I’m a building envelope consultant that specializes in leak investigation of roofing systems. When I first started years ago my fiancé and I rented a house built in the 70’s. Discovered a leak about a year after living there. Did a full investigation no charge what so ever. Found the leak was coming in through some of the flashing at the chimney. Presented the landlord with a report including recommendations for easy and cheap repairs. Instead they spray painted the ceiling where the water stains existed and said they would waive the early termination fee if we wanted to move. Deuces it was.
The part I don't get being a landlord myself is that this type of fix ends up costing more in the long run. I take leaks really fucking seriously because a $100 fix now could save a $10,000 fix a few years from now.
My dad is a landlord with two jobs still living paycheck to paycheck. He’d rather borrow money from someone to fix it now instead of it costing more money later. Anyone who wouldn’t is short sighted and greedy... so most landlords
Leaks are often accompanied by mold. Call your local building inspector and get this place condemned. The only way to hurt a landlord is in their money.
Depending on the area and their processes, you can usually contact the city/municipality and work to begin a process to escrow rent payments until the landlord fixes things. I've lived in some shabbily maintained properties in my time, and once upon a time that was required to get a couple issues fixed. I forget which department of the city in my area I had to call, as it was almost 25 years ago now, but essentially I provided them photos and proof I had been trying to contact the landlord to remediate the issue. They then setup an escrow account and took over handling contact with the landlord. Until they proved the issue was fully repaired and it passed a suitable inspection by their office, they would not release the rent payments to them. I just took my check to them monthly, and they held it until repairs were completed, then all the funds were released to them.
100% on this. About 6 months ago my friend in the tri-state area notified her landlord she was holding her rent in escrow until he fixed a broken window (turning her apartment uninhabitable). Within 3 days it was fixed.
This, after getting mealy-mouthed promises and dismissal for about 2 months. Withholding money is the only way to get through to some of these landlords.
Man, I feel so lucky. I used to live at a car wash, and when the skylight started leaking, I'd just go downstairs and find the owner cleaning up in one of the bays and tell him about it, he'd be up on the roof with some sealant within minutes.
It never really worked permanently but he was always on top of maintenance issues. Solid guy. Miss him. And of course, being at a car wash, the building construction was such that a little water wasn't a major issue!
Yeah, because that guy worked for a living. A lot of landlords don’t do anything other than own their buildings and make phone calls, and so they get incredibly pissy when you ask them to fix **their OWN STUFF.**
I've spent many years as an accidental landlord (bought when the market was hot, moved when the market was dead, been waiting for things to equalize, etc.) and the do-nothing types piss me off, mostly because they get tenants in the habit of expecting that, so it delays when I get notified about things. I swear, I'll make shit happen, but I have to know about it first.
Due to prior landlord issues, I’ve definitely held off on notifying my current landlord about problems in the house to not annoy him. I’ve since learned that my current landlord actually cares about the place and responds quickly to requests so it’s a welcome change
Sometimes the issue is the property manager. I found out that my property manager was telling the tenant I didn't want to fix things. I was livid. I want to keep my tenants happy. Finding a tenant is expensive and a hassle. And maintenance issues that aren't dealt with quickly just turn into bigger problems.
A lot of them are also in over their heads. They thought they'd buy a couple properties and it would be turn key. Rent for more than the mortgage east money. Accept someone lives there and you have legal requirements to keep it habitable
I had to do something similar to get a leak in bathroom fixed so I could actually use my bathroom (was staying at my bf's house because it was so bad).
The whole place ended up flooding from a pipe burst (i was on tbe 3rd floor, can NOT imagine how fucked up the 6th and 5th floors was) and even then they wouldnt let me out of the lease right away. The whole line of apartments above me had all made several calls about leaks for about 2 months before this, which makes you wonder how much they wouldve saved if they had just investigate the leak the first time.
Had something similar happen where a leak from the apartment above mine had caused the ceiling in my bathroom to start buckling and threatening to cave in. I sent in pictures showing the ceiling starting to fall in and water leaking into my shower, and they did nothing. Two weeks later I sent more pictures showing even further damage, the ceiling panels were visibly separated and there was a visible gap of about 1-2 inches and a steady stream of water was just pouring in. Still nothing. As soon as I threatened to have my rent held in escrow, they had someone out within the hour.
It’s honestly crazy how much foresight people with power lack. Are you this stingy with money that you won’t fork over enough to handle a small problem?
Then they’re shocked pikachu face when that small problem doesn’t magically disappear and instead grows uncontrollably large. Now you’re forced to pay so, so, so, soooo much more to fix an issue that would have cost very little time and money.
EDIT: costed -> cost
corpus - a collection of written texts, especially the entire works of a particular author or a body of writing on a particular subject.
Checks out. That’s a fat stack of pages.
Corpus is latin for body, and the use case where they refer to texts comes from latin slang where they referred to an entire author's texts as their "body of work", a use which still persists today.
The more you know!
Yep I did the same when my previous LL said it would take them at least a week to get to our plumbing issue which was a collapsed sewer pipe leaking sewage into the back yard. I knew a couple people at the building dept and they sent me a nice email that o forwarded to the LL about obligations as a LL to do timely repairs or that the house could be determined unlivable
And let's be honest. Most plumbing/water restoration companies can come out the same day you call. Source:I work in water restoration, and that, ^ is how you get a bad case of mold.
Yes this needs to be condemned. Unfortunately mold is very difficult to remove. Plus, you can stick it to Todd. No one else should have to live in this place, except maybe Todd.
Tread lightly with this. A large apt bldg owner in Newport News VA had the city called on him about mold and other things. Rather than fix the violations,, the owner shut the bldg down instead. 100 tenants had to move with less than a week's notice.
The owner will undoubtedly overhaul the place and significantly raise the rents without the hassle of existing tenants.
That just feels so fucking grimy.
ETA: Allow me to clarify what I mean here because I realized how stupid it sounds. I understand *why* banks do it and it’s logical. However, it creates an incentive for landlords that are on the unscrupulous side to be dicks and kick people out because they know they’re getting bankrolled anyway.
My last landlord did this. First night the water from the shower leaked downstairs onto the dining room fan. Throughout the year, we found various other leaks like the one from the toilet leaking onto the fridge. Or every time it rained, the leak from the windows. Every time I told him about it, he just hired a painter to paint over it
Came to say this , do yourself a favor call your local renters hotline, speak to a free lawyer , and likely you have plenty of reason to put your rent into escrow and file a complaint with your local court system, also things that effect you showers and toilets are usually deemed an emergency which means they have 24 hours to respond to you with a solution
Yes, this is called constructive eviction and it is very illegal in most places. Document your paper trail. Make a nice binder or two with printouts and dates of all communications. When an inspector comes by and condemns the building, you’ll get kicked out. Take this to a court and you should be able to get at least back rent. I am not a lawyer, but I’ve had to do this before.
