My Landlord/Realtor Dilemma...

[jennifert9]

Well, my landlord has decided to sell the house that I live in now. Her mother owned it and recently passed away and I guess she and her brother have decided to sell the 2 family that they grew up in and that I currently live in. I don't really care what they do with it since Collin and I are moving to PA in 2 weeks anyway...
BUT, I came home yesterday to a note from the landlord saying that they were selling the house and to expect calls from people looking to view the house. Fine, no problem I thought, a call once or twice a week to give advance notice that a buyer wants to come, no biggie...
I come home tonight to a For Sale sign in the yard and a lockbox on the porch railing...still, no big deal! I came inside and checked the blinking voice mail....6 messages from realtors who want to show the house TOMORROW!!
B I G P R O B L E M!!!! Am I supposed to arrange these visits? When did I become the secretary for the landlord!?!?! *ANGRY ME!!*

OK, so I listen to the messages...one lady says "Oh, I would like to come tomorrow around 4 and you will need to put the DOG IN A CAGE."

OK, now I'm seeing RED...I thought I was angry before!!! I quick called my dad to find out how much he knows about my rights as a tenant and what he thinks I should do...I mean, I don't want to be uncooperative, they want to sell the house and I want to be accomodating. But I draw the line at putting Duncan in a crate so people can come to the house when I am not home!
First of all, Duncan has not been crated since he was a year old. And even then it was for 4 hours, I let him out at lunchtime, 4 more hours and then I was home...and that was only for a few weeks until he learned to behave in the house when noone was home (Don't get me wrong, I am not against crating a dog for behavior, training, etc. so I don't want to start any trouble;)) I just do NOT think that it is fair for Duncan, who lives here too, this is his home as much as it is mine or Collin's!, to be in a crate all day so people can come look at the place. With traffic, my work is about 30 - 40 minutes away so I couldn't come home at lunch and he would be in the crate for 11 hours straight! And even if I WOULD do that, what good is that? The people may be safe from Duncan biting him but he would bark and growl at them and jump around the crate and could injure himself! I don't care about the safety of these people to be honest...but I care a great deal about the safety of my dog! Not to mention that it has been in the 90s everyday here and, I do have AC but just a room/window one so it's cool but not always comfortable. Poor Duncan wouldn't be able to find a cool spot to lay or stretch out, I don't have a water hanger thing and even if I did, I don't think Duncan would know how to use it....
Now, I could leave him loose in the house everyday like I normally do and just take my chances that he will not bite these strangers coming into my house. And, to be honest, he probably wouldn't. He's not overly concerned with the house itself, it's the people living in it (translation: ME :)) that he is concerned about and will protect until his dying day.... So, theoretically, if I'm not here, he would probably be fine...but can I take that chance? NO, I can't. What if he does bite someone....then his life is at risk when they report it and I just cannot have that.
So I called some of the people back today and told them not to come into my house between the hours of 8am and 7pm. Some already had made "appts" for tomorrow!!!! I told them no nicely and tried to make it sound like I was concerned with their safety and that I was willing to help but only after work hours...One man decided to come right then so I took Duncan for a walk, which is fine. We usually take long walks in the evening anyway but lately we have been waiting until it cools off.
My concern is that, since there is a lockbox out front and I have no idea if the key to this apartment is in it or just the key to the downstairs one (they only have pet birds), that people will come in when I am not home anyway!!
I think I will put a nice note on the front door asking them to please not come in, the dog is not friendly, (I'm sure they can hear him barking at them when they are on the porch anyway...)I don't know how to word it without seeming like I don't want to help though. Of course I would prefer not to have people in my home at any time but if I have to I will deal with it. But what are my rights? Can I forbid them to enter when I am not home? And if they do anyway and Duncan does hurt someone, what will happen to him? And can I be sued? And what if he gets out of the apartment? As it is, it seems like I will have to have people tromping through my apt when I get home from work for a few hours. I can take Duncan to the park to swim and play (it's a 45 minute drive but we'll both have fun) but it still sucks. (Tonight, I had to turn off my dinner and finish cooking it when I returned) Also, the place is a mess since Duncan and I have been living here alone for 2 months, I see no reason to dust:D and I have been packing so there are boxes and bags everywhere! And to top it ALL off, I have to give my notice at my job, which I love! and I am not looking forward to that. I had planned on working lots of OT to help them set up a training program for the person they hire to replace me since my job was a new position and does not have an official "description" I like my company and love the girls I work with so I wanted to get as much done as possible to make it easier on them. And now I have to commit to being home every night at a certain time and leaving WITH Duncan!! That can be a problem in 90 degree weather when I need to run errands which I have TONS of since I am moving in 2 weeks....So, you can understand my dilemma.....
Sorry this is so long!! I am just so frustrated and confused...
Does anyone know my rights/obligations in a situation like this? In all honesty, the landlord has never been nice and had BARELY fulfilled her obligations as a landlord(another LONG story;)) but at the same time, I understand the position she is in and certainly don't want to derail her plans....
Please help!! Any advice would be wonderful...Again, I apologize for the length....any comments/stories would be welcome...

