My jurisdiction is: Cobb County Georgia
This is a bit of a post, so please be patient. I think I am in serious need of help.
When I moved into the residence in question it was obvious that the landlord was lax about the home upkeep. This I decided to deal with because of its proximity to my daughter's school. The house was dirty, including ketchup all over the kitchen walls. He noted several things that needed to be repaired, (a broken sink sprayer, MBR window loose in the frame, basement steps needed staining), in the move in inspection. He also told me to feel free to paint the bedrooms as long as I painted them back to a neutral color upon move out. At the time they were very hideous colors. This seemed like a win/win for both of us. I asked for the approval in writing and he said it was on its way, and to go ahead and start. Before we did we took pictures of everything we could. Over a hundred of them and sent him a walk-through inspection of our own. He dismissed them as being all "cosmetic" things.
I realized I was going to start having issues when he started fussing about us needing to clean the gutters. SO we did, and we found paper and garbage up there, some of it was so buried that you could still see the dates on it back a couple of years, those things were packed. Having lived in the neighborhood previously to this we knew he had bought the house just two months or so before we moved in. It was obvious he had done little since buying the place.
Fast forward to Oct 2008, by this time he had done a couple of walk through inspections and tried to blame my dog for scratches on the door frame that he noted were there prior to us moving in. Each time we had to remind him while he was trying to figure out how much to charge us for it. Understandably we decided to go month to month on rent. Come April we had enough. Looked for a place and found one, at which time we gave him 60 days notice, (his lease says 60 but in Ga month to month you are only required to give 30), and which point he started making demands. He wanted us to replace grass in the yard that wasn't there when we moved in, new pine straw for the pine islands, the landscaping works. So we decided to take the high ground and comply. Then he did a walk through inspection, taking pictures of everything while we were packing, the place was a mess from that as well as a tummy bug my daughter, who is 9, had all weekend. I felt more inclined to take care of her than to turn my place into a show home for him that weekend. He sends me an email telling me I am disgusting, (which I am not), and then said I would be in trouble with the authorities if they saw teh way I live! I was appalled in the least, I am not a "dirty" person. Then I realized why he was doing this, I received a mail with all sorts of demands in it. He said my air filter was dirty so that meant that I had neglected the HVAC system and needed to have it clean and repaired at my expense, the hotwater heater had a small drip that I did not notice because it is in the basement, and he said that I was responsible for further damage to it and I need to have it inspected. The thing was last inspected in 1985, you can tell by the big sticker on it. Now, he is telling me I broke the law criminally by "converting" the house with out his permission, because once I started painting he refused to send me a notice about it and is now telling me I have to paint the ceilings too,they have over painting from the people that lived here before me, you can tell by the atrocious color.
When I finally got fed up and wrote him a letter telling him I would paint as agreed but the rest I was not going to do as it is not my responsibility to clean the HVAC just because he wants me to, or replace his 25 year old water heater, he sends me a letter telling me he is evicting me. Seriously, we are going to be out of there in two weeks, and then I realized why, he is planning on charging me his "costs" to evict me...
What do I do with this guy?
Thanks,
H.
This is a bit of a post, so please be patient. I think I am in serious need of help.
When I moved into the residence in question it was obvious that the landlord was lax about the home upkeep. This I decided to deal with because of its proximity to my daughter's school. The house was dirty, including ketchup all over the kitchen walls. He noted several things that needed to be repaired, (a broken sink sprayer, MBR window loose in the frame, basement steps needed staining), in the move in inspection. He also told me to feel free to paint the bedrooms as long as I painted them back to a neutral color upon move out. At the time they were very hideous colors. This seemed like a win/win for both of us. I asked for the approval in writing and he said it was on its way, and to go ahead and start. Before we did we took pictures of everything we could. Over a hundred of them and sent him a walk-through inspection of our own. He dismissed them as being all "cosmetic" things.
I realized I was going to start having issues when he started fussing about us needing to clean the gutters. SO we did, and we found paper and garbage up there, some of it was so buried that you could still see the dates on it back a couple of years, those things were packed. Having lived in the neighborhood previously to this we knew he had bought the house just two months or so before we moved in. It was obvious he had done little since buying the place.
Fast forward to Oct 2008, by this time he had done a couple of walk through inspections and tried to blame my dog for scratches on the door frame that he noted were there prior to us moving in. Each time we had to remind him while he was trying to figure out how much to charge us for it. Understandably we decided to go month to month on rent. Come April we had enough. Looked for a place and found one, at which time we gave him 60 days notice, (his lease says 60 but in Ga month to month you are only required to give 30), and which point he started making demands. He wanted us to replace grass in the yard that wasn't there when we moved in, new pine straw for the pine islands, the landscaping works. So we decided to take the high ground and comply. Then he did a walk through inspection, taking pictures of everything while we were packing, the place was a mess from that as well as a tummy bug my daughter, who is 9, had all weekend. I felt more inclined to take care of her than to turn my place into a show home for him that weekend. He sends me an email telling me I am disgusting, (which I am not), and then said I would be in trouble with the authorities if they saw teh way I live! I was appalled in the least, I am not a "dirty" person. Then I realized why he was doing this, I received a mail with all sorts of demands in it. He said my air filter was dirty so that meant that I had neglected the HVAC system and needed to have it clean and repaired at my expense, the hotwater heater had a small drip that I did not notice because it is in the basement, and he said that I was responsible for further damage to it and I need to have it inspected. The thing was last inspected in 1985, you can tell by the big sticker on it. Now, he is telling me I broke the law criminally by "converting" the house with out his permission, because once I started painting he refused to send me a notice about it and is now telling me I have to paint the ceilings too,they have over painting from the people that lived here before me, you can tell by the atrocious color.
When I finally got fed up and wrote him a letter telling him I would paint as agreed but the rest I was not going to do as it is not my responsibility to clean the HVAC just because he wants me to, or replace his 25 year old water heater, he sends me a letter telling me he is evicting me. Seriously, we are going to be out of there in two weeks, and then I realized why, he is planning on charging me his "costs" to evict me...
What do I do with this guy?
Thanks,
H.
