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Ahole Landlord
ANTVGM64
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I moved into my new apartment in North Chicago 2 months ago. Due to the fair housing act, the person who showed me the apartment said she couldn't tell me what kind of area it was, what the reputation of the land lord was, what have you. I tried to look online for info about the company, but found none.
Fast Forward 3 months later. I've paid rent on times, in some cases early, by putting the check under the boiler room door, as I was instructed. I've yet to recieve a key for my mailbox, or been put on the manifest, despite MANY phonecalls asking my landlord, Joe, to do so.
This morning I get the SECOND notice that I have NOT paid my rent for the month of August, when I, in fact, did. (two weeks ago, I received a yellow piece of paper saying there's a fifteen dollar fee, and to call my landlord. I do, I read to him the BACK OF THE CHECK HE CASHED WITH HIS NAME ON IT, and he says okay, I'm fine. I ask about my mailbox key. he says I'll have one by the end of the night.)
No mailbox key.
This morning I get a similar notice saying I haven't paid my rent. he says he wants proof of the check. I told him that we had this SAME conversation earlier in the month, and I read to him what was on the back of the check (It was a specific stamp that was used to cash it). He says he NEEDS proof, I can slip it under the boiler room door.
I ask if I can fax it. He says sure, fine. I ask about the mailbox key, he blows me off "Yeah sure,".
This is the most infurating thing in the world to me. My apartment is in a shitty location because no one is allowed to tell me I live near a mental hospital for the homeless, so leaving my apartment is an adventure, I find there's a problem with BUG infestation, bed bugs, roaches, and so on - because I managed to stumble upon reviews after attempting to find a damn e-mail for the landlord so I can EMAIL him proof of the checks, since I don't have a fax machine or a printer.
So, my question PA, is what can I do here? Obviously this guy is a joke. He's an idiot, and he has me by the balls because I signed a lease.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-b-management-chicago <----Reviews for this fellow.
(Please note he calls his company JB management when it's in fact just him)
My mother offered to print out the checks and mail them to me, but GASP guess who can't get mail after THREE FUCKING MONTHS.
Fast Forward 3 months later. I've paid rent on times, in some cases early, by putting the check under the boiler room door, as I was instructed. I've yet to recieve a key for my mailbox, or been put on the manifest, despite MANY phonecalls asking my landlord, Joe, to do so.
This morning I get the SECOND notice that I have NOT paid my rent for the month of August, when I, in fact, did. (two weeks ago, I received a yellow piece of paper saying there's a fifteen dollar fee, and to call my landlord. I do, I read to him the BACK OF THE CHECK HE CASHED WITH HIS NAME ON IT, and he says okay, I'm fine. I ask about my mailbox key. he says I'll have one by the end of the night.)
No mailbox key.
This morning I get a similar notice saying I haven't paid my rent. he says he wants proof of the check. I told him that we had this SAME conversation earlier in the month, and I read to him what was on the back of the check (It was a specific stamp that was used to cash it). He says he NEEDS proof, I can slip it under the boiler room door.
I ask if I can fax it. He says sure, fine. I ask about the mailbox key, he blows me off "Yeah sure,".
This is the most infurating thing in the world to me. My apartment is in a shitty location because no one is allowed to tell me I live near a mental hospital for the homeless, so leaving my apartment is an adventure, I find there's a problem with BUG infestation, bed bugs, roaches, and so on - because I managed to stumble upon reviews after attempting to find a damn e-mail for the landlord so I can EMAIL him proof of the checks, since I don't have a fax machine or a printer.
So, my question PA, is what can I do here? Obviously this guy is a joke. He's an idiot, and he has me by the balls because I signed a lease.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-b-management-chicago <----Reviews for this fellow.
(Please note he calls his company JB management when it's in fact just him)
My mother offered to print out the checks and mail them to me, but GASP guess who can't get mail after THREE FUCKING MONTHS.
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Bedbugs? Get out. NOW.
Moving is a bigger hassle then living in an apartment with insect infestation, where you are unable to receive mail, and where you get harassed for the rent on a monthly basis?
Well, I guess you've picked your battles.
Check with a rental lawyer over this - but if you're not willing to move out over it I'm not sure how much of a threat you can make to the land lord. If you are going to stay and pay rent, then he doesn't have much of an incentive to change things (unless the lawyer has an idea).
