Reduced Security and no receipt
Hello, My husband and I recently moved out of 1 bedroom after our lease was up because our landlord refused to negotiate our rent and refused to investigate what is a potentially very serious safety issue. (We discovered a live gas line connected to our bedroom light fixture that was not properly capped.) We gave…
Hello,
My husband and I recently moved out of 1 bedroom after our lease was up because our landlord refused to negotiate our rent and refused to investigate what is a potentially very serious safety issue. (We discovered a live gas line connected to our bedroom light fixture that was not properly capped.)
We gave our notice at the end of September and paid through the end of October, despite moving out in early October. We did quite a bit of minor work on the place during our 12 months there and left the place spotless. The one potential issue was having done some painting without permission. Previous tenants had painted both the kitchen and bathroom bright colors so we didn’t think it would be a problem. Plus, the quality of the walls was poor enough that the idea of being charged to fix them seemed out of the question. Adding to this, our landlord was in our apartment at least half a dozen times and never commented on the paint. It was a very light beige which was not noticeable different than the original off-white.
After we moved out we tried repeated to contact our landlord via phone and email to ask about our security and any potential damages. We did not hear back until last week, Dec. 11, two full months after we moved out!
We finally got the check back and our landlord took out $800 from our security to repaint the walls that we painted. It is suspect to me that it would cost so much to paint a third of the 560 sq. ft apartment. Plus, she has yet to provide us with any documentation or receipts.
Here are my questions:
– What are our rights if she does not provide proper documentation on repairs?
– Are there laws on landlords having to repaint every x years? The apartment was not painted when we moved in and I wonder when it was last painted. Is there any way to prove that the walls NEEDED to be repainted anyway and that therefore we should not be obligated to pay for it.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Once the other side of the story was told, this tenant disappeared.
I think the LL is owed an apology by the LL bashers on this forum.
I agree, I recently paid 450 to have my living room and kitchen painted. 2 guys, supplies, prep, spackling, 2 coats, moldings, clean-up. 800 does not seem so far out for an entire apartment.
The OP should have known better. A renter cannot go as far as paint the apartment without LL permision.
Also, I may alone in this, but I don’t think $800 is neccesarily too much to paint an apartment. A good job can take a lot of prep time, especially if there are details (moldings etc.)
Hi, I am no troll, my name is Epelbaum, and I live in PS (and have a child in school in CG). In the case with which I am familiar, the gas company already inspected the apartment and found everything fine. I suppose the tenant can still complain about being charged for the repainting (if indeed it is the same tenant), although my friend’s tenant did paint without permission and then never took responsibility for restoring it. By the way, I have posted on here before, but for some reason I could not find my old username or pw. I posted in summer of 2008 with questions about bathroom renovations, their cost, etc. (and got some really helpful replies). Since I could not find my old username or pw I created the new one jenepel.
Maly, YOU say “This cannot be the same tenant”.
But it’s interesting that since jenepel posted what seems to be the other side of the story, the OP has suspiciously disappeared.
I think it’s a waste of time to continue with this thread until the OP confirms or denies jenepel’s claim.
“How does one “discover” a live gas line?”
I’ll answer that one:
Gas overhead fixtures were turned on by the use of a thumbscrew type thing on the wall. I bought a four family in ps that had live uncapped gas lines. We discovered it during a walkthrough when my contractor turned one of them to demonstrate to the real estate agent how they use to work and gas started to come out of the uncapped ceiling fixture that had had an electric fixture attached to it. One of the first things we did was to run new gas risers to every unit and disconnect the old line.
As for the 800 clams – this tenant should take the ll to small claims and be prepared to attempt to prove that the gas line is open, workable and uncapped. You have nothing to lose and at least 800 to gain. Sue for 800 + the cost of moving + the cost of any rental fee you paid either for the first or the second apartment, as it sounds as though you would not have chosen to move twice. Be prepared to settle for 800.
This cannot be the same tenant, as the original poster said the walls were painted in bright colors, not white, when she moved in. Or maybe her friend did not mention it, or maybe Jenepel is a troll enjoying an opportunity to muddy the waters.
In any case, the best way to address landlord issues is to go to the courthouse and request some help. There are people who can assist with relevant advice. I still highly recommend to check your landlord’s lawsuit history, since the most accurate indicator of future behavior is past behavior.
So why isn’t the OP admitting or denying that she is the tenant described by jenepel?
Just goes to show there are two sides to every story.
of course jenepel just got here so for all we know she could be the ll. If you look at the OP’s profile she did in fact ask a question about this gas issue back in Sept. Then another about getting out of her lease.