Lazy Idiots

Remember my post a while ago stating that we had not been able to use our oven for a long time and on August 1st, 2008, we put in a repair request and they said they'd send someone out. We had put in a request at the same time for a leaky toilet. The NEXT DAY someone was out to fix the toilet. No one came to fix the oven. So we waited. A week ago, our stove started acting funny. We are no longer able to safely cook food on it (on a low setting, it causes butter to melt and burn in less than 20 seconds and that is on the LOWEST setting). So last week I told them I wanted someone out on Tuesday (today) to fix it because I needed to be able to fix food for Thanksgiving. The lady put in the request and told me someone would be out on Tuesday. Well its almost 5pm now on Tuesday and the office is about to close, meaning maintenance will stop for the day. This means I won't get my oven fixed today. Well what a surprise. We went to the office at 3:45pm to tell the lady that no one had come out to fix the oven and she tried calling maintenance and there was no answer. She said she'd get in touch with maintenance in the next few minutes and send him down to us. Its an hour later, and still no fixed oven. The guy hasn't even shown up. So I sent my husband out to the office to tell the lady he hasn't shown up and to send the guy out first thing tomorrow morning to fix the oven.

We can't fix anything on the stove right now, so I'm going to tell them that if no one comes out to fix the oven by tomorrow afternoon, I'm having the oven replaced and they can do whatever they want with their broken one. Can I do this? I need to be able to fix food. I have not been able to fix anything in the oven for technically a year, but we only put in a repair request in August. Then the stove stopped working correctly last week, so we have not been able to fix food with the stove. We can only fix food with the microwave or fix non-cook foods like sandwiches and soup.

My husband just got back and he said he talked to a different lady and she wrote down the repair request and said they would send someone out tomorrow morning. She also said more than likely they'd replace it instead of repair it. So no stove for Thanksgiving (idiots!) since it takes a few days to order one in. Rah! I am so angry right now.

One word for you:

Ukrop's

WOW if they guarantee maintenance to come help with repairs on their own houses (kinda sounds like military housing?) they need to keep with that! In my opinion, if they don't repair it by tomorrow morning, see if you can get the girl you spoke to today to give you some kind of record that you put in a request ages ago to have the oven fixed, and recently required the stove to be repaired as well. Then go out and get yourself a new oven, and when you move out, legally the new oven is yours, and the old broken one is still theirs; so take the good one with you ;) if they refuse to fix something that is required for daily life to cook your food, and it all comes down to you doing what you need to do, as long as you have a record that proves that you've tried to get maintenance down there, they can't really do anything. That's just my two cents though

I'm pretty sure you can break your lease because of this. Just keep track of every time you've made an attempt to contact them about the repairs and how many times they have put you off. I know it sucks. I've dealt with similar issues.

Good luck.

Technically, they didn't refuse you a repair person. You still pay your rent to they don't view it as an honest problem. In my state (not sure of any others) if I am renting and something happens where I am not able to live with necessities for daily living (for example, my water is black...they HAVE to fix it...or once I can stop paying rent because of this problem) I cannot say, however. "oh my closet door wont close...I think i'll stop paying rent." Thing is, you HAVE to have documented proof that you complained, did not pay because of the problem AND they refused to fix it in a timely manner.

If you did not press the issue, continued to pay rent and are now stuck....then (in their eyes) tough bully sticks.......

Personally, buying an oven might leave you stuck for reimbursement. You could take it with you when you moved, but hell, most places offer an oven anyway...would be pretty useless........

I would call the OWNER of the property....tell them you will NOT pay rent until the situation is fixed.....legally (not sure about YOUR state) they cannot charge you the rent they lose if it's a necessity.....in other words...you tell them today, with proof.....and they do not fix things for 15 days....you don't pay those 15 days rent....

not sure if this helps you any....just be sure you have everything documented by law to cover your bases....and borrow an oven if you have to! Good Luck!

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

One word for you:

Ukrop's

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QFT, anyone who lives in Richmond VA loves Ukrops....do you happen to live on Tremont Court? That sounds an awful lot like my old apartment :p.

