This is kind of the opposite problem from this thread. The landlord at my building - who is separate from the owner - is an older (probably ~70ish) woman. She’s very nice if a little overbearing, but her health isn’t the best and she’s been sick since the beginning of this past winter. The building is starting to look pretty shabby. Nothing terrible. The people who live there are pretty responsible, but the halls haven’t been vacuumed in months and there’re still pine needles on the floors from when people took their Christmas trees down and after the winter with sand on the roads and spring mud, there’s lots of dirt. The laundry room looks worse. The floors are filthy. Again, it’s just from normal use, but really everything should be vacuumed and the laundry room floor mopped at least once a month. And it hasn’t been done in many months.
How should I handle this? Should I talk to the woman herself? What do I tell this sweet old woman? Anytime I talk to her (for any reason), it’s always “Oh, I’ve been so sick. My husband’s been in the hospital. It’s terrible.” And she goes on like that for 5 minutes. I would feel awful asking her, feeble as she apparently is, to do more work. Can I ask the maintenance people if it’s part of their job to vacuum? (They do painting and groundskeeping normally.) Can I approach the owner and tell him that the building’s not being kept up to a good standard? Other recommendations?
I can’t tell from your location field, but I’m guessing by the Tech Valley reference that you’re in California. Based on that, your landlord has a responsibility to provide you with . . .
as part of the “Implied Warranty of Habitability.” And if you’re not in California, I’m confident that other states have similar landlord/tenant laws.
Call the manager first, and remind her that the building needs to be cleaned. If she’s too ill or feeble to do it herself, she needs to hire a janitorial service to do it. If she won’t comply, call the building owner, as HE could wind up being cited by the County Health Department if things escalate. I know all too well about slackass landlords who allow a building to deteriorate, and the consequences of that failure to provide a clean living space, as our slumlord cause the grounds and building to become so overrun with filth and garbage that – despite any efforts on our part to keep our home and the area surrounding it clean – we ended up with a slug, ant and RAT infestation.
If you don’t get satisfaction after calling the responsible parties, start documenting and putting your complaints in writing (take pictures, too).
I’d highly recommend nipping this thing in the bud before it gets that far, because trust me, you don’t want to be dealing with government agencies on this if it gets out of hand.
[complete aside] Tech Valley’s the Hudson Valley region of New York State, north of NY City. According to those who named it, “The name’s catching on and people are learning about the region!” But for the most part it seems to be regional marketing BS.
[/complete aside]
Anyway, Shayna, thanks for the info. NY probably has similar rules to CA. I will have to talk to the manager. I just have to toughen up a bit. I feel mean bugging a sick old lady. But you’re right, I certainly don’t want to end up living with ANY sort of infestation. Thanks again.
I don’t know if you’d be willing to do in this direction, but if it seems like the idea of shelling out cash to have the cleaning work done worries your landlord, could you offer to do the work yourself in exchange for a discount on your rent for the month or something like that?
Shayna, thanks for that link. I’m having my own problems with my property managers, and the link was rather timely.
It mentions that landlords have the responsibility to repair a furnace in winter…I wonder if they have the same legal obligation to repair an air conditioner in summer? I sure don’t need a heater where I live, but come July-October, an A/C sure is necessary.