SlumLords: How to Deal with Them

I had always heard stories of landlords in Raleigh who would never fix up their properties and overcharged students in rent.  I believed some of the stories to be true but for the most part thought that everyone was just over exaggerating. After moving into my house I know believe all the crazy stories of landlords because I am currently dealing with one. I now consider my landlord to be a slumlord. The house is not up to code and trying to have him fix anything in the house is nearly impossible. However you can’t change the landlord so you just have to learn how to deal with him. After six months dealing with my landlord I have gathered a list of tips to use when dealing with them.

1.  Try to call your landlord and reason with them: Most of the time they will be unreasonable. But on the slight chance you catch them on a good day they might agree to fix something in your house.

2. When in doubt call your parents: In general this is a good life lesson to learn. If your landlord will not listen to you, than most likely he will listen to your parents.

3. Try to fix as much on your own: If you give your landlord a to do list of things in the house that need to be fixed expect at least half of the list to not be completed. Place priority items that need to be fixed at the top of the list. The other items that your landlord does not fix try to complete on your own. If you work together with your roommates fixing up a house can actually be fun.

4. If there is a gas leak or any immediate danger do not call your landlord call the utility company: I quickly learned this when I began to smell gas in my house. I called my landlord who dismissed the issue. Gas leaks can be serious so I instead went on to call the gas company. It happened to be that there was a gas leak in my house that could have been dangerous if it was not handled in a timely manner.

8. Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure.