Take the money and run

Viewing the lies landlord/owner posted online about the great amenities of this house in order to sell it, it is clear he has learned nothing from his deceit and is still deluded by his own greed. If any of these things are actually true would be miraculous.

Overuse of the word “custom” throughout the description is indicative of the simple fact that he most likely did the hackjob work himself — as he did in “replumbing” the place — which is why there was never any hot water in winter nor cold water in summer.

The fact is that as tenants we arranged and withstood the installation of the new air conditioning unit during a week in August of 2010,  when landlord/owner refused to have it done, even in February 2010 upon our advice that it would be less expensive.

The fact is that the installers noted the fire hazards in the attic due to landlord/owner’s faulty wiring near his plumbing handiwork.

The fact is that the new bath tubs, particularly the one in the smaller bathroom, was replaced while we were tenants as the old one was scratched to the point of being unusable. That installation entailed replacement by owner’s cohort in crime, someone who was inept at doing such work but who would do it for a bottle of vodka. His first attempt was merely a smathering of glaze to cover the scratches. The chemical odors filled the house for two weeks. When that did not work, owner’s friend installed a new tub improperly which resulted in a complete flooding of the nearby bedroom, requiring replacement of the carpet.

Owner took credit for appliances that we purchased when he went AWOL that five years.

The fact remains that he cannot look into his own reflection to know the horrible things he perpetrated on us as we withstood five years upgrading his appliances, withstanding his lies about the pool pump destruction by his own hand, my husband trimming trees and scaling the roof to clean gutters, without remuneration, done only in accordance with his promise that the house would be ours someday. No consideration, no remuneration for us trying to keep his dung heap from stinking up the neighborhood after he abandoned it for those years. Just lies, abuse, assault and theft of security deposit.

Hopefully, at least, he did some true, actual repairs by a PROFESSIONAL to this money pit before trying to unload it on an unsuspecting, gullible buyer.

Did owner reveal the fire hazard in the attic, pointed out by professional air conditioning installers?

Did owner reveal the fact that by his own hand the “custom” electrical work he did is faulty, with many outlets and light switches not grounded properly, as any professional electrician had told us when we were forced to have electrical work done on the property.

Did owner reveal that there was no insulation?

Did owner reveal the crack in the slab that he had told my husband about?

These are crimes he can live with apparently, in his signature take-the-money-and-run mode of operation without remorse or restitution.

It is clear that more than one life lesson for him will be necessary and is inevitable.

Use Money, Love People – Not Love Money, Use People

If this web presence prevented landlord/owner from abusing another person, taking advantage of another family while he chased money, then it served its purpose.

To Landlord/Owner – We saw you at Chick-fil-a recently. The terrible feelings that were stirred as we stood and watched you go from your cheep into the store cannot be described. With your hauling lumber for another hackjob project, we could only imagine the house cringing again when you pulled into the driveway that day.

Please don’t do what you did to us to any other.

Finally, ask yourself at least, at last:

“Do I own this property, or does this property own me”?

Beware the Ides of March

I’ve always been apprehensive on March 15. Today gave good reason to continue that sensibility. Landlord comes on property to play with his pool pump still. He persists in stating that “someone” broke it. Yet, after looking him in the eyes, standing my ground, averring that no one, neither me, husband or our pool man did so, he finally admitted, “Well, come to think of it, a man I had here five or six years ago broke a piece off.” In utter disbelief and disgust, not just at hearing another lie but in that he wholeheartedly committed himself to that lie for years, I proceeded to close the door. He then took his whole body and forcibly barreled through the front door, bending the metal closure on the door frame, and his force had the door send me sailing backward into a stack of boxes. After recovering myself, I went to the telephone to call the police. Landlord taunted me, “Call the police, go ahead. This is my property.” We had been subject to landlord’s bad temper for years, which culminated in this incident, documented as police report of battery against tenant.

Noah — You’re going to want to hurry up on that ark!

97% of people lie 97% of the time

But 100% of landlords lie 100% of the time:

LIE: “That pipe isn’t leaking.”
TRUTH: It IS leaking but since landlord/owner doesn’t pay the water bill, landlord will lie about it to save his own penny or his five minutes of time to properly repair it. Not until pressed for months, costing me a lot of money on my water bill, would landlord admit that it was leaking and then made attempt to fix it.

LIE: “Somebody broke that.”
TRUTH: Landlord broke it but is too prideful and cowardly to admit it; plus, it’s easier just to blame tenant or a phantom repairman from six years ago. (Article forthcoming.)