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My 10 commandments of game reviewing
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Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
10 Videogames Ruined By The Hype
Edit: Seconding the GTFO notion, bug infestation is just not worth dealing with. Find a way to break your lease and get your deposit back.
Talk to a rental lawyer and find any agencies your state/county has to protect renters from abusive landlords.
Really that homeless mental hospital is probably a better place to live in then your apartment get the fuck out.
Facebook: MeekinOnMovies
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My 10 commandments of game reviewing
7 Great Games Playing Watch_Dogs will remind you of/url]
Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
10 Videogames Ruined By The Hype
Facebook: MeekinOnMovies
Twitter: Twitter.com/MeekinOnMovies
My 10 commandments of game reviewing
7 Great Games Playing Watch_Dogs will remind you of/url]
Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
10 Videogames Ruined By The Hype
Your bank can give you a copy of the check as well when it was cashed, but check your local laws your landlord might be required to give a receipt when requested.
You don't have them YET you mean. If they're in the building, they're going to make their way to you.
Which is even more reason to get out ASAP cause once your stuff is infested you are going to be throwing it out and buying replacements.
Frankly, you are failing at the calculus of life. There are plenty of alarm bells ringing, which others have pointed out, telling you that you need to move, ASAP. Find a place where the landlord actually responds to their tenants and can keep track of who has and has not paid.
If you are unwilling to move because of the "hassle", then frankly, stop bitching about the landlord. Getting a landlord to do something they are supposed to do anyway is a huge undertaking, especially if they have already evidenced clear and repeated disregard for your feelings and their responsibilities. You don't have a pressing reason of why you should fight this, and you are putting yourself at huge risk by staying.
So seriously? GTFO already.
Yes, moving is a hassle, but compare the hassle of moving with the hassle of bedbugs, roaches and, judging from the reviews, one of the most horrible landlords to ever stalk the Earth, and it really is just easier to move than to deal with all his shit and try to get stuff done there.
Facebook: MeekinOnMovies
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My 10 commandments of game reviewing
7 Great Games Playing Watch_Dogs will remind you of/url]
Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
10 Videogames Ruined By The Hype
edit: And just a reminder about posting in public forums; Landlord sues tenant after tweet.... Tenant was completely justified, but just something to keep in mind.
This confuses me. Why would the fair housing act restrict this information? If anything, what I've learned from recent house shopping is that they have to be brutally honest with you in regards to this information. Was this person employed by Asshat Management? If it was a third party (real estate agent or some such), I'd be calling with some serious complaints to them as well.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
I also suggest that the next time he calls you and demands proof that you paid the rent, you should answer "no." Just tell him "I gave you a check. You cashed it. I have bank statements and check images that prove this. It's not my job to keep track of your accounts. If you get me my mail key, maybe I'll help you out." He can't evict you when you've paid the rent.
Make complaints about all the problems with the apartment. There's a legal theory called "constructive eviction." If you can show that the guy was basically evicting you by not properly maintaining the apartment, you can break the lease penalty-free; that even being an option can be used to leverage the proper behavior out of your landlord. And honestly, it sounds like this guy didn't do some mandatory disclosures before you moved in, too. You should definitely talk to an attorney, because you may be able to get him to pay for you to move out.
I've seen something similar when I looked at an apt that was obviously a building where the occupants were all illegal immigrants with 5-6 adults in 1-2 bedroom apartments (noticed the many names on the mailboxes) and the one bedroom I looked out that was occupied by 2 brothers and a sister, all with different last anmes and the bedroom door had a self installed padlock on it so we couldn't even see it. I asked the real estate agent about it and he told me legally he couldn't comment about that but he did tell me that "maybe this was a little too far from the T" for what I wanted... when it was 10 feet from a T bus stop.
A bed bug infestation is never worth sticking it out to fight. Unless you own the place and you'd lose a lot of equity by dumping it.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
By hassling you about the rent checks, threatening you with fines, not providing access to your mail and having goddamn bedbugs in the building, your landlord is fucking with your right to peaceably enjoy your apartment(there's a legal term close to that, I forget what though) and has basically already broken your lease. You need to get your own lawyer, not just the one everyone else is using and have him give you a consultation. Ask your lawyer about withholding rent at least until you get the mailbox key.
