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Thoughts on landlord/boiler situation
Canada_jezus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey,
Anyway about a month ago i moved into a new place, it was okay except no boiler yet. Whoops. The boiler got installed a week later, works fine but is loud as fuck even idling. Like it is louder than my three last boilers (gas, electric, electric) when its idling than they were during operation. Its a brand new boiler, so new the boiler guy couldn't fix it when it was installed and it didn't work. He didn't know how, the manufacturer had to send someone.
Anyway, its loud as fuck, but it has an on/off button. It warms up in say 5 minutes? So i just used that. Problem solved. Now today i learned that of the three apartments in this house, only mine has a boiler ie i'm supplying the entire building. This means it would have to be on all the time, so people can have the hot water they rightly deserve.
Now this apartment is small, two rooms and the boiler is three feet away from the only realistic place to put a bed. I cannot sleep with it on. (I guess i might be able to but at 550 clams a month fuck you I'm not putting up with this). I mention the rent because the lady that lived her before me (my across the street neighbor) payed (under a different landlord but still) 320 clams for the entire house that is now divided into three apartments.
I've written a firm but polite email asking if i'm right in thinking this is a big problem and how are we going to solve it. (i'd post it but its in dutch. I've had my parents read it over they say its well written, they're both lawyers so it should be okay)
I guess my questions are, am i being reasonable? Do you think i can expect a resolution other than having to move out? Should i ask for/sue for moving costs? I've already payed rent for September, if this turns ugly (I'm forced to keep the boiler on at all times or whatever ) should i ask for/sue for it back?
As a last note my landlord is a titanic asshole. At one point (when checking to see if the boiler was installed properly) yelling at me and violently cleaning my toilet, yes it is apparently possible to violently clean a toilet, because it was not 100% poo free. (i did flush it was just dirty)
Anyway, sorry for the wall of text thanks for reading through it.
Anyway about a month ago i moved into a new place, it was okay except no boiler yet. Whoops. The boiler got installed a week later, works fine but is loud as fuck even idling. Like it is louder than my three last boilers (gas, electric, electric) when its idling than they were during operation. Its a brand new boiler, so new the boiler guy couldn't fix it when it was installed and it didn't work. He didn't know how, the manufacturer had to send someone.
Anyway, its loud as fuck, but it has an on/off button. It warms up in say 5 minutes? So i just used that. Problem solved. Now today i learned that of the three apartments in this house, only mine has a boiler ie i'm supplying the entire building. This means it would have to be on all the time, so people can have the hot water they rightly deserve.
Now this apartment is small, two rooms and the boiler is three feet away from the only realistic place to put a bed. I cannot sleep with it on. (I guess i might be able to but at 550 clams a month fuck you I'm not putting up with this). I mention the rent because the lady that lived her before me (my across the street neighbor) payed (under a different landlord but still) 320 clams for the entire house that is now divided into three apartments.
I've written a firm but polite email asking if i'm right in thinking this is a big problem and how are we going to solve it. (i'd post it but its in dutch. I've had my parents read it over they say its well written, they're both lawyers so it should be okay)
I guess my questions are, am i being reasonable? Do you think i can expect a resolution other than having to move out? Should i ask for/sue for moving costs? I've already payed rent for September, if this turns ugly (I'm forced to keep the boiler on at all times or whatever ) should i ask for/sue for it back?
As a last note my landlord is a titanic asshole. At one point (when checking to see if the boiler was installed properly) yelling at me and violently cleaning my toilet, yes it is apparently possible to violently clean a toilet, because it was not 100% poo free. (i did flush it was just dirty)
Anyway, sorry for the wall of text thanks for reading through it.
Canada_jezus on
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I just, idk, is it realistic to expect a landlord to either change all the piping and put in two new boilers or maybe put a wooden cabinet with soundproofing material around the boiler. Or am i just going to get a firm "fuck off"?
edit: but i mean the boiler is in my bathroom, could they force me to actually turn it on? (if i want to be a dick about it)
Something like this.
