WWYD?

Amores0121

I will try to make this as short as possible.  We just signed the lease on the rental house Friday. I was there all day cleaning. There were several minor repairs in the house that need to be done.  Went into the one car garage and it was FILTHY.  Not to mention possible mouse droppings.  It is drywalled and there were several holes/damage to the walls. Not suitable to store my things in. Whoever was working there decided to fill up the huge recycling bin with garbage and leave it there.  There is garbage and weeds as high as my head behind the garage.

When I requested the keys by the 20th, I said if it wouldn't be ready I would wait, I was assured it would be ready.

To me, this is not ready. I can not use a space that I am paying for due to filth and possible rodents. I called Friday and let them knkow, I was sent an email by the property manager that "mike" would handle my repairs. I asked if they would be done by the 29th, she said she would be on vacation next week and didn't know.

Saturday I took pics of the garage and this am called and talked to the operations manager, telling her I wanted a professional to come out and see if these were droppings or not. She said she would figure it out and call me back. A little while later I called back to get her email and talked with the owner, who said the manager said I was very upset and making demands. I explained my concerns to him..that I want to use the garage for storage and can't do that if it has rodents.

He offered to give me a refund b/c he said he wants his tenants to be happy and if I'm not happy with that place I would be able to find somewhere else. I thought this was very nice of him. He also told me that he is sending someone out tomorrow and they will rip the drywall out and "assess" the situation. He said his service guy is definitely qualified to determine if it's droppings or not, and if it is it's probably an old infestation.  He had me email him all my concerns so they can be addressed tomorrow. I called my H and told him what the guy said. Asked him what he wanted me to do. He says if we had somewhere else to live, we would take the $ back. I told him we could take the $ back, extend our lease at the apartment and look for somewhere else. He says he feels like we don't have a choice. 

The people at my work say, let them take care of the garage and just move in. I know many of you live in the country but the worst I have ever dealt with was cockroaches, never rodents.  Our lease is up the 30th and I am 36 weeks pregnant.  We have yet to go into the attic...I'm having H do that tonight to make sure there's nothing up there. What do you think? Continue with the lease or back out? I feel like he did listen to my concerns but thought I was crazy that I'm concerned about storing my stuff with possible rodents. This is a 2 yr lease.

Amores0121

@Mapleme  Right now we live in an apartment and the place before that was my grandfather's house with a garage that was in great condition. I never had any mouse issues there, so the fact that I could is just so foreign to me and seems gross. I don't have a cat anymore.  I know I am extra sensitive to everything, but besides the possible mouse factor I am pissed that this wasn't ready for me to use at time of signing when I paid so much $ to them.

Amores0121

This is my first time speaking with the owner and he told me he had told his guys to do the repairs on the garage, which apparently they didn't do. (You would think you would know this).  I feel like the fact that he offered me a refund shows that he is honest and willing to work with me. I guess we will see if they actually call me and come out tomorrow like they say. If they don't, then that will be my cue to back out of the lease.

Yes, roaches are seriously gross. I was living in a duplex when out of nowhere we got them.  I tried taking care of them myself through bombing, but that didn't work.  We had an exterminator come out and they were quickly gone. 

I'm just so stressed out from looking for somewhere myself and doing all the preparations for moving, it just seems nothing can go smoothly for me with moving.  My H is working like 80 hours a week so it's just me and my big belly left to do it all. My Dd is gone this week, and she is the best helper ever!!

Amores0121

kklamb10 said:

Do you live somewhere where mice are common? I HATE mice and wouldn't be able to live somewhere where there are mice. I personally would get my $ back but where I live mice aren't that big of an issue so it would be easy to find somewhere else mice free. Is the garage attached? I would be more concerned if it was attached because they could easily get into the house too. DH left a car stored somewhere once and had mice get into the vents. He turned the air on and it was nasty! I don't have much experience with mice but I feel like once you have a mice problem it's likely you'll have a problem again. How long would you need to extend your current lease? Could you stay a few months then find something when you are somewhat settled with the new LO?

I mean I just live in the suburbs. When I told my co-workers, they each told me they had experience with rodents in the garage. One b/c  she backed up to a park and they had rats b/c of it and the other said she had one incident with mice.  Another said he had a bad case in his house.  So I guess it is more common than I thought.  They all live in suburban areas.  I sent an email to the realtor who was helping me to see what she thinks.  I also am not happy that he wouldn't send out a professional. I said if it wasn't droppings, I would pay for the consult.

I can either extend my lease up to 14 days to get it pro rated or do month to month. We currently live in a 900 sq ft apt with no W/D.  There is no room for baby's things, that's the problem.

ETA: garage is not attached.