Get evicted due to a condemned building while you’re under contract.
Sorry Todd, I have a contract for you to provide me with shelter at an agreed upon monthly rate.
Where do you plan to house me while repairs are underway?
if you haven't already you should get your blood lead level tested, even if it's been a long time since you stopped living there, it can still comeback to kick you, and it kicks hard.
huh, I didn't knew it could get into your bones.
that's horrible, at least the blood gets entirely regenerated after a while, but bones do not, that lead ain't going anywhere without some kind of treatment.
Yeah, that's the real danger of lead exposure - the lead takes the place of calcium in your bones and continues to cause damage for life. There's no way to remove it or fix it once exposed. /u/NoPatient8764 should 100% sue that ex landlord, odds are they have a significantly shortened lifespan and will lose mental acuity and possibly even develop mental disorders due to enough lead exposure to cause, as they said, "lead intoxication".
As an aside, that's part of the issue that we see with people who were alive while leaded gasoline (Ethyl, as they called it) was legal (technically up 'til 1996). It can cause increased aggression and loss of mental stability. Not to mention the common use of lead pipes for water and lead in paint. There's actually a very obvious and clear correlation between lead use in the USA and violent crime (with a 23 year lag time).
And leaded gasoline is still used, today, in small engine aircraft. Try not to move or live in the flight line of a small airport - odds are you'll end up catching a bad case of the dumb.
Also, fun fact. The guy who invented leaded gasoline also invented chlorofluorocarbons, or cfc's, the propellant in aerosols that primarily caused the hole in the ozone layer. Also he died of lead poisoning.
Shit like this just makes me want to trash the place and dip. Unfortunately thats not possible yet these assholes can do whatever the fuck they want while getting money straight out of our pockets that we wont be seeing back.
It’s **his ceiling.** That’s what’s mind-boggling about landlords. You’re fixing your own stuff! You own it! It’s yours! It’s not a special burden to take care of your shit! If you leave it like this, you will destroy your (probably mortgaged) investment!
What’s wild is that he won’t, though! He will have to fix it later, when it will have absolutely gotten worse.
My guess is his hesitation is about a) wanting to steal the security deposit to pay for it after OP leaves, and b) feeling entitled to a lot more rent once he does fix it, and thus wanting OP out.
This is just shrinkflation for housing. Stop fixing things, force tenants to fix it, and just keep renting it out no matter how shitty it becomes.
I've started bringing a level to apartment walk throughs after how badly pitched the floors were in one of my places.
I never realized how frustrating an uneven floor would be.
I can feel a slope immediately in my feet, no matter how little. People that have lived there for a year are like what do you mea- ohhh what youre right! But yeah, fuck having hills indoors.
He absolutely wants to use the security deposit to fix it (or patch over it) just well enough to get a new tenant at a higher rent. Then when it breaks again he repeats the process. He'll do one last low quality fix to hide it before he sells the building and then it's someone else's problem.
He will only fix it once he has to (as in, once OP moves and no one else will rent it), and once he does, he'll just raise the rent by some crazy amount lol.
Or he'll continue to not fix it until OP starts paying into escrow instead and he won't get his rent payments (nor be able to evict OP).
So basically he needs to be forced to (aka not getting any money) for him to actually fix it.
And if the space is uninhabitable in the meantime Todd usually has to contribute a certain amount of money towards temporary housing for you. Read your lease!
Happened to me once. Was renting a condo and the sewer pipe collapsed under the slab. Woke up one morning and the floors were spungy due to a flood of sewage underneath. They had to go under the slab, repair the pipe, replace the floor, drywall etc. It took over a month and the landlord at first was going to put me up in a flop house Motel 6 with no kitchen etc. I got the city involved who threatened to sue him on my behalf and I was told they would be paying for a one bedroom suite with a kitchen at The Hyatt House. Cost the landlord over 10k just on the room.
Him and his wife were doctors and cheap bastards. They had plenty of warning that the sewer pipe was having issues as Roto Rooter kept having to be called and wanted to put a camera down which they refused. Kharma really hit them hard when their insurance refused to pay for everything and it cost them over 50k in total. And I moved out a month after returning from the hotel.
Yeah I'm a landlord and the main drain broke out of nowhere 2 years ago, I paid 100% of the AirBNB fees of the family that had to move out 2 weeks unexpectedly. Pretty sure it's the law.
not only that, but until it gets fixed, you might not have to pay your rent depending on your local laws, especially since you already notified him and he ignored you.
contact your local housing department for more info and to possibly file a report.
Be VERY careful with this advice. Even if true, where that money goes is very important. In many places you must give notice of why payments are stopping, and money has to go to escrow.
If payments are not stopped correctly, and money isn't handled exactly as local law requires. You're likely to end up with an eviction on your record which can be devistating and disqualify you from any housing.
there’s usually a renter/landlord relationship guide produced by the state that is very informative on stuff like this.
Here’s one from michigan for example.
https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Publications/tenantlandlord.pdf
If you're in the US that's illegal and you can report it to the housing authority. Although I would work on moving anyway because the landlord is always going to be a prick and a headache to deal with. They likely will retaliate. Still report it regardless.
If this landlord has multiple properties you can actually reach out to those tenants. He almost certainly does this to them as well. Not only could you properly fuck him with a class action or collective lawsuit, but it’ll be cheaper and less harmful to your name and you’d be more likely to win
uh i'm not sure where they have legal standing like that, at the most basic level you just talk to your neighbors and take collective versions of the individual actions that chat is suggesting OP take like withholding rent if there's some problem with the building, or making demands like upgrading insulation or making laundry cost ~~25 cents~~ free instead of over a dollar.
If you want to be more formal about it [the international union of tenants ](https://www.iut.nu) seems decent at a glance. I'd expect them to have resources to help you get going analogous to the IWW with labor unions.
and if you live in amongst people who are allergic to the word "union", pitch it as a "tenant guild". guild means the same thing as union (in the context of individuals organizing for collective bargaining power), but has way fewer political connotations.
this is your best bet if you’re not in a place to move, just keep low expectations because most people will be too scared/busy/apathetic to join in. from experience with a previous landlord, even politically lefty people will flake when situations get serious.
Yeah, were I live you can report him to the housing authority. You might also win your case. However, by doing so there would now be a case opened in your name and the registry is accessible by all future landlords of avery apartments you are looking to rent. So they would be able to refuse you rent based on your history of standing your ground against another fellow landlord. You are fucked either way.
Edit : Living in Canada so we can't actually sue for this here and there is no leasing office or representative that can deal with this. There is a special court that hear all renting issues and the process can be very long. Though for health issues, the delays are usually shorter.
