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Tenant's Responsibility? Hurricane related

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Damn, I must be lucky I've never had 1 issue renting. Just make a call and usually it's taken care of the same day.
 
chin311 said:
Damn, I must be lucky I've never had 1 issue renting. Just make a call and usually it's taken care of the same day.
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This is the first time I am renting and its been a real headache. I've always owned but because of the downturn of the housing market I had to rent out my property and in turn rent something bigger.

Btw: we signed a 2 year lease on this house and the rent is locked in. After the lease is up we plan to buy something.
 
TangoJuliet said:
This is the first time I am renting and its been a real headache. I've always owned but because of the downturn of the housing market I had to rent out my property <snip> After the lease is up we plan to buy something.
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why rent when you own a house, and why buy when you already own?
 
Texashiker said:
Isn't that called "Capitalism", and it made the USA a world leader?
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The free market made the US a world leader, greedy assholes that want their tenants to do their work for them while they walk away with the cash are what is letting the rest of the world turn us into a shithole.
 
SP33Demon said:
Tell the landlord that you had someone cut it up and that you are taking it off the rent. Refer them to the part in your lease about it (tenant is "not responsible for ordinary wear and damage by the elements"). There is nothing your landlord can do about it in accordance to the lease. If they want to take you to small claims, then you will win (assuming it's a humongous log).
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Doubtful, "damage by the elements" doesn't cover a big branch sitting in the yard. No part of the physical property was damaged. If the OP is responsible for the normal maintenance of the yard removal of branches and things would fall under that.

Unless the branch is ridiculously thick the OP could get away with a cheap little electric chainsaw or a sawzall to chop up the . Both are handy to have if you're a homeowner with a small yard with trees.
 
TangoJuliet said:
My wife and I are leasing a large home with about an acre of property with lots of trees. After hurricane Irene hit we didn't get any damage to the property but there are a lot of fallen branches and leaves.

There is one branch that is way too big and heavy to move and it will need to be cut. I called the landlord and he basically said its my responsibility. Does anyone know whose responsibility it is to clean up after a storm/hurricane?

I checked my lease and there isn't really anything in there. It does say to keep the property neat and orderly. It also says that tenant is "not responsible for ordinary wear and damage by the elements".

Blumberg 495 Lease
http://www.blumberglegalforms.com/Forms/495.pdf

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!!
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That is the answer. Clean it up.
 
ch33zw1z said:
Read the lease agreement, again if you have already. Branches to big to move are not his responsibility.
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First. I did read the agreement.
Second. There is no such thing as a branch that is too big to move.
Third. All it says is he is required to keep the grounds neat and clean.

If I am blind show me where it excludes " Branches too big to move ".

Thanks!
 
LOl this ain't about him being lazy. its about fulfilling a contract. People rent so they don't have to do shit.

his job is to keep the lawn neat, to mow, etc. NOT pick up after a hurricane.

So if a whole tree was to fall the OP has to cut it up? hire someone? fuck no. that's why he is paying the landlord.

he states good reasons why he can't (2 small kids and awife out of the hospital) for not doing it.


now if he owned it then yeah. you get out the chain saw and cut it up then help the neighbors.
 
pcgeek11 said:
First. I did read the agreement.
Second. There is no such thing as a branch that is too big to move.
Third. All it says is he is required to keep the grounds neat and clean.

If I am blind show me where it excludes " Branches too big to move ".

Thanks!
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did you not notice the clause
I checked my lease and there isn't really anything in there. It does say to keep the property neat and orderly. It also says that tenant is "not responsible for ordinary wear and damage by the elements".
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hurricane damage would fall into that category
 
TangoJuliet said:
Little bit of an update

First off I am not posting any pictures because no matter what its a no win situation for me. Texas, c'mon man thats not a branch thats a friggin tree that fell on the house.
Dr. Pizza, its nice that you have some help but I do not. My 2 year old son isn't quite old enough to help nor is my one week old daughter. I don't want to ask my wife for help because she only got out of the hospital last week.

Anyways, I spoke with the landlord and showed him in the lease where it says removing the branch is not my responsibility and he agreed and came over, cut it up and brought it to the curb. I on the other hand spent the day outside raking and sweeping up the leaves and smaller branches. I also managed to make a small donation at my local firehouse.

The point of the thread was not to say "oh, I'm not doing that" or "I'm too educated to bring myself to raking up some leaves". The point of the thread was to see if it was my responsibility to take care of the situation. If it was then fine, Ill go out and do it. If not, then I'd want the LL to do it. Like someone mentioned earlier, if and when he decides to sell the home I am not going to get anything for the work I put into the home.

I just moved into this place only 2 month ago. We are still trying to get settled in and we don't know any of our neighbors all that well. Especially not enough to go over and ask for help when they have their own properties to take care of.

One last thing.....I do feel like my wife and I were duped into renting the place. Had it not cost me around $9000 to move into the place (1st month rent, 1 month security, 1 month rent to realtor and moving service) we would have been out after the first week. I could go on about the crap that we have had to deal with but I don't want to derail the thread even further.

One of the things I will reveal is the pool. When we were browsing the ads we saw the home and pool. Now, blame me for this but when we saw the house we didn't bother to actually go out and look at the pool. It had started to rain and the LL's wife had asked us to take our shoes off. We didn't want to walk outside barefoot so we just looked at it from the window and it looked ok.

This is what it looked like

IMG_1665.jpg


IMG_1664.jpg


I didn't ask the LL anything in regards to the pool. For the past 2 weeks I have been weeding, raking, edging and trying to get the pool area ready for next year. The concrete of the side wall of the area crumble when you touch it. All of the pool furniture that they left is dry rotted, rusted and not usable. I eventually have to bring it out to the curb for garbage removal.

Thats all I have for now. The situation has been corrected and honestly I'll never rent again.

Edit: forgot to include the picture of the pool in the ad

IS109ccttviqd2b.jpg
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Okay that changes things. I definitely would not go out of my way if a house I rented had a pool like that. Also if the people let the pool go like that I'm betting the house was in the same condition.
 
Zargon said:
did you not notice the clause

I checked my lease and there isn't really anything in there. It does say to keep the property neat and orderly. It also says that tenant is "not responsible for ordinary wear and damage by the elements".

hurricane damage would fall into that category
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This clause: "not responsible for ordinary wear and damage by the elements" is under the heading Repairs and Alterations. In a paragraph about the furnishings appliances the house etc... The yard is discussed in the next heading.

In what universe is a limb laying in the yard classified as " Damage ". So wind blown leaves and twigs are also elemental damage so he don't have to rake or clean the yard either. Same thing, the only difference is the size of the object and the speed of the wind. How far you want to take it?

I will agree he can't be held responsible for the elements damaging the tree or if the limb hit the house and damaged it.
 
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pcgeek11 said:
In what universe is a limb laying in the yard classified as " Damage ". So wind blown leaves and twigs are also elemental damage so he don't have to rake or clean the yard either. Same thing, the only difference is the size of the object and the speed of the wind. How far you want to take it?

I will agree he can't be held responsible for the elements damaging the tree or if the limb hit the house and damaged it.
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It's pretty easy to quantify. If the log/branch/limb/tree whatever is too large to move without causing physical harm/pain, then it's the LL's responsibility. Anyway, it's a moot point b/c the OP's LL came out and took care of it.
 
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