Renting Troubles

Posted on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 at 02:45

Our landlord informed us a few months ago that he is intending to sell the house we rent the basement of. It is one of the things that cemented our decision to move to Austin. We were informed that our leases are still valid, and we are required to allow real estate and prospective buyers into our home-which should be clean and tidy-for viewings.

Well, the real estate woman in charge of getting the place off his hands, Brenda, has been an absolute monster. We bent over backwards for weeks in order to make things easier for her. We got calls at seven at night telling us we'd need to be out of the house between 9:00 and 11:30 the next day...including the night I worked the 21 hour shift that let out at 4 a.m. We would come home at eleven p.m. to a message on our machine saying to have the place clean and empty the next morning, hours before Dom is due at work, two or three times a week. Sometimes they would come hours early and act as though Dom was intruding on them.

Finally, Dom told Brenda we'd had enough and would no longer vacate the premises with less than 24 hours notice. She had the nerve to argue that "the day before" is considered "24 hours notice" but backed down pretty quickly.

Then yesterday morning we got a call at 9:00 a.m. demanding a veiwing at 9:00 today. I said no, for the hundredth time, because
A. That would take Dom out of bed several hours early, and every Monday we stay out late with our friends who just had a baby
and B. No way would we have time to clean up the house between work,  cooking dinner, and our social obligations.

An hour later our landlord called to shout at us for not playing ball with the jerks who don't see anything wrong with kicking us out of our home on a whim.

...ookay, fine. You don't want us to have the few hours we get to spend at home a week? Great. Dishes won't be washed, then. Floor won't be mopped, computer area will be a wreck, and all bets are off. I don't WANT to live in a disheveled home, but I don't bloody well have a choice at this point, do I?

Well, actually, I do. From now on, our phone will no longer be plugged in before 11:30, so they won't be waking Dom up "just in time" to make an appointment. If they want to schedule an appointment with us for 9:30 in the morning, they can do so 48 hours in advance so I can arrange them into my schedule with ease. This is my home, whether they choose to recognize that or not, and I won't be bullied in it.