House blues…

I hate renting the house in Red Bank!

It sucks. We have paid almost $30,000.00 in rent this year. This for a house that has no insulation, is expensive to heat, and is horribly laid out. A house we do not like. This paid to people who have failed to make the majority of the repairs we have requested, listed the house without telling us a week after the baby was born, and sent me an ALL CAPS angry email today. Why? Let me tell you:

Lee went on a business trip. He mowed the lawn before he left, and tried to mow it when he came back. (Grass grows like gangbusters here, so it is already nuts after a week.) When he tried to mow it, the mower failed. We emailed the landlord to have it repaired. A week later, they decided to drop by, but “were unable to get to the lawnmower because the fence blocked entry to the yard.” Granted, they have a key, the garage code, and our permission to come into the house any time they need to make repairs on the weekends, but somehow the fence gets in their way.

So what do they do? Send me an all caps bitchy email about how they are going to have to hire a service and take it out of our security deposit. This after failing to repair things like:
The bathroom door handle, which locks on its own every time you shut the door.
The laundry closet doors, which are now in the hall closet, having fallen down, again.
The front screen door, which sticks and is next to impossible to open, every single time you try and enter the house.
The bathroom drawers, which have no pulls, and can only be opened by pulling on the sides of the drawers. (I have broken my nails several times, painfully.)
Monkey’s room door handle, which also locks on it’s own. (I had to turn the handle around when she locked herself in her room, lock inside, and couldn’t get out. It is so much fun to remove a door handle when a freaked out child is screaming on the other side.)

Yes, after failing to make these fairly essential and inexpensive repairs for the entire tenure of our lease, they send us a threatening email after the mower breaks, and the lawn isn’t mowed. This after I have washed the floors in the living room with special wood soap to increase their shine so the house will show better, have cleaned and organized before each showing while caring for a brand new baby, and Lee has re-seeded the backyard so the lawn looks nice!!

I hate renting! These people are unbelievable! They have already violated the terms of our lease by failing to make timely repairs, and are now really pissing me off. I swear, if they try and take anything the slightest bit extra out of the security deposit I am going to sue them. NJ charges double damages to landlords who charge too much on the deposit, and I am so ready to recover.

3 thoughts on “House blues…”

  1. That sounds particularly sucky. I think you should send them the official scary lawyer note and see how they respond.

    But then, I’m not a lawyer. I only play with one (or three!).

  2. Oh, Misty, you have my sympathy! Renting always sucks. Every time I see a TV show and the people recommend renting, rather than buying, I think, even if you end up losing money on the house you buy, buying is so much more secure emotionally it is SO worth it. I was able to buy a house in Wyoming through a first-time homeowners program. You ought to try it if you can.

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