[Logan]

I don't have any idea, Jenn, what your rights are, but I would definitely post that sign on the door. You need to make sure people have been warned. My dogs, gentle as they are, would not take kindly to strangers walking in. At least I don't think they would! LOL!!!!

Logan

[christa]

We are in sort of the same situation . . . our landlord is selling our townhouse. BUT he's going through a realtor to sell so she makes all the arrangements. We agreed in advance that we had to have 24 hours notice to show the townhouse and she HAS to be present when it's being shown.

Not sure if there's anything you can do about them just coming whenever . . . our neighbors aren't as considerate as we are and our landlord just lets them in when he's gone. :rolleyes:

Good luck . . . I'd just try to grin & bear it until you can get out of there!

[Ginger's Mom]

I am not sure what your rights are either. Who is selling the place, the private owner or a real estate agent? Who is making the appointments? Who have you spoken with about the problem? The homeowners or the real estate agent? Also I do not know what your lease says about your landlord's right to access to the house.

I know that if I were selling my place I would set it up with the real estate agent so that it would be shown by appointment only, and I would need to know at least by 6:00 the night before. I would then definitely make arrangements to take my dog out of the house for the morning, or day or whatever. I wouldn't want people going through the house upsetting her and I certainly wouldn't want to take any chance that she would become upset and run out the door when the strange people were coming or leaving. I just don't want people I don't know there with her, when I am there to protect/comfort her. They may be able to make all of the appointments in the evening when you are home.

I wish you luck. It is really a shame that they feel they have to have people coming through now, instead of waiting a few weeks. Maybe you can work something out with the real estate agent where she will let you know the day before she brings someone through the place. Sorry.

[Corinna]

I think I would call landlord and listing agent to say you would ike the respect as to have them wait the 2 weeks until you move. Then start the legal stuff.

[jennifert9]

Ginger's Mom, a real estate agent is selling the place but I think it is one of those "mulitiple listings" so that other agents can come and look at it to see if they are interested in trying to sell it.

And apparently, I am making the appointments!!!!! Every agent is calling my home phone for appts!!!! I don't have the time or the desire to check my messages on my home phone from work so when I get home, I get a bunch of messages.... CRAZY!!

I have not yet spoken to the landlord about the situation. For some reason, she thinks I am willing to make all the phone calls and appts for her. And I think she is doing that BECAUSE of the dog. Which is good in a way because I really don't want people in here during the day when I am not here. But I DON'T feel that I should be making the phone calls to the agents, should I? I mean I could care less if anyone sees the place! I think it's a ploy of hers to say that I was uncooperative in their plan to sell the place and then keep my $$, you know? So I'm trying to help but I'm very limited in what I can do to help sell the place.
My lease says that I will allow that landlord access to the place "when necessary", which I do. She can come in whenever she wants but she would be wise to contact me first...Duncan is listed on the lease as a resident. (I am actually NOT on the lease believe it or not!!, only Collin and "his" dog) he lives here too and has some rights!! I know that legally he doesn't but....it's his home!!!

Corinna, I tried to contact the listing agent tonight but I didn't get any answer...I think the landlord should wait 2 weeks but she is greedy and she will want something for nothing I'm sure...
Collin just informed me tonight that his company's movers are coming on the 25th!!!! I plan on working until the 30th so I guess I will be here on an air mattress for a few days!! Duncan can go with Collin to the new place so maybe the landlord will hold off for 10 more days... Good idea Corinna!

Thank you for the response!!

[Corinna]

If its for the agents only find a time you can do it and call the listing agent and inform him/her that h this is the time for onen house for agents one time only . As you are packing to move and will have no other time. then tell her you have no time to deal with this they and the owner will have to just wait until you have moved. Be tough if she had asked you to move she wouldn't have access for 30 days anyway so 2 weeks won't kill her(landlord)

[Lady's Human]

Unlimited access to the apartment doesn't sound quite kosher. Normally the landlord is required to give 24 hours notice of the need to access the apt unless it is for an emergency/maintenance issue. If I was going to have to make the appointments for the landlord I'd stop it with one thing..... A contract giving me 5% of the sale price if I made the appointment for the owner.

