Submitted by dogmum60 t3_1253aq1 in newhampshire
Hi there, thought I would post here to see if I can find any solutions to a very annoying problem… my wife and I rent a home in the lakes region of NH, have been renting for approx 4 years. The owner died about 3 years ago so the property was passed on to the son, who hired a property management company to deal with the house. It’s a very very old house, layout is not the most convenient, outlets are randomly placed, fireplaces everywhere, just a weird old house but it’s cheap and has a nice plot of land so we stay till we can buy. The property management company consists of just two people (married) on their 60s, wife does office stuff, husband (PM) deals with labor. The guy is, in the nicest way possible, way over his head. Anyway, to the problem we currently face: The new owner decided that he wanted to "fix" certain rooms of the home, so the PM decided to start with the kitchen in January. We were reluctant since it would consist of lots of sanding, painting, and we have to keep the windows closed so heat won't escape, but we were traveling abroad for a couple weeks and tried to be positive and imagine how nice it'll be once we have a more functional kitchen. Mind you, it's a very small kitchen. Its been 2 months now and the PM has not finished, which has meant 2 months of not being able to use the kitchen. We've been paying rent on time but we can not use the kitchen, and the PM comes to "work" on it maybe MAYBE 3 hrs a week. At this point I'm sick of being nice and having all our kitchen appliances stuffed in the living room and bedroom. What can we do? We've tried talking to the PM but his response is always that he'll get to it or that he has other emergencies to deal with, our POV is why the hell did he start this project without allotting the time to it or hired someone else to help. I’m tired of not being able to use very important area of the house we pay money to rent bc this dumbass just won’t show up to finish it up. We have a lease FYI. Any advice is welcomed, thanks for your time.
PM_Georgia_Okeefe t1_je2jpex wrote
Contact an attorney that specializes in renter protection
Set up a separate bank account where you’ll deposit your rent checks into escrow
Save all receipts related to expenses incurred by the renovation
Contact landlord to explain the issue and how you’ll only release rent after the project is finished, minus the expenses of eating out