Fanaticus
New Member
My wife and I bought a house. We were living in an apartment.
Our lease stated that we need to give a 60 day notice if we were moving and that we could only move when the lease expired.
Our lease was set to expire next June.
We wrote a note to the landlords asking to be released early, and it was received by them 58 days before the date we requested to be our last, October 31st. And I paid rent up to October 31st.
They said OK, BUT.... you are responsible for the utility bills and rent until we get someone new in here. Which we agreed with.
We offered to pay for their advertising as well. They said "No, we'll take care of that".
We cleaned the apartment to be SPOTLESS (I spent 5 hours scrubbing just the oven until it looked new).... so that we could get it as rent ready as possible. Cleaned the carpet, scrubbed the walls, cleaned the window blinds, air vents, cabinets.... the place was spotless. If it could get dirty, we cleaned it.
Now, they found a new renter quickly. The landlords told us they were moving in November 1st.
We drive by the apartment almost every day and watched as people moved in on Saturday, Oct. 22nd. On the 23rd they were done moving in, had a satelite dish set up. The blinds were open and we could plainly see that they were, in fact, set up and living there. TV on, lights on, etc etc.
I call the landlord and calmly tell him that I am concerned that new people are living there earlier than stated and that I am paying for their utility bills.
He tells me, in a very stern voice, and I quote, "You should be GRACIOUS that we found a renter so quickly, YOU broke your lease, YOU did not give us full notice, you should be extremely gracious".
I replied that I am gracious, and very thankful that everything has worked out the way it has, but I am still concerned that I am paying the new tenants bills.....
To which he replied "Listen here, young man, you broke your lease and we could have held you responsible for the full term, you should be gracious for what we've done for you. You SHOULD GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES and BOW TO GOD in THANKFULNESS that we found a new renter......
To which I said, I am very thankful and appreciative and I thank God everyday for the gifts he bestows upon my family and I, but I'm concerned that I am paying for the new renters gas, electric, and water bills..... I don't have a problem paying for an empty apartment, but I don't understand why I am paying the bills for new renters.............
Then he went on and on about that should be the least of my worries, that I should be gracious and thank God that everything turned out the way it has....... For about 15 minutes I listened to him go on and on telling me how to be gracious to God and how to praise God....
Then it started to dawn on me that he wasn't really meaning God, but was using God to refer to himself. And that my concern of paying the new tenants bills wasn't even being addressed, but instead I should be gracious and thankful that they found new renters so soon....
He said they could have put a judgement on me in small claims court (even though I paid my rent on time, every time, and was current on rent and was planning on paying rent and bills until a new renter was there even if it didn't happen until June).... he said "then you wouldn't have gotten your house because nobody would give you a mortgage... You should be GRACIOUS and Praise God!"
At that point I had enough and said "Do you want me to Suck your D*** too, Gene? You're pro-rating the new tenants for the 10 days they're living there this month while I've already paid rent to the end of the month, I'm not paying their bills too".
As I took the phone away from my ear I could hear him talking very angrily, but I hung up instead of entertaining it any longer. Then I called the gas/electric company and the water/sewer company and scheduled meter readings and final bills to be sent.
During our conversation he also mentioned that we did not do an adequate job of cleaning and that they had to do extensive cleaning before the new renters came in....... But, I was IN the apartment on Friday, the 21st to drop off the keys and garage door opener and they had done nothing more to clean it. They put down a new $10 runner carpet in the laundry room and a new $10 area carpet in the garage to replace the old ones and had repainted a small portion of the garage floor. Nothing else had been done. We (my wife and I) literally spent the last 2 months we were there scrubbing until it was spotless. We literally had everything we owned packed up and in the garage the last month we were there and slept on the floor of the living room so we would have empty rooms to clean and not get them messy once they were clean.
