celestialkiddy
New Member
Hello everyone!
Sorry this is a long post, but please, please, please read!
My situation is that I am living in a house with 4 other people (5 total). When I first moved in (6 months ago) everything was going well no problems. Of course, now there are, otherwise i wouldn't be here! This is in off-campus student housing, not run by the university. I am also no longer a student (graduated) but everyone else in the house still is.
The way that the leases on the house are set up is that each person in the house is on their own separate lease for their room, with the kitchen and living room being common areas. Here is a url to the lease: http://www.varsityrentals.net/samplelease.php The only things on my own lease that are different are the utilities are filled in and theres a note about reduced rent because someone had moved and forfeited their deposit so it went towards my rent.
Now the problem. Over time two roommates began to throw more and more parties, and became messier and messier. At the parties they have underage people drinking as well as drugs. The house is always a mess afterwards. Their guests break things and use/damage personal items as well. When they just had people over casually (1-2 at a time) sometimes their guests would comment or hit on me, or go as far as grabbing me and tickling me (none of which was provoked or asked for). I contacted my landlord/leasing company at the end of November 2006 about it and they promised to send letters to everyone and the cosigners on the lease (their parents) letting them know the situation. That which of course was never done.
The roommates let up on the partying over the holidays, probably because everyone in town had gone home for the university's break. Once school started up again, so did the parties. I thought I was a good friend just trying to go with the flow, its their house too.
I house/pet sit on the side for extra money and one weekend after being away for about 5 days, I came home to a house that was completely trashed. The two roomates who had the party simply refused to clean up the mess. It was the last straw so I contacted the landlord about the situation.
I emailed him a letter including photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/celestialkiddy/ of what the house looked like. After the email I phoned him about the situation. His secretary contacted me later that day and said that Mr.Westfall (landlord owner of the company) had called the two roommates that have been causing all of the problems and told them to clean their act up.
After the phone call absolutely nothing changed except the two roommates demeanor towards me. I have always had a problem with the one, Karl, he has developed severe anger management issues over the past few months, but after I contacted the landlord the tension in the house was almost electric. I was told the landlord did not mention names, but the roommates assumed it was me.
They threw another party that weekend after which they of course did not clean up (there are two sets of photos one from the first party another from the second in the photo link, as well as a few pictures from other parties). The stress from having to deal with a house full of strangers once again after the landlord had called them put me in panic mode, I couldn't breathe or function. I of course sent another email to the landlord that next day (Sunday after the party) and called them Monday when their office opened again.
At this point in the situation I was tired of fighting them to clean up. I hadn't been able to use my kitchen for almost three weeks at this point, the rest of the common areas for longer than that (of which I pointed out to the landlord in the email as well). The two "troublemakers" were supposed to be at class Monday night so I decided to suck it up, take the high road and just clean what I could in the kitchen.
At this time I have also been in counseling for about a month as well as on medication because of the amount of stress that living in the house on top of trying to muddle through that period between graduating and getting a job. I have had more than one panic attack from trying to deal with the stress. Every time I thought I was making progress in my life something would happen in the house and just bring me down again, make it so I couldn't sleep, or feel comfortable in my own home, to be well rested and ready to get to work.
That Monday night Karl did not go to class, he had just gone out of the house at about the same time his class was to start. He came home in the middle of me cleaning the kitchen and just got in my way. Honestly I am so scared of Karl I don't even like talking to him. If you say anything that contradicts anything he says or criticizes him he just blows up at you, calls you names, berates you.
After I had given up on trying to clean the kitchen Karl went off on how I put all of his (and everyone elses dirty dishes from everywhere in the kitchen) dishes into a box, and what I was doing in the house. All I was doing was moving other peoples garbage and dirty dishes so I could clean and use my own kitchen.
By the time I had finished trying to clean the kitchen I was such an emotional stressed out mess by the whole situation, I was having another panic attack. I decided that that was enough. Because there was no way I would be able to drive myself, I called my parents to come pick me up, which I thank god they were nice enough to do, as well as let me sleep on their extra couch in the den since then.