[Oggyflute]

Sounds to me your being railroaded mate. I've been in the same situation myself, and ended up making an arrangement whereby the agent could take people through the house for two hours on the weekend only.

[anna_66]

I think Corrina is right. Stick to your guns and make them wait till you are out of the apt!

[Corinna]

Hey I like the way you think Lady's human! I completely missed that thought. :D

[JenBKR]

You are under no obligation to help with the sale of the house, nor do YOU have to make the appointments. Does the agent not want to do her job? I agree with the previous answers, they can wait two weeks to start showing the house. Talk to your landlord about this, and really stand your ground. Good luck!

[jennifert9]

Thanks for all the advice everyone!! It's been hectic here to say the least! But I think I have it all under control now!! ;)
I'm not working anymore so I'm home all day. People are not calling to make "appointments", they are calling to tell me they are coming! Nice right! Here I am trying to call them all back and be nice and they are just going to come anyway!! So once I realized that I changed my tune! I called the listing agent and told he 1 person at 6:30 would be fine, Duncan and I usually go for our walk then anyway and they could come in and look around. Well, Tuesday I think it was, it was 96+ degrees outside and people started coming...(BTW, I had th ecomputer on all day to avoid the ringing phone!) I left at 6:30 like I said I would and Duncan and I went for a drive in the air-conditioned car and came back about 1 hour later. People were at my house so we sat in the car for about 30 minutes until I got frustrated and came back in the house. I locked the top door that they do not have a key to and watched tv and chilled. OK, flash forward to Wednesday: So I'mnot expecting anyone unti the evening and only 1 person!! (Some came during the day, I ignored them.) At 6:30 I left the house with Duncan and we went for a walk and then got some food for the place on the corner. About an hour later I came back with my chinese take-out and Duncan. There were people MILLING around my house!!! NINE agents came to see the place...I talked to the neighbors for about 2 hours and they were still coming!! Now remember, I am from upstate NY, I have nowhere else to go with Duncan!! Finally I had enough and just went into the house and left them gaping on the sidewalk. (Duncan, the lovely, sweet dog that he is did his part by snarling and growling at everyone!! I love him! :D) I locked the doors, ignored the phone and settled down to read Pet Talk!! :)
Duncan did his part by trying to kill the door if they knocked, such a sweetheart he is! I checked the voice mail....11 messages!! I was so angry, I called the listing agent AGAIN and told her that I would be out of town for a WEEK with Duncan and that she can make the appts then but until then, I did not want anyone else in my house! I was so mad! I told her that since I have to leave everytime someone comes, one appt per day was plenty. She can have the place to herself for an entire WEEK!! I told her that her need to sell the lace was interfering with the "quiet enjoyment" that I am entitled to in my lease. She said "Oh yes, I'm sorry, I wil put that on the listing ad, I'm sorry,I'm sorry, blah blah blah..." So TODAY!! everyone is calling to come in the evening. It is pouring rain here and thunderstorming once every hour. I called some agents back (trying to be nice and not waste their time) and told them that I have nowhere to go since it is raining. One lady asked me if Duncan and I could lock ourselves in a room so she could see it!!!!!!!! I told her no, I can't. Come at your own risk. Knock and if the dog barks,leave! HAHAHHA :D We have been locked in here for 4 hours now!! This is insane!
OMG, all my posts are so long and I apologize...I'm just so fed up with this!!! Duncan and I are leaving tomorrow for PA for the week, Thank God! They can come all they want to this dump!!

[kittycats_delight]

Oh wow, You have so much more patience and tolerance than I have. I think after the first time my request was ignored I would have very firmly restated it and then when it was ignored a second time the place would have went up. No one would want to come there as they would have heard me screaming down the block. I hate when people take advantage and they are sooo unreasonable sometimes. Honestly who do they think they are to ask you to lock yourself and you dog in a room so they can see the place. No I don't think so and don't bother bringing your ass here as I will not let you in. I am sick of being walked over. I commend you on your tolerance and patience. Good Luck at least you and Duncan will have a week of peace outside of the craziness of your soon to be ex-home.

[captain]

I agree with Trev - you are being railroaded.

We were in this situation ONCE - we did not know our rights, and the landlord did not even TELL us that he was thinking of selling, we just got home to a FOR SALE sign in the front yard.

Lucky for me (or was it??) ONE agent was involved, but she tried to book people during the day, late at night, all over the place.

