Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

Hi girls, I need to blow off some steam. Sympathy is not necessary, but much appreciated! : ) Okay, this is how my sad, pathetic story goes. I'm getting married on July 6th. In February, Patrick and I decided that we were not quite ready to buy a house, so we began to look at and price apartments. We found a decent one at the end of Feb. It was basement level (not what we had in mind), but it was relatively inexpensive, and close to my job so we took it. The landlord was firm in demanding that we commit to staying for a year, and we were fine with that, because we figured that in a year we'd have a house lined up. We took posession of the apt. the weekend that we had that nasty blizzard in March. The following weekend I went over there with my mom to begin cleaning. The apt., while decent enough on the surface, was a DISGUSTING sty when we looked into the refrigerater, oven, cabinets, bathtub, toilet, and closet. We didn't check these places when we viewed the apt because someone was still living there and we were asked to respect her privacy, which we thought was fair and resonable. BIG MISTAKE. Anyway, after mom and I cleaned like maniacs, and Patrick painted and shampooed and steam cleaned the carpets, he was just about ready to move in. We bought a den set, kitchen table, and bedroom set, moved in our engagement gifts and various other 'stuff' and by the last week in March he was in. Fast forward to April 6th (I know the exact date because it was the night before my friend Pam's wedding). The landlord came down and asked to speak to us. She explained that since her husband worked in NJ and was tired of the commute, in the fall they were thinking about renting out their house and renting a place in NJ to see if they would like to move there. It would be rent with the option to buy, and she wanted us to know incase we would be interested then. We thought that was very nice of her to consider us. The next day, as we were running out the door to go to the wedding, she called and said that she noticed that we had changed the locks, and she wanted a key so that they could show the house that afternoon. HUH? Was it fall and no one told us?? We were late, so we just gave her our spare and left, bewildered. At about 9:00 the next morning, she called again wanting to show the apartment along with the house. We were annoyed, but got up and went to my mom's house, stopping to buy a newspaper on the way. Lo and behold, there was the house, FOR SALE! DUH! Did she think we were complete idiots?? Patrick left the paper open with the ad circled on the kitchen table the next day when he went to work. Obviously the landlord saw it because the day after that she approached Patrick and told him that she was taking $100/month off our rent for the inconvenience of the house being sold. Fast forward again, to May 18th (again, I know the exact date because it was the day of my friend Denise's wedding, lol). I was in the wedding, so I was gone all day. When I finally got to speak to Pat at the cocktail hour he told me that the landlord had approached him AGAIN to tell him that she had found a house in the same town that we were living in (what happened to New Jersey??), and it had a great apartment for us. She wanted to move our stuff in along with hers. Now, I don't know what you would do, but after all she was dishonest about in the past few months we didn't trust her, so we declined the offer. She said they wouldn't be closing till the end of the summer, so we figured we had time to decide what we were going to do. 2 days later, we decided to start house hunting, just as an option to see what was out there. We ended up finding an amazing deal, and bought a house that day, with a closing date of August 15th, at the latest. Perfect! Or so we thought. Today the landlord tells us that we need to be out of the apartment by June 30th, because the new owner does not want tenants. OH MY GOODNESS! I am so mad I could cry and scream! Not only do I have the stress of moving as I end my school year and get ready for my wedding, but now I have to live with my mom and dad for the first month of my marriage, until my new house is ready! I love my family, but I'd like some time ALONE with my new husband. : ( Any advice or words of comfort??

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

Yikes! Questions... Do you have a lease? Does the new owner have a heart? :) Can you move up your closing date? Can you take occupancy of your house on July 1 and pay the seller 'rent' for 6 weeks? (provided it's vacant -- hehe) What a pain in the a** this is! Sorry you have to deal with this now!

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

WOW!!!!! You need to write a book. Anyway, if you really want to she can't make you leave without an eviction. In other words refuse to move unless you are compensated (very well). She can't close if you are still in the apartment. Especially if it is an illegal apartment. I don't recall if you said you had a lease. If you do enforce it. If not, and the apartment is illegal, well you know what you can do here as well (fight). I would fight this one.

