The landlord has said he’ll write me a new contract with the “phantom 30€” added, and then we can take it from there. Which in some ways isn’t a bad offer because a new contract means he wouldn’t be able to throw me out again for five years, and even at 30€ more a month it’s still a reasonable amount for the area. Well, except that I don’t have air-con or a lift. And I have crazy landlords living downstairs. The real issue is that I don’t think he’ll agree to stop charging me for extra things whenever he feels like it, and if anything ever breaks down here I doubt he’ll fix it, and anyhow, now that I’ve seen Pepe’s dark side I know I can’t trust him. Except I love my house. And moving would be so upsetting and also expensive. I wish I knew what to do…
should I stay or should I go?
03 Friday Dec 2010
casa azahar 
Go! This is a chance to mix it up and do something different. I’ll bet that some really great place will fall into your lap if you are looking. Good luck!
Nice to have options, isn’t it!
And …. I see it’s snowing! Ho Ho HO!
LikeLike
If I were in your shoes, I would go. The last time I had a landlord I was living in the old casket factory at Niagara and Tecumseth. My landlord (I think his name was Shylock…har!) slipped a rent increase notice under my door Christmas morning. I called him up and told him the only way I was going to stay was if he lowered my rent. At that point it was time to go look after my father in any case as he had increasing health issues.
LikeLike
I would start shopping around. Work on the basis that you WILL move but be prepared to stay if nothing else cheaper or better appears. Don’t forget to add in the stress levels. Moving house has a high stress factor.
LikeLike
Wasn’t the reason given that his daughter wants to move in?
And all of a sudden she doesn’t need/want to any more?
Look for another place, stressful as it is.
LikeLike
The story about his daughter wanting it to move in was made up, and I always knew that. But it’s the only way to officially kick me out. The extra charge for painting the roof was also made up so he could get this extra 30€ a month.
Not sure if I mentioned this previously, but when I first talked to him we agreed on a price and then when I got the contract he had put the amount at 30€ more, saying it was just “on paper” and I’d only ever have to pay the lower price. He now denies that and says he was “doing me a favour” because I was living alone here and after Nog moved in I should have started paying the extra 30€. It’s all bullshit of course. And I don’t think he really wants to give me another contract and will probably put that I have to pay extra “community charges” as they come up, which of course I will refuse to do, and then he’ll say his daughter wants the flat again…
Anyhow, yes, it’s nice in a way to think I still have a choice, though I reckon I’ll end up moving. “Negotiating” with him the other day made me feel less helpless, and I saw for myself what a shifty operator he is. He proudly told me that *his* lawyer has a column in one of the papers where landlords write when they have trouble with tenants who won’t pay.
Also turned out well that the Little Birds flat fell through, as apparently that landlady is also a hysterical weirdo. Would have been nice to be neighbours with Agustín but oh well…
And so, I guess the house hunting shall commence. I just have to time it so that for my last month here I’ll use my deposit as my rent, rather than paying it and then Pepe keeping the deposit. So that means January is out as I have to pay this month’s rent today. Fingers crossed that I won’t be back on chemo in January/February, as that would make moving even more hellish than it’s already going to be.
LikeLike
Hard decision.
Sometimes the devil we know is better than the one we don’t.
LikeLike
I was going with this idea at first, since landlords are not particularly known for their fair and generous natures, and I already know how Pepe operates. But this last trick of his totally took me by surprise – I knew he had his faults but never thought he’d threaten to evict me. So now I’m not so sure, and besides, there are some nice landlords out there – my first one here was fabulous.
LikeLike
I would say go! But, but, but – all the reasons etc that you mentioned.
As you say, you can’t trust the guy, so really I’m with Archie – and think that you’ll be moving sooner or later, so be prepared.
LikeLike
A fresh start is a good thing, so I’d say go. But I’d also say keep your options open for as long as you can.
It’s a toughie only you can decide on, unfortunately.
LikeLike
I can’t add more than what everyone said already. Good luck with flat hunting! (Or should it be landlord hunting?)
LikeLike
I would say go. For me it would be a trust issue and I’d have none for that landlord anymore. Plus, I’m not sure the flat would feel like home anymore either.
But then I’m an unforgiving sort about things I see as betrayal.
