Wednesday, February 23, 2011

EVICTION???

Brooklyn Bridge Park. Nov. 2010 You may have seen this before. But lately it's been getting lots of positive feedback on forums- weird how that works right?
So I wanted to share the dramz in my life as of late. My family knows every single detail and is quite sick of hearing about it but I will repeat it here for your amusement.
First let me say we were taken to court for the commencement of eviction proceedings.
Before you hyperventilate (MOM) know this- the suit failed.
Here's why. We actually pay our rent.
I know!
We pay our rent in money orders and get those money orders personally stamped by the building owner's assistant JUST IN CASE.
In case of what?
THIS!

We were taken to housing court because our building owner insisted we owed them 6 THOUSAND dollars. THOUSAND!  W. T. EFFER????

Meanwhile Dave (who does NOT get paid if he takes a day off) has been running around sending certified letters with proof of payment and meeting with building managers to settle the claim and what did that get him? BUPKIS! NADA! Nothing.

The heat goes off for 3 days (in zero degree weather), the hallway lights don't function for 2 months, the intercom system goes offline for 8 months, rats raise entire generations in the garbage cans out front because the super doesn't clean every day... WHO CARES?!  IGNORED. We were actually told the building owner did not "have time" to handle these daily "minor upkeep" tasks on our brand new building which now looks run down in a neighborhood where everyone else owns and keeps their buildings in tip-top shape. WE organize the garbage. WE sweep the floors in the halls. WE trap those YUCKOLA rats (Well not ME- the neighbor on the first floor does that. I don't believe in glue traps even thought I don't like rats).
The lawyers actually uttered the words "They have 1,000 units to look after"
Say WHAT?? If you can't look after your properties STOP BUYING!!
Sheesh!

Here's the thing- New York State has some wonderfully protective tenant laws. Tenants OWN this city. Every single one of those violations is reason for a month's rent credit. The lawyer knows this so he's pulling a slick willie to see if we scare easily. He shows up with a very well organized list of missed rent payments with blank spaces where check numbers should be. That's when I LOST IT and yelled that he needed to stop wasting time and that we wanted to go before the judge. Why? Because Dave met with building management on January 8th and they NEVER SHOWED US THAT LIST. In fact they LET US SIGN A NEW 2 YEAR LEASE!!! So I played "bad cop" (ok yelling, wild eyed, incoherent cop) to Dave's Salvadorian Columbo.

Dave went into chambers and was all: "Hmmm I don't understand.. Can you please explain this?" all the while listening and pretending he doesn't know what's going on. He then proceeded to wipe the floor with that fancy lawyer. I stood there in utter awe- my husband is a GENIUS under pressure!!!

To make this very long story short- we don't owe jack. We never owed jack but now we have court papers that show we don't and the building owner is now forced to fix the lights, the intercom and find a new home for those rats by March 1st.

I LOVE NEW YORK!
Out in front- sans rats.
MuChOs SmOoChEs!
M.

9 comments:

  1. WOW!! You did this all without an Attorney? That is awesome! But you did not get any rent credit? That is so great that you get PROOF every time you pay! Keep up the good work! Get some pics of those Rats and scrap them for us..tee hee! LOVELY LAYOUT by the way, just awesome! Your blog updates are super easy for me to find, do you post them seperately on FB? I love how it just APPEARS on my home page. No one else's blog shows up like that! Much more useful than those dumb FOLLOW buttons!

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  2. Craziness! I am a property manager for local landlords here in NH, and I'll tell you, I've had to quit working for certain landlords as they didn't want to pay to complete simple repairs in the buildings that *I* was physically dealing with the tenants of. They were super pissed, as they should have been, and there's NO WAY IN HELL that I will be a part of that (probably because I was the one they were all pissed at, though I worked my butt off to try to get him to see their side of it.) Good for you guys for standing up to them! Down with lazy landlords that just want to collect a paycheck and call it a day! Cute layout, by the way :)

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  3. That is the cutest picture of your little bitty. As for the people you rent from, I would say see you later. They sound like total jerks!!!!!

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  4. YAY YAY YAY for you! AND your husband!
    Great LO too!

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  5. wow. stress. good it's over! well done him and you with the bad cop style x

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  6. Talk about city drama!! That is why you live in the big apple lol? OMG! No wonder why people are so angry there if this is the type of stuff they have to deal with on a daily basis. Awesome scrappy page BTW!

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  7. holy crap but FIST PUMP HUBBY! YEAH!

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  8. you need to move to Maryland :)...trust me the cost of living is =to NY...and we don't have rats unless you live in the city city like Baltimore...
    ps- I like good cop-bad cop routines; they effing work sometimes when people "who got $$" try to get over on the little man. If you own 1,000 units, you got too many! I bet his ass lives in Hackensack (NJ)!

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  9. I knew i was reading this and wanted to comment before the crash!! You go girl!!
    Your landlord sounds like a poo :) glad it all turned out well!! xox

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Ok peeps lets CHAT! You tell me what you REALLY think and I PROMISE to keep it open minded here.