Regardless probably the only remedy available to you is breaking your lease early and finding another place to live.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Yeah depending on the answer to the email that i get, a visit to a lawyer is on the books this week. But like, morally, suing (if need be) so that i don't need to pay up 3 months rent just to get out of a place where i can't sleep. I mean, that's not frivolous right?
I've had a friend stay over and ask to me to shut it off, (needed it for heat switched to an electric furnace). I had a girl over and she was like "How do you sleep?"
My mom said: "Wow thats loud." The boiler has a great big pair of balls, as in i think it'll be more than powerful enough for three appartments. But just so loud. The guy from the manufacturers said everything was normal.:?
I mean its just, i have anger issues and i was all "why in godsname does this house just have one boiler!" and i just needed someone to tell me i wasn't overreacting.
I do wonder what kind of lease you have and how utilities are split up between you and the other apartments. Are you paying to heat all their hot water?
Also the utilities, are a flat 50 for me per month. Its not that uncommon to do, I've had apartments before where they did this. (where we each had out boiler). I'm assuming the other apartments pay something similar.
I don't know what radiant heat is exactly, but the heat is just radiators on the wall. Its a gas powered boiler, its capacity is 31,6kW i cant' find any other specs online.
I'm guessing that you have a tanklesss water heater, which can run noisily and sporadically. But it would only be on when the water was being called for, i.e., when someone was taking a shower or doing the dishes.
OR, you have one of these fancy new wall-hung boilers that look like rocketship engines when you take the cover off. It should also be idle unless the system is calling for water, i.e., when someone bumps their thermostat up, but it will run occasionally to keep its internal tank warm (therefore minimizing lag time between when you adjust your thermostat and when you feel the heat).
Neither of these should be on a switch at all. These are basic household utilities that are required to be provided in most housing acts, and turning them off is depriving your neighbors of their right to comfort. It then goes back to the landlord, who then could potentially evict you under the grounds that you are tampering with his property/denying the neighbors/something else speculative.
Asking him to replace the pipes is an unreasonable demand. Repiping a house to accomodate two new domestic hot water tanks will cost in the thousands of dollars--and repiping a radiant heating system can run in the ten- to twenty-thousand dollar range. Last time I checked, people generally don't shell out thousands of dollars to create a convoluted solution to a ridiculous problem--one boiler or water heater is plenty for any house. Hell, one boiler or water heater is plenty for many apartment complexes.
In short, your options are limited to dealing or moving out.
Maybe they could insulate around it or something? Or assuming it's in it's own little room, line the walls with some soundboard or something.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Yeah i can agree with that everyone should have hot water obviously, but just the same i can't accept this amount of noise. Its moving out time i guess.
Fair enough but why should one apartment have all the trouble of the noise that comes with it? There's a cellar he should have put it there, not three feet away from the bed. Funnily enough, the bed was there first actually.
I can see that its pretty out there to ask but, honestly i feel this situation falls on the landlord to fix. He really should have had the foresight to expect problems with this. But i'll say again, i agree it probably won't happen.
In any case, the boiler constantly makes the same amount of noise, whether water is being used or not. Idk if that means its busted, but its too loud to live with anyway.
Yeah i'm hoping he'll go for this without it having to go to court. But i hope the threat of having to pay lawyers fees will be enough. Because, if i'm out 1500 to 2500 for moving out earlier, the risk of high lawyer costs might be worth it. Maybe i should just let it go, but i can't really stand the thought of getting stiffed like that.
Man, he is so fucked... what is your financial situation like? Would you live there if he gave you a great deal? Odds are he's rather have someone in there who won't force the issue rather than deal with someone proactive about it. If yo want to use it, you've got a big fucking bargaining chip.
Tomorrow a meeting with the actual lawyer who'll be sending the documents etc, someone else from the law firm. The person i talked to today was apparently just out of college and will just be assisting. Oh well, we'll see how this goes.