There is often a debate on whether or not it is better to rent or own a home. I definitely think it is nice to rent because when something breaks, you are not on the hook to pay for it. You just call someone and they come to fix it. However, since we have moved into this house, it seems as though every week something is breaking or acting erratically. The other night I took my first bubble bath in our jet stream tub. When I hit the button to turn the jets on, brown gunk started shooting out into the water. As I leaped out of the tub, attempting to rinse the dirt off me, I noted in my head just another thing to call our landlord about.
Here's the thing. Our landlord is horrible. The owners of this house apparently moved quickly, and I don't think they thought about the expenses that come when someone else lives in your home. They were looking at a check coming in every month to cover the mortgage with a little extra on the side. However, this house was built in 1993. Every appliance in our kitchen is OLD, but we are fine because we have the necessities. All I ask is that when something breaks, it is fixed.
Since we moved in we have had some plumbing problems. Aside from dirt spewing at me in the bathtub, the sinks tend to drain slowly. I noticed that immediately when we first moved in, and also noticed multiple bottles of Drano. So, the first time the pipes underneath the sink began leaking, I was not surprised. A "handyman" was called out and put some caulk around the pipe. Move forward to present day. Our garbage disposal was completely clogged several weeks ago with standing, green water in the sink. . After informing me when I called that he did not take complaints over the phone, I emailed our landlord to tell him about the issue. Three days later, several plumbers inspected the situation and shook their heads. We finally got one who was able to unclog whatever the problem was.
Just a few days ago, we received an email from the landlord informing us that a $300 bill would be sent to us for the cost of the plumbing services. I was livid. He explained that the plumber found PEAS in the disposal and that from this, we were clearly overstepping the boundaries of what a disposal is supposed to grind up. The last time I checked, peas dissolve on their own...to me that suggests that perhaps the disposal isn't working properly. After I emailed him back to inform him that we would not be paying this bill, he emailed me with the Wikipedia definition of a garbage disposal and a note from the owners. The owners seem to think we are partying it up in their house and just breaking things for the fun of it. (I guess they think we are throwing forks down the drain.) They claimed that after living there for 10 years they never had to call a plumber, and requested that we begin scraping our plates into the trash. To me, that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I have directed the landlord to speak with Mike from now on as I may say something to get us evicted. We may still get evicted....my last email said:
Dear____________:
Thank you for your Wikipedia definition of a garbage disposal. From now on, we would like to speak directly with the owners. My husband's number is: ________.
I guess we will see how that goes over. TGI almost F!!
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