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 What does Nebraska consider a "Slumlord"?I recently moved to Omaha from Baltimore/Washington vicinity in Maryland. We rented a house - unfortunately sight unseen besides a video. We had just a few weeks to move because of employment. We had a horrible experience with a local Property Management Company. The management co just rents the place but we pay and deal with the Landlord directly. Within the 1st 4 days of being here we discovered a leak in the roof. We reported it immediately... It took 2 days for someone to come look at it after I had to call again for the 3rd time. Well it's been over a month now and they have yet to fix the roof. I have called LL, sent letters and I keep being told that someone will be out and no one has arrived yet. The leak is where the roof lines meet...there is no flashing in that spot but I can see there's a patch of tar. I have destroyed a $30 brownie pan that was a gift because that is the only thing that will fit under the leak in the crawl space within the walls upstairs. And when it's raining I have to check on it every few hrs and dump it. I searched the internet and I can't find any organizations that I can call to light a fire under the LL's butt. I found out from neighbors that the previous tenants had the same problem with the roof. I am new the area and I shouldn't compare the 2 states but in Maryland there are very strong LL/Tenant laws that are enforced. I don't know what to do, any suggestions? |
| 05-20-2010, 03:30 PM | |||
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First step is to check the law: Nebraska Landlord Tenant Law If there is mold, contact the health department. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Good information; Bad Landlords | How Do I Report a Bad Landlord | Renting Property House or Apartment Outside of that you might have to take it to small claims court. You can always try the consumer watch groups from the local news stations. The most popular are: KETV.com - 7 Can Help WOWT I 6 On Your Side |
| 05-21-2010, 10:45 AM | |||
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Damn slumlords. They are all over town especially in North "O" They pray on people that are less fortunate. Then on any other side of town the landlords will turn you down with the slightest credit blemish. Blows me away.... |
| 05-21-2010, 02:00 PM | |||
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BrianGuy1979...so I have heard! And yes we are in North O!! We originally picked a house that was a few blocks from Nebraska Medical Center (husband works there) and while we over-nighted the Money Order's that arrived by 10am, someone else had come into the horrible property management company we were dealing with cash in hand and they gave the house to them. Then they would not over-night our money back to us, they wanted to send it regular mail. We were moving in a week! Pretty much we had to pick another house off their rental list, this is the one we picked. The funny thing is, the agent told us this house was in a better neighborhood than the 1st one!! When we got here, the house was filthy! I have never seen anything so gross before. I had a 2 page long "move in" condition list we had to return to the LL. The agent was suppose to meet the gas man in the morning and he didn't so we had no hot water or heat for till Monday. (We arrived on a Saturday, stayed in hotel till Monday). It's a shame too, the house has really good bones, it's an older house. The maintenance has not been kept up. Exposed wiring, plumbing issues (which we have fixed them all ourselves), gutters completely packed and broken in the back of the house. All the window sealants on the exterior has eroded off. I still can't get over how disgusting the bath and kitchen were! Speaking with several different people (neighbors, maintenance guy and contracted contractor), our LL is a slumlord. Apparently he owns about a hundred properties predominantly in the North Omaha area. In Baltimore City, this house would have never passed the rental inspection by the city. You have to get permits to rent houses, I think it's a one time thing though... The LL would have been slapped with many fines. Washington DC and Maryland (especially Montgomery County and Baltimore City) have really strong LL/Tenant laws - that are enforced on all parties involved. The laws were put into place because "slumlording" had gotten so bad. (Some LL's even went to jail.) Now the LL and the Tenant can't really get away with screwing anybody over, their both held accountable for their responsibility. I am sure it's not a perfect system but it seems to work. Well we do like the house and all the neighbors are nice. I don't like the fact that predominantly everyone keeps their dog (pitbulls) on chains in their backyard 24/7. Poor dogs, they need to be taken for walks and shown some damn attention. We're in a lease and have cleaned the house up very nicely so we don't plan on moving anytime soon. Moving sucks! All I am asking is - fix the roof!! I've done everything else myself. I read something yesterday about a housing inspector here in Omaha. You have to give the LL a 14 day notice that he has to get it fixed or the city inspector is coming in. I called LL again yesterday evening...got his voice mail this time, but I left him a message. Come Monday if I haven't heard back from him, I'll call the inspector and see where what I can do about it. |
