Vent: renting sucks

[Beca]

We own a rental home, and see things MUCH the other way. We try to keep up the house to the best of our ability, and don't seem to get much help from renters. Most recently, we were concerned about the air conditioners...they work fine, but are older and we think electricity bills might be high for our tenants this summer. So, my dh got quotes to replace them ($10,000), and our tenants said they just didn't want to be bothered with workmen in their home. I am just waiting for the phone call saying, "Do you know how high air runs us in this home?"

They didn't think the grass was sufficiently thick, so we laid new sod. They said the ceiling fans were noisy so they asked us to install new ones. They said the toilets were running constantly, (new toilets installed right before they moved in) only to discover they had put the bleach tablets in the tank that eat rubber gaskets, so we had to replace those on 3 month-old toilets. We just replaced their hot water heater ($1000), and they would not give us a time we could enter the home to do that for several days. The city is doing street repairs, and they called to request a $400 per month rent reduction for the inconvenience.

Renting can be frustrating, but being a landlord is not a piece of cake, either.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

The thing I miss about renting is the landlord being responsible for the major expenses of repairs. Light bulbs should be your responsibility (unless, like you said, for some unknown reason they put in the lease to take responsibility). Garbage Disposal and A/C are lower on the list of high expenses, but I can understand wanting a landlord to be responsible for it. Just chalk it up to being prepared to owning your own home... and good luck with the renting!

 

[LuvOrlando]

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[OctMtnWoods]

I've never had a landlord provide us with an air conditioner. That's something we had to buy ourselves & put in the window. I'm actually surprised a WI landlord provides AC units.

Home Depot sells many light bulbs. Check there. $30 does not sound right at all.


There are days when being a homeowner sucks too.

 

[flying_babyb]

they wont let me put mine in there hole that they made. If I could I WOULD! I like mine. I do fix my own stuff, I fixed the drippy sink, the drippy tub, the carpet tack strips... I dont ask for much, just what the lease says im suposted to have!

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

FYI to all of you doubters - My lease also states that the rental company is responsible for light bulbs!

I don't really use my garbage disposal, I suggest you get a small container with a lid for foodwaste, and keep it separate from your regular trash in the cabinet under your sink, if you don't want to put it in the regular trash for odor purposes.

For the a/c... check your lease with regards to that. Mine offers a discount if we are without air for x amount of days during june-august. No idea why your landlord told you they risked their jobs. I would also play with the settings if you have access to that - because if it was "fixed" he maybe just didn't set it right.

Hot water.... now that just plain stinks. Sorry!

 

[OctMtnWoods]

they wont let me put mine in there hole that they made. If I could I WOULD! I like mine. I do fix my own stuff, I fixed the drippy sink, the drippy tub, the carpet tack strips... I dont ask for much, just what the lease says im suposted to have!

So put your a/c in a window instead.

 

[flying_babyb]

I dont use the garbage disposal either it just makes me mad that it dosent work. I told them to take it out. Right now its just a pain cause I cant use that side of the sink (guess its clogged) cause the water wont go down that sink. No clue whats up with the air, Ive been playing with it but GOSH its hot in here.

 

[SandrA9810]

I completely understand your pain.
Our first landlord was a complete idiot, never fixed anything, and every thing to him seemed perfectly fine.
1. He was supposed to install a small central AC unit. That didn't happen before we moved in, so he placed one overly small for the size of the room window unit. And the place was divided in two by the bathroom and closet. So the kitchen wasn't ever affected by the AC. Eventually his died and some one stole it... we purchased a new AC and by the time we got done installing it, it was late and we didn't have access to the storage shed at the back of the place, and some one snatched it off the ground from the yard. And Kari's parent's gave us the one they bought for her room for the kitchen. So now we have to window units we can't use, but they're great for camping at the Fort.
2. The toilet wax ring went bad. We had repeated calls to him to come replace it, but he never did. It got to the point that we either peed while taking a shower or had to go to Publix down the street to go to the bathroom. Thankfully we spent as little time there as possible, generally only to sleep.
3. There was one hot water tank for four apts. Good luck taking a hot shower, either had to do it at like 2am or or in the middle of the day when no one else was home.
4. He called animal control on us for no reason, so we had to take a day off work so we could be home to show the condition of the apartment. (Kari accidently bought two guinea pigs that later turned out to be pregnant, and when I complained to the pet store they said they'd feed them to the snakes so we kept them... all 7, And then 2 hamsters, so two cages, and two fish tanks, I had a fresh water tank and Kari had a salt water tank before we lived together. Plus Kiani the dog.
5. He installed a set of mailboxes which most the locks just stopped working on them.
6. We would have to drive to his home to drop the rent off. Thankfully he lived near Kari's parents so the 20 mile drive wasn't out of the way for us.
7. Never took care of the yard... there was about a 3ft square outside our door that I would allow the dog to pee in because I didn't want her to end up with stickers in her paws.

