My roommates and I are renting a house in Meridian, Idaho. We've had some issues lately with plumbing and water leaks since late October that necessitated contractors being brought in and the two roommates who use the affected rooms leaving for a motel for the duration of the work. Twice.
However, the contractors used were subpar. So much so that the landlord, he's told us, has had to literally hunt them down to settle things and seems to be in a lawsuit with them. Also so much that, after examining things himself, the landlord declared the work will have to be redone entirely and wants to do a week's worth of work starting December 27.
Having already been forced to leave twice in as many months because if this, my two roommates, a couple, are not pleased. This whole fiasco has already marred Halloween and Thanksgiving and, while it won't directly hit Christmas, we'd still like to have New Year's too.
So we pushed back a little. As our spokesman to the landlord, I asked if the work could be delayed a little bit, if it really has to be done right now. The landlord's response was to say that he had to get it done as immediately as possible because of Idaho code and, if we won't let him, he'll have to give us our thirty days' notice because the house is unlivable.
We're not opposed to the work being done and we're not trying to be unreasonable. Quite the opposite, in fact. The two roommates who have had to leave because of all this have a pre-planned trip out of town for a week mid-January, so I passed along a request to see if the fixes could be delayed until then so that everyone can get what they want/need with as little fuss as possible.
I've not yet heard back from the landlord about that. He can be a bit of a flake on responding but I plan to prod him after I'm done with this post. However, he's been insistent on doing this all ASAP. He's in the military and currently home, so we suspect he might be trying to wrap it all up before he redploys. Alternatively, he and his wife, who we work with when he's not available, have been just a tad too quick to offer to opportunities to break the lease without penalty while expressing a desire to live in the house themselves again. That's made us wonder if they aren't just trying to push us out any way they actually can, despite their denials when asked about it.
If nothing else, my roommates want to enjoy Christmas and New Year's without this mess causing us problems. We have no major issue with the work being done besides that, but the landlord is determined not to wait and, if he follows through, is prepared to evict us over it.
Hopefully he'll go for my compromise and this post will be a false alarm, but if not do we have any recourse? He claims it's Idaho law forcing the issue but everything I could find in my (admittedly meager) research suggested that was only an issue if we were complaining about work not being done. Does Idaho law impose some deadline or timliness requirement that I'm not aware of? Is my two roommates' desire to not be forced out three times within as many months so unreasonable, so out of line, that work can't be delayed until at least after New Year's?
Thank you in advance.
Edit to add: The landlord did not go for the delay. He insists work begin on the 27th and refused to make any sort of accommodation for the inconvenience. When I pressed, he basically said "Sounds good I'll bring over your 30 day, please start looking for a new place to live. "
Update: The landlord has pretty much said "it's my way or the highway" do things his way, or be forced out. For now we've opted to go along to get along but I do wonder what recourse, if any, we have for everything that's happened.
However, the contractors used were subpar. So much so that the landlord, he's told us, has had to literally hunt them down to settle things and seems to be in a lawsuit with them. Also so much that, after examining things himself, the landlord declared the work will have to be redone entirely and wants to do a week's worth of work starting December 27.
Having already been forced to leave twice in as many months because if this, my two roommates, a couple, are not pleased. This whole fiasco has already marred Halloween and Thanksgiving and, while it won't directly hit Christmas, we'd still like to have New Year's too.
So we pushed back a little. As our spokesman to the landlord, I asked if the work could be delayed a little bit, if it really has to be done right now. The landlord's response was to say that he had to get it done as immediately as possible because of Idaho code and, if we won't let him, he'll have to give us our thirty days' notice because the house is unlivable.
We're not opposed to the work being done and we're not trying to be unreasonable. Quite the opposite, in fact. The two roommates who have had to leave because of all this have a pre-planned trip out of town for a week mid-January, so I passed along a request to see if the fixes could be delayed until then so that everyone can get what they want/need with as little fuss as possible.
I've not yet heard back from the landlord about that. He can be a bit of a flake on responding but I plan to prod him after I'm done with this post. However, he's been insistent on doing this all ASAP. He's in the military and currently home, so we suspect he might be trying to wrap it all up before he redploys. Alternatively, he and his wife, who we work with when he's not available, have been just a tad too quick to offer to opportunities to break the lease without penalty while expressing a desire to live in the house themselves again. That's made us wonder if they aren't just trying to push us out any way they actually can, despite their denials when asked about it.
If nothing else, my roommates want to enjoy Christmas and New Year's without this mess causing us problems. We have no major issue with the work being done besides that, but the landlord is determined not to wait and, if he follows through, is prepared to evict us over it.
Hopefully he'll go for my compromise and this post will be a false alarm, but if not do we have any recourse? He claims it's Idaho law forcing the issue but everything I could find in my (admittedly meager) research suggested that was only an issue if we were complaining about work not being done. Does Idaho law impose some deadline or timliness requirement that I'm not aware of? Is my two roommates' desire to not be forced out three times within as many months so unreasonable, so out of line, that work can't be delayed until at least after New Year's?
Thank you in advance.
Edit to add: The landlord did not go for the delay. He insists work begin on the 27th and refused to make any sort of accommodation for the inconvenience. When I pressed, he basically said "Sounds good I'll bring over your 30 day, please start looking for a new place to live. "
Update: The landlord has pretty much said "it's my way or the highway" do things his way, or be forced out. For now we've opted to go along to get along but I do wonder what recourse, if any, we have for everything that's happened.
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