This is a rant. I'm not interested in generating ideas and finding creative solutions. I'm too mad for that.
I came home from work tonight later than usual, around 10:30. The place is mostly empty; I’m moving this weekend. I live in one of those university towns where every lease ends and begins somewhere in the vicinity of August 1.
I check the mail and am surprised and concerned to find a letter from my landlord. My experience during about 2 years of renting from these people has been uniformly poor and has involved seeking legal advice on 4 separate occasions. Only one of these occasions got me anywhere; my state offers minimal protection for tenants and landlords in my particular university town have made a habit of uncivilized behavior
I know, two years is a long time to stick with a crappy landlord, free market and all, I should go somewhere else. I told you that there are protections for tenants in my state, and landlords engage in abusive tactics. Let’s leave it at that. I’m getting out now.
I find a bill for about $450 for a broken door jamb. I’ll confess that I’ve got no idea what a damn door jamb is. Google comes to the rescue. I look at the door and see a crack, probably due to shoddy work installing the damn thing.
This is when the rage sets in. I’m crying and I can’t breathe. I know that they came by to find this thing about 3 weeks ago. I’m receiving a bill now because there is very little I can do to fight this thing in the 2 business days remaining on my lease. I could contact 1 or more businesses that do this kind of work and ask them for an estimate of what a repair should cost, seek legal help, offer to pay my landlord only according to prevailing rates, and get my legal help to try to do what little they can to back me up on this. That’s not going to happen in two days. I have to do other foolish and wasteful things with my time like finish packing and go to work to earn the money to pay for this.
Please don’t suggest that this should come out of my deposit. I was billed in a way to prevent that from happening, and if I don’t pay, they come after me through collections and ruin my credit. It happens that good credit is one thing do I have going for me, financially.
Please don’t try to offer me any legal advice. I’ve been down those paths many times, and I can tell you right now that there is nothing I can do. My landlord isn’t doing this for revenge. They treat everyone this way.
I’m writing this not because I’m seeking advice. I’m writing this because I am full of rage. I am being shown that I have no rights that the wealthy must are respect, and I’m paying good money for the privilege.
This is one more sign of the end of democracy.
Thanks for reading. I'll delete this if anyone thinks it is a waste of space.
UPDATE:
Thanks for all of your advice. I know I didn't want any when I wrote this. I was pretty mad then. I'm more calm now and I've decide to try and do something constructive about this.
Thanks for being such a wonderful community.
UPDATE #2:
Thanks for all of your excellent ideas. It's late where I am, so I'm going to sleep. I'll check in again tomorrow morning to look over your ideas again and then try to deal with this.
I'll write a follow up diary sometime next week and let you know if this works.
Once again, my thanks.