Renters' Rights

[Partial]

Any landlords here? I moved a bunch of stuff into my new house in Platteville yesterday, and low and behold the place is a mess. I walked into the door and the stench just pretty much knocks you of your ass. There is some sort of hair and dust in all the vents, garbage left all over the living room and kitchen, screens missing from a slew of windows, doors unhinged and too big for their doorway, some sort of animal food all over the floor, and worst of all, mold all over the bathroom and directly outside my bedroom on the side of the house among many other things.

I am pretty allergic to mold and dust so that is definitely going to be a problem. I could clean it myself I suppose, but I don't feel that should be my obligation since I am putting down money (two months rents) before I even spend a night there.

I don't have a copy of my lease handy, but I intend to contact the landlord today asking for a copy of lease to be sent to me, and notify him of the problems. I am very confident that many safety codes are not being met. The ventilation system does not appear to be working properly since it smells and feels like death upon entering the place. The fire extinguisher rack is empty, with no fire extinguisher in place. There are a few decent sized holes in my wall now too.

I am not sure what happened with the previous tenants, but the place was nice when I checked it out and agreed to it. It isn't anymore, and is definitely not in the state of what I agreed to.

Is anyone familiar with renters' rights in Wisconsin, more specifically grant county? I am not too sure with how to go about handling this, so any advice would be very much appreciated!

[FavreChild]

Oh lordy, are you going to have fun with this battle.

Getting a copy of your lease is only part of the battle - finding out what THE LAW IS will be the rest. Often, it doesn't even matter what you agreed to in your lease - landlords put all sorts of clauses in leases that are legally unenforcable. But they get away with it because many tenants either don't know the law or won't stand up for themselves.

I might recommend putting a call into the Tenant Resource Center of Wisconsin. It's toll-free, and someone there will sit and talk you through everything. I've had to solicit advice from them twice - with two different landlords - and have had very positive experiences. It just helps to go back to your landlord and threaten them with "the law" (which is very pro-tenant in Wisconsin).

You might actually find what you're looking for right on their website:

Tenant Resource Center

http://www.tenantresourcecenter.org/

(877) 238-RENT (7368)
Hours: 10 AM - 4 PM, M-F

[Partial]

Thanks FavreChild!! That is amazingly helpful. I am going to call right now and i'll keep you guys posted on the results!

[retailguy]

Thanks FavreChild!! That is amazingly helpful. I am going to call right now and i'll keep you guys posted on the results!

Before you attack the landlord with all sorts of threats and such, give them a chance and just ask... You're dealing with a student housing landlord, so the odds aren't high you'll get satisfaction, but, it is worth a shot.

I hope I'm pointing out the obvious, but you better get that digital camera out of the box and put it to good use. Worst case, if you have to clean it yourself, you can pretty much assure yourself of getting your entire deposit back. Photos go a long way towards proving you took care of the house....

Good luck

[FavreChild]

Agreed - no need to "attack" the landlord and get off on a bad foot. But arming yourself with information about the law *in case* you need it (and chances are, you will) is a good idea.

[Deputy Nutz]

Wisconsin has some pretty strong laws in place to protect the renter. I would contact him immediately, and say that this is unacceptable according to the Wisconsin statues, and make up some other bullshit into scaring him into getting that mess cleaned up. The mold is a biggy. Don't be a little pussy about it either. Don't clean one fucking thing. You should have called him immediately. Also contact your school and ask them which government agency you should talk to about renter rights.

For a small fee I can get my wife to write a nasty letter for ya.

[GBRulz]

I would really be cautious about the mold situation as some is extremely toxic, even fatal. Is there some kind of test kit that you can pick up at a Home Depot or something that test the air quality of the place? Picking up the mess is one thing, but the mold is much more serious. If that is what it looks like on the OUTSIDE of the walls, who knows what is inside.

Good luck with that, hope it all works out for ya.

[retailguy]

bump....


Update? Inquiring minds want to know....

[FavreChild]

Me, too!

[GrnBay007]

Me 3!! I had a real b!tch for a landlord when I rented. Wish I had taken pics when I moved in.

[Partial]

No update yet. My roomates and I are gathering a list of complaints before we contact them. It should be within 2 or 3 days. We already had rent due about a week ago, but we informed the landlord we were not paying until we inspected the place (had to pay rent before we could move in; no, not the security desposit or the first month down).

[Deputy Nutz]

I told you to contact him right away with a list of complaints, what the hell did you wait for? Landlords are tricky son of a bitches you need to mount that fucker right away, to slow and that landlord will cut your balls off and beat you with them.

[GrnBay007]

Yeah, you need to move on this quick partial. Esp. the mold problem....that is very serious stuff.

[Partial]

We had to get pics. I didn't have my camera and whatnot when I was there (didn't expect any problems; rookie mistake that will never happen again), and I live 3 hours away from my college so I haven't really had a chance to get out there. The roomates are picking up my slack, and we should be good to go shortly!

[FavreChild]

Make sure you record the date(s) on which you contact the landlord and the time it takes to respond. You need to contact him/her as soon as possible. The pictures and so forth are evidence for if (when) the landlord is slow or lax about addressing your complaints. But you don't want to delay contacting the landlord with your concerns.