His cleaning comment was strange, because our neighbors had been talking to them previously and the landlords mentions to them how well we had cleaned, that the apartment was "Immaculate". That Barb, his wife, came to clean the oven and didn't have to because it was spotless. That they thought they were going to have to paint, but don't because Mike (me) cleaned the walls so well. Yet, he tells me it was inadequate.
On the phone he was rambling on and on about how much effort they put into getting a new renter and how much it cost them..... we offered to pay for advertising and he declined. All he did was put a "For Rent" sign in the yard, which only had his phone number on one side of it. People were knocking on our door asking about the apartment because they didn't see the other side of the sign with his number on it.
They had 3 people look at it before finding a renter, and we really believe the first 2 didn't exist but were just the landlords going in to see what we were doing and how the place looked. Not to mention that even though we were technically still renting, they never gave us any notice of entry during the entire month of October. They came and went as they pleased, noticible only by the footprints in the carpet that I shampooed and scrubbed to perfection... and vacuumed after every time I came back to finish cleaning so there were no footprints when I left and it would leave that cool "just cleaned" sawtooth pattern in the carpet.
I really don't know what his problem is. Maybe it's because we lived there for 2.5 years and paid rent 3 months at a whack ($1800 every 3 months). And notified them of everything that went wrong while we lived there, which they never fixed. We even pulled weeds from the "landscaping", when the lease states that they would take care of that (which they never did unless a unit was empty and they were going to show it, then they only weeded what the new tentant would be able to see).
Wow, I could go on and on. I guess his response just really took me by surprise, I really wasn't expecting that from him.
Oh well. It's done now. Well, I suppose I should call the energy and water companies to make sure my name is off the bills now, in case he tried to put me back on them since, evidently, I'm not Gracious enough to pay the new tenants bills for them.
F- You Gene! I don't care if you were an Army drill instructor back in the day! Your belittling and intimidation tactics aren't enough to make me pay the new tenants bills! A55hole! It makes sense, now, why your wife stops talking when you're around and that shrewed look in your eye that I couldn't quite place..... you're an angry little man with a God complex. Go f-urself.
Our lease stated that we need to give a 60 day notice if we were moving and that we could only move when the lease expired.
Our lease was set to expire next June.
We wrote a note to the landlords asking to be released early, and it was received by them 58 days before the date we requested to be our last, October 31st. And I paid rent up to October 31st.
They said OK, BUT.... you are responsible for the utility bills and rent until we get someone new in here. Which we agreed with.
We offered to pay for their advertising as well. They said "No, we'll take care of that".
We cleaned the apartment to be SPOTLESS (I spent 5 hours scrubbing just the oven until it looked new).... so that we could get it as rent ready as possible. Cleaned the carpet, scrubbed the walls, cleaned the window blinds, air vents, cabinets.... the place was spotless. If it could get dirty, we cleaned it.
Now, they found a new renter quickly. The landlords told us they were moving in November 1st.
We drive by the apartment almost every day and watched as people moved in on Saturday, Oct. 22nd. On the 23rd they were done moving in, had a satelite dish set up. The blinds were open and we could plainly see that they were, in fact, set up and living there. TV on, lights on, etc etc.
I call the landlord and calmly tell him that I am concerned that new people are living there earlier than stated and that I am paying for their utility bills.
He tells me, in a very stern voice, and I quote, "You should be GRACIOUS that we found a renter so quickly, YOU broke your lease, YOU did not give us full notice, you should be extremely gracious".
I replied that I am gracious, and very thankful that everything has worked out the way it has, but I am still concerned that I am paying the new tenants bills.....
To which he replied "Listen here, young man, you broke your lease and we could have held you responsible for the full term, you should be gracious for what we've done for you. You SHOULD GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES and BOW TO GOD in THANKFULNESS that we found a new renter......
To which I said, I am very thankful and appreciative and I thank God everyday for the gifts he bestows upon my family and I, but I'm concerned that I am paying for the new renters gas, electric, and water bills..... I don't have a problem paying for an empty apartment, but I don't understand why I am paying the bills for new renters.............