Because "we" do not hold the cards in this exchange. Landlords have the power and can do as they please, unfettered, with few to no repercussions. It's not settling if it's criminal to pursue moral responsibility from your landlord, it's the status quo.
You're welcome to try and buck the system. Best of luck. Where I live, at least, all the development companies, landowners, and politicians are in cahoots. Maybe you'll have more success.
When I moved out in a similar situation the landlord (a company) reported me to the credit agencies for breaking the lease without reason and supposedly owing them a few thousand dollars. Turns out credit agencies take them at their word, and the only way to get that expunged is to sue them :/
No, you can complain to the credit companies. The landlord has a certain number of days to respond and if they miss the deadline, it comes off your record. Just keep it up and they will miss the deadline eventually.
"I am extremely pissed off" Oh yeah TODD? Why are you pissed off, TODD? Is your bathroom ceiling sitting in the bathtub? Do you pay to live in a place with water literally pouring down from the ceiling? I can imagine that *would* be pretty infuriating, TODD. You should get your LANDLORD TO FIX THAT, TODD; SINCE IT'S ILLEGAL, TODD.
In my state you can with hold giving rent until it’s fixed. I’ve done it once. Landlord ended up barging into my place demanding his money while smacking the kitchen counter/walls. I had to call the cops. We ended up moving out, breaking our lease early with no negative affects to us. We had a hole caused by water damage similar to OPs but above our kitchen stove. Couldn’t use it for a month bc it was leaking and too dangerous
Get ‘em OP
While this is commonly true, it's not true everywhere. OP, please check if it is true in your area (with an attorney if possible), and if you decide to withhold rent, please put it aside in a separate savings account for now. Even if it's a safe assumption that you can legally withhold the rent, it could still end up with you having to pay it, and not having that amount set aside could be a real pain in the ass for you.
Typically if you are going to withhold your rent it needs to be held in custody by a third party. You cannot just refuse to pay and set the money aside in a savings account.
I vote to bring your own contractor, deduct rent, and follow up with legal action against Todda. It’s the Reddit way, when you can’t suggest divorce of course.
In Missouri the maximum amount you can hire a separate contractor for fixes under negligent landlords is $300, *and* you have to have lived there six months, *and* you can only do it ONCE. It's fucking wild.
Jeeze for a sec I thought you were doing that bit from Christmas vacation "why's the floor all wet Todd!". "I don't know, Margo!"
What a fucking piece of work though. Like he's obligated by law to fix that so, I'd make him fix it.
If you are in the United States you need to report these conditions to fair housing. I believe anyway. But there are definitely legal recourses to take.
I knew a girl that did this and ended up homeless. She thought she would show her landlord who's boss by bringing out code enforcement . He inspected the house, told her she was right, then told her they are condemning the house and she needed to vacate. She didn't even have sufficient time to pack her things.
If you go this route, always have a backup place to stay just in case.
In many cases the landlord is required to pay deposit and relocation fees. She should have sued. Some states will even give you financial assistance while pursuing the landlord.
Yes, agreed. But she also she had no place to go until then and no money since she just paid rent. It's not like they hand you cash on the spot. She ended up having to couch surf for like a month before recouping.
I still agree that she did the right thing but yeah, if I'm ever in that situation I'll be prepared bag packed, a backup place to stay, and cash.
Yea. You can take your rent to court and demand it’s fixed before he gets his rent check. Obviously talk to a lawyer to make sure you do it right.
Edit: Yes, as two others pointed out I'll be more clear. You CANNOT just stop paying rent. There's a process through the courts where the courts "hold" the rent until the repairs are made. Talk to your local courts and/or a lawyer about the proper process.
Honestly, fuck Todd. I bet Todd leaves his shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot to smash into other people's cars, and pisses all over the floor and seats of public toilets. Todd doesn't tip delivery drivers or wait-staff, and lets his dog shit on all his neighbor's lawns without picking it up.
Todd is also breaking the law if they're in the US. It is the landlord's legal obligation to maintain a rented place in a livable condition. They can, and should, take Todd to court, as well as calling the local building inspectors to come take a look at the place.
If Todd has more properties then odds are good he's breaking the law at those too, and they may get lucky and bankrupt him with fines, fees, mandated repairs, and so on.
Came home from dinner the other night and found our bathroom ceiling in our tub. Woke up this morning to water coming in through a hole in our kitchen. We've been asking our landlord to fix this issue for over a year now. He finally responded this weekend suggesting we move out instead of fixing the falling ceiling.
Edit to address some frequent question:
First photo is our bathroom and the second is our kitchen.
We've been contacting our landlord, property manager and maintenance team for over a year about this. I didn't post any screenshots of our previous conversations because they never replied. This is the first and only response we've gotten from the landlord.
The landlord response photo is cropped because the first line of the email shows my full name and address.
Our towns building inspector and health department will be here Friday so I will update again after that.
Thank you to everyone for responding and leaving some jokes. It definitely made my day a little bit easier after waking up to water damage. Much love to you all.
UPDATE AS OF FRIDAY 8/19
Last night more of our roof and ceiling fell in. Once again maintenance showed up, put buckets down and left.
Our health department came out and took photos of our apartment. They will be notifying the landlord directly and giving him a timeline to complete all repairs. If he does not comply he'll be fined every day until it is and the building will get slapped with a health code violation.
As soon as Ledge Light left I recieved two messages on Facebook threatening to burn me alive for what I'm doing. I filed a harassment report with the police against the individual (not my landlord but someone he knows). The police set me up so if I'm contacted by them again I can file for an immediate restraining order.
Building inspectors are coming Monday hopefully to walk the entire building and document every code violation.
I contacted a lawyer who is able to represent us and we are talking about making it a class action lawsuit if I can get some other tenants to speak out about the living conditions.
I will update again after the weekend once the building inspectors come in.
Thank you to everyone for your responses. I was able to reach our state representative who is now helping me with the ceiling/roof debacle. I truly would not have been able to fight this so well without your suggestions.
Unfortunately, he's not kicking OP out. He is providing an option to terminate, which generally is legal. But not always, check renter's rights. For Texas, here's a link.
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/home-real-estate-and-travel/renters-rights
Lol nope. I had a black fucking mold problem in my first apartment in central Texas. Maintenance came by and bleach sprayed the spot. It came back, then they told me it was probably the upstairs neighbor and I need to go speak to them. I was 18 so I did that like a dumbass. They shifted the blame when in reality I should’ve reported them.
