Krout Property Rentals Ultimate Slumlord - UNSAFE AND UNSANITARY HOUSING! Cullman, Alabama
This was by far the WORST hosing rental experience we ever had. Jeff Krout epitomizes the definition of a slumlord. We regretted moving into one of his delapidated shacks the minute we moved in!
The following is a list of problems at the house we occupied at 108 5th Ave. NE. We called the comapny repeatedly about these problems but we were consistently ignored. In light of this fact, we considered it quite understandable to break our lease without penalty as the house had become increasingly uninhabitable and unsafe to occupy. But do you think we saw any of the $399.00 deposit returned to us? Of course not - he's a slumlord!
1. Squirrels make their nests in the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen. The medicine cabinet in the bathroom has a chewed out hole in it and we could see the squirrels through the hole, as well as smell them in the bathroom and the kitchen. There is a large chewed out hole on the kitchen floor beneath the oven. We also heard them chewing and squeaking throughout the day and night.
2. Window frame in childrens bedroom rotten and has completely fallen apart
3. Window frame in living room above air conditioner falling apart; window panes are coming out. Some windows do not open and all are in process of rotting and coming apart
4. Fireplace is in serious need of cleaning: smoke from fire pours into house. Also, fireplace does not adequately heat up front of house in spite of the managers claims and we had to use a space heater. Between this and the amount of wood we had to purchase, it turned out to be very expensive and time-consuming to heat the house.
5. All heaters in front of house do not work. One heater has no knob handle and is difficult to turn on and off
6. Air conditioner in bedroom cuts off after being on for a short time, fifteen minutes to half an hour, rendering it useless
7. Back screen door falling apart and full of holes
8. Pipes in kitchen and bathroom sinks are rusty with a foul odor of sewage and water comes out orange 9. Exposed socket in living room was never repaired
10. Socket in kitchen does not work and was never repaired
11. All the carpets smell like animal waste and are covered with large dog urine and feces stains. Manager told us upon signing the lease and paying the $300.00 pet deposit that the carpets would be cleaned. We had to purchase rugs to cover the stains. We also had to purchase several boxes of carpet freshener to cover the doggy odor in the carpets.
12. The manager did not inform us that the outside light in the backyard was an extra monthly expense of $7.88 per month. We were billed this amount every month by the power company even though the light did not work while we occupied the house.
13. The bathtub drain constantly gets clogged even though we use a drain cover to catch hair. We have had to purchase a bottle of Liquid Plumr every month to clear the drain.
14. Floors in all three bedrooms are collapsing
15. Toliet leaks: parts are rotting and need to be replaced; toilet doesnt flush properly Additionally, during a storm a huge section of the tree in the front yard fell off and crashed to the ground, knocking out our power. Across the front yard and driveway the hot wires were draped dangerously close to the ground. We sat in the dark for most of the night. For us, this was the last straw. We had to wait two days to have our internet service restored and ended up paying a bill online late as a result. It also fried one of our power strips. As of our move out date the unsightly tree section was still lying in the front yard. We are concerned for our safety regarding future storms. The tree is clearly very old and needs to be cut down.
We also since learned that others who rent from Krout have had very similar problems. The family next door to us (also Krout victims) had to flee their house TWICE when the electricity went out tand tree parts were falling dangeroulsy near the houses.
No amount of phone calls, letters, or warnings elicited a response from the owner. Too many people inherit property from their parents and expect it to be a money tree, with no obligation to maintain it. Do yourself a favor - AVOID KROUT PROPERTIES OR RISK YOUR HEALTH AND SAFETY!
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Letitbeknown
San Jose,California,
U.S.A.
Deposit Refunded
#5Author of original report
Fri, October 02, 2009
Mr. Krout has refunded our entire deposit and has hired new management, so the problems we had will probably not be an issue in the future with this business - we withdraw our complaints!
Letitbeknown
San Jose,California,
U.S.A.
Photos of Krout Rental Property
#5
Mon, September 21, 2009
Go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42739100@N06/
for dozens of photos of the horror we experienced. Pictures don't lie.
Letitbeknown
San Jose,California,
U.S.A.
correction - typo
#5
Tue, September 15, 2009
The tree section that nearly fell on the house looked about three THOUSAND pounds, not three hundred. It landed about five feet from the house. If it hit the house it could have killed us. Now, at that point would you sit around writing letters hoping that this time the slumlord who's been ignoring your calls does something about it or would you do like we did and get the heck out of there ASAP??
Letitbeknown
San Jose,California,
U.S.A.
Krout tries to evade compliance with law using flimsy excuse
#5
Tue, September 15, 2009
In addition to this report, we filed a complaint with the BBB about Krout. His response was clearly not one that was well thought out.
In it, Krout claimed that since we hadn't sent him anything in the mail regarding the numerous repair problems and illegal policies, then he was off the hook for his obligation to return our deposit money. NOWHERE in his response did he contest that any of our claims were false. Of course he knows he can't possibly get away with that because we took dozens of pictures of the house documenting the poor condition it is in. Plus, Krout has had over a month to inspect the house and by now has seen the damage for himself. Krout is either totally out of touch with the state laws regarding his responsiblities as a landlord or he considers himself above the law for some mysterious reason.
And Mr. Krout, we were too busy ESCAPING THE HOUSE to sit down and write you letters after that 300 pound section of tree crashed dangerously close to the house. We have a picture of that too.
Krout also claimed that the pet deposit was nonrefundable. The only problem with that is, we took pictures of the PRE-EXISTING pet stains which literally covered all the carpets, and which we were assured would be removed by the time we moved in. Who would demand a nonrefundable pet deposit on an already pet damaged house? A slumlord, that's who.
By the way, the house was as of last week STILL not rented in spite of frantic attempts by Krout to find another victim to move in. Before we moved out, the manager was showing the house to some college women, telling them that it was ready to move into. This shows that Krout is well aware that he is renting an ILLEGAL and uninhabitable house. Alabama state law requires that the landlord provide an adequate heat source and cooling source. Renting a house infested with rodents and doing nothing about it is also illegal. Krout is in clear violation of the law on a number of counts, yet he insists that we should have remained in the house to finsh the lease or lose our deposit. He is delusional in his thinking that the laws somehow don't apply to him.
Further, we have still not received a letter from Krout explaining why he has not returned our security deposit. He only responded to our complaints because the BBB contacted him. This is also a legal requirement.
Krout has 35 days after we moved out or September 29 to return our deposit or the money he owes us doubles - again, state law. We were hoping to be writing a nicer update than this, but too bad Jeff Krout can't get past his own arrogance and greed to have made the right choice, and that is costing him.