damaged belongings

[laundromat]

I had some damage done to my apartment in the last huricane(Ike) and was not notified when the workers came to do the evaluation and repair needed.They took down 40% of my ceiling and moved my furniture all arond as well as my rare prints of Lucille Ball in charcoal and Marilyn Monroe.Both were gifts and I had them professionaly framed and matted.These ass holes took them down along with other items I had up and basicly strewed the around the floor! There are filthy handprints on the back of the Lucy print and stains from dirt that they had on their hands while moving it.They also damaged it by pressing on the back of it causing a crease in the print!Is there anything I can have done to make the rental office pay to have these fixed or replaced? i spent hundreds of dollars to have both of these professionaly framed and matted and don't appreciate some "wet backs "who spoke no English at all ruin them.

 

[gyrafoam]

Take them to small claims court and force them to take care of it. No one should have access to your apartment who is so stupid as to cause damage to your property anyway.

Photograph and document EVERYTHING.

 

[a440]

Okay....let's take - a - look - see

You had to have 40% of your ceiling replaced? So you obviously knew that at some point they would be in your apartment to fix the damage. (You talked to the management correct? If not, even worse for you) Now keep in mind, you only rent, so they can go into your apartment anytime they want. Owners do not need your permission to go into their own property, Esp. if work is needed to be done to the structure.
The bizarre part I can't get my mind around is that you had this large amount of ceiling damage, and you left these prints up, along with your furniture all in place! Amazingly to me, you somehow want to blame them? No court will help you. Esp. in a situation such as this, after a terrible storm, where hundreds of people are now homeless, and lost everything they owned. I can't think of any Judge in Texas, or anywhere else that would waste their time to hear about your prints that you left up.
I think the good thing out of this is hopefully you will learn to pick up your things when damage is done, esp. when you know at some point some crew of guys, who could care less about Marylin or Lucy prints, will be coming to fix the damage.
If you decide to take this to court, try to see if you can go on Judge Judy.
Brent

 

[gizmo]

calling people wetbacks is pretty low.

 

[toggleswitch2]

"Filage to rouxa sou na'xeis to misa"

"Protect your (own) clothes so that you will still have half of them." In other words: Protect your valuables carefully so that you'll retain half of them. (i.e. You need to safeguard your own stuff, and no matter what there will be losses.)

In my area the landlord is, in theory, limited to entry only during a bona-fide emergency. Again, in theory (and it may be in the lease, but I have not seen it) one must turn over leys to the landlord. The way around that is, if they insist on keys, is to add a keyed entry-door chain-lock. They can then open the door and cut/break the chain if they really need to get in. This discourages random inspections and snooping. Maybe, just maybe it will remind them to notify the tenant to make arrangements for entry.

BTW a standard Blumburg lease form is blatantly stacked in the landlord's favor and even states the tenant "voluntarily" gives up his right to a trial by jury. In some areas the judge throws it right out of court and goes by case law.

With regard to your situation:

You are hurt and you are angry and understandably so. No one will respect your property as you do. But as pointed out when devastating natural disasters occur everyone is subject to losses. Luckily yours are/were not life-threatening.

I have noted in life that that which one obsesses over(myself included) is often taken away. Perhaps that is the universe trying to say, "Watch your priorites, hon".

Please note I am not trying to be nasty, bitchy, judgemental or otherwise negative. I myself try to photgraph everything and eveyrone, because one day that and the memory is all that will remain.

After caring for a quadriplegic who can't walk, pee or dump on his own I have a VERY different perspective in life. We should all be thankful for EVERYTHING in life. Others have less.

I myself would not persue the loss of those items. For me anyway its just too much anger and aggravation. And for men it is the thrill of persuit and the hunt-to-the-kill. Maybe it will be fun to try to find those items again elsewhere.

May PEACE and calm overtake you no matter what you choose to do.

-Steve



http://www.buyhardwaresupplies.com/?t=5&m=9&itemNumber=54191

 

[panthera]

I can

understand your anger. Here in Germany, rental contracts are like any other legally binding contract and landlords can't just barge in without a reason. That reason being imminent danger to the building's structure (a roof collapsing, water leak, gas leak, not curiosity about your porn collection) or to a person or animal.
This notwithstanding, the bitch who lived in my old building convinced the fire department (twice!), the cops three times and the building management that I had moved load bearing walls, there was water running, etc. The first time, I thought - ok, mistake, after all I'd had a neighbor's washer ruin my flat not all that long in the past. After the third time, I was furious. Had to pick up my cats out of the animal pound, my door was broken and all my stuff in the kitchen ripped out in order to 'find' the 'hole' I had supposedly made in a load bearing wall...
Took the mother-fcuking bitch and housing management to court. That is, my insurance did. Made them pay for it and the judge also made them pay for the two fire department break-ins. Of course, by the time it got to court the see-you-next-Tuesday whackjob had done it a few times more.
Moral of the story: Yes, it is a crisis situation and, no, I don't think you'll get much sympathy for calling people bad names. Still, go talk to a lawyer and have him or her write your complaint and desired redress, not you.
After my experience here in Germany, trying to be nice, assuming the housing management and cops must see what's going on, I've learned, if you don't hit back and hit back hard, the bastards will win. No more live and let live on those points for me - shortly after I moved out, the bitch did the same thing to the new people. They, poor dears, had bought the place and were really screwed...