LIE: “The refrigerator came with the house.”
TRUTH: See article: The Brotherhood of the Traveling Refrigerator

LIE: “I’ll replace the refrigerator with the same model.”
TRUTH: See article: The Brotherhood of the Traveling Refrigerator

LIE: “The washer’s only a few years old. It works great; you just have to jiggle it occasionally. It works best on permanent press cycle.”
TRUTH: The washer won’t spin or empty the water, even if you “jiggle” it constantly. And it only will wash occasionally on permanent press cycle, and not at all on any other cycle. Oh, and a “few years” translates from “lying-landlord-speak” to factual “discontinued about 15+ years ago.” (Article forthcoming.)

More to come — I can only withstand a rehash of all this negativity in small chunks. So why rehash it, you may ask? The next unsuspecting tenant, or heaven forbid, person looking to purchase this owner-created MONEY PIT needs to be aware of the lies and coverups from owner’s attempt to “FLIP THIS FLOP” because owner certainly will LIE about it before he opens his moth-infested coin purse to HIRE someone to fix it right.

And, apparently from all of the positive comments received regarding these articles, many people are well past being tired of the rampant lying that is considered normal operating practice in any level of business and personal relationship.

Too many people remain silent today, coerced by the tyrants to “just get along,” “don’t sweat the small stuff,” etc., while the tyrants take over.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. – Thomas Jefferson

“Tyranny comes in all forms. And it usually starts with a LIE.” – me

Strangle a Penny

A chain of pool supply/repair stores in Florida is called “Pinch a Penny.” Owner of this house should open his own pool DIS-repair establishment called “Strangle a Penny.” His modus operandi is to meddle, interfere, delay and in any way negatively impact until his “penny wise, pound foolish” methodology turns his penny backwards, forwards, upside down and inside out, making someone spend quite a penny for his negligence.

I engaged several professionals, all of whom, after trying to stop from laughing, gave great insight into the many problems. Aside from the pump leaking, and tape of some sort holding the apparatus together, the meter reading between 50-60 instead of between 10-15, all professionals agreed that the owner had no knowledge or ability to appropriately repair the pump. One serviceman relayed, “The part to fix this is actually inexpensive. It’s a real shame, but I see this all the time with cheap landlords who think they can do it themselves.”

I don’t have a problem if someone is incapable of doing repairs. I don’t even have a problem if someone is more than parsimonious. But I do have a problem when that person makes me pay, and pay much, much more than should be, due to his lying and negligence.

After eight weeks of lies, delays, and his being unable to fix it, he finally admits partial responsibility that he didn’t seal it properly and that he broke something on it. But that did not stop him during or even thereafter from badgering me to have costly pool maintenance done, now that the pool is a swamp, while he continues to delay and play. In his attempt to still cover up his mistakes, landlord took it upon himself to padlock the pool timer box and run the pool filter 24 hours a day on my electricity dollars.

One man’s journey from miser to liar to thief.

A House with a Pool

I recall my parents looking at new homes, and their dreams of buying one with a built-in pool.  But it was never meant to be then.

When an opportunity arose for my husband and I to rent a Florida house with an in-ground pool, it was exciting.  That must have overshadowed our judgment when we entered into a lease with the house owner.

The pool was a dream when we first saw it.  After signing the lease, we brought our daughters to look at the house to find that the pool was filled with paint chips from the owner and his friend trying to repair the deck and porch surface.

As part of the lease, owner was responsible for the pool maintenance.  For the first year, the pool was barely useable.  Owner had left the state and had engaged from afar some of the worst, and cheapest, pool maintenance people available in the Hunters Creek, Orlando area.  The pump did not operate properly.  The filter was never cleaned.  One service put in so many chemicals, my daughters were nearly hospitalized from skin rashes.  Another service put in hardly any chemicals so the pool was either green from algae or cloudy from dead algae.

Finally, we told owner we were going to engage our own service.  For the first time in over a year, we had a beautiful, crystal clear pool where no one got rashes and even our little dog could swim without getting abscesses on her little paws!

Then in January 2012, owner relocated back to Florida, after two other of his businesses and several of his personal relationships failed.

On February 11, 2012, I told owner there was a problem with the pool pump.  Wrong move on my part.  Owner, as usual, decided to try to fix it himself.  To make a long and painful story short, pump was broken for weeks, due to owner’s lack of knowledge in not only operating but in fixing pool pumps.  But that did not stop him from blaming all but himself and holding me responsible for having it cleaned due to his gross negligence.

This painful story will be dealt with in more details in other posts, but as of the date of this post, April 22, 2012, this is what the pool looks like after owner’s meddling and failure.  It should be noted that the pool pump is still not operating properly.  I have had several professional pool services assess the problems, of which owner has refused to acknowledge their expert remedies.