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My GF and I have lived in the same place for 4 years. My 7yo son lives here with us now.

Our rent has always been paid, we've never had a complaint about us, we're generally VERY good and quiet tenents.

However, over the last few months, especially due to my young son now living with us, some of the repair issues concerning this rather old duplex can simply not be ignored. Issues such as secure windows, mold growing in the ceiling, a damaged shed in the back, and doors (front and back) that are literally falling apart. Also, there are issues such as an improperly installed water heater and dangerous electrical outlets.

The rent here was good for a long time (especially with me having to pay my Ex a sizable sum of child support...that I no longer pay due to custody) and we've been halfway looking for a new place to live at the same time as we've been taking stock of these repair jobs trying to get the management to come out and take care of the place.

Two months ago we got rather fed up. I made up a laundry list of repair work that needed to be done and turned it into the rental office. Last month I asked what had become of it...they said they were too busy over the last month. Its been two months now and the GF and I lost our patience. We contacted the city to have an inspector come out and look at our Duplex that we rent.

The inspector found many MORE issues wrong with the place, and informed us of our tenents rights and a faster way to handle our Lessors(going to court and having our rent put in escrow). Meanwhile, she would send in her findings to the rental office and inform them that they needed to attend to the matters she notified them of. She was here at 10am this morning.

At 5:30, after the rental office was closed, my rental office manager knocked on my front door and when I answered he handed me an envelope.

Dated June 29th (today)

"We regret to inform you that the owner of 1217-B Gunn Hall Drive has chosen not to extend the lease ending on June 30th, 2010 for another year. Please see this as your thirty day notice to vacate the property. This is the formal notice of the owners intent not to renew your lease at the end of the specified term. The property must be vacated by July 30th, 2010.

If you have any questions please contact XXXXXXX xXXXXX at (XXX)XXX-XXXX.

Sincerely,

*illegible scribble*
Authorized Agent"


So, basically, the city inspector inspected the place, notified the rental office of their infractions, they then promptly decided to put a well paying and behaved FAMILY on the street after 4 years of honorable tenency. (but the drug dealers next door are still there)

I'm amazed. Some people have ZERO integrity.

Oh well, it seems that our plans to move are simply stepped up with a bit of urgency. Rent is due on the first, but since the letter cancels my lease and my lease agreement says nothing to help them out....I guess I get a month without having to pay rent here. I wont get my security deposit back but I didnt expect it anyway...you never get those back.

Oh well, I'm off to Yahoo to write a nice little "reveiw" about this business.

That really sucks, is your lease really up? If not you might be able to fight it since you've not violated the terms.

By the way, just re-iterating...

This is NOT an eviction, they're simply not renewing our lease.

I guess I should have waited for the lease to renew before complaining....that was a big screw-up on my part.

Have you seen Pacific Heights

Deadshane, you live in VB right?

Yes, I'm in the Beach.

Deadshane1 wrote:By the way, just re-iterating...

This is NOT an eviction, they're simply not renewing our lease.

I guess I should have waited for the lease to renew before complaining....that was a big screw-up on my part.

Yeah but it sounds like a good time to get out.

A buddy of mine has been a great tenant, paid his rent etc but is about to be tossed because the landlord is in foreclosure (despite the rent money).

Deadshane1 wrote:Yes, I'm in the Beach.

You live off of lynnhaven blvd? Close to the car dealership over there?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm not trying to be a stalker, but there's a rental agency that owns a lot of houses out that way and I was hired to do some work there once.

The place had inspections coming up and the agency was horrible. Instead of properly replacing bad siding we just glazed over it with caulk. In fact, a lot of the property needed new doors due to rusting, but they just made us paint over it.

I mean, this place was disgustingly disserviced.

A total pain in the a$$, but probably for the best. Mold can really F-up your lungs, especially for young kids. I hope you find a better place without all the issues.

I wont get my security deposit back but I didnt expect it anyway...you never get those back

What do you mean by this? Surely if you were well behaved and looked after the place they have to give it back? I always got my deposits back after moving out of places at uni (admittedly after just a year) because we scrubbed the place down and made sure it was all in working order.

Hah!

You have obviously never rented.

@Deadshane, you should just cut your losses, keep the month's rent and move.

Since the agency are such scum they probably wouldn't do the fixes needed even if you convinced them to let you stay.

Dead animal in the wall cavity on the day you leave.

Also capture and introduce roaches.

