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juldeaI have no clue if I'm going to be able to write this post such that I remain calm and sane while doing it. I guess I will just try to recount events as they happened.
Backstory: I have signed a lease to move into a third floor apartment in the house owned and lived in on the first floor by a pair of friends of mine, Matt and Jen. There were structural concerns about the house a month ago when I was considering it, but Matt told me that he had hired contractors to do major renovation work on the house in the month before I would move in. This was good. The apartment was pretty dirty, but Jen assured me she would clean it before I moved in. I confirmed with her and Matt that I would move in the last weekend of June (i.e. right now). A few days ago, Matt left on a business trip to Japan.
Yesterday, I went to Worcester in the morning to attend the Worcester Bellydance Festival, which was a good time, with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
londo and tragicstory. Afterwards we got in tragicstory's truck and drove to my house in Malden. The boys spent a lot of time and effort navigating my couch down the stairway. We loaded up the truck. We drove to the new apartment.
Upon arriving, I saw that the scaffolding for the construction work was still up. This is cool; it's on the outside of the house. I headed up to the front door and there's a sign there saying, "STOP WORK!" and indicating that the proper permits had not been obtained for the construction. "Well, dammit," I thought. Then my key fails to work properly in the front door. I sigh and lead the boys around the back of the house to the back stairway.
The stairs are partially blocked by some lumber. We reach the third floor right as the second floor tenants come out to ask us who we are. I had spoken to the tenants before in email, and it turns out thatlondo knows them, too. One of them blinks at me when I say I'm planning on moving in that day, asks me if I saw the sign on the door, and tells me I should go inside...
I open the door and the first thing I see is the absolutely filthy floor of the kitchen. Apparently Jen has not gotten to cleaning yet, even though she knew I was planning on moving in that day. Then, as I look through the rest of the place... Everything is dirty. Everything is still in states of repair. One bedroom is filled with lumber and sawdust. Another has the windows removed and black paper of some type covering the windows. The gutter from the side of the house - about 50 feet long - is lying from the kitchen through the hallway into one of the bedrooms.
I stand there, and my brain melts. I can't describe it any other way. I am supposed to be out of my current apartment by the end of the week, I work on weekdays, and I obviously cannot move into this apartment. It is partially constructed and not livable. My sanity went on hiatus for a few minutes as I thought about exactly how fucked I was.
londo and tragicstory start talking about our options. After some wrangling, we decide that we are still going to bring the couch up into the apartment, since it is such a bitch to move and it is a cheap, non-important item to me. It's nice to have a couch, but I don't have any sentimental attachment to it. If something happens to it, I won't fall apart.
During this, I have gone into put-all-resources-into-not-crying mode. I have to give mad props tolondo at this point in time. I expressed to him that I should not be allowed to stand idle and think or I'd fall apart. He immediately found fruitful things for me to do that would occupy my attention (e.g. cleaning the lumber off of the stairway so we could move the couch up).
We moved up the couch, locked up the apartment, and left. We returned the rest of the truckload to my house. And got Krispy Kreme, although I couldn't eat more than one. At that pointtragicstory dropped londo and me off at the train station and went home. londo and I proceeded into Boston to attend a friend's (Adriana) birthday party. We stayed until late in the evening, successfully averting my brain from the situation I could do nothing about, and then borrowed a car to drive home. I am allowed to borrow this car for a week, which is very very useful.
So, the situation as it stands: I believe Matt was supposed to return from Japan last night. It could be tonight, however. Either way I am going to have a serious talk to him about wtf I am supposed to do. I have not looked over the lease yet, but I believe that he is legally bound to provide a home for me. If that apartment is not livable, he will have to set me up in a hotel room or something until it is. I am not sure whether or not he is legally bound to provide someplace to put my possessions, however.
The second floor tenants were in the midst of moving out, though. They should be completely gone by tomorrow. It is possible that I could move my things into their apartment for storage until mine is available. I'm not sure if that apartment doesn't have tenants already lined up, though.
This was just the event I needed to cap off the current-apartment's-deposit fiasco, wherein I have borrowed enormous sums of money from friends and family. Now I have no place to live in 4 days, and my bank account and credit cards are tapped until another paycheck or two go in. Oh, andtragicstory lives and works in Worcester, and it would be of extreme expense to him to drive to Malden mid-week to help me move. I will have to rent a U-Haul or something, and attempt to find other hired hands to assist.
All because Matt didn't get a permit from the city to do construction work on his house.
I suppose I should wakelondo up, and get ready for some confrontation.
P.S.kobold: I am calling you right now to let you know about this (sorry it wasn't yesterday, but I just couldn't). I'd rather you heard it from my cell phone before you heard it from my journal.
Edit:
Getting the proper permits is WITHIN reasonable control, yes?
