So, I have this landlord. He's probably pushing 90 years old, if not past it. He is a horrible disgrace to landlords everywhere, and is the epitome of the college slum lord. This entire situation began last year.
My boyfriend, Chris, and I decided to move in together last year. We began the apartment search and ended up a narrowing it down to a few apartments. There was one really "nice" apartment but it was quite a ways away from campus, which lets be honest makes it tough to go to class, especially in New England winters. The other wasn't as far, but wasn't very nice. The area it was in was sketchy and the apartment itself was oddly laid out with only 1/2 a kitchen. The last option, the one we chose, was close to campus, less than a block, included a washer and dryer, water paid for, and a dish washer. My only issue was the landlord.
I had called this man multiple times. He never remembered who I was. I met him multiple times and he still acted like I was a new person every time, while he would remember my boyfriends name and the conversations they had. He kept changing the rent, one day it would be $800 the next $1000. He would forget appointments and keys. Then during tours he would go into long winded explanations about how I am useless unless I get a PhD. I wasn't okay with him, I didn't want a senile old man as my landlord, because I didn't think anything would get done. Then on top of everything else, he would make comments about past and current tenants. He would talk trash about them, and tell us stories, that really didn't need to be told.
I didn't have a good feeling about him, but it was the best offer. Then over the summer, while I am in Oklahoma, Chris was living in the apartment. Shortly after moving in, I start hearing about the tile falling off in the shower, and all the other issue that can potentially occur with any home and how Chris is trying to get our landlord to fix it.
I move into the apartment in August. I unpack some, but soon school hits, and neither of us have any time. We have boxes of clothes and robot parts strewn through out the house, and dishes in the sink. A month or two in the toilet plunger breaks (it was being held together by a zip tie, which is what broke). Chris and I try to fix it, but it requires a ball plunger, which we couldn't find at Lowe's or Home Depot. So we ask our landlord to provide us with the plunger and repair the shower. He goes yeah yeah, I'll get it done.
The next day we have the materials to fix the toilet and Chris fixes it with the same materials that were originally in the toilet. However the handle is occasionally difficult to push down.
So as the weeks progress our landlord begins showing the apartment more and more. Sometimes with out giving us 24 hours notice, even though he swears he left a message for Chris. We graciously let him in regardless if we are home but we aren't always home. Then this past weekend Chris gets phone call after phone call from him asking us where we are, and why we aren't at our apartment to let him in. He had told us he would be showing the apartment at 2:30 and 3:30, but never told us we needed to be there. Turns out the man lost both sets of keys he has to our apartment so he expects us to be there. When we arrive he begins to tear into Chris for not being here to let them in, and how he didn't fix the toilet correctly. Chris tries to explain that he fixed it in the same manner it was when we moved in.
Regardless they begin yelling at each other, in front of potential renters. I stand there in awe of how disrespectful our landlord is being, especially in front of potential tenants. The fight ends with our landlord storming off, and Chris and I go to our apartment. Next thing I know our landlord is coming into our apartment, no knock nothing. Just enters our apartment, where Chris and I are making lunch.
He begins to yell at Chris again for the toilet, and not being here, and the mattress we have stored in the back entrance. It's insane, I am just standing there like what in the world. Finally the fight dies down some, and Ed keeps going on about getting a plumber out here to "fix the toilet". Finally when I have the chance to get a word in, I ask him, "If you're going to have someone fix the plunger in a toilet, cause you also have someone fix the tiles in the shower because your backboard is going to rot out pretty soon if you don't" he ignores me, and begins berating us for having a "mess". He goes on and on about how our table is going to attract mice (it's filled with empty grocery bags cause we had gone shopping the night before). He altogether begins to insult us, and our housing keeping. Again he finally takes a break, and I ask about the tiles. Again he goes off on a tirade about everything he's already said. Again he ends, and I ask him again. This time he stares at me like I hadn't been there the whole time and had just popped into the room by magic and growls "What is it you want". I explain to him again, and he disappears into the bathroom.
I hear him mumbling in the bathroom, but really have no desire to be anywhere near the wretched old man. He eventually comes out and says "only three of the tiles are bad, I'll just have my plumber come in and fix it". I stand there confused for a second, a plumber?? to fix tiles? Okay what ever. But I try to tell him there's more than three tiles, that at least four are halfway off the wall. He then calls me into the bathroom to "show" me how to see if tiles secure. He says "see you just knock on it, see it's fine". I try to tell him that there's at least 12 tiles that are coming off or loose enough to allow water behind them. And his response "on they just need a little caulk. I try to tell him you can't just caulk a tile onto the wall, that it needs some sort of backing. Then he begins to yell at me.
I am standing there, well over his head, staring down at this ugly old man scream at me "now listen here miss I have been doing this since before you were born, I think I know how the damn shower needs to be fixed, and if I say it only needs some caulk then it only needs some caulk"...that's when I lose it. I hiss at him "well listen here mister I've been around rentals for the past ten years and I've seen how to fix a shower, and it's not by throwing some caulk onto it. I mean if you want to half ass it, that's your problem, it's not my building that's going to be shut down by the health department or become structurally unsound. Do what you want". I then walk out of the bathroom and he scurries after me like a little mouse. Then gets in my face again and tells me "You miss are not lady like, you need to learn how to act, because you have an attitude on you". I look him dead in the eyes and say "I have an attitude, you're the one who barges into our house and tells us how to live. You don't think anything we do is good enough, but you're fine with hiring a professional to fix something to a subpar condition. Get out. Get out of my house now." He then tries to pull landlord lawyer crap on me. (oh yeah did I mention this jerks a lawyer).
He screams at me "I am giving at tour at 3:30 I can be here if I want" and I tell him " I don't see anyone with you, and you aren't giving a tour to yourself, so get out of my house until you have them with you. You are not welcome here leave now."
After this whole fiasco he leaves a note on Chris' car complaining about the water bill, and then listing his grievances against us. Telling us we need to clean, and move the mattress, among other things. I admit, we need to move the mattress which I did tonight, but frankly he doesn't have the right to tell us to clean. Our contract state we must keep it "clean and sanitary" there's nothing unsanitary, we don't have bugs or mice. The only place that isn't sanitary is the shower, because the backboard is molding. Other than that we have boxes, and clothes on the floor, something normal for two sleep deprived college students.
Through out this experience I have lost the ounce of respect I had for the man. I fully intend on complying with his "wish list" however I also intend on making it impossible for him to rent this apartment to anyone. I have contacted everyone in my sorority and plan of coming up with more options to spread the word not to rent from this man. I also intend to do more dishes, laundry, take more showers, brush my teeth more often, drink more water and pee a lot. See how much I can affect that water bill. He only cares about money, he's an old Scrooge, frankly I wouldn't be surprised if he went around saying "baaa humbug" to every cheery thing in site.
Other than that I have been reading up on Massachusetts laws in regards to land lord and tenants. He's a lawyer, and I have a feeling he'll eventually try to use some mumbo jumbo to scare us. And when that happens I have every intent of standing there, putting him in his place, asking him to leave if he isn't there to assess the apartment, show the apartment, or fix the apartment, and then telling him is he doesn't I will be contacting the authorities because of harassment.
Other than that, I've locked every single one of the doors, meaning he can't enter unless we let him in, since the guy lost all the keys to our apartment. Good luck showing a place you can't get into!
He should just retire, because he has no soul, and is a miserable excuse of a landlord.
