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So I've been renting a house in the Woodlands for 6-7 months now, and I still have never had any contact with the landlord. In the lease that we signed, he promised to fix multiple (minor) issues with the house before we moved in. We were in kind of a time crunch at the time, and when we moved in, we noticed none of the things had been done. Fine. We noted that on the move in sheet. I've tried calling, emailing, etc, and have never heard anything back. Last month after my wife stepped on an exposed nail i decided to withhold a small amount of the rent (300 dollars of a 1300 dollar rent) to see if he'd notice and contact us. Still nothing. I realize I'm not allowed to withhold rent, but I really dont know what to do. We're really not that happy with the house and location, but it was the best thing we could find at the time. Do we have any ground to terminate the lease due to lack of contact? We've been in touch with both our and his real estate agency, and they have not been able to contact him either. I'm just trying to figure out if getting a lawyer would be a good play, or a waste of time/money.
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There are entire websites / message boards solely related to tenants rights. There is a defined process to follow. I would do some searching before taking any further action to ensure you are follolwing the correct and legal process.Originally posted by tribaltalon View Post -
Sounds like you could live rent free for a while before anyone noticed. Not that I recommend it.
Doubt anything will get fixed without you fronting it. With all the upheaval renting a house as a landlord isn't hard.
I'd find something else and move.Rich
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i know, but i havent really seen anything about anybody not being able to get in touch with their landlord AT ALL in 6 months. he didnt even sign the lease.Comment
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Do you send the money to the landlord, or a management company?Comment
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Put a contract on his head.Comment
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wired directly to the landlord's bank account. a dude named pedro who lives in mexico city. lol. seriously.Comment
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cartels got him.
god bless.It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men -Frederick DouglassComment
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thats exactly what i told my wife. LOL!Comment
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Stop paying him for a while and take that money and start looking for something else. Wait until you get an eviction notice and move. If he didn't sign the contract, what's the issue?I wear a Fez. Fez-es are coolComment
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well, i just didnt want to get sued, there is a keller williams stamp where he was supposed to sign his name. so i dont know what that means. i'm going to catch up on the rent this month, and start looking elsewhere. maybe this is a sign that i need to finally buy a house. lolComment
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I'm sure there are plenty of foreclosures down there to check into. Interest rates are as low as I can remember, why wouldn't you want to buy one?Rich
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I would talk to Keller Williams, tell them you are unhappy and want to move out and have them help you find a new place. Gives them incentive to work with you, and they probably have seen situations like this before
Really Mexico City? Seems as sketchy as you can get on that
If you are paying 1300 I think you should really talk with an agent about owning a home.
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i know right. We almost bought a home a couple years ago and got burned pretty badly when the seller pulled out at the last second. We've been in pretty much constant contact with keller williams, they know we havent been able to get ahold of the landlord, and they've been trying as well. I did get a call from the guy's brother in law or something a few months ago, but he said he was in germany and said he'd come see about fixing the problems when he got back to the U.S.. Just been a shady deal all around. Guess I'll shoot the folks at Keller another email, maybe they'd have some ideas on getting out of our lease without losing our ass and getting into a house. We'd save a ton of money for sure and gain equity.Comment
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That house is probably owned by someone else, lolComment
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