Concern Regarding Apartment/Landlord

[Ghel]

I've been living in my apartment for a year now. It's not a bad place to live, and I was able to keep my cats. But the landlord seems to have "checked out" in multiple ways which seem to have gotten worse lately. Or maybe it's just because I've become more aware of the issues.

The building I live in is an old one. It's a house converted into an upstairs/downstairs duplex. I noticed before I even moved in that the house is settling to such a point that you can tell the difference in the slope of the floor when you walk from the kitchen into the living room. The windows are drafty, but utilities are included, so I just crank up the heat.

The landlord doesn't seem to be interested in doing any maintenance. When the gutter fell off the side of the building, he didn't get it replaced. The old gutter is still lying on the ground next to the building. The bit of the lower roof I can see from my front window has large sections of moss on it. And when the tree fell over in that storm this summer and damaged the roof over my back door, the landlord hired a couple of guys who crashed said tree into one of the downstairs windows while trying to move it. Instead of properly replacing the window, they just put in a storm window that was stored in the basement. The landlord still hasn't fixed the missing shingles on that little patch of roof.

I found out a few months ago the place is up for sale. But the landlord didn't inform me. I regularly check realtor.com to see what's available, in the hopes I'll be able to buy a house once my divorce is complete. So I saw that my building is listed for sale. Cheap. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Then, for my work, I check to make sure all mortgage customers have paid their real estate taxes. When I did that this month, I thought why not check on the place where I'm living. The landlord hasn't paid the real estate taxes. Not for 2016 nor 2015. This concerns me more than the house being up for sale. Granted, I hope to buy a house and move long before this place goes tax forfeit (another 3-5 years).

Then there's the difficulty of getting hold of the landlord if there's an issue. I lost power for about half an hour on Thanksgiving. I tried to call the landlord and got a message from his cell provider about his phone not being available. I don't have any other contact number available for him.

Now that I've written this all out, I think I'm right to be concerned. I don't know what I can or should do about it, though. Anybody have any thoughts?

[csquared]

Sounds like he is losing money on the place.

If you are not planning to get out at the earliest possibility, I would put together a contingency plan. Just in case the missing gutter or shingles cause a roof failure or something like that.

[Victory Sabre]

Yes, you should be concerned. I'd recommend you go to your city/county government to see which controls rental housing issues.

[wolfie]

Something to keep in mind regarding the place being up for sale is that some purchasers want the property, and others want the income stream. If the latter, they'd be interested in keeping you on as a tenant. If the former, expect to receive a notice of termination of tenancy as soon as the property closes.

[Pixelated]

I know you said you hope to buy a house, but were I you, I'd be casting a thoughtful eye at other possible apartments, unless you are fairly sure you'll be able to afford a house very soon. This does not sound like a place you want to spend a lot of time in.

It reminds me of a house I lived in many years ago -- same setup as yours, only mine had initially been a duplex and now was a fourplex. The apartment below mine was occupied by a single mother with two kids. One window had cracked. The landlord had put electrical tape over the crack.

At one point something went wonky with my plumbing and I literally couldn't shut my hot water off. The result was, of course, no hot water in my unit in very short order and for quite some time, as it just continued to pour into the sink (for a long enough period of time that I swear to you there was MOSS growing in the sink!!)

Cold baths may be some people's idea of a brisk wakeup; it ain't mine. The landlady's father called me once, bitching and whining that I hadn't called in a plumber to fix it. I had just enough presence of mind to point out that that was his daughter's responsibility; she needed only to tell me when the damned plumber would be coming and I'd make sure I was home.

It was by no means my last lousy apartment, but brother, was I glad to get out of there.

[EricKei]

In addition to the above --

As long as he owns the place, he HAS to make major repairs, on his own dime. That's the law in most places, AFAIK. Worth quietly looking into.

Take photos of everything that's wrong; use function on your camera that 'prints' the date/time on there if at all possible, to prove that issues were pre-existing. May come in handy if he sells out and the new LL's want you to stay, or if he tries to pin stuff on you. If you move out, they might wanna know anyway, in case he "forgets" to mention needed repairs that the assessor missed.

Sounds to me like he simply DNGAF anymore. Don't expect to get your deposit back if/when you do move, and don't expect him to fix anything, period. If he sells out, expect him to either skip town or just stop answering all calls the second he has the check in-hand. If he hasn't been paying taxes, he may not have been paying the mortgage (etc), either, and selling encumbered property is a serious no-no, is it not? (You would know better than I would ). For all you know, there could be a lien of some kind on the place already.

In any case, be prepared to move on short notice. Start putting feelers out for new places. Pack up (or toss) stuff as needed in preparation, a little bit at a time. Even a box a day or two a week, will get much of it done. e.g. Start with stuff -- especially bulky items such as clothes -- you haven't even thought about, let alone used, in well over a year. Pack or trash or donate. Then drop down to "about a year," then six months. This way, stuff you're still actively using, along with season-specific clothing such as jackets, can get packed (if you have to move) quickly and painlessly when the time comes.

[AccountingDrone]

In any case, be prepared to move on short notice. Start putting feelers out for new places. Pack up (or toss) stuff as needed in preparation, a little bit at a time. Even a box a day or two a week, will get much of it done. e.g. Start with stuff -- especially bulky items such as clothes -- you haven't even thought about, let alone used, in well over a year. Pack or trash or donate. Then drop down to "about a year," then six months. This way, stuff you're still actively using, along with season-specific clothing such as jackets, can get packed (if you have to move) quickly and painlessly when the time comes.

