlord's P.O. Box is. I put stop payment on 1st check and gave another to manager and told him to tell landlord now the other one was not good. Later my bank sent me a notice saying the landlord had tried to cash my stop payment check. I knew he had received it! Landlord does not care that it was Thanksgiving or soon will be Christmas. I just got another 3 day notice.
Tenants have rights. It is not legal for landlord or managers to harrass renters or to threaten eviction. They have a right to quiet enjoyment of the home they are paying rent for. The home should be in good repair and habitable for humans. The landlord or property manager still has not taken care of the skunk problem here. The code inspector came by last week and told me he found many violations. The landlord is suppose to have screens over the openings under the home, so animals won't get underneath, and they were missing. There was a hot water heater code violation, a fire hazard to roof, and also a pipe was draining outside and not capped off. Electrical code violations inside as well. Before the summer and over and over when temperatres got very hot, I had politely requested we have at least a couple screens so we could open windows when it is hot. The landlord waited months, until mid October, to finally give me one screen for my bedroom window and no screen for our living room. Having no screens is a code violation too. To harrass me, I believe, he pulled the large heavy bricks away from the house to allow the skunks free access to under the home. I left out some details but as you can see it is not much fun renting, especially if they are trying to make you leave before you are ready and able.
So if you have a nightmare tenant's story like mine, now is a great time to become a home owner and much more enjoyable. Turn your nightmare into a dream come true! If you need a friendly, honest, creative, hard working Realtor who knows it is no fun to pay someone elses mortgage payment, contact me. I love to research and will help you find your next home you can call your own. The Art of Real Estate. www.HomesOnCentralCoast.com www.Nicolettesart.com 805 710-3090 Thanks for reading my blog. Nicolette
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