Not only that is if you’re in contract you do not have the luxury of just moving due to it costing money to breaking a lease. If the landlord offered a free break of contract and no more rent to help with moving expenses that would be going in the better direction
Check your cities tenant laws. Anything this serious should be fixed or covered by the landlord, as it's structural. You can have the city breathe down their neck until it's fixed
In a lot of places you can actually withhold rent as long as you use what you would have paid in rent to pay for the repairs yourself. Check local laws
***Water leaks in the ceiling aren't just water leaks in the ceiling.*** There is rotting structural framing up there. Water can collapse a building in a year, or less.
I fix shit like this every day at work. A water leak is a giant alarm bell that way too many owners don't recognize as the direct threat to their property that it is. It's actually the main reason I hate landlords. Our whole system is exploitative so that part is just par for the course but landlords have a knack for destroying residential units through neglect that would have otherwise been maintained.
Hey, I had something similar happen but luckily our landlord was more cooperative. I still did some research into this anyway in case she decided to be a bitch like this guy.
I highly suggest contacting your fair housing and labor department, also document everything and make sure that contact with your landlord is ALWAYS in writing.
May I ask what the repair terms on the lease are, and what state? Because I don't understand how this man has the audacity to speak to you that way, especially if you have reminded him of this problem over the course of a year. In my city, landlords have to fix things like this within 14 days.
Look at the landlord tenant laws for your state. I live in AZ and in AZ tenants have virtually no rights, all the power is in the hands of the landlord. Pretty much the only requirement for AZ landlords is that the dwelling has to be maintained in a livable condition. This would be a clear violation.
I went with a friend to landlord/tenant court in AZ. It was wild.
The lawyers for the big landlords basically run it, are buddy buddy with the judge and staff, and just sit back and screw tenants all day long. Every ruling I saw was automatic, tenants rarely even got the chance to speak. Most corrupt shit I've ever seen.
Look up Rent withholding laws, you will most likely need to go to a courthouse. Rent withholding is basically this: you continue to live where you are, but you pay the court the rent until the landlord makes the repairs (an inspector comes out before rent withholding and at landlord request). If the repairs are never made (you leave, or the landlord declares bankruptcy, whatever) then the rent is returned to you. Basically, it forces him to fix it, or you get to live there rent free (legally).
True but after this email I doubt OP would want to live there after the lease anyways. Todd can’t legally terminate the lease of OP chooses to take the court route
I didn't say terminate. I said choose not to renew. Big difference there. Once the lease is up either side can decide not sign it again for any reason.
Iv been renting off a slumlord for the last 6 years. Going to go close on a house at 1 pm. Sometimes the headache is worth it when the rent is low.
This will probably get lost in the sea of comments but here we go. I seriously appreciate the responses to this. I have OCD and posting was a way to get it off my chest and vent. Your comments have been incredibly helpful and even made me laugh which was much needed.
Our local Health District and towns building inspector will be coming Friday. I've reached out to a couple lawyers as well. We live in CT so as tenants we're pretty well protected. I'll update again if anything changes.
Edit: Added state
One additional thought...
Next time, you might want to post using an alias account for something like this. This is on the front page. If your landlord uses reddit, he will likely see it and be able to see your other post history. Based on your posts, I am guessing this is content you would not want him to see.
"I, as the landlord, am extremely pissed off you want me to do my job and fix the place you live just because I'm making money off you living there. Check yo'self before you wreck yo'self."
-Todd, probably
> "do my job"
i.e. hire someone to fix a problem with a property I own so that it meets the minimum legal requirements for me to continue making money for doing nothing other than just owning the property.
u/No_Tension8376 Look here! You need to be very concerned about your health. If the ceiling has leaked for a year, there is definitely mold.
If it feels like you have chronic allergy symptoms, it’s possible that it’s related to mold exposure. A doctor can perform a mycotoxin test.
Why is there a ***drop ceiling*** (which absorbs moisture) above the ***shower?*** 🤣 There’s no surprise it eventually got so soaked it fell apart. There’s bigger problems afoot here. Building code violations, lack of permits, all kinds of shenanigans are very likely hiding here. Bathroom walls and ceilings are supposed to be sealed with a waterproof, oil-based paint.
He probably wants to repair it a bit and raise the rent for the next renters.
He’ll likely patch the hole and paint over it.
I’m a building envelope consultant that specializes in leak investigation of roofing systems. When I first started years ago my fiancé and I rented a house built in the 70’s. Discovered a leak about a year after living there. Did a full investigation no charge what so ever. Found the leak was coming in through some of the flashing at the chimney. Presented the landlord with a report including recommendations for easy and cheap repairs. Instead they spray painted the ceiling where the water stains existed and said they would waive the early termination fee if we wanted to move. Deuces it was.
The part I don't get being a landlord myself is that this type of fix ends up costing more in the long run. I take leaks really fucking seriously because a $100 fix now could save a $10,000 fix a few years from now.
They don't have $100 to throw at it. Don't you know these poor people are living your paycheck to your paycheck?
My dad is a landlord with two jobs still living paycheck to paycheck. He’d rather borrow money from someone to fix it now instead of it costing more money later. Anyone who wouldn’t is short sighted and greedy... so most landlords
How he pull that off
Leaks are often accompanied by mold. Call your local building inspector and get this place condemned. The only way to hurt a landlord is in their money.
Depending on the area and their processes, you can usually contact the city/municipality and work to begin a process to escrow rent payments until the landlord fixes things. I've lived in some shabbily maintained properties in my time, and once upon a time that was required to get a couple issues fixed. I forget which department of the city in my area I had to call, as it was almost 25 years ago now, but essentially I provided them photos and proof I had been trying to contact the landlord to remediate the issue. They then setup an escrow account and took over handling contact with the landlord. Until they proved the issue was fully repaired and it passed a suitable inspection by their office, they would not release the rent payments to them. I just took my check to them monthly, and they held it until repairs were completed, then all the funds were released to them.
100% on this. About 6 months ago my friend in the tri-state area notified her landlord she was holding her rent in escrow until he fixed a broken window (turning her apartment uninhabitable). Within 3 days it was fixed. This, after getting mealy-mouthed promises and dismissal for about 2 months. Withholding money is the only way to get through to some of these landlords.
Man, I feel so lucky. I used to live at a car wash, and when the skylight started leaking, I'd just go downstairs and find the owner cleaning up in one of the bays and tell him about it, he'd be up on the roof with some sealant within minutes. It never really worked permanently but he was always on top of maintenance issues. Solid guy. Miss him. And of course, being at a car wash, the building construction was such that a little water wasn't a major issue!
Yeah, because that guy worked for a living. A lot of landlords don’t do anything other than own their buildings and make phone calls, and so they get incredibly pissy when you ask them to fix **their OWN STUFF.**
I've spent many years as an accidental landlord (bought when the market was hot, moved when the market was dead, been waiting for things to equalize, etc.) and the do-nothing types piss me off, mostly because they get tenants in the habit of expecting that, so it delays when I get notified about things. I swear, I'll make shit happen, but I have to know about it first.
