My Friend Could Really Use Some Help (Legal, Housing, etc.)

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My Friend Could Really Use Some Help (Legal, Housing, etc.)

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Started 1 year ago by AnonymousBroccoli
Latest reply from Lakee911

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Lakee911
Clintonville (South)
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I apologize if some of this is not applicable, but I don't have time to re-read everything at the moment. In general...

If you live in Franklin County, you can get the Owner's name and rental contact info from the Auditor.

I can not stress this enough, and I tell it to my tenants too, if you're having trouble with your landlord, put everything in writing and send it certified mail. If things are still not being resolved, you still need to pay your rent, but it instead goes to the court who holds it until the conditions are resolved. You can get code enforcement involved.

Any Lease modifications, changing terms, units, etc need to be in writing. When you go to court with a whole lot of he said, she said you will not get anywhere. You need receipts or canceled checks for payments.

You don't need an attorney to sue someone. In cases like this, you can represent yourself, and the easiest way to do that is to go to small claims court. Sue the owner, the management company, and anyone affliated. Let the court straighten out rersponsibility.

If you have damaged possesions, file a claim with your against renter's insurance policy. That's what it is there for.

One thing that always helps, is to stay calm. Yes, it really sucks that poo is coming out of the drain. I'd expect them to get someone there within hours. Will you have brand new carpet, walls repainted, living room deodorized, etc by 6AM? Probably not. Generally you can be compensated for some of these inconvienences, but if they won't, again look at your renter's insurance policy to see if it can help.

I hope that can help. I can not give you legal advice and these are my opinions only. If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to provide more of my opinions.

Posted 1 year ago #
JonMyers
HCMC ✈
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gotocd_10 - I hope you can appreciate my skepticism and my apologies.

I hope things improve.

Best,

-jon

Posted 1 year ago #
gotocd_10

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Lakee, I am technically not living there so they won't be charging me rent. There is nothing to put in escrow. They can't charge me rent when they won't even give me a place to live.

My stuff is in storage now because the city of Columbus gave me a notice to vacate on the dirty unit (not the poo one). The manager will not put me anywhere else. I assume since she gave me part of March's rent back that I am out of the lease. I would love for them to try and come after me for rent when they won't even give me a place to live. I doubt they are that dumb... well maybe...

I had no actual property damage other than some socks and shoes. My insurance company told me that morning they don't cover sewage back up, only flooding. So that would have done me no good. I very well may take them to small claims court for the storage and moving and what not. I am sure things are ruined from being shoved in to trash bags and storage but I won't know until I find a place and unpack.

My concern is them leaving me without a home when I am in a lease. They tried to say they are not responsible to put me up if my apartment becomes unlivable. The lease says something like that, but only if it is my fault. I am guessing, based on the fact that there was sewage flooding in the unit before, that it is their fault for never fully fixing the issue.

I am not sure everyone understands the actual living situation. My stuff has been removed from the property, as requested by the city (that I called out). I am staying at a friends but they refuse to put me in another apartment. My lease wasn't due to end until July. I have never been late on rent, and never had any noise complaints or things of that nature. They do not like me because I have had to complain since the first week I moved in. The apartment should have never been rented out, and they know that. They have told me they are never renting them out again.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

Posted 1 year ago #
gotocd_10

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JonMyers wrote >>
gotocd_10 - I hope you can appreciate my skepticism and my apologies.
I hope things improve.
Best,
-jon

No problem. I get it.

Posted 1 year ago #
10sun
Columbus, OH
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gotocd_10,

In short sentences, what do you want?

1. Advice on filing suit against a negligent land lord?
2. Suggestions for new places to live?
3. To vent about shitty property management groups?

I understand completely the trials and sense of frustration you have experienced. I had told my landlord one time about a leaky toilet and I moved into the downstairs unit because it offered better living space only to have that leaky toilet turn into a leaky ceiling in the shower which eventually lead to the shower ceiling collapsing on me while showering... the property manager put a piece of untreated OSB over the gaping hole and that was all the fixing they did. They were creeps and totally unprofessional through the entire ordeal.

Posted 1 year ago #
TaraMC

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gotocd_10,
One resource that hasn't been mentioned yet is Urban League. They do landlord/tenant counseling. Although it may be much too late for that, they may know of some other community resources for you. One thing I always tell people is, if the agency youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re talking to canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t help, make sure and ask them if they know of any other agencies that might be able to help. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t.
http://www.cul.org/housing_dept.aspx
Good Luck

Posted 1 year ago #
AnonymousBroccoli

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That bothered me as well. (And my mother seemed surprised when I told her.) Is the insurance company allowed to determine that water damage coming from outside the wall is flooding and covered, but water damage plus feces and other waste coming from a drain is somehow not flooding, and thus not their problem?

Posted 1 year ago #
Lakee911
Clintonville (South)
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If you read the fine print of the Policy, it should tell you the difference between the two conditions and which if any are covered. I'm sure it'll be in there, so yes they can tell you.

Posted 1 year ago #
AmyJ

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But I thought there wasn't any damage to anything other than shoes?

I'd just cut your losses and get a new place. You got out of your lease and a portion of your March rent back. What else are you wanting?

Posted 1 year ago #
AnonymousBroccoli

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I'm sure the renter's insurance company has themselves covered with the language in the contract. It just bothers me that it's one more institution she's paying for a service, and when she might actually need that service, they're not exactly rising to the occasion on her behalf. She tries to do the responsible thing most of the time, and tends to get the bare minimum or less in return.

