My wife and I rent a small mobile home on a small-ish piece of land. The house is in decent enough shape and we keep it clean and tidy.
However, we are running into an issue with the landlords that is, at the moment, a minor annoyance. However I fear that it could turn into Something Big.
The problem is that the landlords have more-or-less ignored issues with the house that we have brought to their attention. Before last week the issues have been minor: the mailbox is loose, one of the boards on the front deck is splitting badly enough that I’m convinced that someone could fall through it if they stepped in the right place, and the like. Nothing that’s made me worry too much.
However last week we noticed that the floor in the hallway was bulging slightly and felt somewhat springy underneath when previously it was solid with no give, squeaks, or other issues. The floor in the adjacent bathroom is behaving similarly.
I immediately called the landlords and spoke to the wife, who is our go-to person for communications. She said she would talk to her husband and then come look at it. She said they would call before coming out. She said it would be this week, so she still has a couple of days to keep her word.
In my totally inexperienced and unqualified opinion, I’m convinced the subfloor is somehow absorbing water from a leak that has yet to actually show water somewhere visible. I suspect that such issues can lead to Bad Things with houses if continuously ignored.
My question is, how can we prove that we brought this to the landlord’s attention so that, when we move out (or if it continues to get worse) and they don’t address it, they cannot claim they were uninformed of the issue? I don’t want to be accused of not informing them of possible structural damage and be legally responsible for the repair. I want to somehow document that I notified them of the problem and that they acknowledged it. Seems the ball is in their court now, I just don’t want us to be accused of letting the house fall down around us. Just writing down the dates and times of the phone call seems to have little value, as there is no proof I was reporting anything. It could have been a social call for a court knows.
The landlords are good people and we’ve never had a major issue with them before this. Some complaints (a broken blind, a new smoke detector, and some yard repair) were all taken care of after one call. Maybe they’re busy and just spaced it out. Dunno and at this point I don’t really care. Again, as someone living here it’s just an annoyance at this point. However, I want to cover my ass just in case.
So, does anyone have any ideas on documenting such issues that will stand up in court if needed? This is in Oregon, if it matters.