F
fannie
Guest
First off, I will say that I'm sorry that this is such a long post! But I feel that anyone that reads it needs to have all of the information in order to help me.
So the saga begins...
We were living in a home and our friends were moving out of theirs. We had been having problems with people trying to break into our home. Our friends told us that we could move into their old home for $460 a month (which only covered the house payments). They didn't ask for a security deposit or 1st and last months rent. In order to get the loan for their new home, the bank told them that they had to either sell their old home, or have a rental agreement. So they went to the office supply store, got a basic rental agreement. Told us that it was just for the bank and they were trashing it as soon as the bank was done with it. But, they put that we paid $550 in rent so it looked like they made a profit out of the home.
When we moved in, they left 2 cats and a Doberman behind. They told us that they were trying to find homes for them. The cats were originally indoor animals, but since we already had 2 cats, they tossed theirs outside. We also had an outdoor dog that was in a pen, so they put theirs in with ours. They promised to buy dogfood for their dog.
The house had 2 bathrooms. The downstairs bathroom was wonderful. The upstairs bathroom was not. We were told not to use the shower or the sink until they got them fixed. The shower had some kind of leak and the sink would not drain. So we didn't use them.
The entryway and dining room/sitting room had been partially painted. There were holes in the wall and places where they had painted around picture frames, but when they took the pictures off, you can imagine what it looked like! They showed us the paint they had started using and told us that if we wanted to finish painting, they would reimburse us for the paint, and they would help.
Well needless to say, the bathroom never got fixed and we never got help or reimbursed for the paint. We even filled the holes and sanded. We lived there for 1 yr. and 7 months. They found a home for one of the cats, the other cat was taken in by a neighbor and their dog stayed. We finally found a home for it 1 yr. after we lived there. They never came to see it and they only bought food when they felt like it. At last count, they owed us over $100 in dog food.
My husband started looking for a new job (which they knew). When we found out that he definitely had the job and we had a place to live, I called them and told them we were moving. She was fine with it. I told them on Feb. 20, we were out by March 1. There are still some things left at the house outside. They are frozen to the ground under 4 in. of ice! Our dog pen and 2 tricycles. I told her that we WOULD be back for it, when we could get it up!
Now to add another twist... when we moved, they had a huge freezer at the house. They didn't want to have to move it and asked us if they could borrow our chest size freezer in the meantime. We said ok, but made it clear that it was ours and when we moved we would be taking it back. We also loaned them a cabinet for their laundry room. We didn't need it in the house where we were going to live.
After we moved out my husband had to go back for one more night of work. When he got there, he found this note in his mailbox:
Dear XXXXX,
Hope the move went smoothly - I hate to even think about moving again! I'm not sure what you had planned on paying as far as the month of March, but we state that the entire month rent needs to be paid. I feel that 1/2 month's rent would cover since we're friends. ($230.00) This is since you only gave us one week and one day's notice to your moving out, reather than 30 days notice. We would never ask you guys to move out in that short of notice, so I think that's only fair. Also, since we didn't have you make a security deposit, we'll need at least $50 to replace the fireplace cushion guard (you stated that you took these off to run wires underneath, and they will not stick correctly now, so need to be replaced) I got the existing ones out of "Perfectly Safe" catalog for $70.00, but I think that I can find some cheaper.
There's also a lot of crayon marks on the walls by the front door, which I'll have to try to remove, or paint over.
If it's easier, you can just bring a check or mooney order when you come to get the freezer. (Total due $280.00)
Thanks so much.
I wouldn't have a problem paying the $230 if we had a rental agreement saying that we had to give 30 days notice. The 1st one we signed (which we found out a yr. later that it was fraud!) was only valid for 1 yr. They never said anything to us about giving them notice. Also, the fireplace guard is in perfect condition, it just needs the tape replaced.
I called her and told her that she only had to replace the tape and that we would not be doing anything about the crayon marks because we were never reimbursed for all of the paint and repairs that we did. Plus, I cleaned that house top to bottom. I even bleached the counters. It is spotless (other than my daughter's art work!). When we moved in it was filthy.
Now that you know the story, my questions are,
Are we obligated to pay anything for March?
We are afraid that since she thinks we owe her money that we won't get our freezer and cabinet back. Is there anything legally that we can do to ensure that we do get it back? And we are afraid that she will sell our dog pen if she gets to it before we do. We live 30 min. away now. We've tried chipping at the ice, everything. It will not budge. The pen is valued at about $250.
I would appreciate any help with this matter!
Thank you,
fannie
Oh and I had to edit because I forgot to say that this happened in Iowa. We live in Missouri now.
