Thursday, January 8, 2009

Not much going on...

Well, the other day I mentioned how tired I was and that I might blog about it - anyone actually curious?

No, it's not because I'm 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant. That, in and of itself, would be enough to cause a certain degree of fatigue, but that's not it.

On Monday, around noon, an email came in from the rental property manager's office saying that the landlord had requested a "property condition report" and that the prop. mgr. rep. would be out sometime between Tuesday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. and the following Monday (the 12th!) 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. They could not give an exact day or time because of the number of these reports they would be doing.

Whah???????

The house has become more cluttered than usual lately what w/Christmas, a lot of travel, me being tired because I'm pregnant, baby shower stuff I haven't quite figured out where to put and me not enforcing as much "cleanup time" with the children...did I mention piles of laundry?

Anyway, I confess to having a slight breakdown when telling CKB about this fun new turn of events. He called back a little while later to check on me and to tell me he had a plan for when he got home and that he thought we could get things tidied up enough that evening. Whew.

Other matters:

Mind you, the A/C STILL isn't fixed. I reported it on 10/30 and it STILL isn't fixed.

According to the websites I've read on renter's rights, we basically don't have any when it all boils down to it. If we threaten to withhold rent, they'd probably evict us. If we have it fixed ourselves, they probably wouldn't reimburse us. Etc. Etc. Etc.

But, they want to come out and do a property condition checkup to see if we've trashed the place basically. Well, how nice for them. We pay our rent on time and have for the past year and a half, but they can't do one little thing like getting the a/c fixed for us? I guess they're too comfy cozy up there in their office WITH a/c to be concerned about a pregnant woman with small children sweltering on the oddball high temp days we still have even in Nov/Dec/ and now January...and I'm sure they're not losing any sleep over it (like we have when we've put the children to bed in their skimpiest clothes we could find, ie, shorts and short sleeve t-shirts and sweat on their brows) on the nights when the house has been over 85 at bedtime. Oh no. But, hear ye, hear ye, we'll be showing up to inspect the house SOMEtime between Tuesday and the next Monday and we just have to accept that. Makes me want to make the house about 100 degrees on the day they come out - but then, who knows when that's going to be...they haven't made it out here yet....tick tock, it'll be Monday soon and amazingly they don't do these inspections on Sundays so we won't have to worry about it for that one day at least.

So....the reason I was so exhausted was because I cleaned house all day and into the night after CKB got here (he was exhausted as well and did a lot more in the few hours after he got home than I'd managed to during the day) and could hardly get up and down off the floor by the time I crawled into bed that night. I thank God that I was able to get OUT of bed the next morning (when I got up in the night, I could barely walk) and that was w/o taking any pain meds (I avoid them at all costs if I can when I'm pregnant, even Tylenol).

So, if anyone's still reading, that's why I was SOOO tired the other night.

Believe it or not, I didn't end up in labor after all of that - it's a wonder.

Have I mentioned lately how much I detest renting? and how much I look forward to resuming our house search when baby girl arrives? and how I'd never rent from this particular company again unless it was the last choice I had? and....well, I think you get the picture :) Our lease is up in May....pray for us to find other accomodations quickly after little miss arrives.

The last few days I've been like a drill sergeant with the children and keeping stuff picked up - it's driving me crazy, but I do kind of like seeing the floor DURING the day for a change. Maybe some good has come from this ridiculous inspection thing? gasp....did I say that?

3 comments:

Pam said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anne said...

Seriously, I don't know how you've made it this long without a/c. I would be getting in the car every day just to have some cool air!

ParadiceMom said...

Have you already looked into what the landlord is required to fix and when? I am assuming from your post that you have. I believe they are required to fix the air conditioning, but it might only be at certain times of the year. If I remember correctly you are in TX. Here is a blurb from the Texas Tenant Advisor.

Under Texas law, regardless of what the lease says the landlord is required to repair problems that affect the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant and are not caused by the tenant, occupant, or a guest. (If the problem developed from normal use of the premises by the tenant, occupant or guest, the landlord is still responsible for repair.) For example, leaking plumbing, rodents, broken air-conditioning in extremely hot temperatures, sewage leaks, shattered sliding glass doors or caved ceilings all affect health and safety. Although a non-working garbage disposal or a leaky faucet is inconvenient, it may not materially affect health or safety.

The article previously states that your best course of action is to send everything in writing. You might want to send another letter to the property manager with signature required at delivery. Restate the problem and ask why the unit has not been fixed.

I am a landlord (not by choice) and would prefer to keep my tenants happy. Happy tenants (for the most part) take better care of the rental.

I am sorry you have to go through this, especially being so pregnant.

Love,
Candice in SC