THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 31, 1994 TAG: 9412290297
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Landlords & Tenants
SOURCE: William Mazel and Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
I have lived in a very nice townhouse complex for 17 years. We have worked hard to keep it clean and pleasant, and our beautification committee has outdone itself in the landscaping throughout the complex.
There are quite a few rental units scattered among those we own and live in.
The unit next to mine is the bane of my existence. The absentee landlord does not respond to any of our mail or phone calls. I have called and written, the chairman of our beautification committee has called and written several times and the president of our civic association has written to him, all to no avail.
The house is run down: It needs a new roof, the double-pane windows in the patio doors and upstairs room have cracked and look like permanent frost, the storage shed in back is peeling and rotting, the privacy fence is rotting, the squirrels have made an entrance under the front shingles, the siding under the front window is chipped and torn.
Not only the appearance is disreputable, but the nice people who move in do not stay because the landlord will not make repairs or improvements. We had a family of three move in but eight or more lived there at one time.
The kid played basketball against the wall connected to my house, their dog barked all night and was out in freezing weather even though someone was home. Another group is one that I call ``the hippies.''
Three or four men lived there, all with long scraggly hair, but 10 to 15 people were there on any given day. They had beat-up cars in the driveway and worked on them until all hours, playing loud music and cursing.
They took the engine out of one car and took it into the house and dismantled and cleaned it in the middle of the living room. They had drug parties and chased women down the street only to haul them back screaming.
They abused the German shepherd when they were drunk or high, shouted obscenities at me to my face, tried to threaten me with the dog and harassed me in various other ways.
Now, there is a family with three kids who scream and stomp up and down the stairs starting at 8 a.m. The parents slam the shower door so that it wakes me up and they holler when they are just outside their front door.
What protection do we homeowners have from the unwelcome behavior of the people the absentee landlord rents to? Apparently, the real estate manager does not inform the tenant of what kind of neighborhood we are.
In fact, she is extremely nasty to me when I speak with her on the phone. She once told me that if I did not like the situation, I could move.
Isn't there some city ordinance that can help me? I may have to take the owner and his agent to court if there is a reasonable expectation of getting satisfaction.
I am retired and want to enjoy life, but I cannot if the unit is always rented to uncooperative tenants who have no respect for their neighbors or the neighborhood standards. If I put my house on the market, his house will devalue mine to where I will have trouble selling it for what it is worth.
I am really very angry and I want my rights protected. What further action should I take to remedy this problem?
We are afraid that you are going to have a very difficult time but there are some things that you might be able to do.
Since the property is not being maintained according to the building code and health requirements of your city, we suggest that you call the appropriate city agency and complain about the disrepair of the premises and the failure to keep the back of the townhouse properly clean and possibly even landscaped.
We also suggest that you go to the city treasurer's office and find the name and address of the owner of the property and send the owner a list of your complaints as well as a resume of all the disruptive proceedings going on in the house and ask the owner to instruct the agent to start keeping the house in better condition and also controlling the type of tenants the agent rents the property to.
We also suggest that as the noise becomes too loud and too uncomfortable, you call the police and complain of disorderly conduct, loud noises and abusive words and start swearing out warrants against the offending tenants in order to encourage them to calm down and live like civilized human beings. MEMO: RETIRING
After 25 years of association in the practice of law, William Mazel
is retiring and I will continue the column ``Landlords and Tenants.'' I
want to pay my respects to Bill for the professional cooperation and
friendship that have improved with years. I have often said that he was
my walking legal encyclopedia as I relied upon his counsel, aid and
cooperation.
- Albert Teich Jr.
Albert Teich Jr. is a real estate lawyer based in Norfolk. Send
comments and questions to him at Real Estate Weekly, 150 W. Brambleton
Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. by CNB