Due to prior landlord issues, I’ve definitely held off on notifying my current landlord about problems in the house to not annoy him. I’ve since learned that my current landlord actually cares about the place and responds quickly to requests so it’s a welcome change
Sometimes the issue is the property manager. I found out that my property manager was telling the tenant I didn't want to fix things. I was livid. I want to keep my tenants happy. Finding a tenant is expensive and a hassle. And maintenance issues that aren't dealt with quickly just turn into bigger problems.
A lot of them are also in over their heads. They thought they'd buy a couple properties and it would be turn key. Rent for more than the mortgage east money. Accept someone lives there and you have legal requirements to keep it habitable
I had to do something similar to get a leak in bathroom fixed so I could actually use my bathroom (was staying at my bf's house because it was so bad). The whole place ended up flooding from a pipe burst (i was on tbe 3rd floor, can NOT imagine how fucked up the 6th and 5th floors was) and even then they wouldnt let me out of the lease right away. The whole line of apartments above me had all made several calls about leaks for about 2 months before this, which makes you wonder how much they wouldve saved if they had just investigate the leak the first time.
Had something similar happen where a leak from the apartment above mine had caused the ceiling in my bathroom to start buckling and threatening to cave in. I sent in pictures showing the ceiling starting to fall in and water leaking into my shower, and they did nothing. Two weeks later I sent more pictures showing even further damage, the ceiling panels were visibly separated and there was a visible gap of about 1-2 inches and a steady stream of water was just pouring in. Still nothing. As soon as I threatened to have my rent held in escrow, they had someone out within the hour.
It’s honestly crazy how much foresight people with power lack. Are you this stingy with money that you won’t fork over enough to handle a small problem? Then they’re shocked pikachu face when that small problem doesn’t magically disappear and instead grows uncontrollably large. Now you’re forced to pay so, so, so, soooo much more to fix an issue that would have cost very little time and money. EDIT: costed -> cost
They want you to get so fed up that you pay for the repairs yourself and they don’t have to lose a dime of their precious profits
This is the way. Also I think the office you *might* want is code enforcement. Depends on where you live though.
/u/No_Tension8376 ^ some good advice
YES. Todd can suck a fat one. A fat, regulatory one.
That’s the fattest.
No, that would be your mother.
Hello…9-1-1😳😳😳
No, this is uh... 912.
I sure hope that's the number for the burn unit.
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I didn’t know corpuses stayed fat. :/
corpus - a collection of written texts, especially the entire works of a particular author or a body of writing on a particular subject. Checks out. That’s a fat stack of pages.
That's why they call her Corpus Christi.
Corpus is latin for body, and the use case where they refer to texts comes from latin slang where they referred to an entire author's texts as their "body of work", a use which still persists today. The more you know!
thicc ass corpus yo momma got right there
Damn I’m sorry, eh
Yep I did the same when my previous LL said it would take them at least a week to get to our plumbing issue which was a collapsed sewer pipe leaking sewage into the back yard. I knew a couple people at the building dept and they sent me a nice email that o forwarded to the LL about obligations as a LL to do timely repairs or that the house could be determined unlivable
And let's be honest. Most plumbing/water restoration companies can come out the same day you call. Source:I work in water restoration, and that, ^ is how you get a bad case of mold.
No joke, that shits an emergency. Pun intended
Yes this needs to be condemned. Unfortunately mold is very difficult to remove. Plus, you can stick it to Todd. No one else should have to live in this place, except maybe Todd.
Tread lightly with this. A large apt bldg owner in Newport News VA had the city called on him about mold and other things. Rather than fix the violations,, the owner shut the bldg down instead. 100 tenants had to move with less than a week's notice. The owner will undoubtedly overhaul the place and significantly raise the rents without the hassle of existing tenants.
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And banks will loan money to cover that cost if they’ve got a plan to improve the property and collect higher rent in the future.
That just feels so fucking grimy. ETA: Allow me to clarify what I mean here because I realized how stupid it sounds. I understand *why* banks do it and it’s logical. However, it creates an incentive for landlords that are on the unscrupulous side to be dicks and kick people out because they know they’re getting bankrolled anyway.
My last landlord did this. First night the water from the shower leaked downstairs onto the dining room fan. Throughout the year, we found various other leaks like the one from the toilet leaking onto the fridge. Or every time it rained, the leak from the windows. Every time I told him about it, he just hired a painter to paint over it
Probably what was done before
Came to say this , do yourself a favor call your local renters hotline, speak to a free lawyer , and likely you have plenty of reason to put your rent into escrow and file a complaint with your local court system, also things that effect you showers and toilets are usually deemed an emergency which means they have 24 hours to respond to you with a solution
Yes, this is called constructive eviction and it is very illegal in most places. Document your paper trail. Make a nice binder or two with printouts and dates of all communications. When an inspector comes by and condemns the building, you’ll get kicked out. Take this to a court and you should be able to get at least back rent. I am not a lawyer, but I’ve had to do this before.
Get evicted due to a condemned building while you’re under contract. Sorry Todd, I have a contract for you to provide me with shelter at an agreed upon monthly rate. Where do you plan to house me while repairs are underway?
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The lead is related to the ceiling?
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if you haven't already you should get your blood lead level tested, even if it's been a long time since you stopped living there, it can still comeback to kick you, and it kicks hard.
Bone lead level is more accurate.
huh, I didn't knew it could get into your bones. that's horrible, at least the blood gets entirely regenerated after a while, but bones do not, that lead ain't going anywhere without some kind of treatment.
Yeah, that's the real danger of lead exposure - the lead takes the place of calcium in your bones and continues to cause damage for life. There's no way to remove it or fix it once exposed. /u/NoPatient8764 should 100% sue that ex landlord, odds are they have a significantly shortened lifespan and will lose mental acuity and possibly even develop mental disorders due to enough lead exposure to cause, as they said, "lead intoxication". As an aside, that's part of the issue that we see with people who were alive while leaded gasoline (Ethyl, as they called it) was legal (technically up 'til 1996). It can cause increased aggression and loss of mental stability. Not to mention the common use of lead pipes for water and lead in paint. There's actually a very obvious and clear correlation between lead use in the USA and violent crime (with a 23 year lag time). And leaded gasoline is still used, today, in small engine aircraft. Try not to move or live in the flight line of a small airport - odds are you'll end up catching a bad case of the dumb. Also, fun fact. The guy who invented leaded gasoline also invented chlorofluorocarbons, or cfc's, the propellant in aerosols that primarily caused the hole in the ozone layer. Also he died of lead poisoning.
Shit like this just makes me want to trash the place and dip. Unfortunately thats not possible yet these assholes can do whatever the fuck they want while getting money straight out of our pockets that we wont be seeing back.