[Edited by fannie on 03-04-2001 at 01:51 PM]
So the saga begins...
We were living in a home and our friends were moving out of theirs. We had been having problems with people trying to break into our home. Our friends told us that we could move into their old home for $460 a month (which only covered the house payments). They didn't ask for a security deposit or 1st and last months rent. In order to get the loan for their new home, the bank told them that they had to either sell their old home, or have a rental agreement. So they went to the office supply store, got a basic rental agreement. Told us that it was just for the bank and they were trashing it as soon as the bank was done with it. But, they put that we paid $550 in rent so it looked like they made a profit out of the home.
When we moved in, they left 2 cats and a Doberman behind. They told us that they were trying to find homes for them. The cats were originally indoor animals, but since we already had 2 cats, they tossed theirs outside. We also had an outdoor dog that was in a pen, so they put theirs in with ours. They promised to buy dogfood for their dog.
The house had 2 bathrooms. The downstairs bathroom was wonderful. The upstairs bathroom was not. We were told not to use the shower or the sink until they got them fixed. The shower had some kind of leak and the sink would not drain. So we didn't use them.
The entryway and dining room/sitting room had been partially painted. There were holes in the wall and places where they had painted around picture frames, but when they took the pictures off, you can imagine what it looked like! They showed us the paint they had started using and told us that if we wanted to finish painting, they would reimburse us for the paint, and they would help.
Well needless to say, the bathroom never got fixed and we never got help or reimbursed for the paint. We even filled the holes and sanded. We lived there for 1 yr. and 7 months. They found a home for one of the cats, the other cat was taken in by a neighbor and their dog stayed. We finally found a home for it 1 yr. after we lived there. They never came to see it and they only bought food when they felt like it. At last count, they owed us over $100 in dog food.
My husband started looking for a new job (which they knew). When we found out that he definitely had the job and we had a place to live, I called them and told them we were moving. She was fine with it. I told them on Feb. 20, we were out by March 1. There are still some things left at the house outside. They are frozen to the ground under 4 in. of ice! Our dog pen and 2 tricycles. I told her that we WOULD be back for it, when we could get it up!
Now to add another twist... when we moved, they had a huge freezer at the house. They didn't want to have to move it and asked us if they could borrow our chest size freezer in the meantime. We said ok, but made it clear that it was ours and when we moved we would be taking it back. We also loaned them a cabinet for their laundry room. We didn't need it in the house where we were going to live.
After we moved out my husband had to go back for one more night of work. When he got there, he found this note in his mailbox:
Dear XXXXX,
Hope the move went smoothly - I hate to even think about moving again! I'm not sure what you had planned on paying as far as the month of March, but we state that the entire month rent needs to be paid. I feel that 1/2 month's rent would cover since we're friends. ($230.00) This is since you only gave us one week and one day's notice to your moving out, reather than 30 days notice. We would never ask you guys to move out in that short of notice, so I think that's only fair. Also, since we didn't have you make a security deposit, we'll need at least $50 to replace the fireplace cushion guard (you stated that you took these off to run wires underneath, and they will not stick correctly now, so need to be replaced) I got the existing ones out of "Perfectly Safe" catalog for $70.00, but I think that I can find some cheaper.
There's also a lot of crayon marks on the walls by the front door, which I'll have to try to remove, or paint over.
If it's easier, you can just bring a check or mooney order when you come to get the freezer. (Total due $280.00)
Thanks so much.
I wouldn't have a problem paying the $230 if we had a rental agreement saying that we had to give 30 days notice. The 1st one we signed (which we found out a yr. later that it was fraud!) was only valid for 1 yr. They never said anything to us about giving them notice. Also, the fireplace guard is in perfect condition, it just needs the tape replaced.
I called her and told her that she only had to replace the tape and that we would not be doing anything about the crayon marks because we were never reimbursed for all of the paint and repairs that we did. Plus, I cleaned that house top to bottom. I even bleached the counters. It is spotless (other than my daughter's art work!). When we moved in it was filthy.
Now that you know the story, my questions are,
Are we obligated to pay anything for March?
We are afraid that since she thinks we owe her money that we won't get our freezer and cabinet back. Is there anything legally that we can do to ensure that we do get it back? And we are afraid that she will sell our dog pen if she gets to it before we do. We live 30 min. away now. We've tried chipping at the ice, everything. It will not budge. The pen is valued at about $250.
I would appreciate any help with this matter!
Thank you,
fannie
Oh and I had to edit because I forgot to say that this happened in Iowa. We live in Missouri now.
[Edited by fannie on 03-04-2001 at 01:51 PM]