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Aug 29, 2003 I am not sure how much you are supposed to take from a landlord but it seems to me that a renter has some sort of rights, don't they? Last year we had new landlords move above us and since then our lives have been torn upside down. I'm at the end of my rope and looking into the things that I can do to protect myself and receive some sort of abatement of rent. Our previous landlord was a quiet guy. Our peace and quiet was never disturbed, in fact you hardly knew anyone was up there. Then everything went downhill from there as new younger landlords entered bringing in parties, horrible loud booming music, and a "we don't really care what you think" attitude. I tried to get along with them but that wasn't possible. Get woken up every morning at 5am with a motorcycle started, then parties upstairs until 2am with drunken noisy friends leaving and shouting and peeing outside. Next we had the wonderful fortune of requesting the refrigerator be replaced because it drips water...one year later we still have the same fridge. Since the beginning of July we haven't had access to the backyard...the landlord is beginning to rennovate...which took away our ability to play badmitton, croquet, boche ball, have company over for dinner outside, sitting out looking at the stars in the late evening, or just simply reading a book in the sun. Instead we have received piles of gravel, dirt, the grass torn out, all of us suffering from bronchial coughs due to the floating dust, dirt, and debris, and noise from 8am to 8pm, every single day including the weekend. This project won't even be finished until October. Privacy, quiet, and the ability to enjoy our part of the property has all gone out the window. I ask you, does that sound right? We have requested to have an abatement of rent. Why pay for full use of the property when we are most certainly not being allowed to use it. It isn't a choice to not use the yard, it's not our control nor is it due to weather, we are wanting to use the backyard. Part of why we are here is because of the yard, I have a son and he has missed out on playing back there with friends, having camp outs in a tent, or just balming around. The amount we already pay has always been more than we were able to afford, but when you have everything in your life set up around where you live, it makes the prospect of moving crazy! There is school, afterschool sports and activities, jobs, family, friends both ours and our sons, and of course you know how to get everywhere. It was financially not going to happen to move any earlier...my car was on the fritz forever and until tax money came back there was nothing else we could spend money on. We feel we are at the point where we can't take much more of this. Several attempts to request a reduction in rent have been made by us to no response from our own landlords, now they avoid us and dont' say a word. That doesn't seem very professional to me. Ethically I would think a landlord should come to us and negotiate a better more reasonable rate considering our comfort and enjoyment has been screwed with. It is supposed to be a landlord's job to make sure the tenant is living comfortably and that is something they have simply never done. I do believe we have rights, we do pay to live where we are, we have never made excessive noise or done anything they have done. We came to expect a level of comfort the year before they moved in, why is it we have to sacrifice everything so they can act like immature people? With school coming up and cold weather fast approaching, now we have to consider moving as our only alternative. Basically we feel we have to move or continue to be subjected to this ridiculousness of our landlords. Shouldn't there be something that we can do? I guess anyone can be a landlord these days, even people without personal or business related ethics. Trust me, I know two. ------------ About the author: Nancy Jackson is a full time author with works in Twilight Times, Anotherealm, Lost Souls, and various anthologies including Labor Pool Horror Tales, Broken Mirrors, and the Romancing the Soul series. Email Nancy Jackson: coryann93@yahoo.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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