10.27.2009

One Thing We All Learned

Remember when we were debating about leaving the old house or not? We were struggling with leaving all that happened there behind, but thought it might be good to get a start fresh in a new place. Well, turns out, we unknowingly made a great decision.

Around the end of August (if my memory serves me right) we were wondering when we would get our deposit from the Josephine house back. Well, Jeff ended up calling Bon, our former landlord, and asked him about it. His response was surprising. Rather than getting any money back, he told Jeff we owed about 700 dollars (on top of the 2 grand we would lose from the deposit). And that was with a 1,200 dollar credit oh so generously given to us by Bon for building new steps from the back door to the yard.

Now, let me make it perfectly clear that the Josephine house was full of character, but also full of cracks. It was a beaten-up old home. We left that place in better condition than when we moved in.

So Jeff sat on the phone, completely dumbfounded. For the duration of our time as his tenants, we had what we thought was a great relationship with him. He repeatedly told Jeff we were his favorite tenants. 11 out of 12 months we had our money in on time (the twelth involved a problem with our bank I think) and that, most of all, pleased him. Whenever we called because something broke, he came over right away and did what he could to fix it (even if that meant caulking the entire bathroom).

While we maintained this good relationship, we really did not trust the man. During our first meeting in the house, it was decided he wasn't allowed in the house with any amount of females alone. He made some comments that left most of us feeling uncomfortable. But nonetheless, as a landlord, we really thought things went well and expected our deposit back in full.

It turns out, he charged us $100 for any and every trip to the house. EVERY TIME. We had no idea. At one point, we had gotten a notice saying our lawn was too long and were required to cut it. He drove by the house something like 8 times before the deadline to see if we cut it and charged us $50 per drive-by. Then, on the day Jeff was going to cut it, he came by and cut it, plus sprayed special weed-killer on it all. We were charged something like $300 dollars for that... however, it rained that night, so he said he had to come back and do it again. That cost us something like $150 dollars. We were charged for him coming to fix the plumbing (which had become unusable). We were charged for everything.

All of us felt betrayed. We were livid. We didn't understand how someone could conduct business that way.

We got some legal advice and it was clear, what Bon was doing was not only unethical, illegal. However, we did not have very much proof. A court case would basically come down to his word verses ours.

So Jeff and Pete went to meet with him. There was no budging in Bon. He believed he was right and would take us to court if he had to. After what Jeff called one of the most agonizing hours of his life, they had given up. They gave Bon a letter from our lawyer stating our position. He again, didn't budge. I believe Jeff and Pete then tried to barter with him on a settlement so we wouldn't have to deal with all the problems a court case would cause. They ended on $250. So it's done. We're done.

I would love to litter this page with expression of my disdain for the man, but I hope the story speaks for itself. And needless to say, we don't recommend renting from Bon.

We're so happy to not live in that house again...

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