Weird request for the Dis folks
a friend suggested I post this here to get some general opinions
My fiance & I recently signed a 1 year lease for our first apartment together.
We were the landlords "first choice", because, in his words, we are stable, both employed, and quiet people. The landlord's dad is the other tennant next door (it's a duplex).
We chose this unit because it was large and we were told the father was the only other tennant and he is a 66 year old retiree. Sounded like quiet heaven to us. We are both very sensitive to noise. So a quiet place was a must. We told the landlord this a few times and were promised that it was just the dad next door and very quiet.
We've been slowly going over to the place this week every night after work. Our lease began the 1st but it was unoccupied so they gave us the keys early. We have encountered several problems right away.
First, some work has not been done yet. There were wiring problems all over the house with the lights which have since been fixed. There are still wiring problems in the kitchen and the dishwasher and garbage disposal doesn't work. The landlord says these will be fixed when we move all our stuff in this weekend. We trust that this will be done and it's the least of our concerns.
Second, and a major problem is that the there are 3-4 hour long power outages every single night. This is not the landlords fault but the father told us that this has been happening all year several times a week. Usually during dinner time. So far, it's gone out every night since we got the keys. Why were we not told about this? We've done our research over the last few days and found that yes, it really is a problem on this particular street.
Third and most problematic, we have since found out that the father does not live alone. His girlfriend (who is much younger than him) stays over there every night and we can hear every word she shouts through the walls. Even over our radio (which is thankfully battery operated since we've had very little electricity) and even with earplugs in. It's crazy. We had specifically asked if the father lived alone and were told yes. We stressed that we are very quiet people and that it was vital for us to be in a quiet place. No mention was ever made that this shrieking woman lives there also. She has been there every single night this week as well. While we don't hear a peep from the man, we hear every single word this woman says, and I mean everything.
On Sept 1, my fiance called the landlord and advised him of these problems and the landlord told us there is nothing he can do about hid dad's girlfriend but agreed that she is very loud and obnoxious and tells us that we could get out of the lease if we wanted to go get all our stuff that following night and move it out. He understands our concerns.
We said we would talk to the father first and see if he would be willing to ask his girlfriend to be quieter. Because honestly, other than her noise level, the place is everything we wanted and we thought maybe she just wasn't used to having people next door.
My fiance has very good relationship thus far with the father, and has helped him out with things while we've been there in the dark since we got there. So he called and they chatted for a while. He promised us that the woman would be quieter and he said he already talked to her and that she just wasn't used to having people next door etc. He basically promised us she will not be heard.
So we decided to stick with the lease. So we called the landlord back and said we think everything will be okay, we talked about it like civil people and everything should be ok. We turned down the refund and said we felt it was not going to be a problem.
Fiance calls the dad today to ask some random thing about the power outage issue. Well lo and behold the dad goes off and says that the woman needs to shout in order for him to hear her talk and that this is necessary so she will shout often when she speaks.
We are now at a loss. We really don't want to get off on a bad foot but we also know ourselves well enough to know that living next door to people who constantly shreik and scream is not going to be okay for us.
We are debating calling the landlord and telling him that his father seems to have changed his mind about asking the woman to be quieter and that we now need to back out.
We have all our stuff packed and have to be out of our current (separate) residences by tomorrow. We've also spend considerable money buying furniture and draperies etc. for the place that we assumed when we signed the lease would be a long term place for us.
My current landlord actually told me to ask the landlord to consider giving us a shorter lease so we can give it a shot and find out for ourselves just how bad the noise issue is. He said, as a landlord, he'd do anything to get tennants like us in for a long time so he thinks the landlord might be willing to work with us. Especially since the landlord doesn't like the non-tennant who is causing all the problems to start with. Current landlord is sorry to see me go (and my fiance, too, who stays over and helps out around the place a lot) and says that we are very desirable tennants. He said he'd work with us, and can't imagine any landlord in their right mind not wanting to work with a stable, financially secure couple.
I just don't know. I'd certainly prefer to do the 6 month thing but I'm concerned that even asking for that option will just cause more problems than it's worth if we wind up being stuck there for a full year. I suspect he'll tell us it's either the full year or nothing, but if we are stuck there for a full year and the noise is a problem, we will likely not even be able to stay in the house and have to sleep elsewhere. If it's nothing then as of tomorrow we will basically be homeless until we find a suitable place.
Thoughts from the Dis?
My fiance & I recently signed a 1 year lease for our first apartment together.
We were the landlords "first choice", because, in his words, we are stable, both employed, and quiet people. The landlord's dad is the other tennant next door (it's a duplex).