The trick to getting security deposits back is to be really thorough:

Sign off an inventory when you move in.
Take pictures of the place on the first day, ideally with someone from the agency there.
report all problems immediately in writing, keeping a copy for yourself.
Ask the agency for permission for anything, putting up posters, painting etc....

I have rented professionally over about 7 years and have never once failed to get my deposit back.

It's too late for DeadShane. He has been there four years without complaining. Now he has made his first complaint they are kicking him out.

I'm not surprised, tbh. Real estate is not exactly a hotbed of integrity. There are some really shonky operators out there - and even then, from what I hear, the building codes over there leave a bit to be desired.

Sucks to be you, though, dude.

Soup and a roll wrote:

I wont get my security deposit back but I didnt expect it anyway...you never get those back

What do you mean by this? Surely if you were well behaved and looked after the place they have to give it back? I always got my deposits back after moving out of places at uni (admittedly after just a year) because we scrubbed the place down and made sure it was all in working order.

Ive gotten about half of my security deposits back over the 10 years I rented. As far as I could tell it is entirely dependent on the owner, as I left all the apartments in good condition. Wear and tear is always excepted in these contracts, but I've found that if a particular owner likes to take deposits, they'll find some reason to take them.

Sucks to be you, man. Good luck finding a new and better place.

Similar thing happened to a friend of mine who lives in a basement apartment. She's been living there for about a year now and it has flooded twice. The first time she told the owner, who came a week later and dropped off a dehumidifier.

She asked for a tarp to be put over the entrance to her house, to keep the water from pooling at the door and seeping through the cracks, but her landlord didn't reply.

Just a few days ago it flooded again. The owner won't respond to her phone calls. She spent half the day bailing out water.

Better luck next time, Deadshane. You're going to need it.

This all sounds about right for a letting agent, they are happy enough to take your money and remind you of your obligations but when it comes to them keeping up their end of the bargain they rarely look after their property unless they intend to increase the rent.
Whilst it is tempting to leave the place in a mess or arrange a few nasty suprises, the reality of it is that this could cause you unneccesary grief in the future and will only take them a few days max to sort out. Your best bet is to leave the place clean and tidy with all bills paid up. If you are worried about getting your security deposit back then withold the last months rent and ask them to prove the state of the property was any better than when you vacate it. For the amount of money involved most agencies will let it go as it's not worth going to court over. It's up to you what's worth more, a clean break or the money.
Definately leave a review about the company, if nothing else it will warn anyone else who may be considerind renting with them. Also inform the building inspector of what has happended, they will probably be able to do nothing to help you, but they will certainly take a dim view of the company and this can make life hard for them.
The best thing to do is try and see this as a new start for you and the family, moving can be a hassle especialy if you have children to think about, but it is also a great opportunity to have a good clear out and re-organise.
To echo the advice given above, it is deffinately worth taking photos when you move in, some agencies will have a room by room check list of what is there, make sure any blemishes or obvious defects are noted and signed by the agent and that you retain a copy of the list.
Good luck in the search for a new home mate.

Sorry to hear that Deadshane1, but to be abrupt the answer is simple, those drug dealers don't cause them any problems, you however by complaining are causing them issues so they want you out to avoid the hassle, it really sucks.

I wish you the best in getting this sorted though I'm not sure there's anything you can do

Yea that really does suck a big wet one. Land lords can be real ass hats. Back when I was younger, my wife and I lived in a trailer park that had the biggest Aholes for land lords. Our lot had a HUGE black walnut tree that would just rain walnuts down for over a month or so every year, and we just couldnt sleep during that time. I would complain about it ALOT and they would always say yea we will send someone out, they never did, ever. Infact it was so much walnuts, evey year (I lived there for 4 years as well, how odd) my dad would come over and we would fill his pick up 2 times FULL to get the walnuts out of my lot. And its a trailer park folks, the lots are TINY.

So the last year I lived there, I had my buddy come over, and we loaded up his truck, and took all the walnuts to the leasing office and dumped the truck load on their front door. If you know anything about black walnuts, they fill the air with a rather nasty peppery smell, AND when they start to rot, they seep this black goop that stains everything. It made me feel better doing that, they were so pissed off. I told them since the park is theirs, and they own the lot I rented, I thought they would like to have their half of the walnuts it dumped on me.

All I can say though, is good luck on the new place man

Wow, looks like I'm going to court after all.

Just talked to the Code Enforcement agent that came out yesterday morning.

It turns out her protocol is:

Get called by complaintant, arrange for inspection.