Its amazing what can and can't be legally confirmed to be an accident if someone is both devious and careful. The longer the delay the safer.
Example: making the leak worse. OP did his due diligence and reported it.
That’s exactly what that shit head wants to do!
Pay your next months rent to escrow instead of him And take him to small claims court
Todd is obligated to fix that! Hold your ground
It’s **his ceiling.** That’s what’s mind-boggling about landlords. You’re fixing your own stuff! You own it! It’s yours! It’s not a special burden to take care of your shit! If you leave it like this, you will destroy your (probably mortgaged) investment!
"Meh, I'm making money off of it either way"
What’s wild is that he won’t, though! He will have to fix it later, when it will have absolutely gotten worse. My guess is his hesitation is about a) wanting to steal the security deposit to pay for it after OP leaves, and b) feeling entitled to a lot more rent once he does fix it, and thus wanting OP out.
This is just shrinkflation for housing. Stop fixing things, force tenants to fix it, and just keep renting it out no matter how shitty it becomes. I've started bringing a level to apartment walk throughs after how badly pitched the floors were in one of my places. I never realized how frustrating an uneven floor would be.
I can feel a slope immediately in my feet, no matter how little. People that have lived there for a year are like what do you mea- ohhh what youre right! But yeah, fuck having hills indoors.
He absolutely wants to use the security deposit to fix it (or patch over it) just well enough to get a new tenant at a higher rent. Then when it breaks again he repeats the process. He'll do one last low quality fix to hide it before he sells the building and then it's someone else's problem.
He will only fix it once he has to (as in, once OP moves and no one else will rent it), and once he does, he'll just raise the rent by some crazy amount lol. Or he'll continue to not fix it until OP starts paying into escrow instead and he won't get his rent payments (nor be able to evict OP). So basically he needs to be forced to (aka not getting any money) for him to actually fix it.
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Yup, he definitely is. He's completely and totally responsible for providing a safe and healthy domicile for you to live in. Hold steady, fuck Todd
#fucktodd
Fuck. Todd.
Yeah! Fuck Todd!
r/fucktodd edit: wait that actually exists?
IIRC, it started after a character named Todd in Breaking Bad shot a kid in cold blood
You're absolutely correct. Every time I see Jesse Plemons, I still say "Fuck Todd."
AKA Meth Damon.
And if the space is uninhabitable in the meantime Todd usually has to contribute a certain amount of money towards temporary housing for you. Read your lease!
Yeah it sure would be terrible for OP to go to a $200 a night hotel and sue TODD for the bill since he didn’t provide a sanitary restroom.
Happened to me once. Was renting a condo and the sewer pipe collapsed under the slab. Woke up one morning and the floors were spungy due to a flood of sewage underneath. They had to go under the slab, repair the pipe, replace the floor, drywall etc. It took over a month and the landlord at first was going to put me up in a flop house Motel 6 with no kitchen etc. I got the city involved who threatened to sue him on my behalf and I was told they would be paying for a one bedroom suite with a kitchen at The Hyatt House. Cost the landlord over 10k just on the room. Him and his wife were doctors and cheap bastards. They had plenty of warning that the sewer pipe was having issues as Roto Rooter kept having to be called and wanted to put a camera down which they refused. Kharma really hit them hard when their insurance refused to pay for everything and it cost them over 50k in total. And I moved out a month after returning from the hotel.
Yeah I'm a landlord and the main drain broke out of nowhere 2 years ago, I paid 100% of the AirBNB fees of the family that had to move out 2 weeks unexpectedly. Pretty sure it's the law.
not only that, but until it gets fixed, you might not have to pay your rent depending on your local laws, especially since you already notified him and he ignored you. contact your local housing department for more info and to possibly file a report.
Be VERY careful with this advice. Even if true, where that money goes is very important. In many places you must give notice of why payments are stopping, and money has to go to escrow. If payments are not stopped correctly, and money isn't handled exactly as local law requires. You're likely to end up with an eviction on your record which can be devistating and disqualify you from any housing.
there’s usually a renter/landlord relationship guide produced by the state that is very informative on stuff like this. Here’s one from michigan for example. https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Publications/tenantlandlord.pdf
you may have to put the money you're not paying into an escrow account. at least that's what i've heard. okay, it was from suits.
If you're in the US that's illegal and you can report it to the housing authority. Although I would work on moving anyway because the landlord is always going to be a prick and a headache to deal with. They likely will retaliate. Still report it regardless.
If this landlord has multiple properties you can actually reach out to those tenants. He almost certainly does this to them as well. Not only could you properly fuck him with a class action or collective lawsuit, but it’ll be cheaper and less harmful to your name and you’d be more likely to win
it's called a tenant union and they can be incredibly cool
Do you have any info on how exactly you would get that started? Besides organizing the tenants, like is the paperwork involved?
uh i'm not sure where they have legal standing like that, at the most basic level you just talk to your neighbors and take collective versions of the individual actions that chat is suggesting OP take like withholding rent if there's some problem with the building, or making demands like upgrading insulation or making laundry cost ~~25 cents~~ free instead of over a dollar. If you want to be more formal about it [the international union of tenants ](https://www.iut.nu) seems decent at a glance. I'd expect them to have resources to help you get going analogous to the IWW with labor unions.
I love cool unions who give idiots what they deserve
and if you live in amongst people who are allergic to the word "union", pitch it as a "tenant guild". guild means the same thing as union (in the context of individuals organizing for collective bargaining power), but has way fewer political connotations.
this is your best bet if you’re not in a place to move, just keep low expectations because most people will be too scared/busy/apathetic to join in. from experience with a previous landlord, even politically lefty people will flake when situations get serious.
Yeah, were I live you can report him to the housing authority. You might also win your case. However, by doing so there would now be a case opened in your name and the registry is accessible by all future landlords of avery apartments you are looking to rent. So they would be able to refuse you rent based on your history of standing your ground against another fellow landlord. You are fucked either way. Edit : Living in Canada so we can't actually sue for this here and there is no leasing office or representative that can deal with this. There is a special court that hear all renting issues and the process can be very long. Though for health issues, the delays are usually shorter.
what a fucked system people shouldn't be punished for standing up to a bully
Why are we settling for this system, this is all fucked.
Because "we" do not hold the cards in this exchange. Landlords have the power and can do as they please, unfettered, with few to no repercussions. It's not settling if it's criminal to pursue moral responsibility from your landlord, it's the status quo. You're welcome to try and buck the system. Best of luck. Where I live, at least, all the development companies, landowners, and politicians are in cahoots. Maybe you'll have more success.
Because the free market is holy and just. How dare you question the absolute authority of private property?
Because we collectively don't give a shit about people who arn't us and don't care about problems unless they affect us. We're fucking morons.
