I am not exactly a fan of Facebook. I am on there because my brothers, sister-in-law, cousins and a handful of friends are also on there. In fact, one my most recent friend acquisitions was actually Bliz--which is pretty funny when you consider she and I talk more through Twitter.
I have noticed there is also the other echelon of Facebook friends--those I knew 20 to 30 years ago and never bothered to keep in touch with. Now I remember why. Of course, these are always the people who monopolize the majority of the updates.
Take Debbie for example. She is having issues with her landlord, giving the rest of us the play-by-play drama. Apparently there was a plumbing issue, causing (she said) sewage to leak into a portion of the master bathroom and bedroom. She took the time to post pictures too. It looked like basic water damage to me. But I am not a plumber and I am not living there.
It doesn't sound pleasant, but Debbie is blaming the landlord for this. From what I understand, this is a home built in the past 5 years. She has been living there for a good portion of a year. However, because the landlord owns the home, it is his fault.
In addition to him being solely responsible for the plumbing issue, she has been regularly updating her posts with variation of how uncooperative the landlord is about getting this fixed. For example, this happened Wednesday afternoon. It took two hours for the restoration company showed up. I was impressed at that level of service. Debbie wasn't. The insurance adjuster didn't come until first thing Thursday. I waited 10 days for Finn. The repairs are being made Saturday and should be completed the same day. She had to wait three days before she "gets her house back." Three days for repairs? To me, that sounds like a dream come true.
Granted, this sounds like a major inconvenience. I am sure it is rightfully unpleasant and nobody should have to deal with it. However, apparently the mess or the (presumable) stench it isn't bad enough for Debbie and her family to leave for a family member's couch for a few days.
Debbie's last posting mentioned the insurance adjuster told the landlord the tenants were looking to file a claim for rent because they are living in these conditions. According to her post, the landlord is furious. Though she is denying this, Debbie wanted to know why the landlord would believe the adjuster.
I can tell you why! She probably did say something--several somethings--giving this impression. The adjuster probably has seen this type of tenant and/or this type of situation before--with the tenant claiming they have been damaged (let's not confuse "damage" and "inconvenienced," there are two other working bathrooms and three other bedrooms). The adjuster has nothing to loose, nor does he have anything to gain from making this up.
When I have a high maintenance tenant who manufactures drama, I am not quick to take their word for it either.
Friday, July 31, 2009
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3 comments:
Sometimes it really is the landlord's fault (take my downstairs sink that has been broken for the past 3 months without my landlord getting it fixed after numerous calls & e-mails) but then again, sometimes it is the tenant over reacting (such as the case apparently with Debbie). Some people feel that the reason they rent is so that they can have that connection to the Magic Landlord Wand. In other words they want someone else to solve every problem instantly. If I were Debbie, I wouldn't tell folks about this situation. Not if she wants empathy.
Facebook has a lovely feature where you can hide people's postings on the front page whom you don't particularly need to hear about every few hours. You just mouse over the name and the hide button appears to the right.
renteres think of us as "professional" home owners - somehow able to leap to the front of the line with service people and solve problems in 1/10th the time.
rather than thinking - i don't own this house, so someone else is having to solve the problem and then pay for it, yay! - they think - i don't own this house! i shouldn't have to be inconvenienced! my sewage can't leak because it's not MY sewage! and etc.
just this past week i had a situation that reminded me there's no such thing as banking good will. no matter HOW great everything has been for the last 38 months, something goes wrong and it's tenant v. landlord, ding ding ding, let's go.
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