Morning before inspection CONTACT LANDLORD.

Arrive at home and conduct inspection.

Assess inspection and persue matters if necessary.



So, what we have here is an inspector letting the landlord know that she's coming out to inspect the home at the request of the tenants.

Next we have the landlord, not evicting, simply not renewing our lease....ON THE SAME DAY.

The letter is dated yesterday and was hand delivered, not mailed (I still have the envelope), before our next years lease takes effect.

What's more, the landlord is prohibited from retaliating on our request to have the Code Inspector come out. This is what our Code inspector told us when we talked to her today.

I wonder what a judge will think. Not a single problem with us over 4 years, then all of a sudden, the same day we have a Code inspector come out to survey the duplex, we're told that the lease will not be renewed? We're told this by hand written letter that was rushed to us on the same day before our lease is renewed. (it would've renewed before snail-mail could've gotten to us)

Even if the Landlords can come up with some cockeyed reason why the lease is not to be renewed...I think a judge will see this as obvious retaliation to calling out an inspector.

F it. I'm going to court....if nothing else but to get back at "the man".

Good on you man. If they haven't learned responsibility by now, I say teach it to them the painful way.

Deadshane1 wrote:Wow, looks like I'm going to court after all.

Just talked to the Code Enforcement agent that came out yesterday morning.

It turns out her protocol is:

Get called by complaintant, arrange for inspection.

Morning before inspection CONTACT LANDLORD.

Arrive at home and conduct inspection.

Assess inspection and persue matters if necessary.



So, what we have here is an inspector letting the landlord know that she's coming out to inspect the home at the request of the tenants.

Next we have the landlord, not evicting, simply not renewing our lease....ON THE SAME DAY.

The letter is dated yesterday and was hand delivered, not mailed (I still have the envelope), before our next years lease takes effect.

What's more, the landlord is prohibited from retaliating on our request to have the Code Inspector come out. This is what our Code inspector told us when we talked to her today.

I wonder what a judge will think. Not a single problem with us over 4 years, then all of a sudden, the same day we have a Code inspector come out to survey the duplex, we're told that the lease will not be renewed? We're told this by hand written letter that was rushed to us on the same day before our lease is renewed. (it would've renewed before snail-mail could've gotten to us)

Even if the Landlords can come up with some cockeyed reason why the lease is not to be renewed...I think a judge will see this as obvious retaliation to calling out an inspector.

F it. I'm going to court....if nothing else but to get back at "the man".

Small Claims Court or real court? Small Claims I could see (what are your damages?). real Court costs lawyers. I don't think you want that.

I imagine Deadshane will be a witness and the Buildings Inspector will be the plaintiff.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I imagine Deadshane will be a witness and the Buildings Inspector will be the plaintiff.

Just talked to a Landlord/Tenant attorney.

He says, his words "You have a GREAT case."

Taking all applicable paperwork in to him on Friday.

@Frazzled, somebody has to stand up for the little guy. I'll pay fees if I have to, if nothing else to revenge back on the dishonest landlord. They could've simply handled the complaints I originally and rightfully had. Now, instead, they can pay court costs and essentially RENOVATE my place for me. F-em.

However, the attourney didnt mention anything about retaining him. He simply told me to drop off the paperwork. We'll see on Friday what happens.

From what I see the lease was not broken, and the landlord is completely within their rights not to renew unless there is specific language in the current lease that sets conditions for/against renewal.

As for rationale, if the rent was "so good", then the obvious answer is that they believe they can get considerably more for the apartment once they refurbish it, not to mention that the current tenants have failed to responsibly inform them of cumulative maintenance needs over the past 4 years.

If you sue, it's a slam-dunk win for the landlord, so I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.


BTW, I think it's pretty much a given that any lawyer will tell you that you've got "a great case", if only to get the business. Any convict who hired a lawyer will probably tell you the same thing, right up until the moment they were convicted. At that point, the lawyer was a lying piece of scum.

Still, if you've got the money to burn, go for it.

JohnHwangDD wrote: As for rationale, if the rent was "so good", then the obvious answer is that they believe they can get considerably more for the apartment once they refurbish it, not to mention that the current tenants have failed to responsibly inform them of cumulative maintenance needs over the past 4 years.

If you sue, it's a slam-dunk win for the landlord, so I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.


.

Still, if you've got the money to burn, go for it.