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

Aauughh!!!! How horrible! I can't fully imagine the stress but it's got to be intense. Is there any chance of moving up your closing date on the new house? You may have to pay something extra to get in early, but it may be worth it. Or can you negotiate with the new owners to stay a little longer? Afterall, you can show you are closing on your own house, so they shouldn't be worried that you'll never leave. Did you have a lease? - if so, talk to a Real Estate lawyer. If they are breaking the lease maybe they will have to pay a penalty to get you out, which could cover spending at least some of that time in a hotel. Also, if you don't have Renter's insurance get some right away!!! That way you're covered if she trys to pull anything funny. And change the locks if you can - for your peace of mind. Any chance of getting creative with housing for the time between the return from your honeymoon and your closing date? Do you have a sister or brother that would move back home for a week, so you could have their apartment? Do you or your parents have any friends that will be away on vacation that need plant or pet sitters? All in all, it sounds like it's best to get out of there ASAP for your peace of mind - the sooner the better. Good luck and God Bless.

I can totally relate!! (Sort of) - REALLY LONG

JennRenee, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Believe me, when we rented out apartment, beginning in Dec. 1996, we thought it was going to be great. The lady seemed so nice. And she seemed so understanding when I told her that I worked a second job at night and didn't get home til well after midnight. She made that like it was no problem. Plus, when we asked about having a cat, that was also no problem. Well, she told us we'd be able to move in Dec. 28, 1996 .. so we packed up the U-Haul and proceeded to the apartment .. only the other tenant hadn't completely moved his stuff out!! He showed up with friends while we were putting stuff away and cleaning. A couple of weeks later, the landlord started sliding notes under our door and finally began calling us disrespectful of others who might be trying to sleep in the house. Now, please note, friends of ours will tell of what quiet people we both are! :) Anyway, this ended with her telling us we had to move - less than a month after moving in!! And even with my warning her of my late hours. It was like she had forgotten that I told her I worked late hours. Then she reconsidered after my fiance wrote her a letter, but turned around and decided to sell the house! Fortunately for us the new owners allowed for us to stay, but unfortunately they were horrible landlords. They would come in our place while we weren't there. They would knock on our door telling us to turn the thermostat up ... or we'd come home and they'd have it set to 80!! They were always disrespectful of our space and time, scheduling work at completely inconvenient times. I've never missed so many days at work, and all because they would have workers come in without notice. There was no way I was leaving their friends to do work in our space without one of us staying home to guard the place. They were always dirty, never cleaning up the messes they left behind, unless we watched over, and even then I was never satisfied. Once, I asked they give me five minutes before turning off the water so I could shower, but instead, they turned the water off and disconnected pipes after telling me they'd wait. Needless to say, the hot water was turned off first and I got a nice shot of ice cold water down my back. It was more like they made us feel they were doing us a favor by letting us live in their house, rather than keeping out of our space that we paid for each month, right on time. The check was always left when I got home from work the night before. Oh, and after telling us they wouldn't raise our rent, they did less than 2 months after moving in. They brought a family of I couldn't even count how many into that house and they said we used too much electricity and water!! They had so many people living in that house it was probably illegal! Plus they brought roaches and tried to blame that on us too! Anyway, to top it off, when it came time for us to move out, the husband, who was always the only one we were allowed to talk to regarding problems (which were many) was impossible to reach. Finally when we did get him, it was half way through the next month after we moved out and he refused to give our security back, saying we delayed him showing the apartment because he didn't have our key! Duh! Guess he forgot about the door they always used to come in on their own free will! Plus, he said we were still using water and electric at that apartment (yeah, right .. we had our own house!!) So, we were out $725, but we walked away knowing we were rid of that horrible situation. Plus, our real estate lawyer who took care of our closing on the house said the best we could do was go to small claims court, which would be a gamble. The extended aggrivation just wasn't going to be worth trying to get that money back, even though we really could have used it. Sometimes you have to weather the storms before the rainbow shines. Be strong and know that soon you'll be in your own home. :) Maybe you could find a vacation type home that would be willing to rent to you for the weeks that you'll need til your house is ready?

