My wife and I recently rented a very small apartment on the second floor of a old commercial building that is quite close to our marina. We wanted the room to spread out when we come to the boat to work on it (refurbing the sailboat) and also a place to cook some meals as my wife is supposed to be on a special diet.
Red flag one when we rented the place was the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom were filthy and full of random old bits (toothbrush, trash, blankets, debris, used paper cups). I almost tore up the cashier's check right then but I have a tendency to overreact in situations. I figured I would just spend a day cleaning out the place with lysol.
Ok, so the next day we notice the refrigerator is not cooling down. It is 45 degrees inside. I put it on high and it doesn't really change, only cools to 40 overnight. I talk to the landlord and explain we will be gone for a few weeks and could he check it out at his leisure while we are gone. He comes over about 10 days later and sends a text of our digital thermometer in the fridge that shows it is 37 degrees and does nothing else. We get back to the apartment today, about a week later and check and the temp in the fridge is 42. The room is warmish, about 75 degrees because of the afternoon sun. We load up the fridge with some bottled water and let it sit 12 hours then check it in the morning and it is 50 degrees.
I spend a little time diagnosing the problem and find out the freezer section is working, freezing water and keeping at 5 degrees. The evaporator fan seems to be running. The problem I think is the damper is stuck or non functioning and the food compartment is not getting much if any cold air from the freezer. It is an old refrigerator, about 25 years I would say. I tell the landlord all of this and he says just freeze some water in the freezer and keep transferring it to the fridge to keep your food cold.
Fortunately we only signed a partial lease that ends July 31. I am now quite convinced from the cleaning and lack of response that the landlord is a slum lord who doesn't really expect complaints at all. We usually try to be very patient and not call about little things but having a working refrigerator is kind of key to cooking.
I am now to the point where I am going to go buy a dorm fridge and just turn this one off. I don't know if I should do anything to take this further or if I have any rights, but I am NOT signing a new lease in July.
Thoughts?
Red flag one when we rented the place was the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom were filthy and full of random old bits (toothbrush, trash, blankets, debris, used paper cups). I almost tore up the cashier's check right then but I have a tendency to overreact in situations. I figured I would just spend a day cleaning out the place with lysol.
Ok, so the next day we notice the refrigerator is not cooling down. It is 45 degrees inside. I put it on high and it doesn't really change, only cools to 40 overnight. I talk to the landlord and explain we will be gone for a few weeks and could he check it out at his leisure while we are gone. He comes over about 10 days later and sends a text of our digital thermometer in the fridge that shows it is 37 degrees and does nothing else. We get back to the apartment today, about a week later and check and the temp in the fridge is 42. The room is warmish, about 75 degrees because of the afternoon sun. We load up the fridge with some bottled water and let it sit 12 hours then check it in the morning and it is 50 degrees.
I spend a little time diagnosing the problem and find out the freezer section is working, freezing water and keeping at 5 degrees. The evaporator fan seems to be running. The problem I think is the damper is stuck or non functioning and the food compartment is not getting much if any cold air from the freezer. It is an old refrigerator, about 25 years I would say. I tell the landlord all of this and he says just freeze some water in the freezer and keep transferring it to the fridge to keep your food cold.
Fortunately we only signed a partial lease that ends July 31. I am now quite convinced from the cleaning and lack of response that the landlord is a slum lord who doesn't really expect complaints at all. We usually try to be very patient and not call about little things but having a working refrigerator is kind of key to cooking.
I am now to the point where I am going to go buy a dorm fridge and just turn this one off. I don't know if I should do anything to take this further or if I have any rights, but I am NOT signing a new lease in July.
Thoughts?
