Landlord and pool

[ctnpaddy]

Hi Furomites,
I’ve been lurking for a while and noticed that some good advice is given here, so this is my first post and my question is as follows, we’ve rented a house with a pool, when we went to go check the house out it was in quite a state and the pool was half empty and dirty, from discussions with the landlord the house would be cleaned up and the pool sorted out.
This obviously made the house very desirable, but on moving in the place was still a kip, we basically cleaned it up and made it liveable but the on going issue is the pool, it was originally half empty and full of crap I eventually hired a pump and pumped it out due to the fact that it was a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
I’ve approached the landlord several times about fixing it even offering to fix it myself in lieu of him deducting the amount it costs to fix it over the period of the lease but he either ignores my calls/emails or claims that he doesn’t have money to fix it, so basically I’m sitting with a empty fscuked up pool that I cannot use even with the nice weather we having now, can somebody give me advice on what I can do to either force him to fix the pool or in someway get out of the lease and get my deposit back.

 

[Cius]

You should have gotten the fix up part in writing. It sounds like you signed a contract where all of his conditions where verbal and all of yours where written down. Sorry to say but this will be a live and learn experience. If he could not afford to fix the pool for a show day I highly doubt it will be fixed any time soon. He probably uses the rent for his own necessities the second it hits his account. In fact I suspect that you will struggle to get your deposit back from this guy until he gets the deposit from the next renter (you will get his).

If I where you I would reassess the situation as calmly as you can. Shop around a bit and see if there is better out there for the same price and if there is give notice on the contract and get out. If the price is cheaper and you can live with it then stay. Up to you though.

Never trust a verbal promise in a business transaction though. Get it in writing. Even an email can help but preferably get it in the contract. Also learn to be more cynical and less trusting. I know that sounds harsh but if I had walked into a messed up house with a pool filled with crap and heard the landlord promise to clean it up my first question would have been why it was not fixed up before the prospective tenant arrived to raise the price? The guy obviously does not have the money to do it otherwise he would have to get a better rental. It seems he was desperate and hence lied about fixing stuff up.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Move out to another place.

 

[patrick]

This doesn't sound like someone I'd like to be dealing with much. I'd also move out.

 

[Nerfherder]

This doesn't sound like someone I'd like to be dealing with much. I'd also move out.

Ye seems like a pain... but on the plus side if you want to stay there for a while just accept responsibility for the place and use that against him for the next lease negotiations.

Depends on how much you like the place.