do i go over her head? call a lawyer?
@crazzydolphin (3636)
United States
June 27, 2012 6:29pm CST
my house has not alwyas been the cleanest i will be the 1st to admit that but i do the best i can with everything else i have going on. well the rule is it always has to be clean and we have to pass inspections and all that. well my landord is always just stopping by and we get busted with a dirty house. she has even taken pictures to put in our file. well the last time our house was really bad to her and she took pictures and after a long process she decided not to kick us out and she even came back to check and we were doing better. well i have had so much going on like many of you know and the past 3 days i have done nothing but cleam my house to get ip back to perfect in case she was to stop by. well today i was running slow on energy so i was cleaning here and there. when i saw her out front i cleaned a lot harder. 1 it isnt fair that it has to be perfect 100% of the time specially when she just drops by. the only things i still needed to do in my house was.....mop our floor (there were a lot of black spots where i was sweeping and didnt notice the floor was wet and dirt stuck to it), there was a can on the floor with a small amout of dirt (ever think that was my pile i had to sweep up??), a few dishes in the sink WITH the soap in it (ever think we might get hungry at lunch time??), and i had 2 pizza boxes beside the trash can to put in the recycing when i brought it around. oh and the kids had toys all over the floor in their room. well she knocked like 2 times and i didnt answer it because i was trying to do a few things and i just knew that i was going to get in trouble and i have had to much going on to deal with that to. well after the 3rd time and her beating on my door i opened it and she came in. well on her way out she said well you still fail. i said waht for 1 room and she said its not jsut that its theres stuff here and there (pointing at a few of the above mentioned items). well she left without saying anything else. my husband feels that she is harrasing us. i am not really sure but i sire feel like she is always bothering us with something. my grandma says to call and ask a lawyer what he thinks because it is free to consult them. i did take pictures of my apartment right after she left just so that i had proof of what it looked like but i am sure her and that other lady will say diffrent. i am scared of losing my apartment and i dont know if she would not be the type to try and have my kids taken because she doesnt feel my house is clean enough.
so now i am asking you guys what do you think?
what would you do?
i am looking into any possible ideas as where to start with this. if i go over her head it could cause a lot more problems to because she gets very upset if you go to someone higher than her. i mean she has done a lot for us but i now am starting to feel like it doesnt matter if im wearing myself out to make it look good when all she is going to do is fail us. almost anyone that comes inside my house would say its clean but not her.
4 responses
@randylovesdar (4932)
• United States
28 Jun 12
I think your landlady is horrible. She has no right to come over whenever she feels like it and do a home inspection. I would go to your local legal aid office and get a list of lawyers who will see you for free. I can understand if you were having trouble with bugs then it could be a cleaning issue, but that is not the case. I am glad that you kept pictures and I would bring them to the lawyer. I owned my own home at one time and I never cleaned it on a daily bases. I think cleaning once a week is fine.
@crazzydolphin (3636)
• United States
29 Jun 12
we agree with you 100% she is very horrible. i feel like she is harder on us than other people i guess because my dad works for the same company. she is allowed to do inspections but you are suppose to get 48 hours notice or atleast 24 hours. but when we had a major problem a while back we told her she could come by and she said she mentioned bringing community services in our house but i do not remember that ever coming out of her mouth. we had bed bugs a while back but that had nothing to do with cleanliness. a lot of people out here had them and still do for that matter. even my neighbor across the street who has OCD so you know its always clean had bed bugs and a mouse. we have bad mice here in the 4 apartments connected and she is blaming us for that. she told our old neighbor that it was our fault she has to move. which we have a big area they dont mow out back down the hill and a trailor park that is full of mice they have been trying to get rid of. they put poison out back of other apartments with mice to up the road.
i havent had time with my daughter b-day today but my mom says to wait and see what she does from the "failing our inspection" again and she would go down there and she will help me figure out the next steps. i wasnt going to tell her i was embarressed because my landlady was really hurting my feelings saying these things about me.
cleaning it every second of the day except after 5:00 (thats when she goes home) is very exhausting to me and we are looking into a new place of our own.
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
28 Jun 12
That really does not sound legal to me!! She should not be allowed to just come over and inspect whenever she feels like it. I don't know about where you are but here people are quick about trying to get your kids taken away, that would scare me too. I would definitely check into a lawyer and see if that is legal for her to go to your place whenever she feels like it. It really does not sound like it to me. In the 4 months we have been here the landlord has never come over to check on us or anything like that. Plus she is invading your privacy by taking pictures of your apartment! That is so wrong!!
I hope you find out about this and I hope she will stop doing this to you, it is so unfair!
@apoljuice1 (730)
• Philippines
28 Jun 12
Why is your landlady checking up or inspecting in your home? She can't do that! You're paying rent, and it's supposed to be a private home. Is it stated in your contract that she can come barge into your house? Because if it's not, then she's got another thing coming! You have to look over your contract. You never know, it might actually be stated that she can check on your house. I understand that landlords/ladies have the right to inspect your home, but there must be an agreed date on which she may come in, and not just appear on your doorstep without prior announcement. It's understandable if she is checking up for infestation, but there still should be an agreed date between the two of you.
You should go consult a lawyer about this, maybe he can even suggest some type of agreement with you and your landlady. There are certain reasons that makes your LL entitled to inspecting your home, but again it depends where you live. That is very disrespectful, and will make you very unproductive on your part. And you have kids. There's no way you're going have a clean-as-a-pin house because kids should be allowed to play. And if all you're ever going to do is clean up after all the mess, you'll never get anything done.
There are many sites that offer information regarding landlord and landlady right to inspection. Maybe those can help.
@jjzone44 (917)
• United States
28 Jun 12
Wow, that's an interesting one, I never heard of a landlord that regularly inspects family residences for cleanliness! I used to rent an apartment in a rather exclusive complex, and the managers never entered your units without permission. Even when you requested maintenance, you had to stop down into the office and sign a form if you were not going to be home when the maintenance person arrived. I know my lease said the unit had to be "broom clean" when I terminated the lease, and any damage would be deducted from my security deposit. I stayed there 5 years, and when I left they told me to not even worry about broom clean, as 5 years is the limit for carpeting and appliances for them, so everything was going to be removed and replaced.
Laws vary from state to state as far as landlord-tenant relationships, so it would not hurt to have a lawyer review your lease to see if the landlord is within their rights to even conduct such inspections. I would seek low cost or free legal service as there are plenty of interns that want the opportunity to review such things. It never hurts to have someone look at your contract and the landlord would never know it unless you initiate an action from it.