And then when we moved to Orlando... it got worse and we went with a rental complex instead of a private landlord
1. Our toilet broke. Called repeatedly for a whole week, and then after I got fiesty on the phone with the office, we get home and there's a maintance guy in our bedroom, on our bed, watching jay leno and our entire place is trashed. They didn't do anything for nor the police. The finally had some one fix the toilet two days later when we were home.
2. Garbage disposal never worked
3. Dishwasher never worked
4. We could usually jiggle at least one of the burners into working for us.
5. Then kept our deposit and wanted to charge us 600$ more for "damages" like missing smoke alarm, which the lady put on the lease as there being none. Or the lead paint that exsisted in the wall. I was in complete shock at how stupid the leasing lady was when Kari came back and told me how it went.
6. Constant theivery to anything left outside, down to tools stolen out of our truck bed (the vinyl cover pulled off twice), and a potted rose o our patio.

We moved up in the world slightly by moving to Kissimmee
1. There was a two page list of needed repairs when we moved in, and none had been fixed in our two year lease.
2. The dryer vents were completely bent at the curves so no air could pass through in order to dry the clothes. And those indoor venting systems don't work well. And the laundry closet also served as a pantry but everything would taste like dryer sheets.
3. The fridge's gasket seal was warped in the bottom corner.
4. major major bug problem because they kept the grounds flooded from over watering the lawn. There were lakes between buildings and roads.
5. The large burner never worked even after calling it in like 3 times. They'd come out jamm the thing back in, it'd work... till you sat a pot on it.

No matter what... it sucks.... renting it's up to the landlord to foot the bill and make the repairs, but you're at thier mercy of how timely they are in doing the repairs. Owning your own home, you're responsible for your repairs and the costs. But at least you can do things to your liking, especially when it comes to getting energy star approved appliances.

 

[LuvOrlando]

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[Nie0214]

I've never rented so please forgive this if these are dopey questions, but don't you have an opportunity to walk through the property and check everything out before you sign a lease? If so, why don't you insist that everything is fixed before you sign.. or at the very least write in all the contingencies directly on the lease before signing it?

If you move in in February, chances are you'll have no idea about a faulty AC.

 

[Liberty Belle]

We own a rental home, and see things MUCH the other way. We try to keep up the house to the best of our ability, and don't seem to get much help from renters. Most recently, we were concerned about the air conditioners...they work fine, but are older and we think electricity bills might be high for our tenants this summer. So, my dh got quotes to replace them ($10,000), and our tenants said they just didn't want to be bothered with workmen in their home. I am just waiting for the phone call saying, "Do you know how high air runs us in this home?"

They didn't think the grass was sufficiently thick, so we laid new sod. They said the ceiling fans were noisy so they asked us to install new ones. They said the toilets were running constantly, (new toilets installed right before they moved in) only to discover they had put the bleach tablets in the tank that eat rubber gaskets, so we had to replace those on 3 month-old toilets. We just replaced their hot water heater ($1000), and they would not give us a time we could enter the home to do that for several days. The city is doing street repairs, and they called to request a $400 per month rent reduction for the inconvenience.

Renting can be frustrating, but being a landlord is not a piece of cake, either.

Wow. When we rented a house, we did not ask for one thing from our landlord. We even had to call a plumber once and paid for it ourselves, since it was a stoppage problem and we felt we probably caused it.

 

[mickeyboat]

I dont use the garbage disposal either it just makes me mad that it dosent work. I told them to take it out. Right now its just a pain cause I cant use that side of the sink (guess its clogged) cause the water wont go down that sink. No clue whats up with the air, Ive been playing with it but GOSH its hot in here.

