Property Manager Problems

By Tenant

I am looking for any advice someone can give.  I am currently renting a home of which seems I have had nothing but problems since we’ve moved in as far as getting maintenance done in a timely manner but yet have been completly flexible with the property manager.  It is a private home that is managed by a real estate agent as the owner is active duty.  To start off the 1st day we moved in I was supposed to be able to pick up the keys at 9am on the move in day however got a call stating that the cleaners hadn’t had a chance to come in and clean yet and would I mind waiting for a few hours before I picked up the keys.  I said sure no problem, then found out when I got to the house that the refridgerator was never cleaned, cupboards, floors, baseboards, etc.  In fact the area on the lower part of the island turned the towel I was using BLACK.  I still needed to go through the house and actually clean it prior to moving in our belongings.  Then we didn’t have air conditioning of which I called and spoke with the property manager who said I needed to give it a few days to see if the temperature started changing as the system hadn’t been used for a while.  Giving them the benefit of the doubt I gave in and said ok as I am new to the area and was hoping they were telling me the truth..  However the air conditioner never did start to work so I called again and in the long run it ended up taking a month to get a NEW air conditioning unit put in to the house.  The next problem occured the following month when we had a really bad rain storm and our house started smelling extremely bad like sewer.  I called the property management office and was told that was normal for this area when there is a bad storm and if it happened again to call them back as we were not on a Septic system.  The next time it happened I called and spoke directly with our property manager who stated that the smell is normal and that after a storm it happens at her house as well and that there was nothing they could do.  The next problem was our heater (run through the same unit as the AC that was replaced a month after we moved in) of which didn’t work.  A day after that complaint (and living in 55 degree weather in my house while sick and 4 months pregnant) the company who installed the unit came to fix the problem with the heater and left without checking the system prior to leaving.  I tried to start the heater however didn’t work again.  I called back to the property manager and was told that she would call the company.  When she called back later that day I was told that the reason it didn’t work was because the new unit required propane of which we needed to get filled however was never told that when the new unit was put in.  (personally I feel that is the job of the property manager to inform us, not ours to chase down answers)  In order to get propane I had to call the local company of which couldn’t make any deliveries until the following week!!!  Once the heater started going it stopped and the fan continuously ran, cold!  I called AGAIN, they contacted the company who installed the unit who came out and had to replace ANOTHER part the FOLLOWING day.  The next problem which happened about a month ago, after another rain storm, was the sewer smell coming back and one of our toilets not flushing…  I called AGAIN, the owner who was in town came by to take a look and said he would make sure they got a plumber over to the house, 4 days later a plumber showed up.  The FINAL straw is after this past weekend, once yet another storm, I looked out the window after letting my dog run in the back yard and saw sewer coming up out of the ground and once AGAIN the smell (am now 6 months pregnant with visitors in my home as my husband is getting ready to deploy!).  I immediately called the property management after hours number and did not get a phone call back yesterday (which was Sunday) which I think is disgusting as we have sewer in our back yard and the smell in our house with guests!  It was embarrassing and sickening that we had to leave the home and could not entertain my husbands family prior to him leaving for Afghanistan for a year.  I called the property manager back the next day (Monday) and was told I was on her list to call.  I voiced my frustrations to her and told her we want out of our lease for multiple reasons and are covered under the military clause in the lease.  She stated that we still needed to give them 45 days notice or owed our rent through the next month of which I think is ridiculous..  I know I am obligated to pay rent however I am VERY appalled by all of the problems we have had in the 7 1/2 month stay at this house.  The property manager then stated that we did not complain about the sewer smell and I told her that was the MAIN reason/complaint for calling the other 3 times!  I am just so frustrated and tired of dealing with all of this plus now preparing for my husbands deployment.  I don’t feel we should be paying for rent when they aren’t doing their job to fix the problems the first time, it takes MULTIPLE MULTIPLE calls to rude people to get anything fixed!  Any advice?

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