I just refused to be at home, and put the double lock on the door. The agent had a key for the top lock, not the bottom one ..... She blew a gasket, but I refused to budge. I gave her between 5pm - 6pm on a weekday (Tues, Wed, Thur) and 9am on a Saturday. If there were still people in the house past 6pm, I put my music on, LOUD, and started cooking .....

Believe me, she tried to come in on her own .......... because I was actually home one of the days (she didn't know), and she got a big fright when I actually opened the door. She tried to bring people through, and I refused!

How about changing your phone message to say - "if you are calling about the house sale, you may only come between 6:30 and 8 - after that the house is NOT AVAILABLE and the door will be locked".

[jennifert9]

Thanks Captain! Great advice!! I think I will change the mesage and tell them not to come until next week. I don't know why I can't think of these things myself! I guess I'm just so angry!! :)
And no, I have NO patince, I just want my security deposit back!! LOL!
Thanks for the help and great advice everyone...It was a HUGE help!

[Logan]

I cannot believe the number of showings, Jenn! Surely someone has expressed interest at this time.

Good heavens...........glad you're getting away tomorrow.

Logan

[AlleyCat]

I am a licensed real estate agent in Minnesota. Here, realtors have to arrange for all showings - you are under no responsibility to arrange these yourself. Pass on those messages to your landlord and wash your hands of it. Also, I don't know about your state's laws, but most states have laws that, for tenants, there has to be a minimum number of hours' notice for any reason (unless it is an emergency) so check that out.

[jennifert9]

I swear, sometimes I feel like my life is just one big series of calamities!! LOL!!

Now, my former landlord is refusing to return our security deposit! According to the lease, she had 4 weeks from the date we moved out to return it to us. That would have been 7/28. I figured I would go with July 1st as the "start" date of that 4 weeks however since technically we did not have to be out before then. So August 1st, the security deposit should have been in our mailbox. Nothing! We were in Jersey 2 weeks ago and I drove by the old homestead and saw a sold sign in the yard. I was trying to be generous and thought, "Oh, maybe she is just waiting for the closing...."

