For all you meanies who are going to post "tl;dr" ill provide a summary at the bottom.



So about... oh i don't know... THREE weeks ago I realized the ceiling in my bathroom was leaking. Nothing major, but it was leaking. My landlord happened to be outside so I told him about it. I was on my way to class so I just left from there, taking his word that he'd go up and look at it.


A week passes and the leak has gotten worse. I put a bucket under it to stop everything from getting wet. The Landlord hasn't been back yet, but my roommate says he has spoken to him. Apparently he was going to come by in a day or two to fix the leak.

So I wait. Nothing. Now the leak is worse, and faster at about this time last week.
[Sunday, Oct 8th i took the first set of pictures]

http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/ew.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/ew2.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/ew3.jpg





I started calling my landlord last Thursday, and excluding Sunday, Ive been calling him every day to see wtf is up. I got answering machines on both numbers until Monday when he finally picked up. I don't know what was up, but he sounded pretty much out of it. I'm not going to jump to conclusions, but it was hard to hold a basic conversation with him.

I asked him what he was going to do about it, and basically the response i got was that he would come by that night after 7. I have class till 8 on Mondays, but got let out a little early. So I got back here around 7:45 and he had not shown up.

I call him yesterday to ask nicely if I should move anything out of the way so he could fix the ceiling. He “apologized” for not coming Monday night, because he couldn't make it or something.
[Took the next set of pictures Monday, Oct 9h]

http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/1010/ew4.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/1010/ew5.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/1010/ew6.jpg


So today i finally got annoyed because he said he was going to come last night [Tuesday, Oct 10th] and I decided that I was going to show that I was annoyed. I could have called him again, but I honestly don't even feel like talking to this guy right now. So i took a few slips of paper, taped them up to everything in my bathroom that wasn't working properly. Heres a quick list of the broken item and what the note said:

Leaking Ceiling - “This” http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/to_dave_with_love/ceiling.jpg

Missing ceiling exhaust fan - “How about a fan to fill that hole” http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/to_dave_with_love/fan.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/to_dave_with_love/fan2.jpg

Broken Toilet paper Roll - “One of these would be nice” http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/to_dave_with_love/toilet.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/to_dave_with_love/toilet2.jpg

Faucet that didn't work at all - “Cold Water doesnt work” http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/to_dave_with_love/water.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/to_dave_with_love/water2.jpg






So today he came by apparently. I now have both faucets working, and a note on our dry erase board that says “Call me – Dave” Oh! And instead of fixing the broken toilet paper roll (which freaking hurts if you walk into it) he just shoved the toilet paper onto one of the broken arms.

SUMMARY:
Leaky bathroom ceiling. 3 weeks without landlord answering his phone. Ceiling is molding. MB gets fed up and leaves slightly sarcastic notes in the bathroom telling his landlord to fix things.



I'm right to be annoyed about this right? I mean, the ceiling was only 3 weeks, but the rest of that stuff hasn't been working for 2 months. The other stuff didn't bother me that much, hell the faucet i hardly noticed. But MOLD? That stuff can be dangerous!

Ugh. Ill keep you guys updated

you are right to be annoyed.

That is a health hazard. MOLD!
Ya he sounds like a complete...moron.

Kill him.

Kill it with fire.

You don't have a right to post that you're having issues with anything. I'VE had a worse experience. You have NO idea. GOD.

[/people posting in my roommate woes thread]

Im thinking about calling the city health department, im kinda freaked out about the fact that theres mold in my ceiling. I want to check to make sure its not going to be like... bad for me.

Oh, and kill him.

And find a really entertaining and inventive way to do it, nobody has any class anymore.

Kill him with the ban stick.

And improve your beautiful handwriting also

meh, i was writing in caps while I didnt have the paper on a stable surface.

Well then, time to get the banstick.

Now that you have mold, good luck getting rid of it. Plus, even if the species is not Stachybotrys chartarum (toxic black mold) breathing spores all day can't possibly be good for you.

If this guy doesn't do anything, take him to court.

This is also probably be grounds to get out of your lease should it be necessary. You might want to look into any local goverment agency or office that regulates land lords and see what they might be able to do. I know a lot of college towns have some sort of renters rights groups too that can help put some pressure on a bad landlord. Also, look into some sort of civil court suit. Thre threat of that might be enough to get his *** into gear as well.

had you even tried looking at whats *above* that spot causing the leak?

silly mb

Find a better place to live.

Yes, its the upstairs bathroom which he hasnt fixed yet either

Yeah, I would say get a better place to live.

In WA, it's actually legal for you to have the repairs done by a licensed professional and charge him for them. If rent comes due and he hasn't paid yet, you can withhold it from the rent. This is after giving him xx days notice (I can't remember exactly). I would be surprised if other states didn't have similar laws (in WA it's called the Landlord-Tenant Act or something).

Don't do anything like that until you check the laws in your state.

Just have a friend pretend to be a lawyer and leave him a message or two.

Certain mold spores over long exposures can certainly be bad, but for the short term I wouldn't be worried about it.

Yeah.

I have sliding glass doors on my shower that use a metal overhead rail with like an enclosure.

It almost always has mold in it. I usually just spray it with bleach really good about every other month.

Is it the landlord or manager? If it's a manager, talk to your landlord directly. If it's the landlord, tell him that you will hold his rent in an escrow account until the repairs are completed. I wouldn't advise paying for repairs yourself as you'd have to take the guy to small claims court to get reimbursment.
I manage an apartment building myself and know that this isn't that big of a job, the guy is just being lazy.

Well now he claims hes waiting for the ceiling to dry out so he can make the repair, which seems reasonable to me.


Oh and also-

Squirrels have moved into the walls.

Yup. Squirrels.

Im calling him tomorrow, and if he doesnt say that hes going to fix the holes allowing them in, im calling the city or something.

Gunna call it what?

NAMES

Im gonna say "Hey Mr smelly city. I got some of your damn Squirrels in my wall and my landlord doesnt care!"

Sounds like a good plan.

are they crack squirrels like they have in england?

That's what God wanted to happen.

They're awesome.

He's yanking your chain. I can tell from the pics that the drywall is buckling and mold has already set in (mold will always come back unless completely removed)But it really doesn't matter whether the ceiling is dry or not, the damaged section needs to be removed and replaced, which looking at the pics, looks about 4'x4' tops? It's about a two hour job plus having to come back to put on 2nd and finish coats of joint compound.
I don't know what to tell you about the squirrels, he'll probably have to call animal control or an exterminator. If he fixes the holes where they get in, with the squirrels still in the wall, they'll either make a new hole to get out or die, leaving you with a serious stink.

You. Don't. Understand. KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Hows the ventilation in there? Too much humidity in the air?

MB's life SUUUUUUUUUUUX

Well, seeing as the little fan in the bathroom doesn't work . . .

From the look of it, this guy is a total slumlord. I hate people like that, they give real estate investors a bad name.

At any rate, I would do what Brian advised and have repair people come and have them charge it to the landlord's bill. If he complains, sue him. Seriously.

Well, maybe Mbeggar doesn't take showers.

So remember the squirrels?

Yea. One of them got in today.

http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/squirrel/1.jpg
http://cias.rit.edu/~pvc5613/ew/squirrel/2.jpg



And then, after about 15 minutes, the thing ran and jumped full speed... Out the third story window.

I want those pictures.