The House From Hell

When we were told the house was a three bedroom with an office and laundry room, we thought that sounded good. When we found out it had a fenced in backyard, that made it sound even better. I was even more convinced when we were told it had a working wood burning fireplace and a dish washer. What really sold us, was how much the rent was. We should have known better.
When Mr. K and I moved to our current location, we were not able to travel to view houses/apartments before hand. Mr. K had friends in this area, which was one of the reasons for moving here, and we had them scoping out places for us. We told them what we wanted/needed and were told that there was a three bedroom house that was in an accessible area that would be great for us. It was right next door to two of Mr. K's friends and they were excited for us to move in. I was a little nervous, but I couldn't say why. Something felt wrong, but since I didn't know these people at the time, I didn't really have a valid argument. I let Mr. K know that something was bothering me, but since I couldn't figure out why, I just let it go.
Upon arriving I knew that my gut feeling had been right, but it was our first house. I didn't want to ruin it. I was also holding out hope that I was wrong and that I had tainted the place with my own pre-judgments. But the longer we lived here, the more I realised that we could not stay. We moved in August and by the middle of September I was begging him to move.
Not only was the house secluded with no bus stops to be found, the people next door sort of stopped visiting/phoning once the novelty of us being next door wore off. I think they also didn't realise that having two blind friends was more work than they bargained for. Not that we're a lot of work, but we do have two huge dogs that go everywhere with us and I don't think people are prepared for that. The pointing, staring and exclaiming when out in public can be too much for some to handle. Plus, we have to find space for our big furry acting Eyeballs and again, that can be too much for some.
There is so much wrong with this house and it was a relief to me when Mr. K finally decided that I was right and that we needed to move. To give you an idea of why we have to move, I have compiled a list of what is/was wrong.
1. When we first moved in the air conditioning unit did not work. When it is 100 F outside, the air must work. So we had to wait for a new one to be installed.
2. It is not energy efficient at all and we are either heating or air conditioning the outside. There is a giant rusty air conditioning unit in the wall of the kitchen that has not been sealed up. There is a swamp cooler (don't ask, I don't even know what that is). All I know is that it lets air in and out. There is an uninsulated attic that again lets air in and out. The bath tub in the main bathroom has a hole in it that,yes you guessed it, lets air in and out: not to mention, it's rusty. The weather stripping on both doors is basically non-existent. This not only lets in air, but creepy crawly creatures that I would rather stay outside. The windows are only storm windows...not real windows and they are ancient. I'm sure there is more that falls into this category, but I have more to write I won't waste anymore time here.

3. The windows in the living room have pellet holes in them. Yes, some moron was firing a gun of some sort from the inside of the house. Oh goody. The main window in our bedroom is falling apart. The glass is falling out! I wonder how this was missed in the house inspection. Oh maybe because this was the only window in the place that had window coverings. By law, landlords are required to provide window coverings and the only ones we have conveniently cover up a broken window. Mr. K taped it together with packing tape. Go hubby!

4. Remember that fireplace I was excited about? We can't use it. Surprised? No, I didn't think so. It leaks when it rains, which suggests to us that a fire in it would not be good.

5. And how about that fence? It's broken/bent/falling over/rusty. Glacier and Roscoe haven't managed to escape, but Kyo sure figured out he could just walk over the section that is basically laying down.

Now, here comes the fun stuff.

6. Let's talk about water. We've been without hot water once for three days and then without water for another three days on two separate occasions. You can't shower, cook, clean and how were we supposed to water the dogs or flush the damn toilet? Gross! And when Mr. K called to report the problem the last time, the landlord acted like it was his fault. Rude!

7. Electricity, another important thing in our day and age. We had a storm back in September which blew the electrical box off of the side of the house. We phoned the electric company and they fixed it back on temporarily. He told us we would have to get an electrician to do the job properly. Has it been fixed yet? Nope! We've been just praying it doesn't come off and either our house doesn't catch fire or the dogs don't go out and get mixed up in it without us knowing. Really safe.

8. We also asked them for a new fridge back in September and then again in November with no results. When we got back from our Holidays, the fridge had died and all of the stuff in the freezer and whatever little we had in the fridge was rotten. We had no fridge and no water at that point. Happy days!

9. The newest development has been that the washing machine connection was leaking. I don't mean a little dripping, I mean soaked the wall, drenched our stuff made everything stink like mold. The landlord tried to tell Mr. K that we were responsible for that. That didn't fly, let me tell you.

Like I said, there are a lot of other things wrong-like the mummified dog poop we can't get off the floor; the sink gushing from its elbow joint in the bedroom's bathroom; the new/used fridge we just got running constantly because it's a piece of crap; the disgusting cockroaches and mouse crap we had to get out of the house upon moving in-the list could go on and on. Thankfully, we have put an application in at a townhouse complex and will hopefully hear soon if we get the place or not. If we do, we'll be moving out at the end of February. We would move out sooner, but we are paid up until then and we'd rather not lose the money that we've paid. We would fight them for it back, but are pretty sure they will find some way to weasel it out of us. So, we'll count our losses and move on, hopefully sooner than later.
What have I learned from this mess? Trust my gut for starters. Most able-boded people don't have a clue what "accessible" means even if you explain it to them. Wait, let me rephrase that-most don't have a clue when they are people who work for a non-profit organisation and therefore think they are qualified to know what is better for you than you do. Whew. Did that make sense?
Mr. K and I have been to see this new place and the area and feel a lot better about it. The management seem like responsible people and are quie helpful. I also think that since they are a company rather than private landlords, they may be more inclined to get things fixed in a timely manner. They were doing some small projects, like putting in new outdoor lighting, when we were there. That demonstrates to us that they care about their property. A lot of the management staff live right on site and the woman who had just recently moved there, seemed satisfied. All I can say is, ppppllllleeeeaaaaasssseeeee let me be packing in the next couple of weeks. :)