Issue with my landlord regarding the disgusting state of my floors, advice?

Status
Not open for further replies.

RbSX

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
8,351
1
76
Hi guys,

6 months ago I moved into my new apartment. Prior to my move in I was assured the the apartment would be in clean fair condition, as per the Residential Tenancy Act for my provice.

When we moved in the floors had not been cleaned, we got the run around from our landlord. Had we known the floors were going to be in such bad shape, we never would have moved in.

Fast forward 3 months into our lease, the landlord sells our unit. The new landlord who's a nice guy promised to have our floors replaced with hardwood as it would incerase the value of his unit. We gave him a 3 month window (Sept 28th - Nov 28th) with which to complete the renovations. My girlfriend has moved out of the apartment for a few months to house sit for her friends and it wasn't a big deal to spend a few nights with her.

At the beginning of November my girlfriend and I got a little bit upset about the lack of progress. My landlord responded that he would get it done by the end of November, and that I would need to be available to move my furniture. Well, since I wouldn't have had to move anything since it should have been cleaned before we moved in, I was a little bit pissed, but ultimately I am willing to do it.

It is now November 25th and the floors aren't finished. He hasn't picked up the 3 phone calls that I have placed to him, and I need to be around to move the stuff around for the flooring guys. I work and go to school, does this jackass not realize that days off don't pop out of thin air?

Anyways, he's got two days.

I'm thinking about witholding or only paying a fraction of my rent next month because of the 8 months we've spent living in this hole. Promise after broken promise we're starting to get pissed.

Suggestions?

Cliffs:
-Floors disgusting when I move into apartment, even though they have to be clean.
-New landlord is given a 3 month window to replace the floors
-3 days left for him to do it
-He hasn't returned my phone calls
-What should I do to get back at him?
 

SarcasticDwarf

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
9,574
1
76
um, call your municipality? What the hell are you thinking we are going to do, provide you with legal advice for wherever the hell you live?
 

Cdubneeddeal

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
7,473
3
81
Here's the problem, you shouldn't have moved into the apartment in the first place until the work had been completed no matter what your landlord verbally stated.

Don't do anything to get back to him. I would call it a loss and find another place to live even though the anger you feel might choose you to feel differently.
 

D1gger

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
5,411
2
76
Your current landlord was under no obligation to do anything with your floors. He did not make the original verbal commitment to you to clean the floors so getting pissed off about that is unjustified.

As far as the replacing the floors, it isn't clear in your OP if they have even started yet, so if you really piss off the new landlord he may just say screw it and not do anything.

You will generally have better luck if you approach with a positive attitude and if you know who the flooring contractor is you could speak to them yourself about arranging the schedule.
 

I Saw OJ

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2004
4,923
2
76
So have they started replacing the floors and just stopped half way through?
 

meltdown75

Lifer
Nov 17, 2004
37,548
7
81
The new landlord who's a nice guy promised to have our floors replaced with hardwood as it would incerase the value of his unit. We gave him a 3 month window (Sept 28th - Nov 28th) with which to complete the renovations.
if you didn't get anything in writing (not even sure what it would be... maybe an amendment to the lease of some sort...? ) your best bet is to try to convince him to do it within another "3-month window", starting whenever you can convince him to actually do it.

i've had experiences with landlords saying and doing 2 different things... all i can say is good luck, i hope they get replaced eventually and with minimal disruption to your life.

edit: oh and curious - does this landlord have multiple rental properties or just your own?
 

RedCOMET

Platinum Member
Jul 8, 2002
2,836
0
0
Look up health department codes / tenant / landlord codes/laws concerning apartment rental units.

Then once you have possible code / law violations.. talk to your landlord about them and then send him a letter in the mail about the exact same thing stating that they need to be address in X amount of days. If not address in X days, I would invovle the county / state authorities about the condition of the apartment.

Lastly, if the state of the floors bothered you so much, I would have cleaned them myself and billed the landlord since he didn't do it when you moved in the begining of your lease.

Just as a side note, I looked up health department codes for where I live b/c there were some issues with my apartment and my landlord was a little wishy-washy about addressing them. mailed him a letter about issues while citing Health department codes they might violate and we spoke over the phone about how to fix the problem. I will have people come in and fix stuff and take it as a rent credit for if I can't get the landlord to pay for the repair work directly . We have email and letter correspondance to document everything. So its not he said / she said.
 

lykaon78

Golden Member
Sep 5, 2001
1,174
9
81
In my state (Ohio, USA) you can't just withhold rent. You can work with the housing authority to put the rent in escrow until the residence is brought up to code. This can only be done for code violations. I doubt a dirty floor is a code violation.

If you stop paying rent, even for cause, you'll get tossed.

Rules certainly vary so check with your local housing authority.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.