Previous tenant was family of the owner.

was he in the ready-mix business?

Suppose you were feeding hobos through some kind of mincer/grinder, but the fat congealed as it got colder down the pipe .... hmmmm ....

The way I operate is people get a chance to fix things first and I don't have to do anything until they don't fix it. The property management lady is now on top of it, has a sense of urgency (she was working it after hours last night), and has a plan in place where we try to dig it out with a power tool on Friday morning. That is reasonable. Nobody has to get all legal or panicky until it isn't or can't be fixed.

I generally get things by being super nice and understanding. I made the property management love me already, by having an emotional breakdown in their offices at lease signing, over my then just dying dog. I expressed to them that my mom was an investment property landlord, and I know what good and bad tenants are. They permanently know and remember me in that office and at the moment I benefit from a little goodwill. If I get all hardass now I lose that.

I still want to live here. They didn't know this condition existed. It was impossible to test for.

I think you're handling it perfectly. They know that they have to fix it.

UT, I understand and agree with your approach.

But, giving proper written notice does not make you a s-o-b.
It is just the fairest legal way for tenants and landlords to deal with one another.

It establishes the tenant's rights, which are necessary to avoid possible future
events such as law suits for unpaid/past due rent, eviction, and/or retaliation by the landlord.
If tenants are in a lease or month-to-month agreement, they cannot just walk away,
and certainly can not make repairs or alterations on their own
- usually unless they have (usually) written consent of the landlord.

Each state may be different in how written notices are to be delivered.
First class mail is the default manner, but you need to know what is required in your state.
In Oregon, others forms, such as registered, certified, return notice mailings, are not legally valid notices.

Lastly remember, all Property Managers, like Real Estate agents (by whatever title),
have a fiduciary responsibility to the property owner... not to the tenant.

Friendliness does go a long way ... right up to the point that $ is involved.

Sure, but the owner didn't have to give me hundreds of dollars in electricity credits or agree to pay for the alarm system. On good faith and money for nothing, they are well ahead of me. And if they correct the problems there is nothing to document. I'm not making work for me and everyone.

It sounds like the management company is getting right to work on the issue, and I agree, UT - keeping established goodwill is gold. Things can always get formal but hopefully they won't have to.

I always try this first.

ok, so you never said anything about any of this shit before. you tell us you've got raw sewage backing up in your new place, and that you'll go shower at a friends, and shit in a porta potty.

and then when we say DO SOMETHING, you get all cool.

wtf dude.

[ QUOTE ] [ url = ok, so you never said anything about any of this shit before.] Yeah i did, in this thread [ / url ] [ / QUOTE ]

fixd

fine.

so what do you have to say about acting all cool? hmmm???

Not sure I get this. I wasn't looking for advice on how to act, I was relating a new difficulty in my ridiculous life that occurred the same day as my dog dying.