I called and left a voicemail at my landlord's office Monday night explaining what had happened. He called me the next morning and apologized it had come down to me staying at my parents. He said that he mailed letters to the two boys parents/cosigners on the leases, explaining the situation, just before he called. He also offered me rooms in other houses he has.
Honestly I don't want to go live in a house full of strangers when this is what happened with people I knew and had been friends with for a long time. All I can think is what is going to happen there? I'm a sort of shy person, and I don't feel comfortable around people I dont know. That and its the middle of winter, always a pain in the ass to move in, and I'd have to take time off of work to do so (which I can't really afford because with school bills I'm just making ends meet)
There are two other persons in this house that also have nothing to do with the vast amount of partying and large messes. They have also gotten upset about what is going on in the house as of late, not quite to the extent I have, but have still none the less. Neither of them are able to study in their own home or have their own friends over anymore. I was told I had their support if I wanted to try anything to resolve the situation, but the one (who I am close friends with) was just like no no no no, thats not going to work when I suggested putting down rules that everyone would have to abide by. He said that it would jsut upset the two even more than they already were, and they would retalliate and party and make even more messes.
Now for my questions:
Do I have any legal standing on not wanting to live in such a craphole of a house?
Why should I be the one that has to move, if there are two others explicitly causing problems that are outlined in the lease to be a violation of said lease?
Do I have any rights since the whole situation has caused me so much emotional distress that it came down to counseling and medication?
What about the fact I feel threatened in my own home by someone living there?
What about those two roommates' guests making me feel uncomfortable?
Is there anything that the landlord can/should do to remedy this problem?
If need be, I have a feeling the landlord is going to make it difficult for me to get out of the lease in the case that I do decide to break the lease and move out (which is getting more likely by the day), what rights do I have in that situation?
I understand the landlords right to rent out and collect rent and such, but at what expense of my safety and sanity?
Is there anyway to get at least the one causing the most problem, Karl, evicted, if not both of the two having parties and creating messes?
Thank You so much in advance!
katrina in Akron, OH
Sorry this is a long post, but please, please, please read!
My situation is that I am living in a house with 4 other people (5 total). When I first moved in (6 months ago) everything was going well no problems. Of course, now there are, otherwise i wouldn't be here! This is in off-campus student housing, not run by the university. I am also no longer a student (graduated) but everyone else in the house still is.
The way that the leases on the house are set up is that each person in the house is on their own separate lease for their room, with the kitchen and living room being common areas. Here is a url to the lease: http://www.varsityrentals.net/samplelease.php The only things on my own lease that are different are the utilities are filled in and theres a note about reduced rent because someone had moved and forfeited their deposit so it went towards my rent.
Now the problem. Over time two roommates began to throw more and more parties, and became messier and messier. At the parties they have underage people drinking as well as drugs. The house is always a mess afterwards. Their guests break things and use/damage personal items as well. When they just had people over casually (1-2 at a time) sometimes their guests would comment or hit on me, or go as far as grabbing me and tickling me (none of which was provoked or asked for). I contacted my landlord/leasing company at the end of November 2006 about it and they promised to send letters to everyone and the cosigners on the lease (their parents) letting them know the situation. That which of course was never done.
The roommates let up on the partying over the holidays, probably because everyone in town had gone home for the university's break. Once school started up again, so did the parties. I thought I was a good friend just trying to go with the flow, its their house too.
I house/pet sit on the side for extra money and one weekend after being away for about 5 days, I came home to a house that was completely trashed. The two roomates who had the party simply refused to clean up the mess. It was the last straw so I contacted the landlord about the situation.
I emailed him a letter including photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/celestialkiddy/ of what the house looked like. After the email I phoned him about the situation. His secretary contacted me later that day and said that Mr.Westfall (landlord owner of the company) had called the two roommates that have been causing all of the problems and told them to clean their act up.
After the phone call absolutely nothing changed except the two roommates demeanor towards me. I have always had a problem with the one, Karl, he has developed severe anger management issues over the past few months, but after I contacted the landlord the tension in the house was almost electric. I was told the landlord did not mention names, but the roommates assumed it was me.
