kraigus shmeggus (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kraig) wrote,@ 2005-08-27 22:14:00 |
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Our last landlord was a nice piece of work, as devoted followers of this journal already know. Recently the building was sold, and our new "building manager" (whose title is, apparently, Sales Representative) gave his email address as mike.flynn@jjb.com, and responds as mflynn@whitney.ca. Quite what it is he's selling isn't clear; it certainly isn't customer service, as the rest of this post will document.
My initial note was a fairly simple request for information and an FYI (the mailbox of a former tenant became damaged one day; said devoted followers might not be surprised to find out that it was the box corresponding to the same unit which was causing us no end of grief a while ago with their noise, and the unit has stood empty ever since).
From: Mike
To: mike.flynn@jjb.com
Subject: Building maintenance?
Hi, I don't know if you remember me (you fixed our shower shortly after Haga sold the building) - I'm at [address]. I was wondering if there was a building maintenance schedule - the interior hallways and stairwells are starting to look rather dirty.
[non-related content about a damaged mailbox deleted]
Thanks,
His reply was a bit less than what we were hoping for:
To: "Mike" <mike.patterson@unb.ca>
Yes she broke into the mailbox. I'm just a little behind on my maintenance with a large number of new tenants I'm dealing with that are moving into various properties Sept. 1st.
The building hasn't been cleaned, as far as we could tell, since his company took possession of the property about three months ago. That's more than "just a little behind", that's absolutely and utterly delinquent. So, Linda tagged in.
From: Linda
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 7:11 PM
To: Mike Flynn
Subject: Re: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Hi Mike,
While I understand that you are overwhelmed, I hope you understand that my concern is with the building I call home. It's filthy. I'd like to know by
what date we can expect this building to be swept, vacuumed and mopped. It's been over a month since it was last cleaned at the very least and
that is unacceptable.
Thank you,
This morning, Linda woke me up, shaking with anger, telling me that Mike Flynn had responded. I couldn't believe that anybody would be so stupid as to say what she was saying he'd said, but I figured hey, it's early (it was 0440, as a matter of fact), maybe I'm not hearing correctly. I was wrong.
Subject: RE: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:54:03 -0400
From: "Mike Flynn" <mflynn@whitney.ca>
To: Linda
Not true. I am one week behind and already have made arrangements to catch up tomorrow. If you were at all concerned about the cleanliness of
your home you would not let your cat run unleashed throughout the building or place its food in the hallway. I have had to clean up cat feces in the halls. These acts that you are committing are contributing to the filth and at times stench in the halls. Today when I met some of the new tenants moving in several of them expressed concern about this as they have allergies as I do myself. The building will be thoroughly cleaned tomorrow and from this point on I expect your cat(s) to be contained to your apartment at all times. I will do my part but you have to do yours as well. Please be considerate and respectful of your neighbors and fellow tenants.
Comments or questions are always welcome.
Thanks,
Mike
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? We do have tenants in the building who treat the hallways and areas immediately outside the building as the place to leave their cats during the day. One cat I don't mind, he's very quiet and has never seemed to make a mess. There's another couple of cats that *do* make messes, and their "owner" leaves food in the hallways on occasion, when she leaves for a weekend. Classy, eh? Not us, though, as he would have have known - and we would have told him nicely, if he'd asked politely. We have never been anything less than utterly respectful of our fellow tenants, even when they so richly deserve it. (Cats in heat prowling the hallway at 3am, *people* in heat prowling the hallway at 3am, somebody backed into our car and we found out about it from our child, via *their* child, garbage in the hallways, and so on. The usual problems, in other words, when living close to other people and which I would ordinarily dismiss, but even I have my limits.) I've picked up garbage for other people too lazy to walk to the can, I've sorted other peoples' recycling when they couldn't be bothered to - granted, it was only so that I could cram my own recycling in, but it's the action that counts in this case :) - we've spent money fixing our apartment door so it doesn't slam like all the others, and so on. This fellow comes prancing in and makes blatantly unfounded accusations, saying things that if they'd been said to my face in public, he'd be faced with an angry demand for an instant apology.