QFT

JohnHwangDD wrote:From what I see the lease was not broken, and the landlord is completely within their rights not to renew unless there is specific language in the current lease that sets conditions for/against renewal.

As for rationale, if the rent was "so good", then the obvious answer is that they believe they can get considerably more for the apartment once they refurbish it, not to mention that the current tenants have failed to responsibly inform them of cumulative maintenance needs over the past 4 years.

If you sue, it's a slam-dunk win for the landlord, so I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.


BTW, I think it's pretty much a given that any lawyer will tell you that you've got "a great case", if only to get the business. Any convict who hired a lawyer will probably tell you the same thing, right up until the moment they were convicted. At that point, the lawyer was a lying piece of scum.

Still, if you've got the money to burn, go for it.

So the fact that the landlord is breaking the law means nothing? Retaliation for calling State Code Inspector= AGAINST THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA.

If they're not getting rid of us as retaliation, why? When we've been good tenents for 4 years. And why would they type up the letter of "non-renewal" the same day as the code inspector informed them that she'd be coming out to inspect? I think the judge will see differently than you do.


You're also assuming that we've not contacted the landlords about repair work over the last 4 years, you're mistaken. Its like pulling teeth to get them out here, we've tried, and ive got documentation to that effect.

By the way, I'm not suing. I'm bringing the breaking of a law to the attention of the State. At least thats my understanding at this point. My position may change after my conference with the attourney on Friday.

Deadshane1 wrote:

JohnHwangDD wrote:From what I see the lease was not broken, and the landlord is completely within their rights not to renew unless there is specific language in the current lease that sets conditions for/against renewal.

As for rationale, if the rent was "so good", then the obvious answer is that they believe they can get considerably more for the apartment once they refurbish it, not to mention that the current tenants have failed to responsibly inform them of cumulative maintenance needs over the past 4 years.

If you sue, it's a slam-dunk win for the landlord, so I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.


BTW, I think it's pretty much a given that any lawyer will tell you that you've got "a great case", if only to get the business. Any convict who hired a lawyer will probably tell you the same thing, right up until the moment they were convicted. At that point, the lawyer was a lying piece of scum.

Still, if you've got the money to burn, go for it.

So the fact that the landlord is breaking the law means nothing? Retaliation for calling State Code Inspector= AGAINST THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA.

If they're not getting rid of us as retaliation, why? When we've been good tenents for 4 years. And why would they type up the letter of "non-renewal" the same day as the code inspector informed them that she'd be coming out to inspect? I think the judge will see differently than you do.


You're also assuming that we've not contacted the landlords about repair work over the last 4 years, you're mistaken. Its like pulling teeth to get them out here, we've tried, and ive got documentation to that effect.

By the way, I'm not suing. I'm bringing the breaking of a law to the attention of the State. At least thats my understanding at this point. My position may change after my conference with the attourney on Friday.

I believe landlords have to make repairs within 30 days of notice, at least in Arizona, so he would also be breaking the law there

Here is an exerpt form the The Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act http://www.hud.gov/utilities/intercept.cfm?http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+55-248.2

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� 55-248.13. Landlord to maintain fit premises.

A. The landlord shall:

1. Comply with the requirements of applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety;

2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition;

3. Keep all common areas shared by two or more dwelling units of the premises in a clean and structurally safe condition;

4. Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him;

5. Maintain the premises in such a condition as to prevent the accumulation of moisture and the growth of mold, and to promptly respond to any notices from a tenant as provided in subdivision A 10 of � 55-248.16;

6. Provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences, in common areas, for the collection, storage, and removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste incidental to the occupancy of two or more dwelling units and arrange for the removal of same; and

7. Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times and reasonable air conditioning if provided and heat in season except where the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat, air conditioning or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant or supplied by a direct public utility connection.

B. The landlord shall perform the duties imposed by subsection A in accordance with law; however, the landlord shall only be liable for the tenant's actual damages proximately caused by the landlord's failure to exercise ordinary care.

C. If the duty imposed by subdivision 1 of subsection A is greater than any duty imposed by any other subdivision of that subsection, the landlord's duty shall be determined by reference to subdivision 1 of subsection A.

D. The landlord and tenant may agree in writing that the tenant perform the landlord's duties specified in subdivisions 3, 6, and 7 of subsection A and also specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations and remodeling, but only if the transaction is entered into in good faith and not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord, and if the agreement does not diminish or affect the obligation of the landlord to other tenants in the premises.

by your description hes not fulfilling his duties as a landlord.