Floored

Luigi did get back to me about the flooring issue. He sent me pictures he took prior to the tenant moving in. Guess what? The hardwoods were in great shape.

He then threw Flunky under the bus and said he expects me to work directly with Flunky to come up with a "reasonable cost." Well, in my opinion, it is reasonable to get all of the security deposit back because the cost of replacing hardwood floors that run seamlessly throughout the bottom floor (about 1500 square feet) is a lot more than the security deposit.

You would think that would be the rest of this story, because we have a beginning, middle and an end. But no. There's a twist. Of course.

Instead of just saying, "Ok." Or just not replying at all, Flunky the King of all Asshats throws in his own, unrelated opinion. And, just to make sure he has an audience, he sends the note to me, Marty Sunshine and Jim the Property Management Bookkeeper. He says that the reason the floor was wet was because of a "design issue," making it so that the back door, which is a good foot off the ground, not "close properly." Therefore, it wasn't the tenant's fault.

Thinking he could not be serious, I just wrote back, "I have had tenants living in this house for ten years who never had a problem keeping the rain out. The floor was fine when they moved in, it is not fine now. I am not releasing the deposit."

Now then, at this point, it seems reasonable that we are through. Right? Nope. Flunky did the most asshatty thing any asshat has ever done. He told me the water damage was not the tenant's fault, it was my fault because I did not maintain the property. He went on to declare  he knew about this "design flaw" which is only a rusted piece of metal that allegedly caused this issue and he never brought it to my attention, Additionally, he went on to say if I wanted Flunky to inspect the property while the tenant was living there, I should have paid him because then I could have gotten a laundry list of maintenance issues that I should have known about.

I will let that sink in for a moment.

Let's look at a few facts. I am an out of state landlord who hired this bunch of yo-yos to protect my asset. I am paying them. You get that, right? I had no idea there was an issue with the home. Nobody told me until after there was a problem (and it is a BS excuse anyway that some rusted piece of metal or a "design flaw" caused the tenant not to shut the door during a rain storm). But more to the point, he admitted he knew there was a problem and never told me.

I am pleased to say I waited ten minutes before replying. I explained I was under the impression the property management company worked for the owners. This was expressly explained when I signed the agreement to allow the property management company to take care of my homes. I also pointed out that his boss and owner of the company, Luigi, agreed with me, the floors were ruined by the tenant's negligence. On top of that, the tenant violated the terms of the lease by not leaving the hardwood floors in the condition they received them in. Additionally, and here is the biggie: Flunky had just admitted he was negligent, so as far as I was concerned, either the property management company was paying for a new floor or the tenant was.

I ended it by saying the deposit was mine. This matter was closed. And then I did the most mature thing I could think of. I marked his e-mail as SPAM. Marty Sunshine can deal with him.  Poor Jim the Bookkeeper, he had to be privy to all that. I am sorry I couldn't be a fly on the wall and hear all the nasty things Flunky said about me this afternoon. But I will tell you this. Either I get that deposit for the ruined floors or all hell is breaking loose.