Monday, August 15, 2011

How do i deal with -retentive landlord?

I’ve been renting the same apartment in an old building Washington DC for the last 5 years. My lease (which hasn’t been changed/amended/renewed since I moved in) is with a man whose sister has recently (and unofficially) taken over management. And ever since she has been a pain in my behind. Every time she comes to the apartment she finds something new to complain about- a small scratch on the wall, my bike which I keep parked in the foyer chipped the paint in a couple of places on the wall, (my boyfriend touched up the area with a little paint after she threatened that if I didn’t fix it by a certain date she would pay someone to touch it up and send me the bill-now she has a contractor coming in to give the whole damn building a fresh coat of paint!), if the ceiling fans aculate a little dust, she threatened to have someone clean them and again, send me the bill for it, if the steps in the hall aren’t swept/mopped to her liking etc., etc. Some new tenants are moving into the apt. downstairs at the beginning of August (my 5th set of neighbors since I’ve been living there) and she wants me to now send her a list of names of anyone that I have given a copy of my key to and claims it’s to comfort the incoming tenants (she has seen my brother and father in the building on occasion – I am a single woman living in a sketchy neighborhood. If I want a male to drop by and check on me on occasion I don’t see what the problem is.) She has also made me aware of how much the new tenants are paying in rent and that I am lucky that my rent is still so cheap. I am convinced she doesn’t ride the other tenants in the building the way she rides me and I’m definitely not sure that what she is doing/saying is legal since technically my lease is with her brother and not her. Lucky for me, most of her demands are made via e-mail so if it gets to the point where I need to file a complaint at least I have a paper trail. How do you suggest I deal with her? Should I make a complaint or should I not rock the boat? Thanks in advance for your help.

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