This! Though I might add instead of just sorting and packing, it might be the time to sell/toss and replace with an eye towards when you move. Sort of like I started doing during the last year I was able to work - I did stuff like buy a multisize battery charger and a battery storage thingy, and stockpiled different sized rechargable batteries, I got a solar setup [like a Goal Zero but offbrand] to go along with the 4 battery camp lanterns and the Bakers wood stove. <getting set up for those annoying periods when the power gets tanked by storms or disasters, which for a long-settled place like Eastern CT happened with distressing regularity!> I was setting myself up for saving money when unemployed [battery light can reduce electrical bills, as can cooking and heating with wood] though I had been known to move a lot when single and younger, and it was always a great time to sort stuff and replace the worn, outdated or unused stuff while packing it up. I also tended to sort my books - I have a core of about 1000 'comfort food' books [stuff I read when I want amusement but I don't want to concentrate, old familiar stuff] about 1000 reference books [ranging from cookbooks to Tilke on Costuming] and sorting what was left into pile to donate to a library or a pile to keep for reading in the future. [People who know I love reading tend to give me books for birthdays and Christmas.]

[Food Lady]

Don't expect to get your deposit back

Good advice in general, especially if you live in California (don't know why, but I rarely got mine back in that state).

In any case, be prepared to move on short notice....Pack up (or toss) stuff as needed in preparation, a little bit at a time. Even a box a day or two a week, will get much of it done. e.g. Start with stuff -- especially bulky items such as clothes -- you haven't even thought about, let alone used, in well over a year. Pack or trash or donate..

Also good advice for any time. I try to live this way always because I moved so much in my twenties. I've been in my place 8 1/2 years and yet I still don't like to have too many possessions.

[notalwaysright]

The building I live in is an old one. It's a house converted into an upstairs/downstairs duplex. I noticed before I even moved in that the house is settling to such a point that you can tell the difference in the slope of the floor when you walk from the kitchen into the living room. The windows are drafty, but utilities are included, so I just crank up the heat.

Yikes, that's a good description of my place although it's not a duplex, it's just a bunch of apartments. I have the drafty single pane windows, and my front door has a gap that I stuff with an old towel. My place is above the crawlspaces, which means that the linoleum in the kitchen gets icy cold since there's literally nothing underneath except the plywood. My bedroom used to be a porch.

But as others said, your landlord still has a legal obligation to keep your place livable. But if the place sells, and your lease ends, you might not have much notice to leave. I personally love moving, although I know that makes me sound insane. I really like purging all unnecessary crap and starting with a perfectly clean place.

[Pixelated]

I've been in my place 8 1/2 years and yet I still don't like to have too many possessions.

I discovered how much crap I'd acquired when I moved back to My Hometown. And that was just the crap I needed to dispose of before I COULD move; it didn't count the storage locker full of stuff! (That has since been emptied and I am in the process of culling all of that. The library is getting a lot of donations ... )

[AccountingDrone]

I discovered how much crap I'd acquired when I moved back to My Hometown. And that was just the crap I needed to dispose of before I COULD move; it didn't count the storage locker full of stuff! (That has since been emptied and I am in the process of culling all of that. The library is getting a lot of donations ... )

I am currently shacked up in my Mom's house to keep it occupied until I can sort out her business affairs and other than the furniture which is what I had when I lived here as a kid growing up, everything I have here packs up in 1 sea bag, 1 MOLLE pack and 1 standard scholastic type backpack ... I was semi-joking around with friends when I pointed out that I could evacuate and set up camp quite comfortably with nothing more than my momvan and some of my SCA Pennsic camping gear - I have a large tent, pair of army issue cots, a pair of issue cold weather sleeping bags, a pair of compression packed camping pillows, a camp sink table, a coleman camp kitchen, a camp oven, a coleman 2 burner stove, like 5 or 6 liquid fuel coleman lanterns, cookware, cooking tools, camp shower stuff [a pressure can you put hot water into with a shower nozzle] and camp making tools [sapirka soviet union issue entrenching tool, and hammer back hatchet] All sort of figured out one evening after discussing my dad's policy of "Be polite, smile and have an exit strategy." All I am really missing would be false identity papers and a few thousand dollars in escape money.

[Ghel]

Thanks for the advice, everybody. I'm going to try to talk with the landlord after the new year, but I'm mostly taking a "wait and see" view.

[Ghel]

I'm zombifying this thread because of the laundry issue that started this weekend. On Saturday, I took a basket of laundry down to the basement and saw a note scrawled on a paper towel and taped to the washer: "Broken ". So I knocked on the downstairs neighbor's door until he answered it and asked what was going on. He said the washer wasn't working, and he would text the landlord about it.

So I made my own note to call or text me when the washer was fixed, or if there was an update, and put it on the washer. Then I waited.

Last night (Wednesday), I decided I had to wash laundry one way or another. I got a roll of quarters in case I had to go to a laundromat. I went downstairs to get my basket of laundry and found half of it in the dryer. The notes were removed from the washer, but nobody had contacted me.

I called the landlord and left him a voicemail saying how disappointed I was that nobody had called or texted me and how pissed off I was that somebody had touched my laundry, including putting one of my lay-flat-to-dry sweaters in the dryer. I started another load of laundry and folded the stuff that was dry. My sweater had shrunk a little. Not a lot, but I'm still pissed off about that.