I have it on good authority that on Tue, 2 Nov 2004 10:52:55 -0800,
"Ellen" <glassyo@hotmail.com> wrote:
I consider myself a good tenant. I keep to myself and don't complain about
noisy neighbors or the fact that they let their kids run up and down the
hallways even tho it's against the rules and pretty darned annoying to the
tenants on the first floor. I try to keep the noise to a minimum in my
apartment.
About 2 years ago, some pipes burst and there was water damage in my and
others apartments. Coincidentally enough, this was right after the building
was bought by another management company. I don't know about the others but
my apartment had brown spots above the bathroom sink, a cracked ceiling
above the toilet (not to mention a hole in the ceiling above the toilet).
This should have been repaired by the owners at the time of the
incident. The new owners *might* be able to get reimbursed for the
costs from the previous owners, but that is a matter that wouldn't
concern you.
They had also broken through the wall behind the cabinet underneath the
bathroom sink apparently to get to the pipes. My neighbor ended up putting
some cardboard against her side since we could see right through to each
other.
Along with this, I had complained of crickets/cockroaches in my apartment.
The building manager at the time told me that since I was the one who first
spotted them, if they had to exterminate, I would have to pay for it. My
While laws vary to some degree from state to state and even town
to town, it's always been the owner who must pay for things such as
insect extermination. Certainly it's the law in Iowa. I know from
personal experience, unfortunately.
If they can PROVE it was you that caused the infestation, and I'm
presuming that if you could see the roaches (they avoid light as much
as possible) there was an infestation, then they could come after you
for monetary compensation. If they can't prove who is at fault, they
eat the cost.
place may be a little messy but I don't keep food out and I clean up any
spills. Nothing that would attract roaches.
Fast foward to the present day where I found the crack in the bathroom
ceiling and asked our interim manager to have it fixed. A month later,
nothing was done and I ended up complaining to the health department about
the mold, the crack in the ceiling (the guy who came by for the inspection
is the one who found the hole. I just thought it was mold), and the hole in
my bathroom cabinet.
Is this the same hole you mentioned above? If so, someone was
remiss in their duties, to put it mildly. That should have been
repaired long ago.
Right after the health department inspection, the new building manager
started and she told me the maintenance man would be in my apartment to do
his inspection before fixing things, I added my garbage disposal to my list
of repairs since it didn't work and I had to fumble around to find the reset
button every time I wanted to use it. All this was within the last week.
When using the garbage disposal last night, water started coming out of the
cabinet beneath the kitchen sink. Needless to say I was royally pissed off.
Pissed off enough to come here and post to find out if I have any legal
rights.
First, mention the problem to the new manager. Give her a chance
to make it right. If you can't find satisfaction that way, complain
to the tenant association, if there is one.
Your next step would be to complain to whatever governing body
has oversight for such matters. Typically this is a city department.
Look in the phone book for the number to the city's main
switchboard. Someone there should be able to tell you whom to contact
and might be able to tell you what else you may need to do.
This would still bother me but it bothers me most because the rent keeps
getting raised (which is understandable) but the quality of my apartment
keeps lowerinh (which is not understandable. At least to me).
With many management companies, everything revolves around the
bottom line. And they want as much of a profit as possible. While
this isn't necessarily bad, companies tend to forget it's better to go
after the slow dime than the fast nickel.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I hope my answers were/are helpful.
Kent
--
Why don't people who believe in reincarnation leave all their money to
themselves?
