Having to go back [mentally] to write this post even stresses me out. But here we go:
I moved into a house in Hollywood with several other girls living there already about 2 years ago. When I first moved in, I understood it as more of a subletting situation and that I would not be dealing with the landlords, who I heard were 'crazy.' I thought it was a stepping stone place to live at the time, so I was fine with not having to deal with them.
6 months later, one girl was moving out, so I decided to take her place and sign a lease. The landlords found out I had been living there when they ran my credit check (I was self employed at the time), that was considered a breach in our lease, they raised the rent, and we had to pay a lease breach agreement (which was 10% of the rent for those 6 months). It sucked, apparently people had been doing this 'secret 5th roommate' thing in the house for like, 6 years and never got caught. But all of those 'original' people had moved out of the house, and we wanted to move on with a fresh slate, so we paid the fee, and accepted the raise in our rent. So now we had 5 girls living there, each on her own month-to-month contract, and the landlords were on the same page. That was last spring. Moving on... Except, not really.
Since then, we've been hit with a slew of charges for damages and repairs needed in the house such as: missing drain stops, clogged pipes, broken parts in the refrigerator (which was held together by duct tape when I moved in), broken windows, etc. that have existed in the house before I even moved in. They want us to pay for the damages, saying these are in our contract, and are our responsibility.
I've read through the HOA manual and my contract dozens of times and I feel like we're being taken advantage of or made to pay things we shouldn't be responsible for, but I'm not sure how to fight these charges because of the contract, or what to do at all at this point. The house was built in 1911 (I've done my research on the property), has termites (which previous tenants and contractors have reported), and one of our bathroom ceilings fell out within the first few months of me living there. (They promptly fixed it but it was serious, we have photos, and it was never mentioned again.)
The house is owned by this old woman (who seriously looks like she's near death), and her kids, who are in their 40s, who used to live there. I feel like if the property was owned by a company and we had a super, these damages would be considered normal wear and tear and would be repaired without involving us, no problem.
I also believe they're getting ready to sell the house, probably when the mom dies. They've been doing all this upkeep to the exterior of the house, we started writing our checks to a 'trust' vs. landlord's name a few months ago, and then there's the issue of them getting us to pay for damages to the house when, prior to that, we hardly ever saw them. Now they lurk around the property several times a week. (We've also gotten into that with them, but they say they have a right to be on the property and only need the 24 hour heads up to enter the house.)
I know in CA tenants usually cover appliances charges, and that's in our contract, so that's their excuse with the fridge (dumb). They also have written in that we're responsible for unclogging drains. (Can't help but think they did this because they knew it was a recurring issue in hindsight.)
When I try to dispute the repairs/charges and said they've been here before I moved in, they say we had 15 days to report damages when we first moved in. My situation is a bit fucked with the subletting thing, but I only started seeing them do walk-thrus of the whole house last summer. I never had a proper walk-thru when I signed my contract, but I filled out paperwork that listed damages in my room so I could protect my deposit, which they claimed to have lost. (They lose a LOT of paperwork.) I have a few emails to them that list a few of these damages, so I feel fine about fighting those if/when it comes down to it.
We've agreed to pay [or more like gave in] to getting pipes unclogged a few times. The landlords have sent 'their guy' (who also thinks they're awful), but when we hired our own plumber, he said the pipes were old, and backed with 4+ years of rubbish & this was an infrastructure issue. When we brought this up to the landlords and showed them his note, they said that wasn't right, they had done the necessary maintenance to the pipes a few years ago. Again, we gave up and paid.
However, I REFUSE to pay for any other repairs at this point. When I moved in, the house was like a hoarder trash heap. We've gotten rid of a ton of junk, have cleaners regularly, and the place is adorable and well kept. We have massive parties occasionally (a big house in Hollywood!), but zero damage has been done during them. (A feat, but it's true.)
Going back and forth with them has been extremely stressful, and has influenced a few girls to move. So they also use this against us: so many girls cycling in and out of the house, they can't keep track of who is responsible for repairs (not my problem?). So we need to figure out how to divide costs amongst ourselves. I called them to dispute the charges for the 100th time, and we agreed to have a meeting in person with them next week to discuss these things.
To make it cooler: there's a total language barrier. The mom only speaks French and her children have to translate to us. I speak a little bit of French and understand some of it, but trying to talk to them IRL is the most maddening thing ever. Trying to get them to concede does not seem to be working. I joked last night to my roommates that we're probably going to go back and forth until the mom dies and we have to move.
I'm the oldest in the house and have been there the longest - I do plan on moving in the next 6 months or so into my own place. For now, I love the girls I live with, the house is beautiful, my rent is relatively inexpensive, and the location is amazing. The landlords are just awful, stressing me out, and I don't want to feel defeated. (However, I'll be sure to be more hardcore about contracts in the future.) But for the sake of my sanity, I've tried to stay out of it and communicate with them as little as possible recently (phone call yesterday was an exception), and really don't want to like, start a legal drama. I'm going through some personal things, which have made me decide to delay moving out. I don't know if I'm up for a legal battle while I'm living there...
Last thing I should note: I have more than a few damning emails and texts where they're straight-up bullying and harassing us. I've threatened to take them to court a few times and have the paper-trail well organized at this point. So there's that.
So the question is: What the hell am I supposed to do until then? Will they be able to evict me if I continue refusing to pay for these fees? How should we handle the meeting next week? Would I have a case if I did take them to court? (OK, that was more than 1 question.)
Thanks ahead of time.
Submitted May 06, 2016 at 06:02AM by kitcattt http://ift.tt/26YrSqB legaladvice
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