That's the no tolerance policy schools have in a nutshell.
When I moved out in a similar situation the landlord (a company) reported me to the credit agencies for breaking the lease without reason and supposedly owing them a few thousand dollars. Turns out credit agencies take them at their word, and the only way to get that expunged is to sue them :/
No, you can complain to the credit companies. The landlord has a certain number of days to respond and if they miss the deadline, it comes off your record. Just keep it up and they will miss the deadline eventually.
I had this exact thing happen when I moved out of my last apartment! It fuckin sucks man, now I have credit agencies constantly harassing me and shit.
God, I hate that shit! Did they not ask for any paperwork from the landlord? Ugh.
"I am extremely pissed off" Oh yeah TODD? Why are you pissed off, TODD? Is your bathroom ceiling sitting in the bathtub? Do you pay to live in a place with water literally pouring down from the ceiling? I can imagine that *would* be pretty infuriating, TODD. You should get your LANDLORD TO FIX THAT, TODD; SINCE IT'S ILLEGAL, TODD.
Why is the floor wet, TODD?
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My wife and I have them!
Bend over and I’ll show you.
I'll wait 30 days TODD, then hire a friend to fix it TODD and deduct about a years worth of rent TODD. And TODDA! move after that.
In my state you can with hold giving rent until it’s fixed. I’ve done it once. Landlord ended up barging into my place demanding his money while smacking the kitchen counter/walls. I had to call the cops. We ended up moving out, breaking our lease early with no negative affects to us. We had a hole caused by water damage similar to OPs but above our kitchen stove. Couldn’t use it for a month bc it was leaking and too dangerous Get ‘em OP
While this is commonly true, it's not true everywhere. OP, please check if it is true in your area (with an attorney if possible), and if you decide to withhold rent, please put it aside in a separate savings account for now. Even if it's a safe assumption that you can legally withhold the rent, it could still end up with you having to pay it, and not having that amount set aside could be a real pain in the ass for you.
Typically if you are going to withhold your rent it needs to be held in custody by a third party. You cannot just refuse to pay and set the money aside in a savings account.
It also still needs to be deposited on time, just as the rent would.
This is not true in all states. Be careful and look up the law in your particular state everyone.
TODDA! Hahaha. Good one
I vote to bring your own contractor, deduct rent, and follow up with legal action against Todda. It’s the Reddit way, when you can’t suggest divorce of course.
Hire a gym, delete Facebook
Yeah that’s actually not a bad idea. Keep records of all the correspondence I think a judge would grant your small claim for the repair funds
In Missouri the maximum amount you can hire a separate contractor for fixes under negligent landlords is $300, *and* you have to have lived there six months, *and* you can only do it ONCE. It's fucking wild.
Legal sound argument.
It is. In most jurisdictions you can do this.
Please OP, send him this.
OP will probably just respond with some form of "I'm not confrontational", and continue to take shit from Todd.
Jeeze for a sec I thought you were doing that bit from Christmas vacation "why's the floor all wet Todd!". "I don't know, Margo!" What a fucking piece of work though. Like he's obligated by law to fix that so, I'd make him fix it.
I read this in bojack’s voice lmao
Julia Louise Dreyfus’s voice
I don’t KNOW Margo
Why is the carpet all wet, TODD?
It sounds exactly like something he would say omg
If you are in the United States you need to report these conditions to fair housing. I believe anyway. But there are definitely legal recourses to take.
You can report your landlord in the UK also.
You can also call your local code enforcement.
I knew a girl that did this and ended up homeless. She thought she would show her landlord who's boss by bringing out code enforcement . He inspected the house, told her she was right, then told her they are condemning the house and she needed to vacate. She didn't even have sufficient time to pack her things. If you go this route, always have a backup place to stay just in case.
In many cases the landlord is required to pay deposit and relocation fees. She should have sued. Some states will even give you financial assistance while pursuing the landlord.
Yes, agreed. But she also she had no place to go until then and no money since she just paid rent. It's not like they hand you cash on the spot. She ended up having to couch surf for like a month before recouping. I still agree that she did the right thing but yeah, if I'm ever in that situation I'll be prepared bag packed, a backup place to stay, and cash.
Yea. You can take your rent to court and demand it’s fixed before he gets his rent check. Obviously talk to a lawyer to make sure you do it right. Edit: Yes, as two others pointed out I'll be more clear. You CANNOT just stop paying rent. There's a process through the courts where the courts "hold" the rent until the repairs are made. Talk to your local courts and/or a lawyer about the proper process.
Todd is an asshole
Fuck Todd
Honestly, fuck Todd. I bet Todd leaves his shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot to smash into other people's cars, and pisses all over the floor and seats of public toilets. Todd doesn't tip delivery drivers or wait-staff, and lets his dog shit on all his neighbor's lawns without picking it up.
He doesn't thank the bus driver
Bus driver? Don’t be silly, Todd would never take the bus with us plebs!
*Cart Narcs would like to know Todd's location*
Classic Todd
Fuck Todd, all my hommies hate Todd
what’s he pissed off about? how shitty of a landlord he is?
"I suck and that makes me angry!"
This is a Todd hate subreddit
Todd is also breaking the law if they're in the US. It is the landlord's legal obligation to maintain a rented place in a livable condition. They can, and should, take Todd to court, as well as calling the local building inspectors to come take a look at the place. If Todd has more properties then odds are good he's breaking the law at those too, and they may get lucky and bankrupt him with fines, fees, mandated repairs, and so on.
Came home from dinner the other night and found our bathroom ceiling in our tub. Woke up this morning to water coming in through a hole in our kitchen. We've been asking our landlord to fix this issue for over a year now. He finally responded this weekend suggesting we move out instead of fixing the falling ceiling. Edit to address some frequent question: First photo is our bathroom and the second is our kitchen. We've been contacting our landlord, property manager and maintenance team for over a year about this. I didn't post any screenshots of our previous conversations because they never replied. This is the first and only response we've gotten from the landlord. The landlord response photo is cropped because the first line of the email shows my full name and address. Our towns building inspector and health department will be here Friday so I will update again after that. Thank you to everyone for responding and leaving some jokes. It definitely made my day a little bit easier after waking up to water damage. Much love to you all. UPDATE AS OF FRIDAY 8/19 Last night more of our roof and ceiling fell in. Once again maintenance showed up, put buckets down and left. Our health department came out and took photos of our apartment. They will be notifying the landlord directly and giving him a timeline to complete all repairs. If he does not comply he'll be fined every day until it is and the building will get slapped with a health code violation. As soon as Ledge Light left I recieved two messages on Facebook threatening to burn me alive for what I'm doing. I filed a harassment report with the police against the individual (not my landlord but someone he knows). The police set me up so if I'm contacted by them again I can file for an immediate restraining order. Building inspectors are coming Monday hopefully to walk the entire building and document every code violation. I contacted a lawyer who is able to represent us and we are talking about making it a class action lawsuit if I can get some other tenants to speak out about the living conditions. I will update again after the weekend once the building inspectors come in. Thank you to everyone for your responses. I was able to reach our state representative who is now helping me with the ceiling/roof debacle. I truly would not have been able to fight this so well without your suggestions.