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Originally Posted by OhBalls

I would call the OWNER of the property....tell them you will NOT pay rent until the situation is fixed.....legally (not sure about YOUR state) they cannot charge you the rent they lose if it's a necessity.....in other words...you tell them today, with proof.....and they do not fix things for 15 days....you don't pay those 15 days rent....

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I agree with this right here. I have never been in a situation like that, but I would review my lease thoroughly to make sure maintenance is provided, then demand it to be fixed or you will not pay rent. I've had a friend do that and seen the problem get fixed within the day, so there is still hope for you cooking thanksgiving dinner.

do you pay for the gas or is it included?
if its included call the gas company they will just turn the gas off and charge them to turn it on when they fix it.

might not want to do that if you want to stay for another lease though

also i would call the town most towns have things they force upon landlords i know i am one


oh you can use my oven i wont be here and i think the turkey would be a little cold before you got home with it

Our stove top went out and didn't work...
We could still use the oven but not the stove top.
If you can I would reccommend getting one of these, they are rather cheap about 5-20 dollars http://evergreen-rentals.com/images/..._Hot_Plate.jpg

Also look into purchasing a convection microwave oven. http://products.howstuffworks.com/da...ven-review.htm such as this one.
You get all the use of a stove AND a microwave.
You might also check your craigslist OR used appliance centers tomorrow. OR a "Rent to Own". place.
It will be far cheaper than trying to buy and install a stove by Thanksgiving.
If you purchase a few hotplates and a convection microwave oven, Or rent to own the latter... it will save you money, you can then resell it when need be or if you do the rent to own, you can rent it for a month, week or however long. AND tell the office people that you will either charge them for reimbursement OR take it off your rent. BUT save the reciepts.
Hope this helps.
Carol

Check your local laws. In my state if it does not get fixed you have two options. You can not pay rent until it is fixed, but you have to document that management was notified in writting. Also you may have to put the money in a escrow account so when it does get fixed it can be released to them. Second option you can replace or have it fixed and deduct it from your rent. This is the law in Jersey so check your state laws. You can do that online.

We pay for gas and electric but appliances are their responsibility. They are required to fix it if it is broken. We shall see. They said they'd replace it within the next few days, so if I don't get a oven within a week or so, I'm going to withhold rent and tell them I'm getting my own oven.

In Washington, if the tennant is paying for the service then the landlord is required to fix it in a very short period of time. Send the manager something in writing that descsribes what you've been going through, and tell them that it is not repaired satisfactorily that you will deduct the cost of repair from your rent.

in cuba they would just build a fire in the middle of the kitchen floor:taz:

So, they were supposed to be here this morning, but 1pm rolled around and no one had showed up. I went up to the office and talked to yet another person about it and I told her "I haven't had my oven since August. When I tried using it in August, it filled my apartment with smoke. We put in the request then, and they said they'd send someone out. No one came. Then our stove stopped working last week, they said they'd send someone out on Tuesday since I like to be home when people are doing repairs. No one showed up, so they said they'd send someone out this morning and this morning has come and gone and no one has shown. I need my stove to cook food. I haven't been able to cook food in my house since last week." Then she got snippy with me and said that someone would be out this afternoon to take a look at it. See when I asked about the guy coming this morning, she called the head maintenance man and he said to call the other maintenance guy. She called him and he said to call the first guy. When she told him that the first guy told her to call him, he said "Well I don't have a ticket for that apartment" so apparently we've been telling the office people to come fix or replace our oven, and they jot down little notes in our file telling us someone will be out, but it never gets to the people doing the job. Rah! :taz::taz::taz:

I'm going to take my lease to my mother and see if there is any way we can get out of it. (she worked with apartments a long time ago). In the lease it says we have to give a written request for any repairs that don't deal with emergencies like smoke, fire, gas, ect. The first request in August was not written but was because of smoke, so that counts. Last weeks was not, but we shall see what happens. If no one shows up by 4-4:30pm, I'm writing up a written request to have my oven REPLACED and if it is not done in an acceptable time period, then I'm getting my own oven, at my own expense and will take the oven with me when I move out. I have to have it in the written request that I take the oven with me and they have to agree with that otherwise according to the lease, they can keep "any improvements to the apartment, whether agreed upon on not, unless a written agreement is made."