http://,

 

[laundromat]

Brent,

I live on the first floor and had no idea of any damage done.I was home the entire length of the storm and me electric was out for 5 hours,not days. and there was no leak anywhere in my unit except the windows.The force of the wind was buckling them as it stormed and I had towels on the floors beneath.As far as the ceilings,they ,to my knowledge ,were dry as a bone.I was not told of anybody coming in to inspect,tear down or replace my ceiling and came home from work 2 weeeks ago where I was shocked seeing unknown non English speaking strangers terring down my ceiling.I have a dog and he could have easily ran away,my A/C was off when I left but on when I returned home and my front door was wide open to accomadate their latter.They ruined my gate by breaking its hinge and carelessly strew my new furniture and any art I had hanging was carelessly removed from the walls and laid in my hallway.After their removal of the ceiling and putting plastic sheets up to cover it until the other team came to do the puzzle shaped pieces of sheet rock up.That was over a week later.As I looked up into my ceiling,I noticed there was absolutely no insulation.Is that normal? anyway,after putting up the plastic,They took the liberty of using my 1966 Hoover Convertible upright (which had no paper bag in it) to vacuum up their mess!!! I am so pissed.Gismo,that(wetback) term is liberal to other names I could be calling them.I'm sure there are others here who have experienced the same low life service coming from others who are similar and don't give a rat's ass about other people's belongings.

 

[whirlcool]

Texas Law States

a forcible entry is: (1) an entry without the consent of the person in actual possession of the property; (2) an entry without the consent of a tenant at will or by sufferance; or (3) an entry without the consent of a person who acquired possession by forcible entry. Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3514, ch. 576, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984. Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 688, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Sec. 24.002.

That should settle that. Here is more info on Houston Landlord / Tenant law. It looks like small claims is where you go to settle this.

http://www.thelpa.com/lpa/landlord-tenant-law/texas-landlord-tenant-law.html

 

[gyrafoam]

Like I said------

IMO Small Claims Court is where you need to go.

 

[laundromat]

Thanks yall!

 

[whirlcool]

But be aware that judgements won in small claims court may not be collectible. I took an in home dog sitter to court a few years ago. She was hired to come and stay at our home for three hours a day (one hour in am, mid afternoon and late pm) while we were gone for a week. We had one of our neighbors watch the house. We provided kennels for our two dogs so if they go into trouble she could kennel them. We even paid her in advance (whoa, not a good idea, but she demanded that we do)
Our neighbor told us that she was only coming for 10 minutes each time and only twice, once in the morning and afternoon with no pm visits at all.

We came home to find a house loaded with poo, chewed up furniture and bedspreads with the dogs loose in the home. Even though she came highly recommended with supposedly lots of experience we later found out that she didn't and this was her first dog sitting job. So off to court we went.
We sued her for $3K to cover the damage and to recover her salary as she didn't perform as expected. We won the judgement and court costs. But she didn't pay. She said her lawyer told her not to pay as enforcement of small claims judgements in Texas aren't really enforced like civil court judgements are.
So we never saw a penny from this.
A lawyer friend of ours gave us some forms to where we could attach her assets and make a claim (such as on her bank account) but we had to find a judge that would sign off on this. We couldn't find one. They just kept telling us to forget about this whole ordeal and just move on.
In the end, was this worth it?

 

[a440]

Well....

You never explained any of this in your original posting...
So, now it is a totally different story. (I was one step ahead of you, and figured you would come up with more...)
Why did you not explain this scenario from the beginning?
If you live in such a "Low Life" community, where they don't tell tenants what work needs to be done, and they allow, as you call it "low life" people come in to do shoddy work. Then move. Or better yet, buy a home that you have total control over.
Oh, and I am just curious, what if the workers did speak English, and say for instance, they they were born and raised in Texas. What, in your vast vocabulary would you be calling them name wise?
You know, I could have sympathy for you, but you are a very mean spirited person. You love to call names, because that makes you feel superior. I know so many people like you. I don't have any tolerance for such silly immaturity.
Take them to small claims court, however, get your story straight. And don't Lie! If I can see through your story, a Judge with any experience will also.
Let us know how it goes.
Brent

 

[laundromat]