I lived for one whole month in an apartment infested with them, and by the end I was having nightmares of them every time I closed my eyes. I trashed about two grand worth of stuff just to decrease my chances of bringing them to my new place.
If bedbugs have been a problem in your building it is very unlikely they were successfully eliminated. Find some way, any way out of your lease and into a new place.
I don't know if this is actually in the fair housing act, but I do know that brokers are lying pieces of shit.
in which case, dude, get the fuck out of uptown
also please be careful if you're anywhere near Sheridan and Leland
Seconded. This seems contrary to what the fair housing act tries to do. In the future, ask the cops. They (typically) maintain crime statistics. You can tell a lot about an area by how often the cops are called.
Yes, if there's homeless dudes warming themselves around fires in barrels, you can get an idea. However, a lot of neighborhoods change at night when shops and businesses close, or by season, re: bums congregating around certain parks in summer.
Wriglyville is a good example. Fine when there's games, but a little shadier when there's not.
I live in a nice looking little neighborhood, with well maintained houses and lawns. I also see the cops in the neighborhood at least once a week, have people out partying at 1 in the morning on a Wednesday, and recently has somebody do a smash & grab on a car about thirty feet from where I park.
That sounds like an anomaly.
The OP sounds like they're living in a bug infested ghetto.
you're not really familiar with Chicago, are you?
it's really not that simple. nighttime gang violence and the property crime and drug dealing that goes with it doesn't necessarily turn a neighborhood into a slum, and even the good neighborhoods weren't at some point. there's no real aesthetic qualities to the bad neighborhoods (like Uptown) that differentiate from the acceptable nearby ones (like Edgewater)
you'd know you're in a bad area in the worst neighborhoods, like Englewood, but Uptown isn't really a bad looking place. there's some nightlife, a couple of music venues, and some pretty decent shops and storefronts along Broadway, plus the red line runs straight through it and it's bordered by some decent communities. in general, passing through makes it seem like a pretty okay place.
but moving into an area with the highest concentration of homeless shelters in the city (as well as the cities only free mental health clinics geared toward the homeless) means there's a lot of homeless moving in and out of the area that may or may not be dangerous. since they, you know, don't have homes, it's not really a consistent thing.
plus, since the beginning of the summer, crime and gang violence have been on the rise on the north side because there's really been no one to stop them. The number of street cops on patrol is way down because the city can't afford to pay them, and the available officers have been concentrating more on the west and south sides, where crime is traditionally a bigger problem.
unless you knew all of what I just told you, you'd really have no idea that Uptown is kind of dangerous.
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Just like you, I'm generall aware which parts of my city I would not want to live in. I don't think it takes that much time to look into those sorts of things.
nothing is really as clearly defined as in other cities. you can't say "the south side is unsafe" or "the north side is fine" because that's not true. there are a lot of really fantastic neighborhoods in the south, and some really crummy ones on the north.
chicago has no less than 77 neighborhoods, and for someone moving to the city for the first time, it's not really an easy thing to get a handle on.
Just kind of between the two.
Arglye!
I talked to the lawyer, and he said the only thing he could really help me with was getting out of my lease and possibly my mailbox key.
Facebook: MeekinOnMovies
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My 10 commandments of game reviewing
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Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
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unless you've got a really good reason to be in Uptown, it's not a neighborhood I'd want to stay in. especially in the conditions at your apartment complex. you'll be fighting your landlord and your alderwoman for decent living conditions, and I don't think either one are going to provide them.
if you were talked into the neighborhood due to affordability, there's plenty of comparable neighborhoods. check out Logan Square, Wicker Park, Ukranian Village, Bucktown and West Town on the west side, and Rogers Park or Edgewater on the north. Logan Square and Ukranian Village you need to be careful not to get too close to Humboldt Park or Hermosa, but sticking near the boulevard in Logan or closer to Ashland in Uke Village are fine. Wicker Park is a little pricier, but that's because it's the new hipster haven of the city.
if you don't care whether or not you're near the red or blue lines (which are the only ones that run 24/7), Lincoln Square and Roscoe Village should run along the same prices as well. the brown line services those neighborhoods, but it closes early.
I mention these because these are the areas I've been looking at as well, and was almost talked into a gorgeous place in Uptown on Broadway and Lawrence. but, well, I know the area and I didn't want to get involved in that.