Miranda vs. The Landlord

I'm really starting to wonder if you have to be an asshole to be a landlord or if that's just a symptom of the job. Maybe it's a bit of both. In any event, I have had the absolute worst experiences with every landlord, property manager and superintendent I've had contact with since I started renting in 2003. I'm actually starting to wonder if it's me.

Take this week for instance. The super at my current building decides that he should restrict tenants access to the laundry room past 10 pm. I had three loads of laundry going around 9:30 and when I went to retreive them at 10:15, the door was locked. It wouldn't be a huge problem except it doesn't open again till 8:00 am and I leave for work at 7:30. I'm sure as hell not about to leave my literal entire wardrobe unattended all day long for any creep to come steal a nice bunch of second-hand, newly washed clothes. So I called him. Big mistake. He yelled and swore at me saying things like "Do you know how to read a f*cking sign?" "I make allowances for all my tenants why the f*ck should i make allowances for you?" etc, etc, etc... so after much begging and pleading, he agreed to open the laundry room with the guarantee that he is not to ever hear from me again. No problem!

You make stupid rules, expect to get stupid phone calls.

Or how about the ongoing Grand River Property Management issue I had with my friend PH after my basement apartment flooded twice, soaking the carpet with toilet water and ruining the contents of my closets. After several formal letters and zero reimbursement, I'm to take his rationale that "because I live in a basement apartment, I should expect that it floods periodically." What a dick.

And then there was my all time favourite place at 98 Bridegport with Eleanor and Graeme; the sweet old British couple who turned out to be the biggest jerks of my renting experience. My car was blocked in daily in a parking spot that I paid for, they entered our house without permission on a regular basis, the basement also flooded several times and they refused to do any sort of maintenance including fixing the leaking roof or removing the squirrels that lived in the ceiling. That experience nearly ended in a court case. In the end, I left a month early and lost a month's rent just to avoid the constant bullshit.

And most recently, before I even move into my new home, I have problems with the super intendent. I called to proactively inform my new super of our move-in dates to which she informed me "were out of the question." Apparently, you can only move in on the dates and times that she approves. Well, that's fabulous. I have a very small window of opportunity where I can get time off work and people to help me move and she tells me it's not possible. Before i've even moved into this new place, we've already had three rather hostile phone conversations. In the end, I managed to smooth things over with my superiour negotiation skills and endearing personality and the conversation ended with her making some accomodations to suit my needs and her telling me to "remember around Christmas time that she likes red wine."

If you're a super, you should expect to have tenants calling you regularly about issues. Why do they act like it's the biggest bloody inconvenience to have to do their job?! It's not like they didn't know what they were signing up for when they applied.

Clearly, my frustration is evident. I can't beleive I've had this neverevending landlord/tenant drama for almost 5 years. I'm really starting to wonder if maybe it's not them, it's me...