[CWakaCL]

Hi, first let me thank you in advance for helping me with this question, this has really been troubling me and I look forward to some solid advice. I'll try to make this as short as I can. I am writing from Pennsylvania where my husband and I live in an old stone building built sometime in the 1800's. It had been converted into apartments sometime over the years and also has had a new addition added within the last 30 years or more that is the same size as the original 1800's home. We live in one of the apartments from the orignal 1800's side. Our experiences here have been less than desirable... but not as bad as some of the things I have read on this site! We were limited at the time as to where we could live because, unfortunately my credit information was bad because I became VERY ill in 2003. I lost my job and everything that I'd worked for because of it and I am now disabled. So at the time we were very happy to find this place as it is a great location to where my husband works and my previous credit problems were not an issue with the landlord... ;however, we have had multiple problems while living here. For starters our apartment door (our entry door to our apartment) was broken (the guts in the handle) and then the deadbolt was not working right as well (it was really old and not installed properly... there was like 1/4 inch thread holding the door shut and locked) we were told that he had already ordered new doors and locks for each of the apartments and that they would be installed by such and such time. Well needless to say it wasn't until 8 months later that we got the new door and lock. Then the bathroom sink breaks, that takes a week to fix. Then there's a problem with the fire alarms... (still not fixed) Then there's the problem we had with the kitchen sink leaking... Then the electrical problem and 1/2 of the electricity not working in our apartment for a month ( that issue was only resolved after I sent him a registered letter in the mail... ) Now our toilet is sinking into the floor or our bathroom and the tiled floor is coming apart his son, by the way is the official repairman of the building... who only does the finest work etc etc. (can you say jerry-built?? ) Who told me when he came to look at it that when his brother originally built the bathroom that he did not put down any sub-floor (okay... that's smart) and just laid the tile on top of plywood, basically. (for which he needs 2 days to repair the job and we will have no access to our bathroom) We have no where else to go and we can't be without a toilet for 2 days! That's not really even the problem... I was just trying to establish what was going on around here and what it's like dealing with this man. I don't even call him on the phone anymore because he is rude, he asks questions then cuts me off after I haven't finished the answer... he also talks over me and down to me. With my illnesses it just stresses me out so bad.He does not live here but we have a live-in property manager. She usually handles everything and is the mediator between all of the tenets and him. The problem is this (finally, I'm sorry) when we did the initial "walk-through" (nevermind that he was 3 hours late) my husband and I went through the whole apartment, checked everything and wrote down each every little thing that was wrong with the apartment before we moved in. He took the paper and said that he would give us a copy. For the last year I have asked him several times for our copy... when we resigned the lease (I know... but we have to stay here for now) I wrote a note on the lease asking for our copy of the initial walk through. (of course no reply ) So, I contacted the property manager and explained the situation to her. She actually had the original on hand, which she gave to me... but it was UNSIGNED by the landlord. (so it went from us, to him not signing it and giving it to her to put on file?) She said that he didn't sign hers either and that he's an IDIOT and probably lost his copy and that I shouldn't worry. Well I am worried and as far as I'm concerned that is our legal document stating the condition of the apartment before we moved in. How can I get that document signed now? What if I don't get it signed? How should I approach this situation? I feel that the landlord is not as dumb as he appears to be even if he is absent-minded and completely unorganized. I am afraid that he will try to take advantage of us when it is time to leave.(example: the tenents that lived here before we did snuck an outside rabbit hutch into the kitchen, of all places Aside from the horrible smell, the rabbit's piddle got on the hardwood floor and left a pet stain.) My husband painted the whole apartment before we moved in and it will be painted and cleaned up when we leave. Hindsight is 20/20 and we will also be taking pictures of what the place looks like after we leave... What do we do? Thanks... hope that this is cohesive enough. So much for being short.

[ScottGem]

I would send the LL a copy of the walk through with a note saying, you may have forgotten to sign this. Please return a signed copy to us ASAP. Then keepa copy of that letter attached to the original list. If he doesn't refute the list, even if he doesn't sign it, you have some documentation. Of course the only value of that list is if you need to go to court.

