Renting a house or apartment can be a real pain. We often hear tales from a landlord’s perspective but as we all know there are two sides to every story. There are some landlords that charge entirely too much for a place that’s not even worth half the amount they are asking. They don’t want to make necessary repairs and when they do they usually find a “handyman” who’s not very handy to make the repairs instead of a professional. They do this so that they can take the cheapest route. Often the initial repairs are done half-assed which leads to more needed repairs in the long run.
In many cases, tenants don’t become aware of existing problems until after they’ve moved in. Most tenants don’t take the time to look a place over thoroughly. Also, if the tenant is not familiar with plumbing, heating, electrical or other issues such as these they are not going to readily recognize them. For example, if you move into a house in the middle of summer you may not find out that the furnace doesn’t work until a few months later when winter sets in.
I’ve had a couple of rental horror stories in my lifetime. In one instance, there was no heat for over a month in the middle of winter. In another place the water was included in the rent and the landlord seemed to forget to pay the water bill, which resulted in it getting shut off not once but twice. It’s not fun when you have to load up your family and go stay at a friend or relative’s house so you can stay warm or take a bath.
Just because you pay your rent doesn’t mean the landlord pays his bills. He could have financial difficulties that the tenant is not aware of. I encountered a situation like this before too when the landlord could not pay the bank and his property was sold. The tenants, including myself, were forced to move.
Furthermore, if you live in a house where you pay all of your utilities separate from your rent and more than likely you do, it is your bills that will be skyrocketing if the house has heating or plumbing problems. Poor insulation, leaky toilet or facets and a host of other problems are going to increase the amount of your monthly utility bills. If you think the utility companies are going to be sympathetic to your rental woes, you’re dead wrong. They don’t care about anything except getting paid. If you think your landlord is going to reimburse you, you’re really dreaming.
Some people might say, “Well, if you’re having so many problems why don’t you just move?” That’s not always easy to do either. Moving is a lot of work and it costs money to move. Sometimes there’s just no easy way around a situation but you’re better off in the long run if you can buy your own house. Even if you purchase a small fixer-upper at least it will be your own. You might have to put money into it to make repairs but you’re better off forking out the funds to repair your own place rather than lining the pockets of someone else.
