The House is Falling Apart...
 

I don't really expect anybody to be able to help me with this, 'cause it's mostly my mom's problem....I guess I just need to vent it out and complain somewhere, 'cause this is driving me crazyyyy.

We've been living in a rented townhouse in the NoVa area for about 10-11 years. For anyone that knows the area, you might be able to guess what that means about the expenses on this place. My mom's already paid well over what this place is even worth. ...In fact, I'm pretty sure that by now, the monthly cost is way over what this place is worth. But it's all she can really afford right now, and since my parents are divorced, my mother's stuck with it because my dad's been trying to custody of us (me and my older brother and younger sister) for a while. They have joint custody right now, but really only over my sister. My brother and I are old enough that it doesn't matter anymore (but my dad pays for my schooling....so I've gotta live over there sometimes, too).

Anywayyyyy.... the problem with this place is that it's basically falling apart. The ceilings leak every time we take a shower, and it's been so bad that last year the ceiling over the living room just collapsed and dumped water everywhere. The air conditioning has never worked for the entire time we've lived here, the washer/drier and dishwasher that came with the house don't do the job properly (if at all. We spent an entire day doing laundry at the laundromat because doing it at home can take days to weeks just for 1-2 loads). The carpets are disgusting, loaded with mildew from all the water damage and the walls are pretty much gray now--keeping in mind that they were pretty bad since we moved in.

The landlord is supposed to be keeping up the house. But we can't rely on him for anything. The reason everything's falling apart here is because he refuses to use any of the money we pay him to take care of the place. He charges my mom way more than she should have to pay for such a poorly kept place, and he's raised the price a couple times over the years as well, in order to pay his mortgage on his McMansion. So he fixes everything in our house with duct tape and appliances from Wal Mart. And my mom can't even hire anybody to come fix it because she doesn't make enough money to cover all the bills and repair this stuff herself.

And, really. The landlord's supposed to be able to keep the place from falling apart. He never even did anything between the last tenants and us.

Honestly, we all know my mom should move. But she stays here because she doesn't know where she'd get a job anywhere else, the expenses of moving, and because my sister's still in high school. She doesn't want to feel chased out by my dad, who basically demands back all the child support he pays to her for things like summer camp and stuff (though he makes enough to pay for on his own, but instead spends it on my stepsiblings and new TV's...). I'm really not trying to vilify my dad, but this is the situation as I've observed it. I've never been particularly happy with my dad to begin with. He's always resorted to stupid mind tricks so that we now have a mental war going on, where I have to play by his rules to get what I want (which, eventually, means completely leaving him. I'm gonna be so out of here once I'm done with college).

So...maybe this was just a vent. I wish there was something I could do for my mom, and I keep trying to help her with the house the best I can. But every time I clean up, somebody else walks in and leaves a bigger mess. We try to work with the house in its current state, but something else always ends up breaking. The ceiling, since the break over the living room, has only leaked in the kitchen (over the stove), but it just started leaking in the basement now...as if the AC leaking wasn't bad enough. T_T And it sucks, 'cause we just started to set up a room for me down there. I'm terrified of it getting so bad that it collapses down there next and takes out my brand new bed with it.

I just feel kinda hopeless right now. And I know my mom does, too. It's just...so frustrating. We hate the landlord. He keeps doing things that screw us over. He raised the price after my brother got his own car (which our dad paid for), and he just threw a bunch of grass seeds into our backyard over the winter without telling us, so now we can't plant anything (apparently, to chase out the weeds....)

and...um...ya. T_T

I don't know the area you're living in, but in all the place I've lived, there have been agencies designed to protect against exactly what you're going through: housing committees and so on. In fact, right now I live in Los Angeles, and we get a yearly inspection by the city, which has led to things like fresh caulking around our bathtub and a new water heater.

Check your city or county's laws and agencies to see if there's any sort of legal recourse. It'll probably be difficult, as your landlord sounds like an absolute asshat, but you will probably have the law behind you. A lawyer might be able to help, as well -- consultations don't always cost a lot of money, and might really help you move forward, especially if you can get your mother in to help on this.

Does the landlord have any other tenants who rent from him? Maybe you can work together against him.

You need to call the housing authority and county (city?) inspector, like, now.

Also, your mother needs to re-read her rental agreement. If she's going to pursue legal action, she'll need it anyway.

In any case, there is a such thing as renters' rights, and the landlord is responsible for the safety of the home, and in most cases cannot charge tenants for general "wear and tear." Your local housing authority and inspector will come by and evaluate the safety of the home, and give the landlord a timeline to get it fixed. If it's not fixed by then, you call them back and they slap the landlord with fines (or perhaps relocate you and your family and prohibit the landlord from renting out the property until the home can pass inspection--but that depends on what your local laws are).

Additionally, in most states, if your landlord doesn't respond to repairs in a timely manner, your mother reserves the right to pay for repairs herself and deduct that from her rent. So, if her rent is $500 a month, and she pays a plumber $100 to fix the shower after your landlord refused to, she can decide to only pay $400 in rent for the following month and attach a copy of the bill proving that she paid for plumbing work. But, again, this depends on state and local laws. (in theory though, she could decide to spend a whole month's rent just on fixing up the place, and your landlord wouldn't see a dime... I'd seek out a legal consultation first though, but it might be what needs to happen, maybe for even a few months in a row)