I feel so bad for you, really! Why is it the standard solution is to move? Its really not fair, but in this case it sounds viable. I also cant help but wonder why the maintenance man is allowed to freely enter, why not set up an appointment with him? Consider having a friend around with you as a witness. I would also set up a camera to record-pic and sound. I used to leave my computer on record, leave my cellphone on record as well and when my landlord was around play it back for him. I did win in court, and only one landlord in five ever kept my security deposit. That was before I got smart. Unfortunately, you have to document everything and just bring it into a courtroom if you cant get them to listen. I have personally found that when you hand deliver a letter and follow up and send email with attached recording files, this definitely should get them to respect you. Management companies have "employees" not owners, so your making them actually work, which they probably don't like. Keep it all business with the mangement company. The town where you live or city should have a town hall with appropriate offices for tenant advice as well. Believe me, they can become very effective should you get them involved! Good Luck!

Here's the Ohio Revised Code for a landlord's obligations.Specifically this paragraph applies to you: (4) Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning fixtures and appliances, and elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him; Here's the Ohio Revised Code outlining tenant's options if landlord does not meet their obligations. Pretty specific. I try to give both views (there are always two). Maybe your landlord is not paying taxes because they're not managing $ as they should ~or~ maybe some crisis has befallen them (i.e. serious illness with hefty medical bills, etc). Hard to say for sure, but stuff happens to us, too. ;) Not defending their behavior, but I had a similar scenario just recently. There could well be a problem getting an electrician out in this weather, it's causing a lot of problems, especially if you've got ice on the power lines. We had an ice storm last week, power line collapsed to house, and sub zero temps were on the way the next day. Tenant had no heat. We hustled and spent Friday evening getting the power company out, then spent an entire Saturday on the phone till we finally snagged an electrician who could finish what the power company didn't cover (lots of power failures due to cold/ice). And the reason he responded was because the job site was close to his home at it was at the end of the day. No one else ever called us back. One of our largest contractors (suburban metro area) has only 1 heating guy on call on weekends. :-/ My tenant knew we were doing everything as quickly as possible (strive for that), but did at one point comment they 'didn't get what was taking so long'. (18 hours from time of line break to repair). ~sigh~ Some people seem to think we've got magic wands and contractors jump when we call. It's not how it works, we wait in line like everyone else. And in our county, those on home medical equipment get first priority by the power company and most heating contractors as well. Hard to tell if your LL is jerking you around or caught up in the wait. Are you having a lot of bad weather where contractors would be really busy? Also keep in mind we just came off a weekend when contractors are running on skeleton crews. Could move faster now that we're in the work week again and full crews are working.

I agree with the others, but for different reasons. Bottom line is that it's your fault from misuse. And you will have more clogs from Q-tips as you keep it up, as evidenced by last clog. There are likely more Q-tips stuck inside the toilet base that will cause another clog sooner or later. Even so, the stuck flapper did make the problem worse, since water wasn't going down the drain. It allowed it to overflow (It's like a kid flushing a clogged toilet the second time - that's where it ends up on the floor. But it's still secondary to the clog. Bottom line, even if the flapper failure DID help the water to go over the edge, it was bound to happen one day by the regular misuse. BTW, I wonder just how timely you were in addressing the stuck flapper issue - did it run for days and weeks before you got around to getting it fixed? I have customers that have done that and have gotten huge water bills as a result. And if they were to keep it up, the day they have a clog, flush, and leave the room, watch out below!

The total cost you paid for the rental property (per the closing settlement statement: cost plus closing costs other than real estate taxes, insurance and mortgage interest .... i.e., add in the attorney fees, title insurance, wire transfer fees, etc.) plus all improvements is your cost basis. Then use the most current tax bill's land value percentage to total cost on that bill to allocate part of this cost to land to deduct from the total cost (308,200 Land divided by 460,000 total assessment = 67% value of land... in NJ our land values are higher than the building so I was using a NJ example). That will give you the building's cost to depreciate over 27.5 years if you are renting the place as a residential rental or 39 years if you are renting the place as a commercial rental. For example if total costs including improvements is $600,000 then $600,000 - $402,000 the land's 67% value = $198,000 to depreciate ove 27.5 years if the rental is to a residential tenant. In NJ, the tax bill's assessment is always lower than the actual price but the percentage of land vs. building is accurate. Hope this makes sense since I have been living with only a few hours of sleep. I will check after my deadline if there are any more questions. Feel free to email me but don't expect a response until after 4-15-09 which will only help you if you are on extension. I better get back to these extensions. I needed a break and was hoping to see some more pictures of hardwood floors. :)