My experience with my renting

[Jason Stewart]

Hello...I have been living at my apartment for over 6 years. I have 10 years of good references besides. Ive always been respectful to my home and I keep it clean and report problems. I keep the yard clean and help out when I can..... My landlady lives beneath me. We share an old farmhouse turned into a duplex. Her name is Valerie. I have utilities included on a 2 bedroom small to medium sized apartment. I have access to the attic since I live on the 2nd floor. I keep only a few things up there. When I first spoke to Valerie, she was drunk. She told me about the apartment and what was included. She included garbage removal, plowing snow in the driveway, utilities and heat. The 30+ year old kitchen flooring had 3 huge holes in it, but she said she would replace it. The rent was relatively cheap and I live on Social Security so I moved in. I quickly learned how she removed garbage. She burned it in an open pit in the back yard. I told her to stop burning my garbage. I now drive it to the landfill myself and pay. She still burns her garbage in the back yard. She throws everything in there. Cans, glass, food, plastic, paper......the glass shatters in the fire and mixes with food sometimes. This is a danger to scavenging animals. I learned that every spring she shovels out the fire pit and dumps the charred remains on the neighbor's property which is a cornfield. I suggested to her that she start responsibly disposing of her garbage. For a few months she actually brought it to the landfill. But she really has no sticktoitiveness. She burns again now. So I have begun shoveling out the fire pit after each time she burns garbage. I then bring it to the landfill myself. Burned plastic and food is very messy and smelly. But I am friends with our neighbor and I don't want his property violated. Valerie is also a heavy smoker of cigarettes. I knew this when I moved in. I smoked for 7 years but quit 20 years ago. Now my system is very sensitive to cigarette smoke. I asked her if I would smell her smoke when I first met with her. She guaranteed that I would not smell it. The first morning there, I awoke to an intense smell of cigarette smoke. I went downstairs and told her. She said she was sorry and that she would control it. For months after that, I would smell cigarette smoke every day. My friends said they could smell it on me when I visited them. I continued to tactfully confront Valarie about her smoking. She began to get nasty. She told me to move if I didn't like it. I told her that no matter who lives upstairs, she cannot stink up her tenant's home. Eventually she did take more effective measures to control the smoke, but I still smell it whenever she wakes up because smokers smoke more after waking. She still gets nasty if I mention it to her on days when the smoke is bad. When I first moved in, the roof was deteriorated to the point where the shingles were crumbling. She said she planned to replace the roof which was over 30 years old. Everytime it rained, water would pour into the attic and leak onto my ceiling. So I had to juggle 7 or 8 buckets to catch the leaks in the attic as I feared my ceiling would be ruined. After 3 years of this, we had a windstorm one day which decimated the shingles. Valerie told her insurance company that her roof was ruined in the storm and got a free metal roof for doing so. We have had pipes burst in the summertime because they are PVC and over 30 years old and so they are brittle. Several times we have had heavy snow. Often she has refused to plow even though it only costs her $20. It is a large driveway. I have asked before for her to plow and been told to "shovel the f**king driveway". Once the built up snow froze and tore the skid plate off my car. Valerie also gossips a lot. She is always very eager to inform me of the problems of other people. She basically never has anything good to say about anyone, including her own children. I have also caught her in many lies but I never said anything until one day. I was particularly sick of her lying that day because I spoke with a neighbor who told me something she said about me which was not true. Valerie and I were talking in the yard and she told me a bald faced lie about a neighbor. I told her right there, with a smile on my face, that she was a bulls**t artist. She said "oh, you need to move." I simply walked away. The next day my car had 2 fresh dents. Earlier this year I got a used car. Valerie made a big deal out of it. She said how lucky I was and how she could never afford that car. Within a few days my car had 2 dents EXACTLY like the dents in my old car. Valerie often calls me for rides to the store to buy beer. She lost her license due to a DWI and cannot drive. It got to the point where she was asking for rides every other day. Now I avoid her calls. The problem is that I cannot afford to move. Rent is cheap, utilities included. I have a nice yard. It is a rural setting surrounded by farms, which I prefer. Plus now I have a car payment. To move would mean higher rent and utility bills. I feel like I am stuck living with a nasty lying and irresponsible landlady. What would you do in my shoes? I am a good tenant. I have cut up a fallen tree for her. I do her weedeating. I fixed the steps leading up to my apartment because she wouldn't. I pick up her cigarette butts in the yard. Is there anything I can do without making her more nasty? I feel that as long as I am paying rent, she will just sit on her *** collecting, telling me to go to hell whenever there is a problem. Thanks. She still hasn't replaced the kitchen floor.