Teal

City: 
Chico
Residence Type: 
3 or 4 units
Landlord Type: 
Private Landlord -- No Rent Control
Organization: 
N/A

Hi, I'm Teal and I lived in Chico,Ca in a 3 bdr. 2bath apt. and had a landlord that did not uphold to the standards that they stated that they maintain to be. The unit carpet was not cleaned and we had to clean it the day we moved in as well as it was so old and used so, that the padding had worn as flat as a pancake. One of the burners on the stove never worked and the others were long to heat up as well as the top and bottom of the stove didn't match; the top was from one stove and the bottom was from another one. The refrigerator needed to be repaired which had the rubber around the door with glue and rips in it that exposed the magnet inside. The patio was enclosed in chicken wire which he stated that the apts. had a pigeon problem(never seen any there in the year I lived there).PGE was called twice to my apt. because the heater was leaking CO2 smell throughout the unit because the filter was placed in wrong. Next time PGE came was that the heater was leaking fumes through the master bedroom vents and PGE capped the gas hose off and placed a warning notice not to use it. The air conditioner would work for the day their maintenance was working on it and for one more day and then it would stop blowing cold air. If you wanted to feel any air you had to stand directly in front of the vents. One of the guys who claim to be an electrician stated the antifreeze or coolant would leak out. We tried to stay cool using the air conditioner with triple digit weather and our PGE bill was at he highest I had ever saw because 1 month it was $456.00. This amount was like this for 2 months were shut-off due to the poor working of the air conditioner and their failed attempts to repair it. We did manage to get our services turned back on a week later. When it did rain the roof would drain water down in front of the door which ran under the door into the apt. The termites had eaten away the wood at the base of the wall behind the front door outside. The 4th or 5th concrete step had crack in it and every time a person would step on it to come up to the apt. you could hear the scraping of concrete as you stepped on it and feel it giving way each time. The landlord had the maintenance come and place wood around the base of the concrete porch and paint it to cover the actual porch cracks under it. The maintenance guy says after he finished was, "just like new". The shower had no drain screen over the drain hole in the shower so we had to go purchase one or continue to slip your foot down the shower drain and the kids could not use the shower for fear for their safety. I have contacted the landlord numerous times by person and phone but they continued to just not to get things done. The week I moved in , I gave the office a worksheet of everything needed to be addressed in the unit. An average of about 3 or 4 things were taken care of. They would send out maintenance and if they couldn't repair or fix cheaply then they would not return. There roaches the first day, I moved in and I continued to request someone to attend to this problem and they finally got that under control. I eventually gave them a 30 day notice and moved. I contacted the city's building inspector who told me that contacting him would not help me in court. He also asked me more than once if I was being evicted;(I never mentioned to this guy about going to court) He stated to me that the person over the repairing had guaranteed him they would do the repairs when I vacate. Interesting enough that they had the place being painted the next day after I moved out a new family living in there the following week. This is my story and if anyone has gone through similar you can understand how frustrating it can be.

Help build power for renters' rights: