The landlord has illegal units that he has worked on and added units without permits. The apartments have not been kept up unless there has been problems like flooding and such. The unit that was made into an apartment most recently was made out of a tool shack. There is no insulation and the unit is very cold. The landlord complains about the electricity costs but none of the units are insulated. There is an electric cord running from the main house on the ground to provide electricity to the shack. They charge 800 for the unit. They installed a new additional septic tank in the field near the water well. They did this without a permit or study done to make sure that it was in a good location. They recently had septic tank issues that they had to do repairs on which I was told was done without permits if they were needed. They will not install proper PG&E meters so they read the meters and charge what they want to. Far and above the amount they are supposed to. There only excuse is that they can not afford to eat the high costs of the PG&E. This is not the tenants problem. They refuse to install the correct meters so that each tenant has the actual and correct amount billed to them each month.I have requested backup for years and have been told no. Last year a tenant moved in that was very upset with the way they bill. I have cancelled checks from the very first check I wrote for utilities. When the most recent issues came up the landlord finally conceded saying the best she could is charge me a flat $50 a month for PG&E. They will not show the actual cost per kilowatt that we are being billed. My bill alone for the past eight years has run at least double to triple each month. The landlord said that he takes an average and adds a little and then bills the tenants. The reason the PG&E is so high is that between all of the units the 300 base kilowatt usage is hit by the first day. The rest is billed at a higher rate based on the rate schedule. According to the website the landlord should bill each tenant actual usage and give them a breakdown of their usage and kilowatt charge. They have refused to provide the backup. The landlord claims that they have the pesticide people come out monthly but I have had to buy the ant and bug killer each year to take care of it myself. I am sure that they do but the problem is they cannot check on the quality of their work since they are in Texas and they do not believe me when I tell them that the workers are doing their job. The water pipes and pressure have been a problem for years. I have made them aware of the issues but they have failed to act unless there has been a catastrophic problem like flooding which caused them to have to replace the dry wall next door. They are supposed to make sure there are no smokers on the property but the tenants they recently rented to next to me smoke cigarettes and marijuana. I have lived here eight years, when I moved in they said that they had replaced the carpet and painted and the other repairs would be done. Not one of their promises have been kept. I get excuses like I have to recoup the costs of the repairs in the units. The landlord lived on the property in the main house until a couple of years ago. There son, girlfriend and children moved in and after a year they closed in the tool shed. They then had issues with their son so they decided to move and leave their problems here. They moved to Texas, providing no landlord support. Their son was supposed to take care of things but he had parties, smoked pot and drank everyday. They actually asked me to spy on their son and tell them what was happening on the property. The son ran the property down, I took pictures and sent them to the landlord but nothing was done for a year. They finally came out and kicked them out and gutted the place and re-rented it without taking care of the insulation issues. Last year they tried to sell the place but because the land is not supposed to have all of the illegal units they would not be able to keep the units and it brought down the value of the house. During this process the potential buyer came out and did a termite, structural assessment. There was termite, mold issues. The property was not sold. I would like to make sure that someone is aware that the landlord is overcharging for PG&E, not being forthcoming with the billing and actual costs. They are not keeping up the units to the point that in the cold some units are unlivable. This is not acceptable, and being told to basically suck it up it is cold everywhere does not really cut it when you have children that need to be warm. Most recently the tenant that had the flooding in unit B was ill, had a very ill elderly mother was given a three day notice to move. The tenant had complained and alerted the landlord that there was water leaking but for a year the landlord ignored him. It became so bad that they had to tear the walls and dry out repair the pipes and repair all the water damage. It took a week or more just to run the machines to dry the apartment out. At that time I requested new carpet since they had to order new for that unit too. My place is maybe 500 square feet. I was told that I would have to wait till they rented and recouped some of their losses. I would like this to be anonymous since they are vindictive people. They appear to be Christian, caring people but they use that to suck you in.
