Our dumb landlord is so on my shit list. Over 10 months ago, when we moved into this cheaply-built shoddy hovel, we told him there was a sewage problem. When one drains the tub, the whole house smells of raw sewage. This is a problem. We wrote him countless emails complaining, rang him several times and even invited him over one evening when it was particularly ripe.
His response: It must be our problem. No one had ever complained about it before. Mind you, he never had anyone living here permanently before us. Finally, he agreed to come to witness the smell first hand.
He arrived unannounced several times and claimed ‘not to smell anything’ so the problem must be in our imaginations. We tried to explain to him that it was a problem ONLY when one emptied the bathtub. Unfortunately, at our home, this is nightly, after our child’s bath. So, from the hours of 7pm through the night, our house smells like a shit factory. Lovely while you are trying to have your evening meal and a nice bottle of wine.
Fast forward 10 months. One day last weekend, a plumbing contractor arrives, unannounced, and informs us that we have a sewage problem. This is the guy who did some building work on our house, and tells us that when our landlord, heretofore known as CB (Cheap Bastard) built the place, he did it on the cheap. The contractor told him he’d have to resolve the plumbing and sewage problems sooner than later, and here, almost 4 years ago, the CB sends someone over to take a look at it.
There was something wrong with the sewage way back when CB did the rebuilding of this garage-cum-house. CB, the little fucker, knew the whole time there was something wrong with our sewage system, but continued to listen to our complaints, never once mentioning he was aware of the problem. He rents quite a lot of places to visiting scientists and does so through an agency that helps scientists relocate. You can be sure they’ll be getting a nice long letter of complaint about him from us.
So, your man turns up yesterday to do some digging in the garden, presumably the first step in the sewage-repair problem. He and a young lad dig up a huge hole, cover it with a tarp and leave. Apparently, this hole is going to stay there for the next few weeks or months, while they fix the problem. Meanwhile, CB shows up with some woman I’ve never met before. He asks if we can go out of town for a few days so that the sewage men can fix the problem. He informs us that we have to leave, because we can’t flush the toilet or drain the tub while they are working on this problem. AAAAHHHH!!! The fucking numbnut suddenly realizes that we’ve been living in a stanky place for 10 months. I’m almost tempted to report him to the health and safety ministry, because he knew of this problem and did nothing to fix it.
Fortunately for him, we’ll be heading to Dublin for 5 days this week, and it had better be sorted out by the time we come back, or I think we may go to the appropriate government agency to have our rent put into a guarded account until the problem is fixed.
Not to mention, now I’m pregnant and even common, nonoffensive smells make me wretch. You can imagine what the shit stew smell does to me nightly. I’m not pleased.