We chose this unit because it was large and we were told the father was the only other tennant and he is a 66 year old retiree. Sounded like quiet heaven to us. We are both very sensitive to noise. So a quiet place was a must. We told the landlord this a few times and were promised that it was just the dad next door and very quiet.
We've been slowly going over to the place this week every night after work. Our lease began the 1st but it was unoccupied so they gave us the keys early. We have encountered several problems right away.
First, some work has not been done yet. There were wiring problems all over the house with the lights which have since been fixed. There are still wiring problems in the kitchen and the dishwasher and garbage disposal doesn't work. The landlord says these will be fixed when we move all our stuff in this weekend. We trust that this will be done and it's the least of our concerns.
Second, and a major problem is that the there are 3-4 hour long power outages every single night. This is not the landlords fault but the father told us that this has been happening all year several times a week. Usually during dinner time. So far, it's gone out every night since we got the keys. Why were we not told about this? We've done our research over the last few days and found that yes, it really is a problem on this particular street.
Third and most problematic, we have since found out that the father does not live alone. His girlfriend (who is much younger than him) stays over there every night and we can hear every word she shouts through the walls. Even over our radio (which is thankfully battery operated since we've had very little electricity) and even with earplugs in. It's crazy. We had specifically asked if the father lived alone and were told yes. We stressed that we are very quiet people and that it was vital for us to be in a quiet place. No mention was ever made that this shrieking woman lives there also. She has been there every single night this week as well. While we don't hear a peep from the man, we hear every single word this woman says, and I mean everything.
On Sept 1, my fiance called the landlord and advised him of these problems and the landlord told us there is nothing he can do about hid dad's girlfriend but agreed that she is very loud and obnoxious and tells us that we could get out of the lease if we wanted to go get all our stuff that following night and move it out. He understands our concerns.
We said we would talk to the father first and see if he would be willing to ask his girlfriend to be quieter. Because honestly, other than her noise level, the place is everything we wanted and we thought maybe she just wasn't used to having people next door.
My fiance has very good relationship thus far with the father, and has helped him out with things while we've been there in the dark since we got there. So he called and they chatted for a while. He promised us that the woman would be quieter and he said he already talked to her and that she just wasn't used to having people next door etc. He basically promised us she will not be heard.
So we decided to stick with the lease. So we called the landlord back and said we think everything will be okay, we talked about it like civil people and everything should be ok. We turned down the refund and said we felt it was not going to be a problem.
Fiance calls the dad today to ask some random thing about the power outage issue. Well lo and behold the dad goes off and says that the woman needs to shout in order for him to hear her talk and that this is necessary so she will shout often when she speaks.
We are now at a loss. We really don't want to get off on a bad foot but we also know ourselves well enough to know that living next door to people who constantly shreik and scream is not going to be okay for us.
We are debating calling the landlord and telling him that his father seems to have changed his mind about asking the woman to be quieter and that we now need to back out.
We have all our stuff packed and have to be out of our current (separate) residences by tomorrow. We've also spend considerable money buying furniture and draperies etc. for the place that we assumed when we signed the lease would be a long term place for us.
My current landlord actually told me to ask the landlord to consider giving us a shorter lease so we can give it a shot and find out for ourselves just how bad the noise issue is. He said, as a landlord, he'd do anything to get tennants like us in for a long time so he thinks the landlord might be willing to work with us. Especially since the landlord doesn't like the non-tennant who is causing all the problems to start with. Current landlord is sorry to see me go (and my fiance, too, who stays over and helps out around the place a lot) and says that we are very desirable tennants. He said he'd work with us, and can't imagine any landlord in their right mind not wanting to work with a stable, financially secure couple.
I just don't know. I'd certainly prefer to do the 6 month thing but I'm concerned that even asking for that option will just cause more problems than it's worth if we wind up being stuck there for a full year. I suspect he'll tell us it's either the full year or nothing, but if we are stuck there for a full year and the noise is a problem, we will likely not even be able to stay in the house and have to sleep elsewhere. If it's nothing then as of tomorrow we will basically be homeless until we find a suitable place.
Thoughts from the Dis?
Be polite of course. "No, I don't want any coffee, thanks. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were talking to me."
The electric worked for about 2/3 of the weekend. Even when the electric works, the fridge doesn't so I've been living off non-perishables and whatever I can fit into a small cooler. I got some recording of the woman shrieking through the walls also, just in case it's ever needed to show that the place is not even remotely quiet, as it was advertised to be.
Then you're stuck there if the neighbors are awful. It's weird, single family homes around here are insane expensive but condos can be found relatively cheap and everyone I know keeps telling me to buy one... and I keep saying "but then I live downstairs from clog dancer death metal guitarists, I am stuck there!"
