stimpyzu
Dec 17, 2010, 08:03 PM
I'm reading other questions here but it doesn't address my issue.
The other day, someone from the office of the property management where I live stuck a letter to my door. It was a Nonrenewal Notice. I was home and they didn't knock, I guess they were afraid to give it to me in person.
Basically, they are advising us that they are giving us official notice that our lease is due to expire and that they will not be renewing it, nor will we be given the opportunity to rent month to month.
It then states all in caps that "YOU MUST MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO VACATE THE PREMISES KNOWN AS .... ON THE 30TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2010". But, I received this notice on December 15th, 2010??
The actual date the lease is to expire is February 28th, 2011. But that still doesn't give us much time to find a new place. Gosh, they hit us with this right before the holidays!
The whole problem with this is the following: we have never had a complaint from any neighbor, nor from the office, no seven day notices, no three day notices, nothing. The rent was always paid on time, for four years, it was not late, not once!
They did work on the building and code enforcement shut them down. My husband, being in construction, tried to help them out with the city and the permits so that they could get out of the fines they got themselves into. They even gave us a rebate on the rent for all the time that he put in that month.
But in March of 2009, we had a leak in the roof and a section of our ceiling caved in. We told the office about this and they fixed the leak (not for the first time, this was the 3rd or 4th leak that we had had, but this one was the worst as the ceiling caved in) and we had a big gaping hole for the longest time up there. Then they finally put up some drywall, but it wasn't put up right and there were holes all around the drywall sheet. Our electric bill skyrocketed as we were cooling out the attic as well as the rest of the house for months.
We finally went back to them telling them that this was unacceptable, it had been over a year, and that there was mold up there. They agreed that it was unacceptable and told us they would move us to a new unit.
Then, while waiting for that new unit, they decided to replace the A/C. After replacing the A/C on a Friday, it went out and it was a particularly hot weekend. We called maintenance and my husband went up on the roof with the maintenance guy where all the A/C units are for the whole building. Well what he saw scared the living heck out of him. He said some breakers were put aside, some wires where connected without breakers, there was loud humming sounds, etc. etc. Basically, a fire waiting to happen.
Now he had had enough. He wrote an email to the city explaining all the problems (the hole in the ceiling, the A/C and the fire hazard, and the dishwasher that had burned out and started smoking up the kitchen two weeks prior). They came in on Monday morning blazing and told them to get a licensed A/C company to fix the problem and told us that the breakers in the panel inside our apartment were not the right ones for the A/C and that they were to fix it.
Needless to say, the did the work themselves, no licensed company ever came. It took another month and a half before they finally fixed the hole in our ceiling and again, since it wasn't done by a contractor, it was never done properly, with a fire envelope to keep it from burning to fast as this is the ceiling in the stairwell, our only way out in case of a fire. The breakers inside our panel were never changed. The city never came back.
My husband was asked "why did you call the city"? Basically, he was a whistle blower. "We had worked out a deal with you, we were going to move you to another unit". Ok, but once he saw that there was a potential danger for the WHOLE building to catch on fire, he figured he had not choice but to speak up! Do you blame him?
So I ask you my friends, doesn't this Non Renewal Notice sounds like it's a retaliatory move on the property management's part?
When I went to the office today I was told by one of the girls there that she didn't know why they told them to write that letter, that they don't tell her anything, that she was sad to lose us, but that my husband calling the city that day caused the property management BIG BIG problems and cost them A LOT of money. What did they expect if they kept doing work without permits and without licensed contractors? They got caught once before, with the windows, my husband tried to help them and told them that "you can't get around getting permits, or you will pay heavy fines" but they still operate that way, and when you're talking about working with electrical components by maintenance guys that usually unplug your toilets, that is very, very scary!
I would just like for someone to answer me this: Do we have any recourse here and if so, what is it? Who should we contact and what points should we make?
P.S.: I have been disabled for a while now, my arm has been paralyzed and I have a bad back. They know this. To pack a 4 bed, 3 bath house that quick and to find another place to live, just before the holidays, is just making me feel sick to my stomach.