| 05-21-2010, 02:13 PM | |||
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I have rental property, and really cannot answer your questions for you - other than to say that there is a HUGE difference between a guy who takes pride in the rental property he owns, and a management company. One cares about the property and people, one cares about profits. Nothing else. |
| 05-21-2010, 02:26 PM | |||
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^^ We no longer deal with the management company, they were hired I guess to just get it rented. All payments, repair issues, etc... are dealt directly with the LL now. I guess I'm really dissappointed, I have always had great landlords at the times when I rented and I've always received recommendation letters from LL's when I moved. This entire move between the management company, the LL and even getting screwed on our relocation fees has been very discouraging in starting over in a brand new city. My LL cares about the profits only. |
| 05-21-2010, 02:46 PM | |||
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^^ I'm sorry to hear that! However, I do hope your time in Omaha is a LOT more good than bad, and that the good stuff overwhelms & overshadows the rental garbage. |
| 05-29-2010, 10:14 AM | |||
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I found what to do. . Housing Code Violations « City of Omaha Mayor’s Office Report a housing code violation. . That will get the code enforcement people on his arse. The repeat offenders are well known and will be investigated strictly. |
| 06-02-2010, 08:02 PM | |||
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Quote:
Yesterday evening we got to experience our first hard storm here. The rain just poured into the basement through the windows. I wished I had a video camera to film it. I couldn't believe it! I called him 1st thing this morning and got his voicemail as usual, left him a long detailed message and to please call me back. I have yet to hear from him.  |
| 06-15-2010, 08:53 PM | |||
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A few years ago my husband and I - our house was foreclosed on which has made it extremely difficult to rent an apartment that doesn't include mold, bugs and leaks. Naturally we don't qualify for ANY assistance because my husband is making 10.50 and hour but after all the bills are paid, including car and health insurance there's only 200 left for food and toiletries for the whole month. So we've been stuck in some major dumps for the last few years. Some landlords will evict you if you file a complaint against them. Two years ago we rented from a place that tried to get us set up with rental assistance at OHA illegally by using white out to remove my name from the lease. When we went to the appointment they set up for us we told the OHA personnel the truth and told them that the landlord there has done this for several of their residents. They didn't even bat an eye. Because we didn't sign up for their program our landlord refused our rent and filed an eviction on us. They also broke into our mailbox and stole the notice that the court sent to us to let us know it was even going on. We didn't have a clue until the sheriff showed up to put a sticker on the door. I didn't believe him at first, I made him show me his badge before I'd start packing. The apartment we're in now has a foot by foot hole in the kitchen ceiling leaking water and there is a bed bug infestation in all of the apartments and he refuses to do anything about it. The hole has been in the ceiling for almost a week and the bed bugs have been here since winter. He wont even spray for regular pest every three months like he promised when we agreed to move in. Likewise our apartment was a mess too. Food stuck on the walls and ceiling including a big wad of gum on the closet door, a stove with no oven racks, no numbers on the knobs and only 2 burners work - one that is stuck always on, leaking gas and being vary hot. Yet last week he paid to have the front of the building painted so it looks nice from the main street. And all he can say is "you can't complain when the rent is so cheap." We're paying $500 for a one bedroom. I want so badly to turn him in but we can't afford to move again so we're stuck with it as are all the other people who live here too. It's depressing to be so powerless, you just have to take it one day at a time and fix things yourself. According to legal aid - anything a landlord is supposed to fix and wont you can pay to do yourself and then take them to court for compensation. But that only works if you can afford to do that. [url=http://www.legalaidofnebraska.com/]Legal Aid of Nebraska[/url] |
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