collegeprof
New Member
I recently finished graduate school and took a position as a professor at a rural college in Indiana. As my husband and I had purchased a home in the town where I went to graduate school (that, of course, we could not sell
) we decided to rent at first after moving here. Being a rural area, rental properties are few and far between, but I was given the name of a local woman who managed several properties in the area. I spoke to her on the phone and she seemed nice enough, and the house she described seemed to be workable. The house is a manufactured home that is on her property (the two homes share a driveway). All of this was made clear to me over the phone. As we were moving over 1200 miles away, we only visited the area once to see properties, and this property was not available at the time. So we ended up renting the house sight-unseen. We did see photographs of the house and it seemed OK. I signed a MTM lease starting in August.
The house turned out to not be as advertised, but I am willing to accept the responsibility and/or risk that comes from renting a house sight-unseen. However, the problems that have arisen lately have gone beyond the house not meeting our expectations.
About a month ago, our tap water (we are on a well) turned brown. I, of course, contacted the landlady and she responded immediately and had the company that services the water softener come out to the property. They came and saw that I had stored a garden hose on the ground in front of the water softener, but leaning up against it, and said that somehow that hose was interfering with the water softener. They moved it and said that softener would cycle through a few times and it would clear up. I wasn't totally convinced, but I know nothing about water softeners so I believed it. The water did start to get better, but about three days later it stopped getting better and started getting worse. I text messaged the landlady (this is her preferred method of contact: if I call her she does not answer and then just texts me) and told her that the water was getting worse and could someone please come out the next day. She said she wanted to see the water. So I put some in a jar and brought it to her and she said the company would come out again, which they did. They said the water softener was operating normally. It since got better until today when it has turned brown again. I contacted her and she said that the water softener is "broken" due to "our negligence" and that it will not be fixed.
While she was in the house the first time with the water company, she opened the electrical panel and noticed that we had turned the breaker off that controls the electricity to a garage on the property that we do not have access to. She rents the garage to another tenant, or at least used to. Nowhere in the lease is there language that suggests that I need to pay for electricity to a structure I do not have access to. She complained about it and turned it back on. I promptly turned it back off when she left.
During this whole fiasco, and given a few other issues (not necessarily legally actionable) that we have with the property, my husband and I decided to give the required 60 day notice and start looking in earnest for a new place to live. I did this via text message with the landlady (again, her preferred method of contact) around March 1. I told her that we would be out by May 1 and that I would provide written notice shortly, as it was required by the contract and as she requested in a text-message reply.
A few days later, she text-messaged me to inform me that she was showing the house the next day. I had not yet given her written notification of leaving the property. When I brought that up she said that a text-message "counts" as written notification. Which I believed. She showed the house that time and then a few days later she texted to inform me that she was showing the house again on Saturday morning at 9:30. When I protested due to it being inconvenient, she said that she had given me 24 hours notice and that is all that she is legally required to do. I know that it true, but I was hoping for a bit of consideration. We were heading out of town that afternoon and would be gone for a whole week, during which she could show the house at 4 AM if she wanted to. She refused to accommodate my request and showed the house at her appointed time on Saturday morning.
We just returned home to find both the front and the door unlocked, the breaker for the garage turned back on, and the thermostat set to 75. We had turned it off when we left. It is obvious that she has been in the house in our absence.
She sent me a text-message while I was out of town (on my birthday, no less!) informing me that she would be sending me a letter and notice of eviction and that we needed to be out in 30 days. I assumed at the time that she had found a new tenant. I realize that the agreement I signed states that she can evict us whenever she wants, given written notice, but I'm unclear on if a text-message constitutes "written notice." There was no formal written notice in the mail when we returned.
I am not willing to fight for the right to continue living here, but it does not seem right to me that she would a)consider it our responsibility to provide electricity to that garage b)obviously enter the property without notification and/or permission while we were out of town and c)consider a text-message "written notification" of eviction.
Is there anything I can do at this point?
Thanks
) we decided to rent at first after moving here. Being a rural area, rental properties are few and far between, but I was given the name of a local woman who managed several properties in the area. I spoke to her on the phone and she seemed nice enough, and the house she described seemed to be workable. The house is a manufactured home that is on her property (the two homes share a driveway). All of this was made clear to me over the phone. As we were moving over 1200 miles away, we only visited the area once to see properties, and this property was not available at the time. So we ended up renting the house sight-unseen. We did see photographs of the house and it seemed OK. I signed a MTM lease starting in August. The house turned out to not be as advertised, but I am willing to accept the responsibility and/or risk that comes from renting a house sight-unseen. However, the problems that have arisen lately have gone beyond the house not meeting our expectations.
About a month ago, our tap water (we are on a well) turned brown. I, of course, contacted the landlady and she responded immediately and had the company that services the water softener come out to the property. They came and saw that I had stored a garden hose on the ground in front of the water softener, but leaning up against it, and said that somehow that hose was interfering with the water softener. They moved it and said that softener would cycle through a few times and it would clear up. I wasn't totally convinced, but I know nothing about water softeners so I believed it. The water did start to get better, but about three days later it stopped getting better and started getting worse. I text messaged the landlady (this is her preferred method of contact: if I call her she does not answer and then just texts me) and told her that the water was getting worse and could someone please come out the next day. She said she wanted to see the water. So I put some in a jar and brought it to her and she said the company would come out again, which they did. They said the water softener was operating normally. It since got better until today when it has turned brown again. I contacted her and she said that the water softener is "broken" due to "our negligence" and that it will not be fixed.
While she was in the house the first time with the water company, she opened the electrical panel and noticed that we had turned the breaker off that controls the electricity to a garage on the property that we do not have access to. She rents the garage to another tenant, or at least used to. Nowhere in the lease is there language that suggests that I need to pay for electricity to a structure I do not have access to. She complained about it and turned it back on. I promptly turned it back off when she left.
During this whole fiasco, and given a few other issues (not necessarily legally actionable) that we have with the property, my husband and I decided to give the required 60 day notice and start looking in earnest for a new place to live. I did this via text message with the landlady (again, her preferred method of contact) around March 1. I told her that we would be out by May 1 and that I would provide written notice shortly, as it was required by the contract and as she requested in a text-message reply.
A few days later, she text-messaged me to inform me that she was showing the house the next day. I had not yet given her written notification of leaving the property. When I brought that up she said that a text-message "counts" as written notification. Which I believed. She showed the house that time and then a few days later she texted to inform me that she was showing the house again on Saturday morning at 9:30. When I protested due to it being inconvenient, she said that she had given me 24 hours notice and that is all that she is legally required to do. I know that it true, but I was hoping for a bit of consideration. We were heading out of town that afternoon and would be gone for a whole week, during which she could show the house at 4 AM if she wanted to. She refused to accommodate my request and showed the house at her appointed time on Saturday morning.
We just returned home to find both the front and the door unlocked, the breaker for the garage turned back on, and the thermostat set to 75. We had turned it off when we left. It is obvious that she has been in the house in our absence.
She sent me a text-message while I was out of town (on my birthday, no less!) informing me that she would be sending me a letter and notice of eviction and that we needed to be out in 30 days. I assumed at the time that she had found a new tenant. I realize that the agreement I signed states that she can evict us whenever she wants, given written notice, but I'm unclear on if a text-message constitutes "written notice." There was no formal written notice in the mail when we returned.
I am not willing to fight for the right to continue living here, but it does not seem right to me that she would a)consider it our responsibility to provide electricity to that garage b)obviously enter the property without notification and/or permission while we were out of town and c)consider a text-message "written notification" of eviction.
Is there anything I can do at this point?
Thanks
