STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

wicked · Coach

My landlord is not only incompetent, he's tacky as well

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

hahahahahaha! Move. Just move and refuse to deal with him anymore. Actually, he sounds like a lawyer. Have you tried adding up your fees, and sending him a letter saying, "This is what it cost us, and since I know how concerned you are (blah blah) I assumed you would want us to deduct this from the rent. Enclosed are the receipts. Thank you."

shopgirl82 · Chanel

did the board of health ever come? i would keep tabs, like Dizzy said. but honestly, it's going to happen next time it rains so i think you need to have an exit strategy pronto. and i would return the regift and try to get money deducted from your rent.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

Accepting that gift certificate is like saying everything is alright now. I voted to send it back and say nothing.

wicked · Coach

Dizzy wrote:

hahahahahaha! Move. Just move and refuse to deal with him anymore. Actually, he sounds like a lawyer. Have you tried adding up your fees, and sending him a letter saying, "This is what it cost us, and since I know how concerned you are (blah blah) I assumed you would want us to deduct this from the rent. Enclosed are the receipts. Thank you."

Well, he fixed the problem within the 30 days specified on the lease, so I don't think we have a case to move out early. I have been documenting everything with dates and such. We don't really have any tangible fees to speak of, it's mostly that we had to endure a horrible stench and wet carpet from 6/7-6/23. And yes I do think we should be compensated for having an uninhabitable room for 2 weeks, but I wouldn't know how to calculate the damages.

wicked · Coach

shopgirl82 wrote:

did the board of health ever come? i would keep tabs, like Dizzy said. but honestly, it's going to happen next time it rains so i think you need to have an exit strategy pronto. and i would return the regift and try to get money deducted from your rent.

The board of health came last Wednesday. The woman documented the mold and the 2" gap underneath the door of the utility room. She was not too pleased about that and mentioned the potential for mice to enter through the gap. Yuck! I hadn't even considered that before.

So the landlord does have to take care of these things, I don't know how long it takes for the Board of Health to send him the report.

Also the Board of health only checks mold with their naked eye, they don't bring equipment to check for invisible spores or anything.

And meanwhile I've come down with a cold and I don't know whether it's due to the mold or not. Maybe it's just because i've been stressed about the circumstances?

shopgirl82 · Chanel

is there anyway you can get them to send you the report and use it as a bartering tool? i would bring it to him and use it to a) get out of the lease or b) use it to get money off your rent. i would also bring up the possibility of getting a lawyer if he refuses to let you out of the lease, or discount your rent.

personally, if you wanted $$ off your rent, i would take your rent, divided by the number of rooms you have and subtract that number from your rent. so if you pay $600, you have three rooms, i would ask for $200 (price for not using the room) off for the month.

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

I like Shopgirl's idea a lot. And personally, I wouldn't count too much on the Board of Health. Most administrative agencies aren't really much of a threat (it's a pro bid-ness climate these days, as Molly Ivins likes to say). They can sort of keep sending your landlord notices, at best, and maybe fine the boy, but probably not much else. Although, MA is a pretty liberal state and you're probably better protected there than almost anywhere else in the country. But seriously, the landlord is trouble. You're going to have similar problems with him for the entire time you're there. So really, I would move.

Hermes

(I tried to post this earlier, but I'm traveling and having issues with the connection)

I can't vote, because what I would do is not on your list of options. I would send, via certified mail (signature required by recipient) a list detailing the days your apartment was not in a fully livable condition, and the amount you will be excluding from your rent to reflect this (based on 30 days). I would just include the certificate with this letter (no comments included - returning it is comment enough). This may not be fully legal, but it's what I would do - he may accept the deducted rent without argument.

let's say you pay $900/mo. divided by 30 that would be $30/day. let's say you had 5 days where your apartment was not fully livable - that would be $150 that you would deduct from your rent. simple, cut and dried, without personal jabs. it's also something you could argue if you ever went to small claims court (although I doubt you would end up there).