(The auto insurance has seemingly been an exception, and been pretty fair and accommodating to her, aside from a long drive to pick up a cheque.)

Posted 1 year ago #
gotocd_10

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10sun wrote >>
gotocd_10,
In short sentences, what do you want?
1. Advice on filing suit against a negligent land lord?
2. Suggestions for new places to live?
3. To vent about shitty property management groups?
I understand completely the trials and sense of frustration you have experienced. I had told my landlord one time about a leaky toilet and I moved into the downstairs unit because it offered better living space only to have that leaky toilet turn into a leaky ceiling in the shower which eventually lead to the shower ceiling collapsing on me while showering... the property manager put a piece of untreated OSB over the gaping hole and that was all the fixing they did. They were creeps and totally unprofessional through the entire ordeal.

:/ That sucks. I have never had these kinds of issues before. The worst I've experienced with apartments in the past was a broken a/c... which for me is tragic.

I don't know what I want really. I know that isn't very helpful. I just want the apartment management to understand they cant do this, and some compensation for storage and missed work etc... I don't think I can do anything about the missed work, as stated by some attorneys I have spoken to. I never got any clear answers. It may be pointless to go after them for storage cost only.

I also want to know what kind of legal issues I can get in to if I post really terrible reviews about them online (including images). From what I understand, if it's true, they can't come after me. I have all of my maintenance records from the 10 months I lived at that particular unit.

Lakee911 wrote >>
If you read the fine print of the Policy, it should tell you the difference between the two conditions and which if any are covered. I'm sure it'll be in there, so yes they can tell you.

They said the renters insurance doesn't cover back up in apartments. I think for homes it does. It's moot anyway since nothing was really damaged other than my brain and well being. I am sure that is not in the policy.

Posted 1 year ago #
10sun
Columbus, OH
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Do you have a copy of the lease handy?

Look at it from an objective standpoint and see what is and isn't covered explicitly by the lease.

That will help you determine your next step and it seems to me that what you want is either one of two things:

Restitution or retribution.

Filing legal claims against the property management/owner runs the risk of several hundred dollars in court costs (plus their attorney's fees potentially). As I understand it, you don't want to spend any more money than you have to right now... so I would avoid that course of action; not to mention if you do reach a settlement, chances are they will have you sign a non-disclosure agreement.

That leaves retribution. Fire up spellcheck and write scathing reviews of this property management group. Include full details, but do not embellish and remain objectively oriented towards the goal of providing disclosure to everybody. Get on forums and let people know what they did. Keep it concise and full of quantifiable details. The emotional hell you went through was nothing compared to the fact that you had raw sewage in your unit repeatedly and they did not fix it.

Posted 1 year ago #
AnonymousBroccoli

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To clarify, her direct experience with sewage was just this one recent extended incident. Here's a brief timeline summary of the major events, as best I can recall:

April or May '09-May '10: Lived in a townhouse in the same complex with a roommate. No major problems with housing, or management.

Sometime before May '10: Sewage backup in basement apartment, possibly flooding issues as well. Supposedly fixed & renovated.

June '10: Moved in to basement apartment. Within the first few weeks, there's flooding caused by rain coming through the exterior wall, into the kitchen, and through the wall to the bathroom. Eventually the exterior wall is patched up.

December '10 and forward: Heating not working properly, electric bill doubles and then triples despite keeping the thermostat near 60 degrees. Management claims little to no responsibility for bill, or repairing the heating.

February or March '11: Relatively minor flooding through wall into kitchen returns again.

March '11: Sewage backup, very little co-operation or consideration from management (causing an already stressful situation to become an obscenely stressful few days for my friend), eventually given a sub-standard replacement townhouse.

Having spent some time at the basement apartment, it did not seem like a very healthy unit. I would suspect there was mould in the walls where the water went through. I had a mysterious incident where I left a toothbrush on the bathroom counter in a baggie near the wall, went to use it, and it smelled like ass. We still have no idea what that was about. My friend has said, thinking back, she's felt like the water is much cleaner when she's stayed away from the apartment. And there was maybe some discolouration left in the bathtub.

Posted 1 year ago #
gotocd_10

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I do have a copy of the lease and I have read it thoroughly. I am pretty sure what they are doing is not ok. I suppose I can go the small claims route. I might write reviews in the mean time. It's just been a lot of frustration and I feel like they shouldn't just be sitting around happy to get away with their awfulness.

I am not terribly spiteful, I just think they should at least understand their behavior is not acceptable.

Posted 1 year ago #
Lakee911
Clintonville (South)
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gotocd_10 wrote >>
I do have a copy of the lease and I have read it thoroughly. I am pretty sure what they are doing is not ok. I suppose I can go the small claims route. I might write reviews in the mean time. It's just been a lot of frustration and I feel like they shouldn't just be sitting around happy to get away with their awfulness.
I am not terribly spiteful, I just think they should at least understand their behavior is not acceptable.

I'm not saying it's right, but a lot of Landlord do what they do because they can... too many people don't know the law and of those that do, they don't do anything about it.

There are laws in Ohio (maybe just Columbus, not sure) that can entitle tenants to twice their security deposit back from the Landlord when their business practices are not kosher. There may be signifigant financial incentives for you to take them to court if indeed they didn't do something right.

Also, if you hire an attorney, you may have to front the money, but they can pay your legal fees out if their pocket if you win. Long story short, if you have no money, be sure they do and be sure you win.

Not legal advice...yada yada

Posted 1 year ago #