[CWakaCL]

Hi, first let me thank you in advance for helping me with this question, this has really been troubling me and I look forward to some solid advice. I'll try to make this as short as I can. I am writing from Pennsylvania where my husband and I live in an old stone building built sometime in the 1800's. It had been converted into apartments sometime over the years and also has had a new addition added within the last 30 years or more that is the same size as the original 1800's home. We live in one of the apartments from the orignal 1800's side. Our experiences here have been less than desirable...but not as bad as some of the things I have read on this site! We were limited at the time as to where we could live because, unfortunately my credit information was bad due to the fact that I became VERY ill in 2003. I lost my job and everything that I'd worked for because of it and I am now disabled. So at the time we were very happy to find this place as it is a great location to where my husband works and my previous credit problems were not an issue with the landlord...;however, we have had multiple problems while living here. For starters our apartment door (our entry door to our apartment) was broken (the guts in the handle) and then the deadbolt was not working right as well (it was really old and not installed properly...there was like 1/4 inch thread holding the door shut and locked) we were told that he had already ordered new doors and locks for each of the apartments and that they would be installed by such and such time. Well needless to say it wasn't until 8 months later that we got the new door and lock. Then the bathroom sink breaks, that takes a week to fix. Then there's a problem with the fire alarms...(still not fixed) Then there's the problem we had with the kitchen sink leaking...Then the electrical problem and 1/2 of the electricity not working in our apartment for a month ( that issue was only resolved after I sent him a registered letter in the mail...) Now our toilet is sinking into the floor or our bathroom and the tiled floor is coming apart his son, by the way is the official repairman of the building....who only does the finest work etc etc. (can you say jerry-built???) Who told me when he came to look at it that when his brother originally built the bathroom that he did not put down any sub-floor (okay...that's smart) and just layed the tile on top of plywood, basically. (for which he needs 2 days to repair the job and we will have no access to our bathroom) We have no where else to go and we can't be without a toilet for 2 days! That's not really even the problem...I was just trying to establish what was going on around here and what it's like dealing with this man. I don't even call him on the phone anymore because he is rude, he asks questions then cuts me off after I haven't finished the answer...he also talks over me and down to me. With my illnesses it just stresses me out so bad.He does not live here but we have a live-in property manager. She usually handles everything and is the mediator between all of the tenets and him. The problem is this (finally, i'm sorry) when we did the initial "walk-through" (nevermind that he was 3 hours late) my husband and I went through the whole apartment, checked everything and wrote down each every little thing that was wrong with the apartment before we moved in. He took the paper and said that he would give us a copy. For the last year I have asked him several times for our copy... when we resigned the lease (i know...but we have to stay here for now) I wrote a note on the lease asking for our copy of the intial walk through. (of course no reply ) So, I contacted the property manager and explained the situation to her. She actually had the original on hand, which she gave to me...but it was UNSIGNED by the landlord. (so it went from us, to him not signing it and giving it to her to put on file?) She said that he didn't sign hers either and that he's an IDIOT and probably lost his copy and that I shouldn't worry. Well I am worried and as far as I'm concerned that is our legal document stating the condition of the apartment before we moved in. How can I get that document signed now? What if I don't get it signed? How should I approach this situation? I feel that the landlord is not as dumb as he appears to be even if he is absent-minded and completely unorganized. I am afraid that he will try to take advantage of us when it is time to leave.(example: the tenents that lived here before we did snuck an outside rabbit hutch into the kitchen, of all places Aside from the horrible smell, the rabbit's piddle got on the hardwood floor and left a pet stain.) My husband painted the whole apartment before we moved in and it will be painted and cleaned up when we leave. Hindsight is 20/20 and we will also be taking pictures of what the place looks like after we leave...What do we do? Thanks...hope that this is cohesive enough. So much for being short.

Hi Scott,
Thank-you very much for your help! I will do just that and hopefully when it is time for us to leave there won't be any problems! Thanks