LikeLike
Strangely the flat feels less like “casa az” than it did before all this started. And I know I was so shook up about it because I really do identify with this place, my street, the whole neighbourhood thing. Dammit, this is my HOME. Except now I’m looking around and seeing that so much work needs to be done on it this year – painting, fixing up this and that – which I would normally be happy to do. But not if I think at any turn Pepe will find some way to kick me out whenever I disagree with him.
I think it’s a bit like a little death and I am slowly getting used to the idea that I may have to give the place up… am trying to emotionally detach myself.
LikeLike
I LOVE looking at things like housey website – be it remax, rightmove or what.
I know how much my house is worth and how much in theory we could afford to buy for if we were to move and I love sneaking peaks at ‘how the other half live’. And it’s always a pleasant surprise (in amongst the horror, of course) when you discover something amazing that is in your price range.
Even though we have absolutely no intention of moving. It’s a form of window shopping.
I guess there aren’t many Spanish things like craigslist, remax, rightmove etc? Maybe that will be your next project…
LikeLike
Well, I sent Pepe a bank transfer for this month’s rent, so now I’ll be looking for February. It was a nice idea to start the new year in a happy new home, but oh well.
I still haven’t paid him the 300 euros I was short on November’s rent. This is because I want to see what he does with the contract because I feel that, if I am forced to move, then he owes me that money for half the new washing machine and water heater, which I never should have been charged for in the first place. I paid more than 300 euros for those two items, but at least I would be getting something back. We shall see.
LikeLike
From now until the new year is probably the least popular time of the year to be having to think about moving with less being available. So hopefully now that you’re thinking about February that will also increase your options. It’s such a shame it should have come to this but you seem to feel unsettled ( unsurprisingly ) and I can’t really see that you can recapture how you used to feel about your home given what’s happened. Yes the process of finding the right place & actually moving is stressful but staying put is not going to be stress-free!
LikeLike
Yeah, I look around the place now and think about how I wanted to repaint it all this spring, fix it up a bit, get it looking really good again (well, except for the half-rotted through balcony doors). And my heart’s just not in it. I think you may be right that something has been “broken” and I won’t ever recapture that sense of this being my home and that all-important cosy factor. Everytime I’d have to deal with Pepe I’d worry that some new “extra charge” might be looming, or that he had schemed to find some other way to throw me out. Ah well.
On the other hand, I am asking everybody I see if they know of a nice flat going in the centre. And I mean EVERYBODY. The pharmacist, the newsagent, neighbours, the pilates instructor at the gym, and even people I see coming out of buildings that look rather nice. And today I asked Juan (friend and possible new client for my brand new restaurant social media manager biz) and he said there is a place coming up above his restaurant, which could be exactly what I want. Or not. But at least I’m asking. Not like some other guy living in this flat who seems to think he can just move with me even though he’s no longer paying his way…
But yes, I think the magic of this particular “casa az” is fading.
LikeLike
Yes, I’m in the same boat re. the “other guy living in *this* flat” … no response, no communication, no dialogue!! If I didn’t see the odd photo of him on your blog and the odd reference to him, I’d wonder if he’d vanished into thin air!!
LikeLike
Nah, he’s in the kitchen doing the washing up…
LikeLike
Change is as good as a rest.
Go.
This coming from a man who has just had his boss fired and his boss’s boss fired.
But anyway.
Go.
LikeLike
Love the song.
You have a lovely place, but things to change and if the price isn’t right, there is no reason not to look around for another place to make yours. You probably have a lot more options than the landlord.
LikeLike
Wow, I didn’t catch this until last Friday!
Know what you mean — I have a nice landlady but I really should move. I don’t always have the energy to make it to the bus stop around the corner, let alone the place I’m doing errands — hard to stay on top ofr stuff if you’re burned out before you get there. I’ve been hunting for a place that right *at* the bus stop, but it’s dreaming really, as I can’t afford to move. Already spent too much on a new computer for my business start up. 😦
LikeLike
Looks like I really have to go. Just came across this on Twitter (good ol’ Twitter!) and it seems like Pepe will always be able to hold this over my head…
Eviction Process
Even now he’s insisting I start paying that extra 30 euros starting *this* month, when we agreed last week that I’d start paying it after I signed a new contract. And so no doubt if I try to keep the 300 euros for the washing machine and water heater payments I made – and shouldn’t have – he’ll just say it’s rent I owe him and get me evicted. Cabrón.
LikeLike