Linda's reply, which I vetted and to which I made some minor changes:
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 05:13:58 -0400
To: "Mike Flynn" <mflynn@whitney.ca>
From: Linda
Subject: RE: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Mike,
You appear to have us confused with someone else. Our cats are absolutely and completely apartment constrained. They only leave our apartment for veterinarian appointments, in their cat carrier, as Mike and I believe very strongly that allowing cats to be outdoor cats within the city is signing a death warrant on them. I resent that you have obviously not taken the time to confirm this before making accusations.
Your issue is with the tenants of [a unit] and [another unit], not us. Allow me to clear up your apparent misconception: the black and white cat belongs to [first unit], and the 2 white cats and the orange tabby belongs to [second unit]. My cats are brown/white abyssian, black and grey.
Sir, you are lying. I have been home from my vacation since August 8th. This building has NOT been cleaned in that time. To be clear that is 2 weeks and 5 days. Furthermore, when we arrived home, the building showed no signs of having been cleaned during our absence.
Any patience I may have had with landlord games was exhausted by the incompetence of Haga. I consider this building my home and even more importantly the home of my child. I am literate, informed, and absolutely willing to fight for what is my legal right to live in a clean, well maintained building.
I meet what is legally required of me as a tenant and ethically as a good neighbour. I always have. I was asking you to do what you are required to do as a landlord. I still am. That you responded with unfounded accusations and demands is insulting and unnecessarily adversarial.
Mike Flynn obviously just doesn't get it.
Subject: RE: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 07:19:04 -0400
From: "Mike Flynn" <mflynn@whitney.ca>
To: Linda
Sounds like you share my frustration with the cat situation then, and my
apologies for accusing you, if in fact you're not contributing to the
problem.
As for the part about me lying and you willing to fight blah blah
blah... Call me whatever names you want, I'm not playing those games. I
have better things to do.
Right. We're not playing games either, as he'll find out, and while both of us have other things we'd *much* rather be doing, putting the screws to a delinquent landlord is absolutely necessary, as we've learned the hard way.
In the future, we will refuse to deal with Mike Flynn, B.Sc. of JJ Barnicke Whitney Limited, and will so be informing his company. (He's listed as a "Sales Representative" and styled himself "Property Manager" on his introductory letter that was sent around when JJB bought the property from Haga.) We're formulating the best way to complain officially to his company, both in person and in writing. We have not and will not respond to his last email. I'd say apology not accepted, except that's not even an apology; to me, that must be unconditional, and he's got a condition there the size of the chip on his shoulder.
This place sat with 5 empty units for the entire summer; in fact, one of those units - the one formerly belonging to our buddies the noisemakers - was empty for over a year. Our own unit will be empty as soon as we can make arrangements to move elsewhere - tomorrow would be nice, but unfortunately we may have to deal with this jerk for a while longer, since Linda's just starting school and our finances are already strained. This place is already barely worth the rent we pay for it (particularly when it goes months without being cleaned), and I'm sure they'll be jacking it again come our yearly anniversary. I'm sure Haga lost a fair bit of money in that time, and I'm pretty sure Whitney has yet to make money off the building as well, although it looks like they're gearing up to start juicing it for as much as they can: our old buddies' apartment has been renovated from a two bedroom into at least a three, we can see the new wall through the back window. Maybe they'll be just as happy to see us leave anyway.
The sad thing is, we had a problem with the cold water in our shower shortly after they took over ownership (to wit: it didn't work) and to his credit (I thought) he fixed it almost immediately, coming in on a weekend. There was an excuse for why it took an extra day at the time though, which should have tipped me off. Any credit and goodwill he earned there, he burned off - and then some. As I said to Linda earlier, I'm ashamed to be breathing the same atmosphere as people like him.
Any hints as to how to investigate the ownership of an Ontario numbered company would be appreciated as well, although the City may be able to tell us how to do this. (Our cheques aren't made out to JJB or Whitney, they're made out to one of these.)