A440,You don't even know me or the type of person I am.How dare you try to judge me?You need to take the rock out of your own eyes before you try to tell me of the piece of sand in mine. I work hard for my money and no matter what my life situation has been( and I have been in just about every type there is from very rich to homeless)I have always been fair and kind to everybody that comes into my life.I work hard on thursdays(usualy from 8AM to 5PM) at my local church to give out a huge shopping cart of groceries,2 weeks worth, to hundreds of homeless/low income families from all walks of life.these people have proof of being either a citizen or have visas as well as passports.I have never lived anywhere before as full of illegal imigrants as Houston,Texas.If they had no connection with me that would be fine.I am totaly against anybody hiring,homing or supporting them.They are part of the major problem (economicaly)here in the U.S.I don't care if they're Mexican,Japanese,Korean,Russian,Canadian,or where they come from illegaly.They take jobs from those who are either legal or actual citizens of the U.S.A. THEY NEED TO AT LEAST SPEAK ENGLISH AS WELL AS UNDERSTAND IT! How can they do their work without being able to comunicate with the people involved in what they're doing?I go to Walmart one day to exchange a large jar of Helman's Mayonaise.I know they have it because I had the original receipt.It had been moved to a sale aisle.I had to ask 5 different employees where it was because the first 4 (no comprende').Am I prejudiced?No,not at all.I have friends from all around this world that I love and will do /give anything for and to.They know my heart.I just don't enjoy living where I,myself feal like I don't belong as well as unwelcome to be here.I'll bet if I or any other person here in America went to another country to work,we better damn site know the language there otherwise,we'd be outcast,ridiculed and I seriously doubt if we'd be successfull finding a decent job especialy if we were an illegal imigrant. The other issue involved here is vaccinations.I am sure there are many illnesses being imported by the same crowd.Sorry,I just don't agree with allowing illegals to live or work here.

 

[laundromat]

I forgot to mention,one of the local,well known bakeries was cracked down by the local police where 170+ illegal immigrants were found working and had to be deported.They're everywhere here.

 

[a440]

Blah, Blah, Blah

You are a name caller. And in your exact views, I will call you only a name caller...instead of some "other choice words" as you call them.
Get attention somewhere else.
You won't get any sympathy from me.
Your first and second post to this situation made my mind up. You are this higher than mighty queen, that does not have a pot to piss in as far as this situation goes. However, you think you are better than anyone that "serves" you.
You donate time with your church, so that you can feel better about yourself, and guess what, it ain't working for you thus far.
A good "Christian", that donates so much time as your self, would have never started out this silly post with the name calling you started.
You are sad. You had every reason to apologize about this name calling stunt that you started, but you did not.
It is all so funny to me that you want people to come to your way of thinking. And I pity anyone who does, just the same as you.
I don't have to know you dear. You are a typical tragic drama queen that has his nose way to high in the air, and thinks he is safe. And on top of it all thinks he can call names, and slander people no matter what, because his gives time to his church.
Wake up queen!
And no, you have not upset me, I pity you. You make me laugh.
Keep us informed on your court case.
LOL!
Brent

 

[laundromat]

Brent,Go straight to your hometown where you belong and do not pass Go do not collect $200.I hope you enjoy the emense heat while there the rest of eternity.I have no time for ass whipes like yourself.Evidently the best part of you went down your father's leg.( that is if you even know who or what that is.)I need neither any of your lo life advice nor your one sided tasteless opinions. You are one of the reasons "gay" people get such bad reviews from "straight" people.he last living thing I came across anywhere near your level,I saw on the floor in the men's room at a McDonalds and stepped on it!

 

[andrewinorlando]

Oh brent, get over it...your comments are obnoxious.

Carl, I believe in all 50 states, the management company/landlord has to give reasonable notice to gain entry to your apartment. If you have renter's insurance, it will certainly help cover the damages these assholes did. Your insurer will go after the management company to recover damages. You should have filed a police report for breaking and entering, since no one had permission to be in your apartment. You can still probably do that. Sometimes you have to be a hard ass, and if folks are arrested and deported, all the better. You won't get anywhere in this situation being a nice guy, you're gonna have to be a prick. My ex just excels at this, and let me tell you, he gets results - he's relentless, tireless, and obnoxious, and doesn't stop until he gets what is right. Authorities aren't going to do shit unless you hold their feet to the fire.

 

[panthera]

A slice of cake, anyone?

Gosh, dahlinks. At this point we all know nobody is willing or going to budge one nanometer on any political or religious belief.
Since we all ran out of creative and truly queenly insults months ago, why not just swallow and spit it out?
The number of folks abandoning us is getting scary. Hell, even I have stopped posting political comments in a desire to keep the peace.
So how's about we just cut ourselves a slice or two and pass the coffee and Kahlua...

 

[a440]

LAUGH OUT LOUD!

Chuck,
Your pours and your testament to your crises from the beginning of this post has shown your class act!
I am starting to think that you don't deserve those priceless prints of Lucy and Marylin on your wall. (I can hardly type from laughing so hard, thank you!)
You should write gay novels with your explicit vocabulary.
Best of luck....Keep Flaming!
Thanks for the laugh.
Brent

 

[Unimatic1140]

Chuck I'm sorry but you lost all credibility to your original posting when you used the term "wet backs". It was racist and just plain gross.