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#1 May 14 2014 at 12:39 AM Rating: Good
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So, let's say hypothetically-- you're living in an apartment, and there are all kinds of problems, some of which are pretty terrible. To name a few:

* Small/medium sized brown colored apartment roaches appear on a regular basis no matter what measures you take to get rid of them or how clean you keep your living space.

* More than half of your electrical outlets don't work, or barely work, or are a potential fire hazard.

* The community swimming pool not far from your door is completely unkept, growing green algae and breeding mosquitoes.

* At night, the street lamps remain turned off or are broken, leaving the parking lot in total darkness.

* A very large population of bats inhabit tight spaces between the top floor of each building and their roofs.

* On a semi-regular basis, RAW SEWAGE backs up into the sinks, toilets and bathtubs.

Now, imagine you are signed into a lease that states you must continue living there for at least another 6 months without paying some ridiculous amount of money you can't afford. You cannot simply move away. Your rent every month is around the neighborhood of $990 and goes up every once in a while, and the water bill seems to be determined by how much water the people who live throughout the entire complex use, rather than per personal use.

Would you simply complain to the office staff? Write a letter to the city perhaps?
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#2 May 14 2014 at 3:51 AM Rating: Excellent
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Talk to your neighbors and see if anyone has talked to the building staff/owner already, submit your complaint to the staff, see if your local news station will report on the poor conditions.

You can write to the city, but it won't be as effective as bad publicity. Definitely call Department of Water and Power for the streetlights/sewage problems though.
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#3 May 14 2014 at 4:08 AM Rating: Excellent
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Check up on local laws, there may be some protective laws for renters in there that will help you get out of what sounds like a post apocalyptic apartment.
#4 May 14 2014 at 4:55 AM Rating: Good
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Also, what does your contract say? I assume you read and kept a record of it.
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#5 May 14 2014 at 5:09 AM Rating: Good
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Timelordwho wrote:
Also, what does your contract say? I assume you read and kept a record of it.

Don't be silly. People don't read contracts.
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#6 May 14 2014 at 5:29 AM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
Timelordwho wrote:
Also, what does your contract say? I assume you read and kept a record of it.

Don't be silly. People don't read contracts.

That's the joke.
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#7 May 14 2014 at 7:30 AM Rating: Excellent
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Train the roaches and the bats into your personal army and take over the homeowner's association, ruling with an iron fist. Plan to take over the pool mosquitoes afterwards, they're more complicated to deal with and unnecessary for the coup, but good defense for your new kingdom.
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#8 May 14 2014 at 10:32 AM Rating: Good
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Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
Talk to your neighbors and see if anyone has talked to the building staff/owner already, submit your complaint to the staff, see if your local news station will report on the poor conditions.

You can write to the city, but it won't be as effective as bad publicity. Definitely call Department of Water and Power for the streetlights/sewage problems though.


Aha. My brother and his wife called the news once because the apartments he was living in had their maintenance men on a robbing/pillaging spree on the apartments of all who lived there. They were using their keys to just walk in and take whatever they wanted. They also happened to be the brothers/cousins of the owner. If I remember correctly, they were evicted (for calling the news station) and left with nowhere to go. I tried finding the article for details, but there are just too many similar stories. Must be the norm in Florida.
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#9 May 14 2014 at 10:45 AM Rating: Good
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Kuwoobie wrote:
Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
Talk to your neighbors and see if anyone has talked to the building staff/owner already, submit your complaint to the staff, see if your local news station will report on the poor conditions.

You can write to the city, but it won't be as effective as bad publicity. Definitely call Department of Water and Power for the streetlights/sewage problems though.


Aha. My brother and his wife called the news once because the apartments he was living in had their maintenance men on a robbing/pillaging spree on the apartments of all who lived there. They were using their keys to just walk in and take whatever they wanted. They also happened to be the brothers/cousins of the owner. If I remember correctly, they were evicted (for calling the news station) and left with nowhere to go. I tried finding the article for details, but there are just too many similar stories. Must be the norm in Florida.