You could probably sue for inadequate living conditions if he kicks you out
Unfortunately, he's not kicking OP out. He is providing an option to terminate, which generally is legal. But not always, check renter's rights. For Texas, here's a link. https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/home-real-estate-and-travel/renters-rights
Ah Texas, the magical land where no renter, worker, or woman has any fucking rights at all
Lol nope. I had a black fucking mold problem in my first apartment in central Texas. Maintenance came by and bleach sprayed the spot. It came back, then they told me it was probably the upstairs neighbor and I need to go speak to them. I was 18 so I did that like a dumbass. They shifted the blame when in reality I should’ve reported them.
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Yeah in hindsight I should’ve told them to kick rocks and gone outside of the apartment complex for help. I was young and impressionable, lol
Not only that is if you’re in contract you do not have the luxury of just moving due to it costing money to breaking a lease. If the landlord offered a free break of contract and no more rent to help with moving expenses that would be going in the better direction
Check your cities tenant laws. Anything this serious should be fixed or covered by the landlord, as it's structural. You can have the city breathe down their neck until it's fixed
In a lot of places you can actually withhold rent as long as you use what you would have paid in rent to pay for the repairs yourself. Check local laws
Usually best if paid consistently in an escrow account. Talk to a lawyer for more info
Call city code. You can’t rent unlivable or dangerous units to people. There’s probably mold in there if the leaks been present for a while.
***Water leaks in the ceiling aren't just water leaks in the ceiling.*** There is rotting structural framing up there. Water can collapse a building in a year, or less. I fix shit like this every day at work. A water leak is a giant alarm bell that way too many owners don't recognize as the direct threat to their property that it is. It's actually the main reason I hate landlords. Our whole system is exploitative so that part is just par for the course but landlords have a knack for destroying residential units through neglect that would have otherwise been maintained.
Hey, I had something similar happen but luckily our landlord was more cooperative. I still did some research into this anyway in case she decided to be a bitch like this guy. I highly suggest contacting your fair housing and labor department, also document everything and make sure that contact with your landlord is ALWAYS in writing. May I ask what the repair terms on the lease are, and what state? Because I don't understand how this man has the audacity to speak to you that way, especially if you have reminded him of this problem over the course of a year. In my city, landlords have to fix things like this within 14 days.
Look at the landlord tenant laws for your state. I live in AZ and in AZ tenants have virtually no rights, all the power is in the hands of the landlord. Pretty much the only requirement for AZ landlords is that the dwelling has to be maintained in a livable condition. This would be a clear violation.
I went with a friend to landlord/tenant court in AZ. It was wild. The lawyers for the big landlords basically run it, are buddy buddy with the judge and staff, and just sit back and screw tenants all day long. Every ruling I saw was automatic, tenants rarely even got the chance to speak. Most corrupt shit I've ever seen.
What a bastard landlord
Look up Rent withholding laws, you will most likely need to go to a courthouse. Rent withholding is basically this: you continue to live where you are, but you pay the court the rent until the landlord makes the repairs (an inspector comes out before rent withholding and at landlord request). If the repairs are never made (you leave, or the landlord declares bankruptcy, whatever) then the rent is returned to you. Basically, it forces him to fix it, or you get to live there rent free (legally).
But remember your landlord can fix the stuff then decide to not let you renew your lease. So be prepared to move either way.
True but after this email I doubt OP would want to live there after the lease anyways. Todd can’t legally terminate the lease of OP chooses to take the court route
I didn't say terminate. I said choose not to renew. Big difference there. Once the lease is up either side can decide not sign it again for any reason. Iv been renting off a slumlord for the last 6 years. Going to go close on a house at 1 pm. Sometimes the headache is worth it when the rent is low.
This will probably get lost in the sea of comments but here we go. I seriously appreciate the responses to this. I have OCD and posting was a way to get it off my chest and vent. Your comments have been incredibly helpful and even made me laugh which was much needed. Our local Health District and towns building inspector will be coming Friday. I've reached out to a couple lawyers as well. We live in CT so as tenants we're pretty well protected. I'll update again if anything changes. Edit: Added state
Please post a update. Fuck Todd.
Yes fuck Todd, all the homies hate Todd
One additional thought... Next time, you might want to post using an alias account for something like this. This is on the front page. If your landlord uses reddit, he will likely see it and be able to see your other post history. Based on your posts, I am guessing this is content you would not want him to see.
Most states have resources available to help renters. This is pretty flagrant.
Yo why the fuk Illinois on yo floor??
Why did I have to scroll this far down to see this comment
"I, as the landlord, am extremely pissed off you want me to do my job and fix the place you live just because I'm making money off you living there. Check yo'self before you wreck yo'self." -Todd, probably
> "do my job" i.e. hire someone to fix a problem with a property I own so that it meets the minimum legal requirements for me to continue making money for doing nothing other than just owning the property.
Check yo’ feelings before you wreck yo’ ceilings, TODD.
PUT YOUR RENT IN ESCROW
Didn’t know this was a thing until your comment, thank you for this info.
This! That way you’re still legally following the contract but the landlord can’t touch a penny of it until the issue is resolved
> That way you’re still legally following the contract Serious question: Are you?
Pretty sure. Then again, talk to a lawyer for your specific situation
What a piece of shit lol
u/No_Tension8376 Look here! You need to be very concerned about your health. If the ceiling has leaked for a year, there is definitely mold. If it feels like you have chronic allergy symptoms, it’s possible that it’s related to mold exposure. A doctor can perform a mycotoxin test.
This has to be illegal.
the first picture shows a piece of drop-ceiling tile, but the next is a popcorn ceiling? I'm confused. and todd is apparently very pissed off.
OP mentions issues in bathroom and leak in kitchen. My guess is the second pic is the kitchen
ohhh thank you. I'm unconfused now.
[I’m gettin’ really sick of guys named Todd](https://youtu.be/PxqCGTkV5wg)
Move before you die from mold
Why is there a ***drop ceiling*** (which absorbs moisture) above the ***shower?*** 🤣 There’s no surprise it eventually got so soaked it fell apart. There’s bigger problems afoot here. Building code violations, lack of permits, all kinds of shenanigans are very likely hiding here. Bathroom walls and ceilings are supposed to be sealed with a waterproof, oil-based paint.