(no subject)
You know how life can be like "DROP KICK!". Well...
First good news: For anyone that reads my online comic Fungus Grotto, there's info about the trade/graphic novel/collected edition HERE. Support FG XD!
You don't have to read this but I figure some details never hurts XD;;. I'm mostly posting about this because I never want this to happen to anyone else. As a renter, you have rights. Know this, and if you're ever not sure, go here and here (though this is specific to Minnesota)
I'm moving on the 1st of October. I KNOW right? AGAIN? This wasn't planned. I HAVE to move. See, the house I'm in now had a few cosmetic issues that my dad and I fixed. It wasn't until winter that we realized it had some major internal needing to be fixed shit. Like the electrical wiring. Things we can't fix. I kept thinking about moving but I was in a year long lease. After reading up on how breaking a lease could have horrible consequences, (seriously, you might have to pay the rent until your property manager finds a new tenant?) I stuck it out. Moving isn't easy. Once I pay rent I'm broke again until ... hell the next month?
So the furnace died three times in the dead of winter. It was so cold in the house we had to camp out in the living room with electric heaters for nearly a week until the gas company came and replaced the furnace FOR us. Then spring came and rain flooded the basement. It flooded high enough to put out the pilot light in the hot water heater! We fixed that as well as we could. Here's the kicker, my landlady wanted to sell this house to me this summer and she and I made a list of repairs and additions before I agreed to buy. She never followed through and I declined in the end. My mortgage would have been a good $300 less than what I pay in rent too. Shit has gone downhill from there. Summer and the 90+ heat everyday is what really told me the horrile shape this house was in. I kept getting sick. Like allergy sick. Then my cat got insanely ill. I thought he was going to die. He's a Siamese and I noticed his blue eyes were green one day. His skin had turned yellow. A visit to the vet confirmed he had like, fungal growths in his stomach and intestines. He recovered but they told me it could happen again. I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking out for though...
Then I caught my other cat drinking water in our basement... I used to spray bleach in the corners do try and fight what I thought was the smell of mold (as per instructions from my landlady) and I thought maybe that's what made my cat sick... It wasn't the bleach. It's mold. Black-mold. The kind that kills people. This stuff takes a LONG time to infect houses so my guess is it's been here since before I moved in. It's infesting the entire basement (and we think it's in the walls) and I can't get it under control. It's actually not my job to do this either. When the inspector came he walked around the parameter of the house and was like "I can smell it from here..." @__@;;. Not just that, several of my outlets have caught fire. The bats keep coming back. I caught three more of them and animal control came to get them and suggested moving... My landlady knew about all of this and made promises, in writing, to fix these issues. I withheld rent this month until she follows through and she came by with threats to EVICT me within three days of rent-due day passing. She hasn't so much as visited this house since December but I don't pay and she shows up? I told her she wouldn't have to evict me because I'm moving. She agreed this would be 'best'. So SHE broke the lease so now I can move without fear of her wanting the withheld rent. So she was going to give me time to find a place but while I packed and moved she wanted to suddenly come in and start making repairs...
Then it hit me... Was my money not good enough to warrent repairs? I've lived here over a year and she hasn't so much as fixed a door knob but she wants to when I'm leaving? Not only that, she claims my damage deposit was spent but can't tell me where it went. She hasn't fixed anything! *bitter laugh*. FUCK THAT. I called the Tenants Association and Legal Aid (this is free legal services for broke people like me) and an inspector and there's a huge health code violation deal going on. I KNOW my rights as a tenant and she has got me majorly fucked-up. She wanted to come by while I was at work and I sent her a nice email about the details. She showed up 15 minutes later and looked like she was gonna have a heart attack. My challenge to her "unscrupulous business management" has her terrified. She went as far as to ask me "When can I have my property back?" in this shakey voice. The woman will go to jail and lose her liscense to rent. I don't know if I'll win if this goes to court but I refuse to let her do this shit to anyone else again.
Heh, I almost feel bad for her.
So yeah, the life of Tia XD! Still though, stressful :\. My new apartment won't be ready until 10/01. I want to move NOW. Ever since I found out about the mold I've had nigthmares about dying from it getting in my lungs or something...
So yeah... Real life's being a bitch, but I got this!
