Great Apartment Great Landlord

15 years ago

I have experienced much of what I have read in this message/question board and let me reassure you that even when you think these "management companies" are all that is left, it isn't you just have to be patient and let your heart guide you to the perfect home. In my last rental I was not given information on lead, 3 years after living there we had a child. When she was 3 I found out information on lead paint. I asked the landlord, who had in the 6 previous years swore he was going to paint and get rid of the chipping paint,if the paint was lead. He said yes and I had her tested. She was at a level 5. He proceeded to evict us. I fought and even though I won I couldn't find anyone who would rent to me because it still showed up as a eviction. So I let my heart guide me. I sat down to log onto Craigs List rentals and said ok show me "the one" I went through many posts before I felt "the one". I called, talked with the owner for awhile, then met him the next day. (The rent was so cheap compared to some of the others I had looked at I was not optimistic that this wasn't gonna be a dive.) Desprate I showed up for the meeting. The apartments were beautiful. A small complex of 3 buldings in a U shape totaling 13 apts. Grounds well maintained. The inside was great, picture window in living and dining room, TWO full size closets in master bedrm. WOW I thought. So I had brung all the paper work with me from the courts. Told him the story,gave him proof of income forms, and said I was interested. I could have the full deposits in about a week and give him a down now. This was on the 22nd of the month. I had to be out by the 1st per settlement agreement of where I was living, he looked at me and I thought oh gosh, here we go again, and to my suprise he said, "tell me your going to be a good tenant" ok I bite " I would be the model tenant", I said. He took my measley $300.00 deposit with a balance of 1200 still owing to move in, and he HANDED me the KEYS. Wow Not even a refrence check. I was floored. He also said, were not gonna worry about the days between now and the 1st those are free, you can start moving in anytime. Let me say that alone makes him and this apartment GREAT. But when I moved in, it was like I had escaped from hell and all these angels were here to greet me. I have the best neighbors, the most wonderful landlord and a great apartment. So to each of you struggling let me say. Keep the faith and let your heart guide you. I hope this was the appropriate place to post this.

Thanks

Look whos typing

Comments (4)

dilly_dally
15 years ago
I'm glad it turned out OK for you so far.

I hope you check out this guy on the 'bad landlords' websites and check the registered sex offenders list for the guy's name. Sometimes when a LL is too eager and lax, there is a reason.

I really hope this guy is on the up and up.
GammyT
15 years ago
I hope you have all of his promises in writing and follow through on what you signed.