Then he went on and on about that should be the least of my worries, that I should be gracious and thank God that everything turned out the way it has....... For about 15 minutes I listened to him go on and on telling me how to be gracious to God and how to praise God....
Then it started to dawn on me that he wasn't really meaning God, but was using God to refer to himself. And that my concern of paying the new tenants bills wasn't even being addressed, but instead I should be gracious and thankful that they found new renters so soon....
He said they could have put a judgement on me in small claims court (even though I paid my rent on time, every time, and was current on rent and was planning on paying rent and bills until a new renter was there even if it didn't happen until June).... he said "then you wouldn't have gotten your house because nobody would give you a mortgage... You should be GRACIOUS and Praise God!"
At that point I had enough and said "Do you want me to Suck your D*** too, Gene? You're pro-rating the new tenants for the 10 days they're living there this month while I've already paid rent to the end of the month, I'm not paying their bills too".
As I took the phone away from my ear I could hear him talking very angrily, but I hung up instead of entertaining it any longer. Then I called the gas/electric company and the water/sewer company and scheduled meter readings and final bills to be sent.
During our conversation he also mentioned that we did not do an adequate job of cleaning and that they had to do extensive cleaning before the new renters came in....... But, I was IN the apartment on Friday, the 21st to drop off the keys and garage door opener and they had done nothing more to clean it. They put down a new $10 runner carpet in the laundry room and a new $10 area carpet in the garage to replace the old ones and had repainted a small portion of the garage floor. Nothing else had been done. We (my wife and I) literally spent the last 2 months we were there scrubbing until it was spotless. We literally had everything we owned packed up and in the garage the last month we were there and slept on the floor of the living room so we would have empty rooms to clean and not get them messy once they were clean.
His cleaning comment was strange, because our neighbors had been talking to them previously and the landlords mentions to them how well we had cleaned, that the apartment was "Immaculate". That Barb, his wife, came to clean the oven and didn't have to because it was spotless. That they thought they were going to have to paint, but don't because Mike (me) cleaned the walls so well. Yet, he tells me it was inadequate.
On the phone he was rambling on and on about how much effort they put into getting a new renter and how much it cost them..... we offered to pay for advertising and he declined. All he did was put a "For Rent" sign in the yard, which only had his phone number on one side of it. People were knocking on our door asking about the apartment because they didn't see the other side of the sign with his number on it.
They had 3 people look at it before finding a renter, and we really believe the first 2 didn't exist but were just the landlords going in to see what we were doing and how the place looked. Not to mention that even though we were technically still renting, they never gave us any notice of entry during the entire month of October. They came and went as they pleased, noticible only by the footprints in the carpet that I shampooed and scrubbed to perfection... and vacuumed after every time I came back to finish cleaning so there were no footprints when I left and it would leave that cool "just cleaned" sawtooth pattern in the carpet.
I really don't know what his problem is. Maybe it's because we lived there for 2.5 years and paid rent 3 months at a whack ($1800 every 3 months). And notified them of everything that went wrong while we lived there, which they never fixed. We even pulled weeds from the "landscaping", when the lease states that they would take care of that (which they never did unless a unit was empty and they were going to show it, then they only weeded what the new tentant would be able to see).
Wow, I could go on and on. I guess his response just really took me by surprise, I really wasn't expecting that from him.
Oh well. It's done now. Well, I suppose I should call the energy and water companies to make sure my name is off the bills now, in case he tried to put me back on them since, evidently, I'm not Gracious enough to pay the new tenants bills for them.
F- You Gene! I don't care if you were an Army drill instructor back in the day! Your belittling and intimidation tactics aren't enough to make me pay the new tenants bills! A55hole! It makes sense, now, why your wife stops talking when you're around and that shrewed look in your eye that I couldn't quite place..... you're an angry little man with a God complex. Go f-urself.
