Landlord Rules

By Melody

I am renting a trailer on a private lot, it was a total disaster and took me a year to clean the yard and trailer up. I am on Social Security and can’t afford to just pick up and move. I should not have to I have never been late paying my rent and have been here for a year and a half.

The roof has major leaks and so far nothing has been fixed he says next year–its here 2013. I don’t want to start a war with this man I just want a place thats not mold infested which this is already because he won’t fix the roof. The only reason I’m here is because I have dogs and he knew this an agreed to this when I got here from Florida. I’m clean and have only improved his property.

Now he is movine junk items on my property that I’m renting, his yard is literally a junk yard and I can’t live like that and should not have to, I pay for this trailer and the lot it sits on, I maintain it, mow it.

 In the back of my lot is two big old dump trucks full of garbage rotted garbage and junk and I have seen rats coming and going out of it.

  I’ve asked him to remove them from my yard and he just ignores me, I don’t want to get thrown out either. What are my rights here I just want to live in peace and have a clean yard not full of the landlords junk. He snuck over here at 5 am this morning and snuck in my yard and dropped off a roof of a gazeebo.

 Whats next, please advise me of my rights I just want to be left in peace and like i said my issue is not about not paying my rent its about this man using my yard as a dump off site.

I have no steps to go out the back door of this trailer and the porch on the front is all rotten and I’m scared I’m going to fall through them at some point. I don’t have the money to rebuild this mans property when I brought up the roof in writing a few times it got back to me he was going to evict me. This is just wrong, I should have some protection of being evicted because this landlord is a slum lord. I should not be made to move but he should be made to fix this dump. He knows I’m clean and I take care of the place. I even put a $700.00 fence up in the front yard so my dogs could have some freedom. I have around $1,500.00 into this place and even had to buy a new fridge that cost me $700.00 this is plus the 1500.00 . I just want to live in peace and not have to deal with all this.

Thank you,

Melody S. Edwards

Landlord Rules…

By Mary

My land lord requires that if you want to move something out of the apartment you book a freight elevator. I sold a sofa and tried to book the elevator. My landlord has refused to grant permission unless I come up with a notarized letter saying I am will be responsible for the rent for the remainder of the lease. Now I have never once failed to pay my rent or even paid it late! And all I am disposing of is a couch. My landlord rules seem very unfair.  Is this legal, can a landlord prevent you from getting rid of something you own or require you to get a legal note before you can do it? This sounds utterly ridiculous to me.

Dr Landlord April 22nd, 2009 7:06 pm

Actually what is happening here is very common for landlords that have failed to get tenants to sign all paperwork. Most likely when you signed the lease agreement the landlord or lease agent forgot to have you sign a specific addedum, such as the form mentioned in your blog question. If you are planning on staying through the remaining lease, the additional form isn’t a big deal and won’t change anything if you sign it. However, if for some reason you break your lease early for any reason including loss of employment or a catostrophic accident; you would still be held to the full lease term. Otherwise, you may have some type of an out such as one month penalty. Your landlord knows you need something from him, so he is trying to get you to sign an addendum before he complies. Is it legal for your landlord to force you to sign the paper? There’s is no law that prevents him from trying to get you to sign the new addendum, however he cannot legally require you to sign it. If he is still being weird or pushy I would suggest filing a complaint with the RPA, or you could also create a paper trail by sending a certified letter to the landlord demanding that he provide you access within a reasonable time-frame such as 3 days from acceptance of the letter. What your landlord is doing is not illegal, however, it is extremely unethical. He can’t refuse access to you for not signing his new addendum. You could actually claim that your landlord is in breach of agreement by not booking the freight elevator as outlined in the lease.

Becky April 23rd, 2009 6:36 am

Man! That landlord of your sounds like a weasel. I’d file a complaint with the RPA just to prove a point. I had a landlord like this that was extremely hostile towards me. At first I was scared to file a formal landlord complaint, but then after I did– its like I’m renter from a completely different guy. He is very nice and we have an understanding with each other. Even if you are planning to stay through the end of your lease, I would still not sign the paper. What a joke. If you don’t do the complaint, you should call him up and ask him what the form has to do with anything. Then ask him if he is refusing to book the freight elevator as outlined in the lease. I bet that would get him to schedule it. He won’t admit to refusing to schedule the freight elevator.

BigBen April 23rd, 2009 5:01 pm

I’d just take the thing down the non-freight elevator. Your landlord is not working with him, so take it down the regular elevator. What a slumlord!