I believe my landlord is retaliating against me because I reported a leaky roof to the city code enforcement. She claims my complaint was made in bad faith and says that my actions will be “accounted for”. She also is threatening to terminate my lease and evict me on the bogus claim that I denied her access to do repairs.
How do I stop this harassment? And how do I protect my security deposit? I would also appreciate clarification about when my landlord can enter. She keeps giving notices to enter for multiple days to a week at a time between 9am-5pm for repairs that only take a hour or two. She also shows up outside of business hours (i.e. 6pm -10pm). Is she allowed to enter that late?
Below are more details:
Roof/Complaint
The roof leaked the day I moved in (March). My landlord explained the roof leaked for the previous tenants too but she thought she had fixed it. She promised to fix the roof right away but never did. She would text me someone one was coming but then cancel. She finally sent a roofer in November, who said the roof was rotten. He turned down the job so nothing got fixed. After more complaining, she finally sent her handyman on 12/18 to patch the roof. Unfortunately the repair was not successful.
I informed my landlord the roof was still leaking on 12/21. She accused me of “unfixing” the roof on purpose. She called me a racist because I requested a water/mold damage professional look at the ceiling. She also said I denied her and handyman access to do the repair on 12/18 because I refused to put my dogs away (totally false). After her insane accusations I decided to report the leak to city code enforcement. I only reported the leak because I felt like this lady is nuts and getting the city involved would be the only way to finally get the roof fixed. The code enforcement officer came on 12/28. He unfortunately noticed she had an illegal garage conversion as well. I told him it was the previous owner that did the conversion but he said he still had to write her up for it. By coincidence, her and handyman ended up coming at 7pm the same day to fix the leak and a plumbing issue we were having.
Thankfully the roof stopped leaking after the second attempt. She didn’t make any repairs to the ceiling however. A couple days later a mushroom grew where the leak was. When I complained about the mushroom/mold, she said she talked to an expert who said it wasn’t mold ( I don’t believe her) but said she would send her handyman anyways. I told her I disagreed and was going to get a mold test just to make sure the mold was the harmless kind and within safe levels. I also said I preferred for her to wait until the test results came back before she opens up the ceiling because it might spread spores. She flipped out about this and accused me of making a bogus claim to extort her. She also said I will be violating the lease if I allow anyone to test the ceiling for mold. I don’t think this is fair at all. I think my mold concern is legitimate for a couple reasons. One, my co-tenant has severe asthma and I have bad allergies so elevated levels of mold could affect our health. Secondly, there is a fucking mushroom on my ceiling. Lastly, there clearly was water damage from before we moved in. The ceiling has multiple patches of new paint in the living room/kitchen. In some of the patches you can see brown stains. I think this indicates there was probably mold previously. I really don’t trust someone who ignores a leaking roof for 10 months to properly eradicate mold.
Denial of Entry Claims – Did I deny her entry?
My landlord keeps falsely accusing me of denying her access to make repairs. She claims because I have dogs she can’t use her keys to enter and complains that she has so give us 24 hour notice to enter. I have told her over and over again that she lets me know what day and time she wants to come I will gladly make arrangements to let her in. One of my roommates actually works at home so there is someone home almost all the time. Here are the following three times she claims I denied her entry.
1ST time: I gave my landlord multiple days and timeframes that she could come over to inspect a leaking refrigerator. She texted me she would let me know later what day/time worked best for her. One of the timeframes was Wed afternoon. Wed morning she texted she was coming at 11am. She ended up showing up even earlier at 10am when no one was home. I explained to her she was two hours early but if she waits for 10 mins my roommate would be back. She said she didn’t want to wait and she left. I feel like this is her fault for getting the time wrong, not mine.
2nd time: Claimed we denied her entry to make repairs on 12/18. She claimed I refused to put my dogs away, had a trash can blocking the side gate, and because I waited inside I refused her entry to make repairs. This makes no sense because they DID make repairs that day. My dogs were in a bedroom the entire time. When her and the handyman arrived I asked her if they needed anything and she asked for a ladder which I offered. I even let her mother and son inside to use the restroom. Also it is totally normal to keep your trash cans at the side of the house. She never complained about the trash preventing her repair when she was there either. It’s true I waited inside while they did the repairs but I came to the front door whenever she needed something. I don't see why I should have to babysit her.
3rd time: The most recent denial of entry claim revolves around a dispute of how and when the mold repair should be done. Even though I disagreed how she was handling the repair, I repeatedly told her I would allow her entry and not stop her from making the repair even though I think it would create a potential health hazard. She gave me notice on 1/5 that she was planning on entering sometime between 1/6-1/8 between normal business hours of 9am-5pm. She showed up at 4:45pm without her handyman. She came in and pulled off the mushroom off the ceiling. She started yelling and screaming so loudly that my neighbor called the cops on her. I told the police officer that I would allow her entry and would let her make the repair even though I thought it would create a potential health hazard. When the cops were there, she came inside and took pictures. The cops told her to wait outside until her handyman came. She ended up leaving and never came back. She is now claiming that she called the cops rather than my neighbor. She also said we are refusing to let her do the repair and that this is a breach of the lease and gives her the right to evict us. I don’t think giving my opinion about how the repair should be handled constitutes denial of entry. I feel like the real reason she threatened to terminate our lease she because she found out the day before about the code enforcement complaint.
She is making my life a living hell. She won't stop texting me long ass crazy messages. I am also afraid to leave my dogs alone because she seems to think that giving notice means she can come over at any time, even if it is outside the time frame she gives notice for. Any advice would be much appreciated!
Submitted January 08, 2017 at 09:11AM by balancemysheet http://ift.tt/2ipJSWz legaladvice
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