Our disposal gets clogged all the time. Try putting the plug in the opposite side and using a plunger on the disposal side.

Also if the disposal is not working, have you tried the reset switch?

And your air really needs to be fixed soon. Good luck.

 

[C.Ann]

I absolutely could not deal with the heat - mainly for health reasons.. So - while waiting for them to fix the a/c, I would be out buying a window unit for another area of the apartment.. Also, I believe there are free-standing a/c units available now that don't even have to be placed in a "window"..

 

[SandrA9810]

LuvOrlando: When we moved into the third apartment, we had a very long list of things that needed to get fixed, but it never happened in the two years we lived there. We just dealt with it.
When you sign the lease they give you 24-48hrs after you move into the apartment to make note of any damages. Sometimes you won't always know something is broken till you need to use it. Like we didn't get a washer/dryer set till 3 weeks after moving in, we wouldn't have ever known till we moved in.
Some times things just eventually need to get replaced, appliances and such are not designed to work forever. And there's a greater chance of something dying on you in an older apartment. Like a wax ring on a toilet, they do last a long time, they eventually wear out and need replacing. But that is not something the average renter can replace on thier own, or the fact that it needs replacing is not the fault of the current renters.
We have no problem doing easy home repairs on our place, mostly because I don't trust another person to be in our place without us here.

 

[MoniqueU]

Our heater j8st went out on our jacuzzi.Just the part with no labor is 2k. 2 summers ago we had to replace 2 ac units. 10k Last summer the air went out again 700 repair. All the little stuff incluing a garbage disposal I can't even a it all up. Changing my own 30 dollar lightbulbs is the least of my worries.My house is less then 10 years old too, so its not like I took on a hundred year old house that was a money pit. Save your money up, buy a house then get back to us.

 

[OctMtnWoods]

Maybe I have the wrong poster, but weren't you posting about moving in to someones basement recently and asking about drywalling? How's the work coming? Almost done yet? If so, then just sit back & realize you'll be out of the apartment soon and your problems will be gone.

 

[funnygarcia]

I guess we have been very lucky with renting.

We've had a few issues but it was something we just lived with, took care of ourselves or chalked it up to living in that location (theft is not the fault of the landlord, bugs are to be expected in very large buildings or certain locales).

Our current owner/landlord is a cheap skate.

We put up with hideous circa 1970 lightly peeling wall paper, mold growing in the bathroom that his staff never cleaned before we moved in. The very cheap rough carpet that can be bought off the roll at Menard's for a $1 a foot The water that takes forever to heat up to wash dishes.. by hand... no dishwasher, no disposal.

In return, he doesn't bother us. He keeps the place safe and clean, charges reasonable rent, and repairs the major things as soon as possible (he's very particular about leaking faucets..anything to save a buck!).
He didn't fuss when my husband started dialyzing at home, increasing the amount of garbage and water usage.

We get an okay place to live and an AWESOME school district in a neighborhood that we never could afford to buy a house. It's the place we call HOME

 

[flying_babyb]

Maybe I have the wrong poster, but weren't you posting about moving in to someones basement recently and asking about drywalling? How's the work coming? Almost done yet? If so, then just sit back & realize you'll be out of the apartment soon and your problems will be gone.
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Im on a lease till feb. so Im here for awile. WOrks just starting on the basement. Asked the landlord about bring my freind in as a roomate, she told me I would have to sign a new lease, aka another year! NO WAY! But on a happer note, I got my first full time pay check 600!!! WOW

 

[Disneylover79]

If you ask me you have put up with way to much so far.... I rent and I love me landlord. When we moved in we had trouble with a stopped up toilet and an overflow into my living room, this happened 3 months after we moved in... I called my landlord and she automatically told me to do what we would do if it were our house, so we had everything done and she trusted us with our opinion (she lives in CA and we live in FL)... so then fast forward about a year and the A/C went out in May, so I called her (even though she told us to do what was right) we had our A/C fixed in 5 hours... then just recently our garbage disposal went out and was fixed in a week (mainly due to our schedule)... so like I said I would have been outta there... Good luck and remember you are paying and if you are not happy get out quick