This is so a bunch of donkey poo. I'm so pissed write now. I mean, I can't even cook food right now. We've been living off of sandwiches and eating with family and stuff for the past week. :mad::mad::mad:

So I took my husband to work and came home to find a Service Report laying on my floor. (why the heck was it on my floor?) It reads:

"Report: Stove not working since the summer. Needs to be replaced.
Correction Made: Cleaned burner in oven. Can't change showerhead. Dog in bathroom."

What the heck? Cleaning the burner in the oven is not going to fix the stove top. And I never said anything about the gosh darned (trying to keep this pg) showerhead. The guy never should have gone upstairs. WTF!

I am so pissed right now I could scream.

Did you know that a when we moved in last year, we put on the initial report that our upstairs sink was clogged. They threw some draino down the drain and said it was fine. A few months later, after repeatedly getting stopped up, I decided to do my own repairs. I found a toothbrush from the person who lived here before me, stuck in the drain. I pulled it out and what do you know, no more stopped up drain. These people are no where near qualified to be doing repairs on anything!

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

Did you know that a when we moved in last year, we put on the initial report that our upstairs sink was clogged. They threw some draino down the drain and said it was fine. A few months later, after repeatedly getting stopped up, I decided to do my own repairs. I found a toothbrush from the person who lived here before me, stuck in the drain. I pulled it out and what do you know, no more stopped up drain. These people are no where near qualified to be doing repairs on anything!

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You Live in Stratford hills don't you? Cause seriously this sounds like my old place.

I do and this place sucks! They have no organization, no communication with their maintenance staff and the maintenance people have no clue what they are doing. They are going to send someone out this next coming up Tuesday to fix the stove, but now they are saying they will fix it instead of replace it. These people are just so full of crap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I do and this place sucks! They have no organization, no communication with their maintenance staff and the maintenance people have no clue what they are doing. They are going to send someone out this next coming up Tuesday to fix the stove, but now they are saying they will fix it instead of replace it. These people are just so full of crap.

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Yeah that sounds about right, my air conditioner broke a ridiculous number of times and the heater didn't work at all. I didn't care about the heater cause I just used my electric ones anyway. It took them 3 weeks to replace my dishwasher...

I was in 2246. Oh and I'm getting ready to sue them because they're trying to get 2 months rent out of me because I left when my lease was over! They're saying I didn't give 2 months notice....why would I give 2 months notice when I left when my lease ended...

Landmark Properties is the owner of all that, you may want to complain directly to them...also go on apartment hunting sites and bash them, trust me they'll fix your crap ASAP after that.

We are going to either try and get out of the lease, or live here for another year and then move somewhere else next fall. I think anything they can get away with no spending money, they do it. If they can get away with "fixing" something, they will "fix" it rather than replace it.

The only problem is finding a place that will accept all of our animals.

I would do a search for "pet friendly" places, local humane societies usually have links.
Also the craigslist in your area when searching for places you can click a small box that allows cats/dogs..If you click on that and find some, you can mention one or two snakes.
If they allow a dog or cat they usually allow other pets.
I would never mention all of the pets you actually have.
My land lords put in their contract that we can have only two "domestic" animals...
Although they know about our degu (related to chinchillas), we have birds and a beta fish.
One is absolutely terrified of snakes and creepy/crawly things.
Luckily I keep mine in a utility room off of my back porch and all the doors are locked with padlocks. There is no reason at all they should EVER have to go in that room.
And they have no idea I have snakes and tarantulas. They would never fix anything OR come on the property if they knew. LOL

Hope this helps.
Carol

I wish this kind of thing had happened earlier, like this summer, so that we would have had some time to look for a place. Now our lease is renewed for another year. We could save up the releasing fee and then the security deposit and first months rent for another place, but it might take us a year to do so. *sigh*

Thanks for all your advice, everyone. :)