12:30ish Thursday

It's currently 12:30am on Thursday morning, and we're yet again up from a dead sleep. Once again, the landlord and whoever he had over were bumping around in the kitchen, dragging chairs around. Not much else to say. We've been over this before.

Easter Sunday

So, it's been a couple months since I've posted here. I've been keeping in regular contact with DCRA regarding the noise levels coming from upstairs. However, the landlord still seems to think it's okay to wake up his paying tenants at all hours of the night.

Tonight, it happens to be the early-morning hours of Easter Sunday...Currently 2:36am. The landlord's music can be heard through our ceiling/his floor, and we were sleeping perfectly fine until he started playing said music, and stomping around in the kitchen/dragging chairs across his floor/our bedroom ceiling.

I just don't get it.

Reporting Something Good

So, last night, about 11:30ish, I sent a text message to REDACTED LANDLORD, asking him to turn his music down and reduce the level of noise coming from the kitchen, as Katie and I had work in the morning. I received a reply around 11:45, and by midnight the party (while still going on) had migrated to another room, and the sound levels (with our box fan on) were low enough to sleep.

Way to go, REDACTED LANDLORD! I appreciate the sleep, and your customer-satisfaction efforts.

And now they're partying again

11pm. The landlord's loud music starts up again, and people show up. I'm in my bedroom now, and there's a party going on in the kitchen directly above us. I heard a male voice a minute ago tell the landlord, "I've got your card on file" whatever that means.

This partying seems a bit retaliatory for my insistence on having the electricity looked at (which still hasn't happened).

Now it's the freaking electricity

So, Thursday night, we're sitting around the apartment. It's getting toward bedtime, and we're watching a little TV, puttering around a bit, and we hear this loud buzzing coming from the kitchen (imagine you're using a weed-whacker and you hit a tree...that's the approximate sound). Wondering what the heck just happened, we went into the kitchen, and were greeted by a strong smell of ozone, and noticed that our kitchen appliances no longer had power. It seems the GFCI had tripped, cutting off power to both countertop outlets. I tried resetting them, to no avail. I checked the breaker box, where everything was still on. Then, I emailed the landlord about the problem. Emails are copied below (with email addresses and names redacted).

From: REDACTED MY EMAIL
Sender:
To: REDACTED LANDLORD
Sent: Feb 5, 2009 11:28 PM
Subject: Kitchen Outlets

REDACTED LANDLORD,

We just heard (about 5 minutes ago) a loud buzzing coming
from the kitchen, and now neither of the outlets on the
kitchen counter are operational.  I checked both outlets,
and it looks like the GFCI (the outlet with two buttons)
nearest the stove was tripped somehow.  I reset it, and
checked the breaker box to make sure all the breakers were
on, but there is still no power to either outlet along the
kitchen counter.  Everything else in the apartment (as
far as I can tell) is still running fine.

Is there another breaker box I'm not aware of that I
should check, or is there some procedure I don't know
about for resetting the GFCI?

Zach

From:REDACTED LANDLORD EMAIL
To:REDACTED MY EMAIL
Subject: Re: Kitchen Outlets
Date :  Fri, Feb 06, 2009 01:11 AM

I have no idea why. We do not have another fuse box.

From:REDACTED MY EMAIL
To :REDACTED LANDLORD EMAIL
Cc :REDACTED MY FIANCEE'S EMAIL
Subject :Re: Kitchen Outlets
Date :Fri, Feb 06, 2009 01:38 PM

Generally, the GFCI's only will trip for one of two
reasons: either something plugged into them fell in
water (we didn't have anything plugged into the one that
tripped) or a problem with the wiring.  Considering
the sound that came from the outlet when it tripped, and
since it won't reset to a point that the outlets turn
back on, it would probably be a good idea to have an
electrician look at the problem.

Zach

From:REDACTED MY EMAIL
Sender:
To: REDACTED LANDLORD
Cc: REDACTED FIANCEE'S EMAIL
Sent: Feb 8, 2009 5:20 PM
Subject: Kitchen Outlets

REDACTED LANDLORD,

The power in our kitchen has been out for three days
now, and your only response to the matter has been
"we don't know why it's out."  Please schedule an
electrician to look at the problem, and let us know
when they will need access to the unit.  We cannot
operate any of our kitchen appliances (coffeemaker,
toaster, etc) until these outlets are repaired.

Zach

From: REDACTED LANDLORD'S EMAIL
To :REDACTED MY EMAIL
Subject: Re: Kitchen Outlets
Date :Sun, Feb 08, 2009 08:28 PM

I was made aware of this on thursday evening and
thought that the GFI was cutting on and off. Of
all the apartments that are rented you seem to
be the least satisfied with the situation. I will
have someone look at the outlets early this week.
REDACTED LANDLORD

From:REDACTED MY EMAIL
To : REDACTED LANDLORD'S EMAIL
Cc:REDACTED FIANCEE'S EMAIL
Subject : Re: Kitchen Outlets
Date :  Sun, Feb 08, 2009 10:44 PM

REDACTED LANDLORD,

I thought the email sent Friday made clear that the
outlets would not turn on.  Thank you for sending
someone to look at the outlets this week.

Zach

And so here we sit. It's past noon on Tuesday, my outlets have been dead for 5 days now, and I haven't heard a single word about when I'll actually be seeing an electrician to fix the problem.

As for REDACTED LANDLORD's assertion that I'm the only one dissatisfied with their apartment, I have to assume that none of his other tenants come into as direct contact with him. By his own admission, and that of his girlfriend, they have had difficulties before with tenants being unsatisfied with this particular unit, due to the same noise problems detailed earlier in this blog. Considering the verbal lambasting the neighbors were giving his guests in the alleyway during inauguration week, I think perhaps they're not satisfied living next to REDACTED LANDLORD either.

The thing is, I'm not a difficult guy to keep happy. All REDACTED LANDLORD has to do is provide the services for which I am paying. This includes not keeping me awake at night when I should have a reasonable expectation of sleep, and fixing things in a timely fashion when they are broken. Not only are these things basic components of any landlord/tenant relationship, but they are firmly codified in DC's Property and Tenants' Rights laws. I have a right to quiet enjoyment of the property I have rented, and I have a right to expect that electrical wiring will be operational, and properly maintained in a safe manner. Why should I be satisfied with getting less than I pay for?

Progess, if you can call it that

So, I suppose I should post the (sorta) good along with the bad.

Anyway, after the incident with the HVAC unit, I did exchange a few emails with the landlord's girlfriend, detailing the issues with the noise and suggesting a few potential remedies (carpet, soundproofing, just moving out of the kitchen late at night). She said at that time that she'd talk to the landlord about it, and that was the last we really spoke of it.

For the last ten days or so, they actually do appear to be making an effort at reducing the amount of noise coming from the kitchen, and haven't had any truly raucous parties in there late at night. While it's not perfect (we can still hear their music, and a bit of walking and kitchen noise) it's been a definite improvement.

Cut to today. Apparently the landlord has found the blog, and isn't too happy about his name and address being used and asked that I remove it from the blog. I don't blame him really, and if he can work to be more reasonable than our original conversation regarding the noise, then I can work to be more reasonable about publishing his name and address in a public forum.

I'm still not happy about being told "you're screwed" in the beginning (as opposed to working this out before it came to documenting disturbances on the internet), but I'll take progress where I can get it.

-Zach

Yet Again

11:52pm. Music starts. I'm sure there's another one of their parties in the works. So much for civility.