senile landlord

[Diane C.]

Someone with experience, or any words of advice...please help. I just had another confrontation with my landlord, leaving me shaking all over and wanting to break my lease.

You see, I live in the same house as my landlord, who I found out, (unfortunately, after I signed the lease) is senile and emotionally unstable. It has been only three weeks since I have moved in, but I have already witnessed her explosions and irrational temper tantrums numerous times, and today really was the last straw.

The power went out in a portion of my apartment. This was the second time. I know how to fix the problem, since it is simple: go downstairs and turn the switch back on in the fuse box. But she has absolutely forBIDDEN me to go down there. So I have no choice: go upstairs and tell her what has happened.

After hearing that the power went out, she immediately begins to accuse my husband and me that we must be doing something strange in our apartment because the electrician did a thorough revamping three years ago. He could not have made a mistake. She would not accept that there was a problem with the house. She also kept yelling that she does not have time to deal with these problems, nor is she feeling well enough to walk up and down the stairs to look at the fuse box in the basement. She says there is a chance of her falling down the stairs and hurting herself, making her go to the hospital, blah blah blah. But she doesn't let me go down there alone. WTF.

She called down the other tenant who has been living here for a few years now (but moving out tomorrow) and kept telling her we messed up the electricity in our apt. The landlord asks that tenant if SHE is having problems, and since she is not, the landlord looks at me and says, "SEE? She's okay. What's wrong with you?"

With the help of the other tenant, it takes an hour and a half to get my landlord to accompany us downstairs to switch the power back on. Meanwhile she talks to the other tenant about how I don't even speak English well and don't understand her, even though I have lived here all my life.

After the fiasco, she knocks on my door three more times to nag me about something. Once, even to get me to take out her garbage. Every time she comes down, it takes a MINIMUM of 20 minutes listening to her talk, talk, talk...mostly about her aching shoulders.

These fits have happened before, and it will happen again. How do I deal with this for another eleven months?? :( :( :( The lady is really old and any attempts of talking to her logically do not take.