They threw another party that weekend after which they of course did not clean up (there are two sets of photos one from the first party another from the second in the photo link, as well as a few pictures from other parties). The stress from having to deal with a house full of strangers once again after the landlord had called them put me in panic mode, I couldn't breathe or function. I of course sent another email to the landlord that next day (Sunday after the party) and called them Monday when their office opened again.
At this point in the situation I was tired of fighting them to clean up. I hadn't been able to use my kitchen for almost three weeks at this point, the rest of the common areas for longer than that (of which I pointed out to the landlord in the email as well). The two "troublemakers" were supposed to be at class Monday night so I decided to suck it up, take the high road and just clean what I could in the kitchen.
At this time I have also been in counseling for about a month as well as on medication because of the amount of stress that living in the house on top of trying to muddle through that period between graduating and getting a job. I have had more than one panic attack from trying to deal with the stress. Every time I thought I was making progress in my life something would happen in the house and just bring me down again, make it so I couldn't sleep, or feel comfortable in my own home, to be well rested and ready to get to work.
That Monday night Karl did not go to class, he had just gone out of the house at about the same time his class was to start. He came home in the middle of me cleaning the kitchen and just got in my way. Honestly I am so scared of Karl I don't even like talking to him. If you say anything that contradicts anything he says or criticizes him he just blows up at you, calls you names, berates you.
After I had given up on trying to clean the kitchen Karl went off on how I put all of his (and everyone elses dirty dishes from everywhere in the kitchen) dishes into a box, and what I was doing in the house. All I was doing was moving other peoples garbage and dirty dishes so I could clean and use my own kitchen.
By the time I had finished trying to clean the kitchen I was such an emotional stressed out mess by the whole situation, I was having another panic attack. I decided that that was enough. Because there was no way I would be able to drive myself, I called my parents to come pick me up, which I thank god they were nice enough to do, as well as let me sleep on their extra couch in the den since then.
I called and left a voicemail at my landlord's office Monday night explaining what had happened. He called me the next morning and apologized it had come down to me staying at my parents. He said that he mailed letters to the two boys parents/cosigners on the leases, explaining the situation, just before he called. He also offered me rooms in other houses he has.
Honestly I don't want to go live in a house full of strangers when this is what happened with people I knew and had been friends with for a long time. All I can think is what is going to happen there? I'm a sort of shy person, and I don't feel comfortable around people I dont know. That and its the middle of winter, always a pain in the ass to move in, and I'd have to take time off of work to do so (which I can't really afford because with school bills I'm just making ends meet)
There are two other persons in this house that also have nothing to do with the vast amount of partying and large messes. They have also gotten upset about what is going on in the house as of late, not quite to the extent I have, but have still none the less. Neither of them are able to study in their own home or have their own friends over anymore. I was told I had their support if I wanted to try anything to resolve the situation, but the one (who I am close friends with) was just like no no no no, thats not going to work when I suggested putting down rules that everyone would have to abide by. He said that it would jsut upset the two even more than they already were, and they would retalliate and party and make even more messes.
Now for my questions:
Do I have any legal standing on not wanting to live in such a craphole of a house?
Why should I be the one that has to move, if there are two others explicitly causing problems that are outlined in the lease to be a violation of said lease?
Do I have any rights since the whole situation has caused me so much emotional distress that it came down to counseling and medication?
What about the fact I feel threatened in my own home by someone living there?
What about those two roommates' guests making me feel uncomfortable?
Is there anything that the landlord can/should do to remedy this problem?
If need be, I have a feeling the landlord is going to make it difficult for me to get out of the lease in the case that I do decide to break the lease and move out (which is getting more likely by the day), what rights do I have in that situation?
I understand the landlords right to rent out and collect rent and such, but at what expense of my safety and sanity?
Is there anyway to get at least the one causing the most problem, Karl, evicted, if not both of the two having parties and creating messes?
Thank You so much in advance!
katrina in Akron, OH
