[24-Jun-2022] Hal Baerg is by far the worst landlord I’ve had in my life.
Piping/bathroom issues:
Problems started almost immediately after move-in when we were told that the water pipes needed to be replaced and to only use the sink in the kitchen. It is an old house so this was understandable. We complied with what we needed to do and at the end of the month requested a rent reduction for the multiple times the water was turned off, often without prior notice. Hal pushed back heavily, but in the end gave us the reduction. He also refused to replace the sewage pipes which, according to the plumbers, were leaking under the house slowly destroying the foundation. After the inward pipes were replaced the shower needed to be retiled and had duct tape covering a small hole. However, this retiling never occurred so there was just duct tape there for the remainder of lease (~9 months) despite the multiple requests for repair. Later we started getting sewage backing up into our front lawn because of the old sewage pipes. He got this cleaned up but rather than fixing the core issue, the repairman simply tightened the overflow cap down hard so it couldn’t come off again. Hal asked us to switch to 1-ply toilet paper which we begrudgingly complied with. Drainage became more and more of an issue as we approached moving out, and we started keeping a plunder and many extra bottles of Drain-o in the kitchen to solve the frequent clogging.
Dog issue:
In one encounter, Hal brought his dog to our rental unit, unleashed. His dog lunged to attack my dog, luckily there was no visible injury aside from a small scratch. Our dog is a rescue and her temperament noticeably changed after the event. After this, he attempted to gaslight us claiming the event was our fault. Ultimately, he admitted fault by agreeing to a small rent reduction which we used to pay for training lessons to help regain her confidence, which was successful. We asked him not to bring his dog back and he complied with that.
Bug issue:
The property had a major issue with bugs, primarily ants, silverfish, and small black spiders. We asked if Hal would treat the property for bugs and he refused. This would be understandable if not for the sheer volume of the problem. Everyday there were ants in the shower, spiders and silverfish consistently in the living room, bedrooms, and bathroom. The only solution we found was to spray Raid on every window and doorway every other week, sprinkle ant repellant in the garden monthly, duct tape the bathroom window shut, and keep the bathtub drain covered. He did give us permission to take a rent reduction if we would pay for the bug treatment ourselves, but we ultimately did not.
Misc:
There were a myriad of the other small issues so toward the end of the lease we would only contact the management if absolutely necessary. We considered moving out at multiple points but ultimately decided against it due to lack of money and timing.
Deposit issue:
After our experience, we were excited for our lease to end. We provided 30 days notice and sent him details on where to deliver our deposit refund, he chose not to inspect the property and the new tenant moved in the next day after we left. We moved out on May 15, 2022, we did not receive the check until the second week of June 2022. After we deposited the check, it did not clear for almost two weeks.
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