• peteypete said on Aug 31, 2008....

  Though maybe it is not the case of your friend has it ever occurred to you that low income housing was not built to house pests and it certainly was not filthy when it was opened or before it was occupied.Perhaps some landlords are scummy in their lack of simple maintenance. However, some may just be tired of the actions of the human pests that reside often for free in their buildings. This is what I know from years of work in poor neighborhoods and housing projects in NYC as well as someone who grew up poor in the Bronx. Landlords and rental managment personnel do not throw garbage out the windows into unaccessable alleyways, piss anywhere that the urge comes to them, break the windows and locks.....etc...etc.The deplorable conditions that your friend lives under are a result of her horrible neighbors not the minimum wager who works in the rental office. When you work for something like a house you rtend to care for it a little more and use garbage receptacles and bathrooms. You take care not break somthing that you need to replace.As unfortunate as it is you get what you pay for. A few absolutely spoil it for everyone around them. The problem is most people don't stop the filthy minority from fucking up their quality of life.If "good" people let bad people piss on them than all you can do is hand your friend a towel and a can of Raid.

• Fallyn said on Aug 31, 2008....

  it is very very sad.
  petey  is right though too......even though your friend isn't like this.....there are a good many people who are.
  
  i have had neighbors like this......and our landlords tried very hard to keep the building properly maintained. but it is nearly impossible to evict someone if their rent is up to date.  and with some forms of subsidized housing rent is so low that it isn't a huge problem to come up wiht.....which is the point of subsidized housing.
  
  MUCH of this problem of filth stems from drug abuse and mental illness.
  both of which are major problems in many other situations.
  
  

• starchini said on Sep 30, 2008....

  I think this landlord is a slum lord and should be reported to Health and Human services immediatly.  Not only is it illegal for a landlord to have tenants living in pest infested housing its illegal to evict anyone for complaining about it.  It is law that if their are pests the housing has to be sprayed or is considered "UNLIVEABLE"  ...It is also illegal to lie to prospective tenants if they ask...
   
  I asked a former landlord of mine before i had moved in if there was a bug problem.  He said NO, but they spray as a precaution...as i peeked in all the cupboards looking for roach poop...I didnt find any.  So i moved in and paid the first and last months rent.   I signed a year long contract. I liked the idea that they sprayed once a month as a PREVENTATIVE MEASURE....  I wasnt there more thant a week before i realized id been taken... He point blank lied to my face.  The entire building was infested with cockroaches...
  
  Im not one to take shit laying down.  I was infuriated...But i also hate moving. So first i complained and he apologized, claimed there were no roaches previously that its a new problem...He said hed take care of it...Well i assumed taking care of it would involve spraying more and the pest lady still came only once a month... I bitched and bitched and he refused to have her spray more.  So i called her personally and told her what was wrong and she said she had no idea that she would take care of it. 
  
  My entire floor got sprayed everyother day...I had become a neat freak.  My apartment was spotless and i even bought my own traps and sent the reciepts with my  deducted rent to my landlord.  I was there for 4 months and it wasnt getting and better. 
  
  I told him i wanted out of my lease and i want my full deposit back and reimbursement for all my ruined furniture...
   
  He freaked out.  I took him to court over it. 
   
  I refused to carry these pests around with me the rest of my life.  Once u get them and move u gotta jump through insane hoops to get rid of them.  They get inside ur tv and in ur matress and in ur clothes and EVERYTHING
  No matter how much u bomb ur shit ur gonna have a stowaway cockroach and he is gonna start a new family wherever u go next...
   
  About the only safeway to keep ur shit and move is in the dead of winter in an open pickup bed with the wind wipping it all.  Leave it all in a starage space u gotta rent and bug bomb the hell out of it all for a few months in the middle of winter...THen after all that MAYBE ur odds of getting rid of the roaches have gotten better...but no gaurantee...
  
  I explained this to the courts and told them bc he has no intention of getting rid of the roaches that i should just leave my VERY NICE furniture in the apt and he gonna advertise it as FURNISHED...and he can pay me for all of my belonging i must leave behind.  And give me my full deposit back.   I got my full deposit back plus 3 grande for all my stuff...
   
  I hope u get the point of my mouthfull of a story.  U dont have to layback and take shit was the point.  There are laws protecting people who are "forced" to live in these conditions.  Just bc the landlord refuses to abide by them doesnot mean that the tenant cant go to above his head and get things done.  Its all about making ur case known to someone that actually gives a shit...
  
  I just want u to know that there ARE laws and what this landlord is doing is illegal.. and NEEDS to be reported.

• hellboundmercinary said on Dec 24, 2008....

  I have lived in pretty crappy neighborhoods before.  I would do it again if I had to in order to keep a roof over my head.  I have also lived with roaches.  It's not fun, but I survived.  It's not like they are crawling out of my nose.  There is a book that Paladin Press published about landlord/tenant laws, I believe.  I don't own the book, but think it's probably worth looking at.

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