Actually that was their fault; police first, then news if necessary, then lawyer to deal with the jackass owner.
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#10 May 14 2014 at 1:07 PM Rating: Good
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His Excellency Aethien wrote:
Check up on local laws, there may be some protective laws for renters in there that will help you get out of what sounds like a post apocalyptic apartment.


Probably this. I'm sure there are some laws to help here.
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#11 May 14 2014 at 1:53 PM Rating: Good
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I'm pretty sure they called the police after coming home and noticing everything of value was gone. I'll have to ask my brother about it some time. I haven't spoken to him in nearly two years.

Edit:

As for the current situation, I'm doing a bit of research regarding the sewage problem-- which to me is the most urgent. Our complex has recently fallen under new management (a few months ago), which we hoped would make things better. Instead things have gotten much worse.

Edited, May 14th 2014 7:59pm by Kuwoobie
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#12 May 14 2014 at 2:03 PM Rating: Good
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On the plus side, if you contract something horrible from the sewage, you can probably sue.

Also, the pool being a mosquito breeding ground might be something the city will take an interest in. I know that around here, they're really serious about that kind of thing.
#13 May 14 2014 at 2:18 PM Rating: Excellent
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Yeah, cities tend to view large pools of stagnant water like that as a zoning or health violation since it breeds mosquitoes.
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#14 May 14 2014 at 2:22 PM Rating: Excellent
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Just mention "West Nile Virus" and it will be cleaned by the end of the day.
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#15 May 14 2014 at 2:27 PM Rating: Excellent
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Iamadam wrote:
His Excellency Aethien wrote:
Check up on local laws, there may be some protective laws for renters in there that will help you get out of what sounds like a post apocalyptic apartment.


Probably this. I'm sure there are some laws to help here.
Something like this. I thought clearing out animal infestations was a common landlord requirement at least on paper, and the renter is supposed to tell them, etc. At least I remember that kind of thing from my own rental agreements. I imagine proving they're letting roaches run wild is likely a tougher fight, more so if you don't keep your place clean.
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#16 May 14 2014 at 8:06 PM Rating: Excellent
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Florida, like Texas is a "the apartment owner is always right and you're pretty much ************ state. assuming thats where this is. Sewage backup is a major major health hazard. if the raw stuff is getting back to you, the sewer gas is too, and that can kill you. By minimum statewide code, the toilets are required to be on a different trunk and vent stack than the wastewater discharge. You should not be getting backup on all of them in a properly constructed plumbing system, If it is backing up into the building, chances are they tied the upstaris appartments into the downstairs drain stacks and did something really, really stupid to the toilet drain stack and tied it into the general wastewater. Even with that though, you shouldn't ever see a sewage backup into your appartment unless something is incredibly ****** up with either the septic tank or the sewar system itself. If it's septic, thats your apartment owners problem, though you can combat it with various septic break down chemicals. Septic would be exceedingly rare in florida with the high water tables though, so its more likely sewar, in which case it's a city or county problem. They should have a number you can call and get them to come out and check the main drains. if it's a large apartment building, it may be that roots or other infiltration is blocking the main complex drain pipe. It may also be that your upstairs neighbor if you have one is an idiot and tried flushing a small shoe down a toilet that ties into a screwed up drain stack that stuck and causing your appartment to flood whenever they tinkle. Also, if that is occuring, you may be ending up with sewage stuck in the drain traps. at a minimum, whenever that happens I would dump some heavy duty drain cleaner down all the drains to kill any remaining bacteria.

the insect issue is a bit more complicated. Again, assuming we are talking about Florida, there are a species of native cocroach in the area that is considered a health hazard if they enter restaraunts, but not necessarily a health hazard in a residence. Bats eat the roaches though, so that problem could balance out?

The streetlight issue depends on where they are located. if they are on the apartment property and not in city or county right of way, the apartment may be required to fix them and can be sued if they don't. If they are on city or county right of way, the city is usually required to fix them unless they are turned off under an electricity saving resolution in which case you may have to talk to your local city council.
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#17 May 14 2014 at 8:44 PM Rating: Good
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Right now the sewage issue is what's really got my head spinning. A few weeks ago this happened, and a guy came out, asked if he could use our electrical outlets to plug in some kind of machine outside somewhere. I didn't see what he did, but it fixed the problem... temporarily. He said it was a problem for the whole building, which made sense, because we weren't the ones who called them at the time.

Today, we have called them twice, and they haven't done anything about it. All day it has been like this. Our tubs, toilets and sinks are all completely inoperable because they will not drain, and are filled with a foul yellow liquid that has flooded the entire apartment with a strong methane odor. What's worse-- all of the dishes I put into the dishwasher last night are now contaminated as sewage has flooded up into the machine.

My wife doesn't seem to care this is happening, and assumes they will fix it sooner or later. I'm thinking now that maybe I should start looking at lawyers.
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#18 May 15 2014 at 7:29 AM Rating: Excellent
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Don't forget to take lots of pictures.
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#19 May 15 2014 at 12:48 PM Rating: Decent
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Q: How are rental disputes and sex similar?

lolgaxe wrote:
Don't forget to take lots of pictures.


Smiley: grin
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#20 May 15 2014 at 12:52 PM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
Q: How are rental disputes and sex similar?

lolgaxe wrote:
Don't forget to take lots of pictures.


Smiley: grin
Women love that. Smiley: um
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#21 May 15 2014 at 12:58 PM Rating: Good
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Got an email reply from the city today.

Quote:
Yari,
I have assigned the area inspector to this complaint. We will keep you & the complainant posted of results.

Reference Case #: 14-000765 Address: Complaint: Unkept Pool , sewage backup, parking lot lights inoperable.

Thanks
Mark

>>> City Hall 5/15/2014 8:40 AM >>>
Good Morning, Mark,

Could you please take a look at the attached complaint regarding Landmark at Grand Meadow apartments?

Thank you!
Yari


This appears to be a conversation between two or more people. They aren't saying anything to me about it, but showing me that something is being done about it. Feels good to know we have all this infrastructure in place to protect us from being constantly taken advantage of by the great prostitute that is the private sector.
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#22 May 15 2014 at 1:08 PM Rating: Excellent
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Just sue someone, anyone. You're so ******* unAmerican.
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#23 May 15 2014 at 1:47 PM Rating: Good
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Kuwoobie wrote:
Got an email reply from the city today.
Now that the OOT knows where you live, your mailbox will soon be flooded with Baconators.
#24 May 15 2014 at 2:51 PM Rating: Good
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Same deal if I post my address?

Edited, May 15th 2014 5:51pm by Uglysasquatch
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#25 May 15 2014 at 9:53 PM Rating: Good
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You really trust the OOT enough to eat food they send you?
#26 May 16 2014 at 12:33 AM Rating: Good
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The One and Only Poldaran wrote:
Kuwoobie wrote:
Got an email reply from the city today.
Now that the OOT knows where you live, your mailbox will soon be flooded with Baconators.


I'm looking back and I don't see where the address is listed. All I see is the name of the apartment complex. I suppose you could mail some Baconators to the front office and I could check by there once in a while to see if there are any packages addressed to someone named "Kuwoobie."

That's actually another thing that bothers me a bit about this place. If you get any sort of packages-- UPS, FedEx, whoever-- they have just completely given up on delivering to our door. Instead everything must be picked up at the front office-- where it sits in a giant pile of other people's arrivals until you come and pick it up. There is nothing at all to stop me from taking boxes that don't belong to me, or someone from taking mine. Fortunately nothing I order is worth more than around $35.
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