Backstory: I have signed a lease to move into a third floor apartment in the house owned and lived in on the first floor by a pair of friends of mine, Matt and Jen. There were structural concerns about the house a month ago when I was considering it, but Matt told me that he had hired contractors to do major renovation work on the house in the month before I would move in. This was good. The apartment was pretty dirty, but Jen assured me she would clean it before I moved in. I confirmed with her and Matt that I would move in the last weekend of June (i.e. right now). A few days ago, Matt left on a business trip to Japan.
Yesterday, I went to Worcester in the morning to attend the Worcester Bellydance Festival, which was a good time, with
londo and tragicstory. Afterwards we got in tragicstory's truck and drove to my house in Malden. The boys spent a lot of time and effort navigating my couch down the stairway. We loaded up the truck. We drove to the new apartment.Upon arriving, I saw that the scaffolding for the construction work was still up. This is cool; it's on the outside of the house. I headed up to the front door and there's a sign there saying, "STOP WORK!" and indicating that the proper permits had not been obtained for the construction. "Well, dammit," I thought. Then my key fails to work properly in the front door. I sigh and lead the boys around the back of the house to the back stairway.
The stairs are partially blocked by some lumber. We reach the third floor right as the second floor tenants come out to ask us who we are. I had spoken to the tenants before in email, and it turns out that
londo knows them, too. One of them blinks at me when I say I'm planning on moving in that day, asks me if I saw the sign on the door, and tells me I should go inside...I open the door and the first thing I see is the absolutely filthy floor of the kitchen. Apparently Jen has not gotten to cleaning yet, even though she knew I was planning on moving in that day. Then, as I look through the rest of the place... Everything is dirty. Everything is still in states of repair. One bedroom is filled with lumber and sawdust. Another has the windows removed and black paper of some type covering the windows. The gutter from the side of the house - about 50 feet long - is lying from the kitchen through the hallway into one of the bedrooms.
I stand there, and my brain melts. I can't describe it any other way. I am supposed to be out of my current apartment by the end of the week, I work on weekdays, and I obviously cannot move into this apartment. It is partially constructed and not livable. My sanity went on hiatus for a few minutes as I thought about exactly how fucked I was.
londo and tragicstory start talking about our options. After some wrangling, we decide that we are still going to bring the couch up into the apartment, since it is such a bitch to move and it is a cheap, non-important item to me. It's nice to have a couch, but I don't have any sentimental attachment to it. If something happens to it, I won't fall apart.During this, I have gone into put-all-resources-into-not-crying mode. I have to give mad props to
londo at this point in time. I expressed to him that I should not be allowed to stand idle and think or I'd fall apart. He immediately found fruitful things for me to do that would occupy my attention (e.g. cleaning the lumber off of the stairway so we could move the couch up).We moved up the couch, locked up the apartment, and left. We returned the rest of the truckload to my house. And got Krispy Kreme, although I couldn't eat more than one. At that point
tragicstory dropped londo and me off at the train station and went home. londo and I proceeded into Boston to attend a friend's (Adriana) birthday party. We stayed until late in the evening, successfully averting my brain from the situation I could do nothing about, and then borrowed a car to drive home. I am allowed to borrow this car for a week, which is very very useful.So, the situation as it stands: I believe Matt was supposed to return from Japan last night. It could be tonight, however. Either way I am going to have a serious talk to him about wtf I am supposed to do. I have not looked over the lease yet, but I believe that he is legally bound to provide a home for me. If that apartment is not livable, he will have to set me up in a hotel room or something until it is. I am not sure whether or not he is legally bound to provide someplace to put my possessions, however.
The second floor tenants were in the midst of moving out, though. They should be completely gone by tomorrow. It is possible that I could move my things into their apartment for storage until mine is available. I'm not sure if that apartment doesn't have tenants already lined up, though.
This was just the event I needed to cap off the current-apartment's-deposit fiasco, wherein I have borrowed enormous sums of money from friends and family. Now I have no place to live in 4 days, and my bank account and credit cards are tapped until another paycheck or two go in. Oh, and
tragicstory lives and works in Worcester, and it would be of extreme expense to him to drive to Malden mid-week to help me move. I will have to rent a U-Haul or something, and attempt to find other hired hands to assist.All because Matt didn't get a permit from the city to do construction work on his house.
I suppose I should wake
londo up, and get ready for some confrontation.P.S.
kobold: I am calling you right now to let you know about this (sorry it wasn't yesterday, but I just couldn't). I'd rather you heard it from my cell phone before you heard it from my journal.Edit:
The Lessor shall be obligated to fulfill all of the Lessor's obligations hereunder to the best of the Lessor's ability, but the Lessee's obligations, covenants, and agreements shall not (subject to applicable law) be affected, impaired or excused because the Lessor is unable to supply or is delayed in supplying any service or is unable to make or is delayed in making any repairs, additions, alterations or decorations or is unable to supply or is delayed in supplying any equipment or fixtures, if Lessor is prevented or delayed from doing so because of any law or governmental action or any order, rule or regulation of any governmental agency, which is beyond the Lessor's reasonable control.
