Ups and downs

[luzula]

The upside:
I was at the annual meeting of my forest environmental organization this weekend, and it was GREAT. Lots of good discussions, lots of good friends there, no conflicts. We have a great board for the coming year. I am all full of new energy!

The downside:
And then I get home and find that the landlord FROM HELL has had people go into my room without asking or telling me and painted the windowsills. They moved all my plants and some other stuff around. I had a sex toy by the bed and various other private stuff lying around. He may own the house, but this is MY FUCKING PRIVATE ROOM and I will FUCKING END HIM. This is not the first time recently that he sends people in to do various renovation stuff without telling us first, which is not okay either, but this is an order of magnitude worse. What makes it even worse is that it's obvious he's only doing this because he's going to sell the house. Before that, he never renovated anything or fixed anything that was broken if he could help it.

We're having a meeting with him tomorrow and I'm calling the tenants' organization before that.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Upside is wonderful, and is this the org that you stepped back from governing?

Downside IS WRONG forty three ways. That's actually illegal in Wisconsin, I do hope it's not legal where you are! you can bleach the sex toy but you can't bleach your plants, woe.

[luzula]

Upside is wonderful, and is this the org that you stepped back from governing?

No, the one I stepped down from is the one where I was auditor; this one is where I am on the board, and I'm still on the board. I was treasurer before, and now I am one of the two chairpersons. It'll be exciting with a change!

Downside IS WRONG forty three ways. That's actually illegal in Wisconsin, I do hope it's not legal where you are! you can bleach the sex toy but you can't bleach your plants, woe.

I've checked, and it's illegal here, too. I'm going to make a police report, and I'm going to take great pleasure in telling him so TO HIS FUCKING FACE. Also he has to tell us in writing a month in advance before he does any renovations, and we can contest it if we want to. I will take great pleasure in telling him that, too.

ETA: Or maybe not. My housemates are afraid that if we do this, he will take revenge by claiming that we have made damages to the house and send us a huge bill after we move. We could of course take him to court over that, where he'd have to prove it, but if we lose it could have bad consequences. ARRRRGHHH. We'll have a meeting about it tonight. Updates to follow...

[blnchflr]

I'm not surprised it isn't as "easy" as filing a police report - a landlord like that would be likely to think ahead and have something to get back at you with :(

I'm sorry you had to suffer such a breach of privacy - good luck if you have the energy to make a complaint, and if not, best of luck putting it out of your mind - *hug*!!

[luzula]

Okay, well, update: situation is less dramatic now, although I'm still pissed. He says he has no further plans to renovate indoors (except for a few minor things that will be fixed tomorrow), and if that's true, fine. I just hope people don't turn up in a week's time and tell us they're going to work on the floors or something--we did threaten him with the police report thing, and he promised not to send people in without asking us first. We'll see. : /

Thanks! *hugs back*

[frayadjacent]

Gah, I hope you can do something about that fucker.

[luzula]

The situation is less dramatic now, although I'm still pissed. He says he has no further plans to renovate indoors (except for a few minor things that will be fixed tomorrow), and if that's true, fine. I just hope people don't turn up in a week's time and tell us they're going to work on the floors or something. We did threaten him with a police report (turns out it's illegal to do what he did), and he promised not to send people in again without asking us first. We'll see. : /

I suspect actually going through with the police report and going to court about it would be more energy than it's worth, although I hate that he's getting away with this and I hate that it's taking up so much emotional energy for me.

[frayadjacent]

I hope he keeps his word. If you have friends willing to help out, a group hand-delivering a letter to him (maybe at his home) demanding he stop might be effective if he doesn't keep his word, and might be easier/funner than dealing with the police. I used to be part of a group in Seattle that used such tactics to great effect. :)

[umadoshi]

the landlord FROM HELL has had people go into my room without asking or telling me and painted the windowsills.

Fucking HELL. I do not understand the blatant awfulness of so many people, and I'm sorry you're dealing with that. >.<

Yay for the awesome annual meeting, though!

[luzula]

The situation is less dramatic now, although I'm still pissed. He says he has no further plans to renovate indoors (except for a few minor things that will be fixed tomorrow), and if that's true, fine. I just hope people don't turn up in a week's time and tell us they're going to work on the floors or something. We did threaten him with a police report (turns out it's illegal to do what he did), and he promised not to send people in again without asking us first. We'll see. : /

I suspect actually going through with the police report and going to court about it would be more energy than it's worth, although I hate that he's getting away with this and I hate that it's taking up so much emotional energy for me.

[the_antichris]

END HIM YES. Is that even legal?

[luzula]

The situation is less dramatic now, although I'm still pissed. He says he has no further plans to renovate indoors (except for a few minor things that will be fixed tomorrow), and if that's true, fine. I just hope people don't turn up in a week's time and tell us they're going to work on the floors or something. We did threaten him with a police report (turns out it's illegal to do what he did), and he promised not to send people in again without asking us first. We'll see. : /

I suspect actually going through with the police report and going to court about it would be more energy than it's worth, although I hate that he's getting away with this and I hate that it's taking up so much emotional energy for me.

[the_antichris]

Ugh. I hope he's telling the truth, and I'm sorry you have to deal with him. <3

[luzula]

Thanks! <3

[toft]

AGH! Having people go into your private room! How horrible!

[luzula]

I know!! I had revenge fantasies all day. Arrgh.

[alltoseek]

Sounds like what you want from the landlord side of things is for him to be respectful in the future - and to any future tenants he might ever have.

I wonder if there is an organisation for tenants' rights in your area you could go to? I wish there was a way to file a police report telling them, "I understand if you don't want to prosecute now, but I want this on record if he does it in the future, so the courts will come down on his ass for being abusive over a long period (as opposed to one instance)."

Unfortunately, once you file a police report it's usually out of your hands (at least it is in the US). That's why if there's a tenants' rights group they might have an idea if something could be done? To make sure he doesn't keep on pulling this shit, even on other people.

In the US laws vary, but typically landlords have to give at least 1 or 2 days' notice before entering their tenants' homes.

In my area we also have a mediation center, where you could explain to him about privacy being violated, and he could explain about damage that needs repairing [damage is inevitable, no one has to get personal about it] all in a calm manner, resolving the issues without threats and revenge motivations and expending more energy than you want. If both the parties want to participate. But mediation is typically completely optional, and I don't know if it's even available where you live.

Good luck to you!

[luzula]

Oh, we do have a tenants' organization, and I've been in touch with them. They were very helpful.

And thanks, for the good wishes and the advice!

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

ARGH: I hate that kind of BS- I was once living in a cooperative house in the U District (across from the back of the University District Branch of Seattle Public Library, in fact) which was owned by a man who had a dozen or so rentals, all painted the same discouraging shade of mushroom. He had his painters come around one sunny Saturday morning in June about 7am: they closed the uncurtained east-facing windows in my bedroom and then painted them shut. I awoke to temperatures well above the legal maximum, uncomfortable even though I had gone to sleep naked and uncovered... the resident who held the rental agreement raised holy hell and got the painted-closed problem fixed by the end of the day but nothing has ever quite fixed the privacy violation.

Julia, no matter how strict the landlord-tenant laws, some landlords don't even care a little.

[luzula]

Yeah. I have been distracted by other things and am not in the immediate anger phase anymore. And I've accepted that making a police report and trying to do anything about it that way would take much more energy than it's worth. Still, I hate that he's getting away with it and is apparently doing the same thing to other tenants, and doesn't care one whit that my privacy was invaded. Arrrgh.