Since March of this year, I've been looking for a house here in Pennsylvania. I've been renting in the same building for 11 years (the first year in a 1 bedroom apt by myself, the remaining 10 years in a 2-bedroom with my husband - his name has never been on my lease). I really need to get out because the company that manages (not owns) the building is accepting immigrants from third-world countries courtesy of local church groups.
Please don't get me wrong, it's a great idea -- but when the church groups are gone, you have to deal with:
Basically, if something breaks in the building, I end up calling it in because no one else speaks English and they don't know that it's a hazard or a problem because they didn't have running water or electricity where they came from. This complex used to be very nice and I recommended it to friends, co-workers and to my sister who stayed here for awhile too. Now the quality of life is severely disintegrating and becoming unlivable and intolerable. And unhealthy too, as my husband has asthma and the smells the foreign neighbors are putting off are a problem for him.
That all said, I've been looking for a home but haven't had any luck. My lease is up on 11/1, and I don't want to rush myself into a house that I can't afford or is a major fixer-upper. Because I've been here for 10 yrs, my rent for the 11th year should not have increased (I can't find paperwork to support this but was told by two previous lengthy tenants), but because of the current energy crisis, they've increased it. My options according to them are:
Please don't get me wrong, it's a great idea -- but when the church groups are gone, you have to deal with:
- dumpster diving and people dragging broken furniture into their apartments,
- kids screaming at your first floor window in who knows what foreign language starting at 6AM (can't tell if the kid broke his leg, is starting a fight, or yelling at his parents/friends on the 4th floor)
- feces in the hallway/laundry room
- the worst smelling "cooking" you can ever imagine (when I complained about it, the one maintenance guy thought someone had died - it was THAT bad. Now they cook it at 3:30AM - I've never had a smell wake me up.)
- Can't open your windows on a hot day because someone's outside smoking something (I've been around pipe, cigars, and we used to have pot smokers in the bldg - I have no clue what they are smoking but it smells worse than all the others and it starts at 6AM till midnight.)
- More than 10 kids using the apartment above you as a playground.
- Some 2 bedroom apts have 2 adults and 4-6 kids (which is overcrowding)
- bed bugs - found a dead one on the shared washer/dryer.
Basically, if something breaks in the building, I end up calling it in because no one else speaks English and they don't know that it's a hazard or a problem because they didn't have running water or electricity where they came from. This complex used to be very nice and I recommended it to friends, co-workers and to my sister who stayed here for awhile too. Now the quality of life is severely disintegrating and becoming unlivable and intolerable. And unhealthy too, as my husband has asthma and the smells the foreign neighbors are putting off are a problem for him.
That all said, I've been looking for a home but haven't had any luck. My lease is up on 11/1, and I don't want to rush myself into a house that I can't afford or is a major fixer-upper. Because I've been here for 10 yrs, my rent for the 11th year should not have increased (I can't find paperwork to support this but was told by two previous lengthy tenants), but because of the current energy crisis, they've increased it. My options according to them are:
- resign for the full year, at the increased rate. If I find a house, I'll have to sub-let my apt and hope they don't trash the place.
- do a month-to-month lease with a 30-day notice to move, at the increased rate PLUS an extra $50/mo
- resign for the full year, at the increased rate with a "real estate clause" to terminate the lease at any time with a 60-day notice to move, and pay $50/mo extra.
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I know I probably can't fight the increased rate but my question to the legal folk is - why should I pay a "fee" of $50/mo extra? It surely isn't going to improvements in the bldg or my apt by any means (it took me 2 yrs of fighting with them to get a new fridge and they didn't replace the carpeting before I moved in.). I've been here for 10 years - when I do leave they won't know when the sewer backs up or the washer, or a window is broke. On top of this, they gave me a charge sheet that says how much they charge if they have to fix something when I vacate (repair small holes in wall $30/hr., replace light bulbs $2/ea., removal of leftover furniture $50/item, carpet replacement $17/sq.yd., etc.)
Can I get a lawyer to rewrite the lease for the 3rd option without the $50/mo fee because of the living conditions I've described? I've called the Health Dept on them for a couple of the violations I mentioned, but it just seems to be getting worse.