The other day, someone from the office of the property management where I live stuck a letter to my door. It was a Nonrenewal Notice. I was home and they didn't knock, I guess they were afraid to give it to me in person.
Basically, they are advising us that they are giving us official notice that our lease is due to expire and that they will not be renewing it, nor will we be given the opportunity to rent month to month.
It then states all in caps that "YOU MUST MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO VACATE THE PREMISES KNOWN AS .... ON THE 30TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2010". But, I received this notice on December 15th, 2010??
The actual date the lease is to expire is February 28th, 2011. But that still doesn't give us much time to find a new place. Gosh, they hit us with this right before the holidays!
The whole problem with this is the following: we have never had a complaint from any neighbor, nor from the office, no seven day notices, no three day notices, nothing. The rent was always paid on time, for four years, it was not late, not once!
They did work on the building and code enforcement shut them down. My husband, being in construction, tried to help them out with the city and the permits so that they could get out of the fines they got themselves into. They even gave us a rebate on the rent for all the time that he put in that month.
But in March of 2009, we had a leak in the roof and a section of our ceiling caved in. We told the office about this and they fixed the leak (not for the first time, this was the 3rd or 4th leak that we had had, but this one was the worst as the ceiling caved in) and we had a big gaping hole for the longest time up there. Then they finally put up some drywall, but it wasn't put up right and there were holes all around the drywall sheet. Our electric bill skyrocketed as we were cooling out the attic as well as the rest of the house for months.
We finally went back to them telling them that this was unacceptable, it had been over a year, and that there was mold up there. They agreed that it was unacceptable and told us they would move us to a new unit.
Then, while waiting for that new unit, they decided to replace the A/C. After replacing the A/C on a Friday, it went out and it was a particularly hot weekend. We called maintenance and my husband went up on the roof with the maintenance guy where all the A/C units are for the whole building. Well what he saw scared the living heck out of him. He said some breakers were put aside, some wires where connected without breakers, there was loud humming sounds, etc. etc. Basically, a fire waiting to happen.
Now he had had enough. He wrote an email to the city explaining all the problems (the hole in the ceiling, the A/C and the fire hazard, and the dishwasher that had burned out and started smoking up the kitchen two weeks prior). They came in on Monday morning blazing and told them to get a licensed A/C company to fix the problem and told us that the breakers in the panel inside our apartment were not the right ones for the A/C and that they were to fix it.
Needless to say, the did the work themselves, no licensed company ever came. It took another month and a half before they finally fixed the hole in our ceiling and again, since it wasn't done by a contractor, it was never done properly, with a fire envelope to keep it from burning to fast as this is the ceiling in the stairwell, our only way out in case of a fire. The breakers inside our panel were never changed. The city never came back.
My husband was asked "why did you call the city"? Basically, he was a whistle blower. "We had worked out a deal with you, we were going to move you to another unit". Ok, but once he saw that there was a potential danger for the WHOLE building to catch on fire, he figured he had not choice but to speak up! Do you blame him?
So I ask you my friends, doesn't this Non Renewal Notice sounds like it's a retaliatory move on the property management's part?
When I went to the office today I was told by one of the girls there that she didn't know why they told them to write that letter, that they don't tell her anything, that she was sad to lose us, but that my husband calling the city that day caused the property management BIG BIG problems and cost them A LOT of money. What did they expect if they kept doing work without permits and without licensed contractors? They got caught once before, with the windows, my husband tried to help them and told them that "you can't get around getting permits, or you will pay heavy fines" but they still operate that way, and when you're talking about working with electrical components by maintenance guys that usually unplug your toilets, that is very, very scary!
I would just like for someone to answer me this: Do we have any recourse here and if so, what is it? Who should we contact and what points should we make?
P.S.: I have been disabled for a while now, my arm has been paralyzed and I have a bad back. They know this. To pack a 4 bed, 3 bath house that quick and to find another place to live, just before the holidays, is just making me feel sick to my stomach.