I can totally relate!! (Sort of) - REALLY LONG

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful and thoughtful responses. In answer to your questions... 1. No, we don't have a lease. There was talk of us signing one when we first moved in, but that was quickly dropped and never brought up again. We never mentioned it either, but I guess we should have, : ( Our fault. 2. We don't want to do anything to piss off the landlord (like refuse to leave, althouh it has crossed our minds!) because Patrick is a sergeant in the NYPD and is afraid she will call his job to complain. If that happens, it loos bad for him, and could damge his reputation. 3. We can't move up our closing date because the owners are waiting for a condo to be built, and can't leave until it is. 4. We have already had a friend offer us her house (to house sit) while she is away on vacation. It's only for 2 weeks, but hey, it's 2 weeks more than we thought we had! 5. We are looking to see if we can contact the new owners of the house we live in, but don't know how to go about finding them. The house was sold privately, so going through real estate is out. Any ideas? 6. Kel, thanks for sharing your own horror story. It made me feel better. You know what they say... misery loves company! : ) Thanks so much girls! Have a great day!

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

I am so sorry! What a pain! A similar situation happened to my MOH. She moved into this apt. in a home. And a week or two after she moved in they told her they were going to sell the house. So she has had the same problem of being called all the time to show the apt. (she refuses to show it when she is not there), and having no idea when she may have to move. I feell for you -- that you have to leave with parents during your first few weeks of marriage! UGH! Do you know of anyone else that may have a mother-in-law apt. or living quarters on a separate floor that they are not using? Hope it all works out!

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

How terrible to be dealing with this just a few weeks b/f your wedding? Do you have a family friend who is a lawyer. I don't know too much but I do know that the law is on your side and they can't just kick you out if you have no where else to live. My friends parents had a terrible tenant who they tried to get rid of (this women was an alcoholic, caused problems, didn't pay the rent) and it took atleast 3 months. I wouldn't worry about your fiances job, this women can't do anything to you guys.. I would definitely contact a lawyer.

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

you poor thing! What a pain. All I can say is be glad you don't have this lady as a landlord--I'm guessing it would have brought more headaches. Good luck with everything

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

I feel for you, especially that you don't want anything going on your FH's permanent work record. But what your landlord is doing is wrong. Technically, with squatter's rights I believe you can 'buy' yourself a lot more time there than you even need. Plus the fact, if the apartment is illegal, they're the ones at fault!! So it would be really stupid of them to make a complaint against your FH, when you could turn around and get them in A LOT of trouble as well. I say fight it out. Good luck and try not to let it spoil your very special day coming up!

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

Jenn Try posting your situation at www.tenant.net, I have done so in the past and have found the people to be very helpful. Alot of them are attorney's or at best individuals who have been in your situation. Good Luck

Needing to vent and rant... (LONG!)

I am a mother of a soon-to-be bride and just read your letter. From years of experience of things like this happening to my husband and me, (we also fixed up our first apartment only to have the owner have a baby and want to use it for her mother to move in - so she raised the rent so high, it forced us to move out too) all I can say is in that sometimes bad things happen for your soul's growth which causes good things to come of it down the road. For instance, we moved into a house much sooner then we wanted, but we fixed it up, made it a home in which three children grew up in, and 25 years later we still love it and it is all ours as our mortgage is now paid off. Also, when the kids were young, my husband was laid off as his company went bankrupt. It forced him to discover that he really wanted to be his own boss, and a few years later he owned his own company. When you are in the 'thick of it' and everything is so bad,you can't possibly see what good can come of this pain, but hang it there and I bet in a few years you'll be happy she made you move on and realize how much closer you have become as a couple because of this. Best of Luck - Cindy

Thanks Cindy, I needed to hear that! : ) *NM*

JennRenee- This could be useful

I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. Did you sign a lease wiht these people? If you did, they can not break the lease!!! As a homeowner, i rented out my downstairs for 2 years. they were nice, but after a while, i saw the slobs that they really were, i wanted them out 6 months before their lease was up, but i knew i couldn't break the lease, so i waited it out, and didn't renew the lease and we informed them 5 months ahead of time. I hope this mess goes away so you can fast forward in to your new home and enjoy the rest of your wedding plans, i hope to hear better news from you!

Thanks Heidi, but we don't have a lease : ( *NM*