(Edited Sunday morning: I can't spell and it was 5 units empty, not 4. This is a 13 unit building. Our rent is over $800 a month.)
My initial note was a fairly simple request for information and an FYI (the mailbox of a former tenant became damaged one day; said devoted followers might not be surprised to find out that it was the box corresponding to the same unit which was causing us no end of grief a while ago with their noise, and the unit has stood empty ever since).
From: Mike
To: mike.flynn@jjb.com
Subject: Building maintenance?
Hi, I don't know if you remember me (you fixed our shower shortly after Haga sold the building) - I'm at [address]. I was wondering if there was a building maintenance schedule - the interior hallways and stairwells are starting to look rather dirty.
[non-related content about a damaged mailbox deleted]
Thanks,
His reply was a bit less than what we were hoping for:
To: "Mike" <mike.patterson@unb.ca>
Yes she broke into the mailbox. I'm just a little behind on my maintenance with a large number of new tenants I'm dealing with that are moving into various properties Sept. 1st.
The building hasn't been cleaned, as far as we could tell, since his company took possession of the property about three months ago. That's more than "just a little behind", that's absolutely and utterly delinquent. So, Linda tagged in.
From: Linda
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 7:11 PM
To: Mike Flynn
Subject: Re: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Hi Mike,
While I understand that you are overwhelmed, I hope you understand that my concern is with the building I call home. It's filthy. I'd like to know by
what date we can expect this building to be swept, vacuumed and mopped. It's been over a month since it was last cleaned at the very least and
that is unacceptable.
Thank you,
This morning, Linda woke me up, shaking with anger, telling me that Mike Flynn had responded. I couldn't believe that anybody would be so stupid as to say what she was saying he'd said, but I figured hey, it's early (it was 0440, as a matter of fact), maybe I'm not hearing correctly. I was wrong.
Subject: RE: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:54:03 -0400
From: "Mike Flynn" <mflynn@whitney.ca>
To: Linda
Not true. I am one week behind and already have made arrangements to catch up tomorrow. If you were at all concerned about the cleanliness of
your home you would not let your cat run unleashed throughout the building or place its food in the hallway. I have had to clean up cat feces in the halls. These acts that you are committing are contributing to the filth and at times stench in the halls. Today when I met some of the new tenants moving in several of them expressed concern about this as they have allergies as I do myself. The building will be thoroughly cleaned tomorrow and from this point on I expect your cat(s) to be contained to your apartment at all times. I will do my part but you have to do yours as well. Please be considerate and respectful of your neighbors and fellow tenants.
Comments or questions are always welcome.
Thanks,
Mike
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? We do have tenants in the building who treat the hallways and areas immediately outside the building as the place to leave their cats during the day. One cat I don't mind, he's very quiet and has never seemed to make a mess. There's another couple of cats that *do* make messes, and their "owner" leaves food in the hallways on occasion, when she leaves for a weekend. Classy, eh? Not us, though, as he would have have known - and we would have told him nicely, if he'd asked politely. We have never been anything less than utterly respectful of our fellow tenants, even when they so richly deserve it. (Cats in heat prowling the hallway at 3am, *people* in heat prowling the hallway at 3am, somebody backed into our car and we found out about it from our child, via *their* child, garbage in the hallways, and so on. The usual problems, in other words, when living close to other people and which I would ordinarily dismiss, but even I have my limits.) I've picked up garbage for other people too lazy to walk to the can, I've sorted other peoples' recycling when they couldn't be bothered to - granted, it was only so that I could cram my own recycling in, but it's the action that counts in this case :) - we've spent money fixing our apartment door so it doesn't slam like all the others, and so on. This fellow comes prancing in and makes blatantly unfounded accusations, saying things that if they'd been said to my face in public, he'd be faced with an angry demand for an instant apology.
