Ive lived in a house with 4 other people off of a college campus for the past year or so. Signed a lease until june. Back then, I thought it would be a nice place to live.
The people are fine. The landlord and house, are not. The house is 200 years old, and is really starting to show. The bathrooms and kitchen are disgusting - I dont use them if I can avoid it. I keep my own room clean, but I cant force everyone else to clean up.
Anyway, the real problem is that the landlord is essentially a slumlord. We're in NY, and he's in seattle.
1. Our water comes from a well. The filter system broke, so w've all had to shower in well water and drink bottled water for the past couple of months. Being that he's in seattle, he tries to get us to call the contractors and do the work for him, and he will supposedly pay the bill - only problem is, he has a bad reputation for NOT paying contractors - probably why he hasnt been to this house in 10 years.
2. We've got rats in the basement and walls, and I hear one trying to chew its way through my floor.
3. The roof was leaking during the summer - the water would come through the edges, and run down between the 1st and 2nd floor....my entire floor was soaked. He paid for it to be professionally cleaned, but it was a major hassle to deal with mold growing in my room and a wet carpet for a week. He then told us that he would have the roof fixed, which was a week long of people banging on my roof while I tried to sleep and having roof dust and chips fall all over my room.
4. Without notifying us in any way, he decided to get MORE work done on the house - while we all still live there and try to study and be good students. The entire house is being re-sided, and the roof wasnt done right the first time so its being done AGAIN. Supposedly it will be a months worth of work. I'm out of there in two months, and I'd leave sooner but....here is where it gets good.
Ive already paid last months rent and a security deposit. After I move in, I find out how much of a scumbag he is, and hear many stories about people never getting their deposit back. So I, along with everyone else here, figures the only obvious thing to do is to use the security deposit as a months rent.
I personally just want to move out. One of my roomates is taking that is some sort of personal vendetta, that is enraging the landlord to no end. He's also got the house next door, which is rented by 5 people who are technically delinquent on their rent - they just stopped paying. So he's got 5 people who havent paid him what they owe, and 5 people who have paid him all he should get but arent giving him the benefit of the doubt to return the deposit. He's in seattle for crying out loud - he has no way to determine whether or not any damage has occured anyway!
So he's essentially at this point threatening to sue all of us. I'm not afraid of him, I just dont want to deal with it. Its worth a month rent for me to fight it, but Id rather not let it get to that point.
Ive read the lease up and down, and it doesnt seem like he has ever technically violated it. But I've also heard a lot of talk about some sort of slumlord law here in NY, that requires him to live at least part time in state - which he doesnt...would that make the lease void?
What legal venue could he actually use to sue us from such a long distance? What kind of damage to your credit does an eviction do? - mine is squeaky clean right now. The eviction will take minimum 90 days - Ill be out of there in 45 either way...does the eviction still "count" in that case?
Can he sue us all at once, or does he have to do it person by person? In that case it would be financially retarded to sue me, since he'd only have money to lose...
Cliffs:
Renting a place with housemates
Landlord is a scumbag and lives in seattle (we're in NY)
We all dont pay a months rent and assume he will use our security deposit to cover it
Landlord is not happy (probably because the work being done on the house was supposed to be covered by our deposits)
Landlord threatening to sue
Wtf?
The people are fine. The landlord and house, are not. The house is 200 years old, and is really starting to show. The bathrooms and kitchen are disgusting - I dont use them if I can avoid it. I keep my own room clean, but I cant force everyone else to clean up.
Anyway, the real problem is that the landlord is essentially a slumlord. We're in NY, and he's in seattle.
1. Our water comes from a well. The filter system broke, so w've all had to shower in well water and drink bottled water for the past couple of months. Being that he's in seattle, he tries to get us to call the contractors and do the work for him, and he will supposedly pay the bill - only problem is, he has a bad reputation for NOT paying contractors - probably why he hasnt been to this house in 10 years.
2. We've got rats in the basement and walls, and I hear one trying to chew its way through my floor.
3. The roof was leaking during the summer - the water would come through the edges, and run down between the 1st and 2nd floor....my entire floor was soaked. He paid for it to be professionally cleaned, but it was a major hassle to deal with mold growing in my room and a wet carpet for a week. He then told us that he would have the roof fixed, which was a week long of people banging on my roof while I tried to sleep and having roof dust and chips fall all over my room.
4. Without notifying us in any way, he decided to get MORE work done on the house - while we all still live there and try to study and be good students. The entire house is being re-sided, and the roof wasnt done right the first time so its being done AGAIN. Supposedly it will be a months worth of work. I'm out of there in two months, and I'd leave sooner but....here is where it gets good.
Ive already paid last months rent and a security deposit. After I move in, I find out how much of a scumbag he is, and hear many stories about people never getting their deposit back. So I, along with everyone else here, figures the only obvious thing to do is to use the security deposit as a months rent.
I personally just want to move out. One of my roomates is taking that is some sort of personal vendetta, that is enraging the landlord to no end. He's also got the house next door, which is rented by 5 people who are technically delinquent on their rent - they just stopped paying. So he's got 5 people who havent paid him what they owe, and 5 people who have paid him all he should get but arent giving him the benefit of the doubt to return the deposit. He's in seattle for crying out loud - he has no way to determine whether or not any damage has occured anyway!
So he's essentially at this point threatening to sue all of us. I'm not afraid of him, I just dont want to deal with it. Its worth a month rent for me to fight it, but Id rather not let it get to that point.
Ive read the lease up and down, and it doesnt seem like he has ever technically violated it. But I've also heard a lot of talk about some sort of slumlord law here in NY, that requires him to live at least part time in state - which he doesnt...would that make the lease void?
What legal venue could he actually use to sue us from such a long distance? What kind of damage to your credit does an eviction do? - mine is squeaky clean right now. The eviction will take minimum 90 days - Ill be out of there in 45 either way...does the eviction still "count" in that case?
Can he sue us all at once, or does he have to do it person by person? In that case it would be financially retarded to sue me, since he'd only have money to lose...
Cliffs:
Renting a place with housemates
Landlord is a scumbag and lives in seattle (we're in NY)
We all dont pay a months rent and assume he will use our security deposit to cover it
Landlord is not happy (probably because the work being done on the house was supposed to be covered by our deposits)
Landlord threatening to sue
Wtf?
