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HotHotHeat · 04-24-2008, 04:42 PM

For the last eight months my two roommates and I have lived in a three bedroom townhouse while we attend university. Throughout the time we've lived here we have had to deal with a landlord that i would rank as the most incompetent and frustrating person I have ever met, and hopefully ever will meet.

In October, our fridge broke. We notified our landlord of the situation immediately, but it took her seven days to find (I say find because it was a fridge she got for free in the bargain finder). Obviously the hundreds of dollars of food we had in the fridge went bad. We thought whatever, not worth making noise about.

Also in October, our washing machine starting leaking a black oil. She denied that was possible until we showed her our clothes with black dots all over them, and then did another load with a white towel while she waited to prove it further.

By this point, it was becoming clear that she hated us and that she thought we were somehow trying to ruin the appliances.

Then in November our oven broke. We notified her the next day. It took her four days to come by the house, and when she did argued that the oven worked just fine and we should stop complaining "about everything". The oven did in fact work. It warmed to a cozy temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit...Unfortunately that doesn't do much for cooking pizza. After a brief argument about the oven indicator light and how it worked, she conceded. Not until mid December was it replaced.

The hot water heater went in January. To our amazement, she replaced it right away (within three days) and all was fine. I figured she must have known it was about to die.

I should mention that at the beginning of our tenancy there was no 'official walkthrough checklist' to asses damage to the property that occurred before we moved in. We tried several times to arrange a walkthrough with our landlord, none were successful.

Fast forward to present. It's time to move out. We've pulled out our contract to go over what is required by us as far as cleaning before we leave. It says the house should be in reasonably clean condition, it says NOTHING about professional carpet cleaning.

On Monday of this week we got an email from her 'reminding us' that we were required to get a professional carpet cleaner before we moved out and she would require a receipt proving to her we got them cleaned.

The next day we began to try and talk to our landlord to let her know that this Friday (now tomorrow, ugh) we would be moving out and would like to meet Friday morning to exchange the keys and get our damage deposit back. I am aware that the law states landlords have 15 days to return a damage deposit, but since there was no checklist, it is impossible for her to asses what damage is from us(which to be truthful is nothing) and what was here before we moved in. Because of this we agreed two weeks ago to exchange the damage deposit during the time that we gave back the keys. She appeared to accept that she would not be able to claim any damage and withhold any portion of our deposit.

Anyways, our attempts at phoning and emailing her all week were unsuccessful until about half an hour ago. I finally got a hold of her on her cell phone. I asked if she had a chance to listen to our messages from Tuesday, Wednesday and earlier today, or read over the several emails we sent. Then she said this "I don't have to deal with this, too busy". And with that she hung up.

All indications are that she has no intent to meet with us tomorrow morning before our flights leave at 10 AM. We called back and asked if we could meet tonight instead, but she said "Not now" and hung up. I think she works a night shift at a convenient store for her job, so granted she was probably sleeping while we tried to call her, but for her to ignore four days of emails is ridiculous.

As it stands she owes us $675 for our damage deposit plus 1.5% interest...But I've lost all faith in that happening. She knows we're leaving the city tomorrow because of the emails we've sent her and I can only assume she's betting on the fact that we won't file a complaint to the BC tenant officer. The sad thing is, with the costs of me and my roommates to come back out to the coast for the hearings and whatever else is part of the process, it's not worth it. We've been taken for over $200 each. When you're a student who's budgeted the return of that money as income to pay for gas and food, it's not a good situation.

My advice to anyone with a shady landlord is to pay the last months rent MINUS what you are owed as damage deposit.

Some people lack morals and ethics, I guess that's old news though.

On the plus side...School's out for summer!

04-24-2008, 04:42 PM	#1
HotHotHeat Franchise Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Victoria, BC Exp:	Bad Landlord Rant For the last eight months my two roommates and I have lived in a three bedroom townhouse while we attend university. Throughout the time we've lived here we have had to deal with a landlord that i would rank as the most incompetent and frustrating person I have ever met, and hopefully ever will meet. In October, our fridge broke. We notified our landlord of the situation immediately, but it took her seven days to find (I say find because it was a fridge she got for free in the bargain finder). Obviously the hundreds of dollars of food we had in the fridge went bad. We thought whatever, not worth making noise about. Also in October, our washing machine starting leaking a black oil. She denied that was possible until we showed her our clothes with black dots all over them, and then did another load with a white towel while she waited to prove it further. By this point, it was becoming clear that she hated us and that she thought we were somehow trying to ruin the appliances. Then in November our oven broke. We notified her the next day. It took her four days to come by the house, and when she did argued that the oven worked just fine and we should stop complaining "about everything". The oven did in fact work. It warmed to a cozy temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit...Unfortunately that doesn't do much for cooking pizza. After a brief argument about the oven indicator light and how it worked, she conceded. Not until mid December was it replaced. The hot water heater went in January. To our amazement, she replaced it right away (within three days) and all was fine. I figured she must have known it was about to die. I should mention that at the beginning of our tenancy there was no 'official walkthrough checklist' to asses damage to the property that occurred before we moved in. We tried several times to arrange a walkthrough with our landlord, none were successful. Fast forward to present. It's time to move out. We've pulled out our contract to go over what is required by us as far as cleaning before we leave. It says the house should be in reasonably clean condition, it says NOTHING about professional carpet cleaning. On Monday of this week we got an email from her 'reminding us' that we were required to get a professional carpet cleaner before we moved out and she would require a receipt proving to her we got them cleaned. The next day we began to try and talk to our landlord to let her know that this Friday (now tomorrow, ugh) we would be moving out and would like to meet Friday morning to exchange the keys and get our damage deposit back. I am aware that the law states landlords have 15 days to return a damage deposit, but since there was no checklist, it is impossible for her to asses what damage is from us(which to be truthful is nothing) and what was here before we moved in. Because of this we agreed two weeks ago to exchange the damage deposit during the time that we gave back the keys. She appeared to accept that she would not be able to claim any damage and withhold any portion of our deposit. Anyways, our attempts at phoning and emailing her all week were unsuccessful until about half an hour ago. I finally got a hold of her on her cell phone. I asked if she had a chance to listen to our messages from Tuesday, Wednesday and earlier today, or read over the several emails we sent. Then she said this "I don't have to deal with this, too busy". And with that she hung up. All indications are that she has no intent to meet with us tomorrow morning before our flights leave at 10 AM. We called back and asked if we could meet tonight instead, but she said "Not now" and hung up. I think she works a night shift at a convenient store for her job, so granted she was probably sleeping while we tried to call her, but for her to ignore four days of emails is ridiculous. As it stands she owes us $675 for our damage deposit plus 1.5% interest...But I've lost all faith in that happening. She knows we're leaving the city tomorrow because of the emails we've sent her and I can only assume she's betting on the fact that we won't file a complaint to the BC tenant officer. The sad thing is, with the costs of me and my roommates to come back out to the coast for the hearings and whatever else is part of the process, it's not worth it. We've been taken for over $200 each. When you're a student who's budgeted the return of that money as income to pay for gas and food, it's not a good situation. My advice to anyone with a shady landlord is to pay the last months rent MINUS what you are owed as damage deposit. Some people lack morals and ethics, I guess that's old news though. On the plus side...School's out for summer!