Getting the proper permits is WITHIN reasonable control, yes?
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no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 12:19 (UTC)I hope it all works out to your satisfaction, soon!
no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 12:32 (UTC)Whatever I can do to help, let me know.
no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 12:35 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 12:37 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 13:24 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 12:34 (UTC)buttery?
on 27 Jun 2004 16:41 (UTC)Just curious, because two friends of mine used to live there, one of them might have even been at the birthday party yesterday.
hi! *waves*
:)
Re: buttery?
on 27 Jun 2004 16:42 (UTC)Re: buttery?
on 27 Jun 2004 16:45 (UTC)Did you used to live there too?
Small world :)
Sonia
Re: buttery?
on 27 Jun 2004 16:47 (UTC)Re: buttery?
on 27 Jun 2004 16:50 (UTC)Bill's a bit of a recluse sometimes, he gets wrapped up in his computers.
We meant to go yesterday but events led us along different paths.
Maybe I'll see you at some future gathering. :)
Re: buttery?
on 27 Jun 2004 22:13 (UTC)Brainstorming Options and Issues
on 27 Jun 2004 14:16 (UTC)1) Yes, you might be able to store your stuff on site, but if you're having trouble with a landlord coming through for you, maybe you don't want yo ur stuff to be hostage, too?
2) U-Hall has a storage facility in Medford, where you can rent storage monthly, for about $100/mo (more or less depending on the size of the space you choose). There is also one in Malden, but it seems to be more expensive. There's also one in Somerville.
NOTE: the nifty promotional connected with one-way rentals. I don't know if you could trigger it by renting at a different U-Hall and driv ing it there.
3) You might be able to find a friend who can stow stuff in a basement for you; alas, I no longer have a basement or I would offer.
4) Are you going to try to see this lease through, or break it? I think it might be possible to get out of such a thing. Start googling for Tenant Rights organizations who might be able to get you pro bono legal help.
Re: Brainstorming Options and Issues
on 27 Jun 2004 15:56 (UTC)Re: Brainstorming Options and Issues
on 27 Jun 2004 22:10 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 16:03 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 22:10 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 16:35 (UTC)bleh
on 27 Jun 2004 16:38 (UTC)I'm semi-available with a jeep until Wednesday if I can help?
Good luck!
Son
Re: bleh
on 27 Jun 2004 22:12 (UTC)Re: bleh
on 28 Jun 2004 14:09 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 19:19 (UTC)no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 19:57 (UTC)if you should find yourself one pair of hands
and a Ford Explorer short, let me know and
I shall bring said truck and self to help.
no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 22:15 (UTC)no subject
on 28 Jun 2004 06:31 (UTC)before heading out to work (it's my Dad's, and it's polite to ask him
the day before instead of just showing up on the doorstep asking to
borrow the truck as he's getting ready to leave for work). He's cool
with letting me borrow his truck to help friends move stuff - past
moving events have included furniture, motorcycles, and appliances ;-)
I'm free tomorrow and Thursday evenings at 5:00pm.
Tonight and Wednesday I'm free after 8:00pm
(I can get the truck tonight if necessary).
no subject
on 28 Jun 2004 06:39 (UTC)thing the next morning before heading out to work (it's my Dad's and
it's more polite to ask before showing up on the doorstep to borrow
the truck while he's getting ready to leave for work himself).
He's cool with letting me borrow the truck to help friends move stuff-
the past few events included moving furniture, appliances, and motorcycles-
so it's all good ;-)
I'm free Tuesday and Thursday nights after 5:00pm.
Tonight and Wednesday nights I'm free after 8:00pm
(I can get the Explorer tonight if necessary).
no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 20:01 (UTC)Suckitude.
On the bright side, you may have made it into the comic even *before* moving in... :-P
Permits: it is possible, though not the most likely case, that this is entirely the contractor's fault. Just to leave that door open for Matt.
I don't have a van, and [Unknown Housemate Tag] is moving out this week, so I'd be hard-pressed to even lend a hand; but we do have a basement, and shortly it'll be more empty than it is now, if you can't find anywhere else to stick stuff. I'm fairly confident
no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 20:53 (UTC)Call me if you want a hand (617-669-8402). I am more than willing to help.
no subject
on 27 Jun 2004 22:16 (UTC)no subject
no subject
on 28 Jun 2004 11:01 (UTC)