If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Good Luck
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Update! I'm very happy to say that we held a meeting with the owner yesterday morning regarding all of the problems listed in my initial post. I presented them with a list of all of the problems and the out of pocket costs for us to take care of them. We came to a written agreement: We will have our carpeting cleaned again, professionally which is going to cost us $125.00 We are going to purchase and re-paint the walls ourselves. They signed the agreement that they would refund us our out of pocket costs for this work, provided that we show them a copy of the receipt for our purchases. They did offer to have their maintainance man come and take care of these problems, but I would rather do this myself, so it will be done my way, and most likely end up nicer. I was also given an apology, and they actually admitted that their maintainance man for the complex did a shoddy job. I'm very very pleased at this outcome. They also put in a new motion sensor light for me in the late afternoon, since I felt our patio light wasn't bright enough. My groundfloor patio is in a darker area of the complex shaded by many trees. I feel relieved. Thank you all for your advice!
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Still doubt you actually have read many of my posts. If you had you would see my tenants actually recomend me to potential tenants. When I show vacant apartments I give out applications and references from other tenants. Every year tenants fill out surveys anonymously. I have also posted about my wedding and having many past and current tenants attend. We even took a few group pictures of past neighbors. I know I come of as insensitive to many posters. I actually agree with many of the posts but like to show other points of view to get people thinking. I have been a member of multiple boards, (buisness, non profit, and government) I would many times argue for the other side and still vote the majority, just wanting people to understand the entire issue. To many times everything is blammed on the landlord. People need to see things from the LL point of view. What are they going to do if they move out to a house? Someone vandalizes their car, breaks into their house, peoples pets use their yard, loud neighbors next door, etc. On their own they won't be able to call the LL! I rarely have many of the problems posted here because I let my tenants know up front I am a very strict landlord. That is obviously what many tenants want. Someone that will crack down on bad neighbors, and keep the building quiet. Besides how much fun with this forum be if everyone just patted each others back and agreed? Also no one HAS to do anything including renting from me. I learned a long time ago their are no needs only wants. This includes living.
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I really have to say I feel for every post I have read. Although Vancouver BC has a lot going for it in theory, it's landlords are not one of it's perks. Take M Block Holdings...seems like a nice little company until you realize the M is Ms. Milos. Now I will set the stage by saying...my fiancee and I are weirdos. Really. 6'5", pink mohawk, don't shave as much as I should, housewife (by choice!! and a good one!!) and my girl is a little bit technicoloured also. That said my idea of fun is playing classical guitar and meditating and my fiancee paints and designs clothing. So we never had a neighbor complain, never made a lot of noise, we aren't tidy people but we are clean...So things started falling a part 3-4 months into a 12mo lease when she would do stuff like... 1 - Her unlocking our door and barging into our apartment while we were "in bed" (and not asleep). 2 - Her screaming at us from the parking lot to come down stairs and talk to her...and when we did she accused of doing drugs because someone in the building was smoking pot. Neither of us do drugs, and we barely ever drink. She assumed it was us because my winter, indoor garden got supplemental florescent light. (Come on who smokes tomatoes?) 3 - Someone broke into our mailbox - she tried to bill us for the new lock saying we had broke into it ourselves. Because I guess we were too stoned to use our key? I still don't get this one... So we move out, 2 months notice instead of the normal 1 required by the lease... What happens? She misses not 1 but 2 walk throughs... She breaks into the apartment and gets very upset that she had to mop up the spilled water...(we left a full bucket of water right where the door would hit it for exactly this reason...if it spilled we knew she had broken in) Writes a bad check to return our damage deposit. The bank manager at our bank even stamped it as a bad check because she had used white out, wrote 2 different amounts on it...etc. When we went to get a new check she started calling us racists and screaming obscenities at us. Accused us of being white supremists and hating immigrants...( for the record I am white, my fiancee is Haida(Native), and I am a recent immigrant to Canada...so....) Now we live downtown in a great little place with a great landlord, of course our neighbour (who has a different landlord) is a wanna be Gangsta-with-subwoofer so...sometimes it seems you can't win!!
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moonshadow
15 years ago
Hi, LL here, nice story, glad to see one of these ;)

I'm curious, on what grounds did he evict you? And if you won, why was the eviction left on your record?

I will disagree with what others have posted regarding being wary or skeptical. I have learned over the years that not all is black and white, there are many levels of gray. Some of my perfect tenants on paper turned out to be nightmares. And some of those less than stellar on paper, but whom my gut told me were being truthful so I gave them a break, turned out to be some of my best tenants. Sounds like your LL is a human being with some compassion and was giving you a break. ;-)

I would encourage you to check the sex offender registry, not for your LL, but for your own peace of mind and to be aware of your local neighborhoods. Sadly, it's common to find offenders in all walks of life, from urban to rural, from affluent to impoverished. I check regularly, and keep my tenants with children posted. National Registry is linked below, google your State registry for assurance of most up to date info.

I wouldn't worry tho, all in all it sounds like you found a great place and a decent LL. Hope your daughter has a healthy future in store. Meantime, relax and enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: National Offender Registry
neesie
14 years ago
I had a great landlord when I was 19 and rented my first apartment. I was worried about passing a credit check since I never established credit and had relocated a thousand miles from my hometown. Even my check was a counter check. It was a nice little apartment in a nice little neighborhood. The landlord literally handed me the keys and welcomed me. I had sparse furniture and no vacuum. When I'd hear her vacuuming the hallway she'd reach my apartment and knock on the door. When I'd open the door she'd come in and vacuum my whole apartment. Did this for a year and a half! She also baked bread every few days and would give me a loaf. Once when I went back home for a visit she offered to water my plants. When I came back she had fresh juice in my refrigerator and some bakery for me.

This was back in the late seventies. I have since moved home but hear from her once in a while. What a sweetie, her kindness and welcoming attitude are remembered to this day.

Great Apartment Great Landlord

Comments (4)

dilly_dally

GammyT

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