A Little Documentation

When we moved into this apartment in late May, we discovered a few problems here and there. The carpet is very old and needs stretched in a big way. The slider door in the master bathroom does not even have a track attached to it. The closet clothing bars are attached to the wall very flimsily, and like to fall down a lot. The toilet gets stuck in the main bathroom, and you have to jiggle the handle. The thermostats in the livingroom and the office room do not work at all....

With the exception of the potential problem in winter, the things are not huge, and we have adapted to them. We wrote our property manager in late June to let her know about the problems, and to request repairs-especially the thermostat and the bathroom door. We heard nothing back from her. We were then told by our neighbors (and the rest of this small town-she has a reputation) that this woman does not respond to requests for attention to the property she manages. She will apparently wait until things are drastic, and respond only to emergencies-then find ways to charge the tenants for the repairs-blaming them for the malfunction...

Now our garbage disposal has stopped. Not plugged, mind you. Just stopped in mid cycle. We did not drop anything down there out of the ordinary. In fact, it doesn't even sound like it is getting any power at all. Just stopped...so now we can't run our dishwasher because the sink is sort of clogged with the disposal not working. Can't find a reset switch on the disposal. I faxed our property manager to explain the situation (as well as to request attention to the thermostats). Again, no response.

So, I have an appointment with a legal advisor on Tuesday. We both really like this apartment and this location, and are a bit concerned that our property manager appears to be like bigfoot...only reports of sightings around town. We are worried that if we pursue our tenant rights, she will start a campaign to get us out of here, or refuse to re-lease to us in a year. I would just get it repaired and deduct it from the rent, but then she will probably charge us the $50.00 late rent fee, and take the repair costs from the deposit anyway at the end of our stay.

So, this blog is another way of documenting our unfolding drama-given that it is date and time stamped and all.

Wish us luck...