I called her on 8/5 and left a very nice message oh her home answering machine wondering if the check was lost in the mail, we never received it, giving her our address in PA AGAIN! No response. So I called her at her home number again yesterday. This time no machine picked up at all so I had no choice, I called her at work. I don't like doing that because I know it's difficult to discuss personal business at your workplace but I didn't have a choice. Again, I was very very nice to her on the phone. SHE however, was her usual rude self. She told me I needed to talk to her brother as "she no longer deals with that stuff." (Her mother owned the house and was actually our landlord. Roseanne was the "contact" person. Her mother passed away in March so we started making the checks out to Roseanne at her request. Her brother is not on the lease, nor have I ever met him, I only know his first name is Paul.) She tells me that he will call me in a little while. I asked for his number and hung up. I waited about 10 minutes and he didn't call so I called him. He said that there were "damages" to the apt. I was flabbergasted!!!!! (You don't get to use that word very often and it's a funny one!! ;))
He said there was "dog mess"? in the corner, the rugs were "urine stained" and there was mold growing through the floor due to the shower leaking because we didn't have enough shower curtains up.
Even typing it makes me angry again!! What rubbish! First of all, Duncan has not gone to the bathroom in the house since he was 6months old and even then he was housebroken within 2 weeks. He is excellent at that. He would never do such a thing unless I left him alone for days, which of course, I would never do!! The rugs...when we moved in, there were 4 filthy durty stained rugs in the apt. We asked the landlord if we could dispose of them since they were so gross and we prefered the hardwoods underneath. She said, "sure, they belonged to the previous tenant, do whatever you want with them." We promptly tossed the 2 in the LR and DR but kept the area rugs in the bedrooms. They were filthy and nasty too but the rooms were very small and our furniture covered 90% of them anyway. I put down some throw rugs on top of the rug. So yes, the rugs were dirty...but certainly not because of us!! What do they think, Duncan crawled under the bed to do his business?! NO WAY! It's preposterous! Anyway, the rugs were garbage! We had told our movers to throw them out, but admittedly, I did not see them do so as I had to keep Duncan away from them so we were outside most of the time. I did go in and sweep up the living room and dining room before we left. I had scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom with Clorox the day before.
The mold: yes, there was mold....!!! I noticed it about a month or so before we moved out. My computer desk sat against that wall so it covered it but when I was packing, I moved it and saw this nasty stuff growing up from the floorboards. Now, when we moved in, the floor had water damage already. You could see where the floor was stained and darker in that corner. The tub sat on the opposite side of the wall. It was one of the clawfoot tubs, caulked to the wall on one side. We had 2 shower curtains up the whole time we lived there. At the end of May, after the plumber had to come and fix our leaky sink and our leaky toilet, he came back the next day to check the shower. he told me to put up ANOTHER shower curtain along the wall. I went out that same night, bought one and the hooks and hung it up. NOW, this brother is telling me that we didn't have enough curtains up and it is OUR fault that the floor is damaged! Are these people insane!?? They act like it's MY house and MY responsibility that it is falling down! We would have problems with stuff, like the bathroom that I described above, the front door lock was broken, the living room ceiling leaked when it rained, the bedroom ceiling COLLAPSED on me while I was sleeping!!! The whole thing fell onto the bed!! We would call her and she wouldn't do a d*mn thing. The only way I got her to fix anything at all was to withhold rent finally! It was absolute h*ll living there, it really was. Between all these problems, the super expensive oil furnace from the early 1900s that heated the basement great, the realtors...I mean, seriously!!
I CANNOT believe that they are even attempting to keep the security deposit! And it's not a couple hundred bucks either! IT'S $1,612.50!! That's ALOT of money! SO the brother told me he would call me back and I have yet to hear from him. Tomorrow I am sending a demand letter certified return receipt and filing in small claims court. I have to go to the library to download the forms since this computer just can't handle it! ;) According to NJ law, if the landlord doesn't provide you with an itemized list or the $ in 30 days, a tenant is entitled to sue for DOUBLE the amount of the security deposit! So that is what I am going to do. Actually, I'm going to sue for $3000 because any more than that and we will need a lawyer and I don't think we want to go that route yet unless we have too. With me not working, we don't have alot of disposable income right now so that may be an expense we can't afford right now. Although when we win, she will have to pay that too. :) I am not sure they are aware of the law since they showed blatant disregard for it. I'm excited to sue her actually. I know we are right and did absolutely no damage to that place!! In fact, it was cleaner when we left than when we moved in! It took us 3 days to clean it when we first moved in at the end of December! There was all sorts of garbage and random furniture and tools left in the place. There wasn't even a window in the bedroom! Just a piece of cardboard! (They fixed it a few days later BUT it was supposed to be done before we moved in. Unfortunately, we do not have pictures of the apt on the day we moved in...:( But I do have pictures of all the problems we dealt with and some pictures of the day we left.
What a pain though! Especially since we will have to drive 4 hours back to Jersey to deal with it...and I'm sure it will be ugly. She has never been nice to us and she has a very strange sense of responsibility about the apartment. She always acted like it was our house and our problem, not hers....I had to remind her that we RENTED the apt, not owned it and the care of it was HER problem, not mine...
I will let y'all know how it goes!! Wish me luck! ;)

[Oggyflute]

Good luck with it mate. I've learn't over the years to be meticulous when inspecting a property. I write down everything and even take photo's of any damage. I also keep records of all interacting between the landlord/agent and myself. This has helped me a few times over the years from landlords trying to keep the bond. At my last place the landlord tried to hold onto the bond, when he didn't have a copy of the original inspection report! Needless to say when I pointed out the serious cacka he would be in if he took it to the tribunal, he very quickly released the money.

[jennifert9]

Thanks Trevor! We unfortunately, were not meticulous enough...:( We do have pictures but not that many and none of the place when we moved in...You know, it was so frustrating living there. It seemed like every week was something different...first the sink started leaking, then the toilet...then the roof...then the ceiling fell on me...! I sat down last night and wrote up 8 pages of stuff that happened while we lived there, everything I could remember! I think I will print out the first few posts I made in this thread to describe the realtor problem to the courts as just thinking about it makes me angry all over! And it was written at the time so the details are fresh and accurate. It's just so upsetting. I mean, we tried to be nice to her, especially after her mother passed away...I felt bad. That is a horrible thing to deal with so we tried to be kind in all of our interactions with her. But she is just a very nasty person, very unfriendly and defensive, always quick to yell. One time, we called her because the furnace had stopped working AGAIN and it was one of those bitter cold nights, temps in the single digits. Collin, Duncan and I were all huddled around an elctric heater in the bedroom for over a week!!! We called her and she said she wanted to be "friends" with us, not enemies! I said, "well then invite us to sleep at your house, because we're freezing!!" LOL!! Needless to say, she didn't!! ;)
So, it should be interesting...I will update as it proceeds. I have a feeling we will get something from them in a day or two, now that they know we are looking for the money and that they are in violation of the law. Can't wait for that!! :)