My sister is coming into town next weekend, bringing Megan and Ed along, so we can all go for a nice sail over the long holiday weekend, maybe go cruising up around the islands or something. We have been planning this -literally- for weeks. Weeks, I tell you! But I'm sad to report that our plans may be derailed by the devious machinations of my sister's landlord.
She's long had problems with that gentleman, as she has a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan for which she pays an astonishingly low sum- five hundred a month, or thereabouts- and her landlord, not unreasonably, suspects that if only Myfanwi were out of the picture he could rent that self same apartment for well over a thousand, although maybe he might have to actually fix something first, and from past experience it turns out fixing things in her apartment doesn't seem to rank very high on his list of priorities.
Anyways, the latest plot from hatched from his black, black soul has been to not cash the last couple rent checks she sent and then turn around and sue her for non-payment of rent. Despite having several months of rent-checks in his very clutches, the fiend! My sister has been told that the court date is set for next Monday, and as she can't very well be cavorting about the islands AND sitting in court at the same time, this dastardly scheme is highly likely to put the kibosh on our holiday plans!
I told her to get a continuance- as my own landlord-related woes have been dragging on now for donkey's years, I can't imagine the wheels of justice turning so quick as to require her presence on that particular day, but she sounded kind of dubious about the prospects of success.
Speaking of blackhearted landlords, my very own Crazy Ex Landlady's lawyer Clement W. Pyles called me the other day. My CXL has turned down my generous offer of settlement, and we will meet again- in court!- on the 23rd July. Although Mr Pyles mentioned that probably he would have that postponed, as he would need to review the court records of the original trial. Evidently, poor man, all he knows about the case is what he has been told by my C.X.L. And she is NOTORIOUSLY INSANE.
He also informed me that they will press a counter-claim for nine hundred or so, although he did, decently enough, offer to drop the countersuit if I in turn dropped my claim, a claim for which I have ALREADY won a judgment. As my suit is based on reason, truth, and the Landlord-Tenant Act, and their claim is based upon nothing short of the most goggle-eyed lunacy, I declined his offer. He repeated his request that I provide him with a copy of the lease- my C.X.L. apparently not thinking such a document worth retaining- and told me further that I had to do so. I told him that I would do no such thing without I spoke to my attorney first. Or at least I tried to, but he cut me off in the middle with "ok, bye" and hung up. What a
So I called up Rapid, to tell him the news. Rapid- of course- rallied round, of course he will represent me, and informed me that to get the lease, Mr Pyles would have to serve me with papers formally requesting it, and had to do so at least twenty-five days before the hearing. As the days twixt now and then are dwindling, and as Rapid observed that as our adversaries are unpleasant, it would be just as well if I didn't volunteer a copy, as there is no need to make things any easier for them.
Also in the landlord front, the sign out front my building has changed from "FOR SALE" to "SALE PENDING". My current landlord Jane, the one stand-up decent landlord I've ever had, is selling the place out from under me! (not to disparage my former landlord Pat- he was as decent as ever you could ask. But on the other hand, he was so lazy that he never even raised the rent. Laudable as this unprecedented talent for indolence is, laudable at least where rent (and the raising thereof) is concerned, I leave it to you to imagine his approach to "fixing a roof that's so damn leaky that my ceiling collapsed right on to the damn floor". Hint: if you think the answer involves "doing nothing much" you are probably on the right track.)
I can't help but think that, given my and my relations' experience with landlords, that there can be no good whatsoever that comes from Jane selling the place. I wish her all the best, of course, but I'm distraught to lose her. My future (pending?) landlord will, no doubt, be an average landlord. And with "average" being (mathematically) synonymous with "mean", I can't think that this change will be for the better.