Be back soon :3.
First good news: For anyone that reads my online comic Fungus Grotto, there's info about the trade/graphic novel/collected edition HERE. Support FG XD!
You don't have to read this but I figure some details never hurts XD;;. I'm mostly posting about this because I never want this to happen to anyone else. As a renter, you have rights. Know this, and if you're ever not sure, go here and here (though this is specific to Minnesota)
I'm moving on the 1st of October. I KNOW right? AGAIN? This wasn't planned. I HAVE to move. See, the house I'm in now had a few cosmetic issues that my dad and I fixed. It wasn't until winter that we realized it had some major internal needing to be fixed shit. Like the electrical wiring. Things we can't fix. I kept thinking about moving but I was in a year long lease. After reading up on how breaking a lease could have horrible consequences, (seriously, you might have to pay the rent until your property manager finds a new tenant?) I stuck it out. Moving isn't easy. Once I pay rent I'm broke again until ... hell the next month?
So the furnace died three times in the dead of winter. It was so cold in the house we had to camp out in the living room with electric heaters for nearly a week until the gas company came and replaced the furnace FOR us. Then spring came and rain flooded the basement. It flooded high enough to put out the pilot light in the hot water heater! We fixed that as well as we could. Here's the kicker, my landlady wanted to sell this house to me this summer and she and I made a list of repairs and additions before I agreed to buy. She never followed through and I declined in the end. My mortgage would have been a good $300 less than what I pay in rent too. Shit has gone downhill from there. Summer and the 90+ heat everyday is what really told me the horrile shape this house was in. I kept getting sick. Like allergy sick. Then my cat got insanely ill. I thought he was going to die. He's a Siamese and I noticed his blue eyes were green one day. His skin had turned yellow. A visit to the vet confirmed he had like, fungal growths in his stomach and intestines. He recovered but they told me it could happen again. I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking out for though...
Then I caught my other cat drinking water in our basement... I used to spray bleach in the corners do try and fight what I thought was the smell of mold (as per instructions from my landlady) and I thought maybe that's what made my cat sick... It wasn't the bleach. It's mold. Black-mold. The kind that kills people. This stuff takes a LONG time to infect houses so my guess is it's been here since before I moved in. It's infesting the entire basement (and we think it's in the walls) and I can't get it under control. It's actually not my job to do this either. When the inspector came he walked around the parameter of the house and was like "I can smell it from here..." @__@;;. Not just that, several of my outlets have caught fire. The bats keep coming back. I caught three more of them and animal control came to get them and suggested moving... My landlady knew about all of this and made promises, in writing, to fix these issues. I withheld rent this month until she follows through and she came by with threats to EVICT me within three days of rent-due day passing. She hasn't so much as visited this house since December but I don't pay and she shows up? I told her she wouldn't have to evict me because I'm moving. She agreed this would be 'best'. So SHE broke the lease so now I can move without fear of her wanting the withheld rent. So she was going to give me time to find a place but while I packed and moved she wanted to suddenly come in and start making repairs...
Then it hit me... Was my money not good enough to warrent repairs? I've lived here over a year and she hasn't so much as fixed a door knob but she wants to when I'm leaving? Not only that, she claims my damage deposit was spent but can't tell me where it went. She hasn't fixed anything! *bitter laugh*. FUCK THAT. I called the Tenants Association and Legal Aid (this is free legal services for broke people like me) and an inspector and there's a huge health code violation deal going on. I KNOW my rights as a tenant and she has got me majorly fucked-up. She wanted to come by while I was at work and I sent her a nice email about the details. She showed up 15 minutes later and looked like she was gonna have a heart attack. My challenge to her "unscrupulous business management" has her terrified. She went as far as to ask me "When can I have my property back?" in this shakey voice. The woman will go to jail and lose her liscense to rent. I don't know if I'll win if this goes to court but I refuse to let her do this shit to anyone else again.
Heh, I almost feel bad for her.
So yeah, the life of Tia XD! Still though, stressful :\. My new apartment won't be ready until 10/01. I want to move NOW. Ever since I found out about the mold I've had nigthmares about dying from it getting in my lungs or something...
So yeah... Real life's being a bitch, but I got this!
Be back soon :3.