My husband and I rented a house from this guy (rick). He only wanted a $200 deposit, and the rent was very cheap compared to all the other places we looked at. So we thought we got a great deal. The house wasnt ready when our lease at our apartment was up, and he said if we helped him clean then he would deduct it from the rent. So of course we jumped on the offer. All was fine.
Except the house was filthy, he said the previous renters were nasty and dirty people. So we cleaned everything up to our standards... We ended up spending about 3 days just bleaching every inch of this house. But it was the only house we could afford so we thought it was worth it.
About 4 months after we moved in, things began falling apart. Every time we called him to fix something he would come rig it. He didnt want to spend the money to fix it properly. Our back door didnt even shut and lock properly. It had one of those slide locks on it, that you would put on a bedroom door, or closet door. There was no handle lock, or deadbolt. Thats how bad he rigged things. Not to mention the mice and roaches we had to spend our own money to get rid of. The mice chewed up some of our stuff in the attick we were storing.
After about 6 months living there, we rearranged our bedroom furniture only to find there was mold growing on the walls and all up the back of our dressers and nightstand. We didnt know the extent of mold, and didnt know how harmful it is to humans, and just thought it had gotten wet somehow from the rain. So we cleaned it all up with bleach water, and let me tell you it wasnt easy.
A couple weeks later we decided to clean out our closet and donate some clothes that we no longer used, and when we did we discovered a ton more mold. We ended up throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of clothing and shoes because it was beyond washing or cleaning it was so bad. So we scrubbed the closet walls and cleaned it all up.
A few months later we discovered the mold growing back, and discovered it in all the other rooms. This time I researched mold only to find it is very harmful to humans, and can cause short term and long term problems. I had just had a baby, and didnt want it to hurt her in any way. So I call the landlord and tell him of the problem. He didnt act surprised, and tried to tell me its only because the house is holding moisture. He said he would take care of it.
He comes over the next day with a can of paint, and paints over this huge infestation of mold in all the closets, up the bedroom walls, in the bathroom, around the living room windows, and its even growing in the carpet in both bedrooms by this point. He has the nerve to come a paint over it. Well needless to say, we moved. We moved only a couple days after he painted over it, and by the time we moved it was already growing throught the fresh coats of paint.
Now this guy has the nerve to tell us he isnt giving us our deposit back because he has spent over $350 in repairs. He named some repairs and problems to me on the phone, and everything he named were problems the house had before we moved in there. He even did a walk through of the house with my husband the day we returned the keys and said the only problems he seen were a blind that needed replaced, some holes in the yard from my little dog, and the grass wasnt mowed. And that everything else looked fine.
I just wanted to post here incase anyone else has ever had a problem with him, or incase someone is thinking of renting his house. I hope no one rents this house. And I have plenty of pics of the mold. I need any help with suing this slum lord. I will not sit back and let him take advantage of me, and take my money for repairs he should have done long before I came along.
Sorry for such a long story, but this angers me to no end.
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