Linda's reply, which I vetted and to which I made some minor changes:
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 05:13:58 -0400
To: "Mike Flynn" <mflynn@whitney.ca>
From: Linda
Subject: RE: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Mike,
You appear to have us confused with someone else. Our cats are absolutely and completely apartment constrained. They only leave our apartment for veterinarian appointments, in their cat carrier, as Mike and I believe very strongly that allowing cats to be outdoor cats within the city is signing a death warrant on them. I resent that you have obviously not taken the time to confirm this before making accusations.
Your issue is with the tenants of [a unit] and [another unit], not us. Allow me to clear up your apparent misconception: the black and white cat belongs to [first unit], and the 2 white cats and the orange tabby belongs to [second unit]. My cats are brown/white abyssian, black and grey.
Sir, you are lying. I have been home from my vacation since August 8th. This building has NOT been cleaned in that time. To be clear that is 2 weeks and 5 days. Furthermore, when we arrived home, the building showed no signs of having been cleaned during our absence.
Any patience I may have had with landlord games was exhausted by the incompetence of Haga. I consider this building my home and even more importantly the home of my child. I am literate, informed, and absolutely willing to fight for what is my legal right to live in a clean, well maintained building.
I meet what is legally required of me as a tenant and ethically as a good neighbour. I always have. I was asking you to do what you are required to do as a landlord. I still am. That you responded with unfounded accusations and demands is insulting and unnecessarily adversarial.
Mike Flynn obviously just doesn't get it.
Subject: RE: [Fwd: RE: Building maintenance?]
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 07:19:04 -0400
From: "Mike Flynn" <mflynn@whitney.ca>
To: Linda
Sounds like you share my frustration with the cat situation then, and my
apologies for accusing you, if in fact you're not contributing to the
problem.
As for the part about me lying and you willing to fight blah blah
blah... Call me whatever names you want, I'm not playing those games. I
have better things to do.
Right. We're not playing games either, as he'll find out, and while both of us have other things we'd *much* rather be doing, putting the screws to a delinquent landlord is absolutely necessary, as we've learned the hard way.
In the future, we will refuse to deal with Mike Flynn, B.Sc. of JJ Barnicke Whitney Limited, and will so be informing his company. (He's listed as a "Sales Representative" and styled himself "Property Manager" on his introductory letter that was sent around when JJB bought the property from Haga.) We're formulating the best way to complain officially to his company, both in person and in writing. We have not and will not respond to his last email. I'd say apology not accepted, except that's not even an apology; to me, that must be unconditional, and he's got a condition there the size of the chip on his shoulder.
This place sat with 5 empty units for the entire summer; in fact, one of those units - the one formerly belonging to our buddies the noisemakers - was empty for over a year. Our own unit will be empty as soon as we can make arrangements to move elsewhere - tomorrow would be nice, but unfortunately we may have to deal with this jerk for a while longer, since Linda's just starting school and our finances are already strained. This place is already barely worth the rent we pay for it (particularly when it goes months without being cleaned), and I'm sure they'll be jacking it again come our yearly anniversary. I'm sure Haga lost a fair bit of money in that time, and I'm pretty sure Whitney has yet to make money off the building as well, although it looks like they're gearing up to start juicing it for as much as they can: our old buddies' apartment has been renovated from a two bedroom into at least a three, we can see the new wall through the back window. Maybe they'll be just as happy to see us leave anyway.
The sad thing is, we had a problem with the cold water in our shower shortly after they took over ownership (to wit: it didn't work) and to his credit (I thought) he fixed it almost immediately, coming in on a weekend. There was an excuse for why it took an extra day at the time though, which should have tipped me off. Any credit and goodwill he earned there, he burned off - and then some. As I said to Linda earlier, I'm ashamed to be breathing the same atmosphere as people like him.
Any hints as to how to investigate the ownership of an Ontario numbered company would be appreciated as well, although the City may be able to tell us how to do this. (Our cheques aren't made out to JJB or Whitney, they're made out to one of these.)
(Edited Sunday morning: I can't spell and it was 5 units empty, not 4. This is a 13 unit building. Our rent is over $800 a month.)
