The Internet is FINALLY working in our home.
What a CRAZY first week in our new house it's been.
I have A MILLION posts that I have started and will be finishing up the rest of the week about the home, the move and Hunter turning NINE months.
Tonight, however is a venting post.
Really, I am about to VENT MAJOR so if you don't care to listen, stop now.
(another post will be up tomorrow for you to enjoy)
Basically it comes down to having the WORST experience with our previous apartment.
Let me start by saying we really didn't have many problems until recently.
We felt so blessed to be in such a BEAUTIFUL apartment in a great neighborhood.
We paid a great price and we really loved our first little place together and know it was MUCH nicer than 99% of basement apartments.
HOWEVER... there were a few things I was SO fed up with that finding a home could not have come at a better time (for sanity reasons, I am sure it saved Kevin big bucks in therapy).
-The yard was NOT kept up. It always looked so trashy. Kevin sent a text message once saying he would mow it and they could take $50 off rent... someone came down and mowed, stopped half way and then the lawn mower sat in the middle of the half mowed grass for two weeks!
-We could NOT control our heat. The landlords had the thermostat covered and locked so only they could control it. Not OK when it's FREEZING cold, especially with a new baby. We would ask for it to be turned up and the answer was to close the vents in all rooms except the bedrooms. So then of course ALL of the other rooms were freezing! It didn't help that the door wasn't sealed/fit properly leaving a huge open area that caused a terrible draft.
(My dad even put painters tape over it when he stayed for a night because it was letting in so much cold air)
-THEY WERE SO LOUD. Kevin has slept with ear plugs our ENTIRE marriage. Mainly because of the noise. The one bedroom wasn't too terrible and I don't think we ever had to talk to them.. this last year and a half however, AWFUL!
Basically it got louder because it went from 3 people to 7 (that's a good story) living upstairs including a new baby.
No matter how quiet they "tried" to be I had to send a message at least once a week telling them to be quiet. The worst was late at night or during Hunter's nap.
Now, I know some of you may be thinking quiet during naps?! I am not that way. I vacuum and go about my day when Hunter is napping just fine. The problem I have is when you are vacuuming and stomping around like giant elephants on your hardwood floor right above my sons crib!
Finally (and I promise my venting rage is almost over), the last straw that has really made my BLOOD BOIL is the moving out experience we had this last week.
Now for those of you who don't know, our lease was month to month because we knew we wanted to buy a home this year. Wasn't a problem for the first few months and then I started to sense it was getting weird. I told Kevin I felt they wanted us out. He reminded me we were on a month to month contract and they could kick us out any time. Still I had a feeling. We came home from a lovely Christmas in Sacramento to a note taped to our door informing us our rent was being raised $100!
Kevin and I both felt the new renting price was more reason to get into a home sooner.
That weekend we found our home.
We put in an offer back on January 6th or 7th, it was excepted and our home was already underway of being built. We were thrilled.
On March 1st we took our 30 day notice to the landlords.
Turns out they had a Termination of Lease letter prepared for us.
We would have been homeless on March 31st if we hadn't felt inspired to find a home that weekend.
(Seriously I was in tears when I saw that letter. Tears as I was reassured we were buying a home at the right time, in the right neighborhood and for the right reason.
PROOF EVERYTHING happens for a reason).
So this "checking out" process has been a joke.
We planned to get some of our deposit back (minus carpet cleaning) and leave on good terms.
No big deal.
WRONG (and in all fairness we were warned by previous renters)
The landlords are moving some of their children into the basement apartment (that's why they wanted us out) and are a little more than anxious to get them in there.
They asked us if they could go in and do a checkout; list what we needed to fix, paint and clean.
We gave them permission to do so.
They didn't tell us however that they were having the carpets cleaned that day (BREACH OF CONTRACT)
They also had some RIDICULOUS fix it items on their lists.
A broken cabinet that I told him over a month ago he needed to fix
(which had already broken once and he repaired it no problem)
A hole in a door that was there BEFORE we moved in (it was painted over to prove it) and they wanted us to replace the ENTIRE door.
So when it came down to it, after carpet cleanings, we would have only gotten back $276 of our $500 deposit. Yes, that is still a lot of money however, we both had a feeling that even if we cleaned it immaculate and fixed things they would still find something wrong and would charge us.
For $276 folks... fix it yourself, clean it yourself and paint it!
Grr..
I honestly wish you could feel my rage right now.
Taken advantage of BIG TIME.
I honestly cannot believe how dishonest, hypocritical and unfair the landlords are being.
Sad that a fairly good experience ended so poorly.
The End.
I do apologize for my brief vent. I am not usually like this but my mama told me never to put up with dumb people taking advantage of you. I actually feel blessed I wasn't there when Kevin went to get this checkout list and spoke with them.
I would have had some VERY choice words.
My posts are usually so up beat and happy.
This was weird to write.
I'll be back to my normal Kyla tomorrow.
I promise.
Disclaimer: Our BREACHED lease did say that any conflicts or differences with the landlord/family should be discussed in private and not with neighbors or ward members as to not damage those relationships.
Has anyone else had problems with renting?
I can't be the only one!!
_________________
Goodnight Readers.
Hopefully my blood pressure goes down!
