Complaint Review: Crosby Rentals/Lisa R Crosby - Holiday Florida

  First and foremost, Lisa R Crosby and I had an oral agreement prior to my moving in in regards to the rental payment. Because of a L5-S1 surgery dated 30 Nov. '12 I was unable to gain employment so close to my surgery and I hadn't even been released from my Dr.s' care by the time I had  taken residency at 3545 Emory Dr., Holiday, FL 34691. I advised Lisa that the only money I had was a gov't disability of $129/mo and that I was on food stamps because of the health problems I sustained from a motor vehicle accident in March of 2011. I told her that I would get a roommate

that was NOT to be included on the lease, that I would collect half of the rent and foward that to Lisa. Lisa was ok with that AS LONG AS she was getting AT LEAST half of the rent each and every month and that I was going to pay her the balance once I'd rec'd money from my personal injury law suit and then the $700 in full thereafter. During the conversation she had provided what she called was a "temporary lease agreement" for me to sign but was going to make the additional changes and get me a fucntional lease agreement that would stand up - I'm still waiting

for that copy. She also agreed to let me do some minor cosmetic repairs to the home, things that I felt comfortable doing so soon after my surgery, the amount charged to her we agreed would be $15 because she was close to a person that I thought was a friend of mine at the time - Richard E Huffman. She has provided a "Work/Repair Agreement" form which she had typed in items that I was aware of and agreed to but then penciled in other items at a later date, most of which were to her benefit, that I was not aware of nor did I approve of them being added to that form without

my knowledge, or ok'ing the fact that I could or couldn't do the work in question given my most recent surgeries.

  I moved in 29 Jan. '13 after signing the temporary lease agreement on 12 Jan. 2013. By the second day I noticed water coming out from under the walls near/around the bathroom in the house AND that the air conditioner was not working properly - I verbally notified the landlord and/or her maintenance man/Richard E Huffman immediately. He argued with me that there was no leak - that they had fixed it, and that the air conditioner worked fine. Three days later there was an ongoing problem with the toilet in the house that would cause it to back up and overflow onto the floor each morning, again I notified Richard of the problem and again he argued that it worked fine and ignored the problem.

  Approx. 3-4 weeks later, after enough complaints, he got around to fixing the A/C unit the right way by calling an A/C mechanic after attempting to fix it himself but he couldn't. It was also in that same time frame that Richard rented a plumbers snake to snake the main drain in the house which surprisingly fixed the slow draining toilet in the main house. Also in the same time frame he was willing to agree with me that there was now water leaking from somewhere under

the tub, but not before the water had ruined a tempurpedic mattress that was up on end in 1 of the     bedrooms and a bag full of shoes that was in the closet. Again, after messing with it himself for the  first couple of weeks to see if he could fix it, (this was after I'd spent some 2-2.5 hours changing  a leaking faucet that Richard installed in the bathroom, caulking and re-caulking the tub, window, and all of the fixtures to determine that there wasn't water coming from the tub out onto the floor and to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was water leaking from some-where in the house into the house). I would later find out that there was water leaking into the house from three different areas - the drain in the bathroom (which was fixed in late March '13), the East most wall of the house, (which Richard has attempted to fix again himself - but still leaks), and the newest leak now in the living room underneath the A/C unit he has said to have fixed over a month ago now. I contacted them immediately (13 June '13) again after noticing the livingroom ceiling leaking and was advised that they were out of town until the following Wed., 19 June '13 and that they'd need access to the rental home then. I advised them to call before coming over.

  All the while I'm noticing differences in my comfort here in the house - runny nose, headaches, upset stomach, nausea and cold/flu like symptoms. I started to take Zyrtec and the symptoms went away. I went to see my VA Outpatient Dr. and was given tests to determine my allergies and was told that there was a high probability of mold in the apt. that I rent that would cause those symptoms after which I was prescribed a generic version of the Zyrtec which I now have

to take daily as to not suffer from the symptoms.

  Since then I've had a professional cleaning service come into the house on 16 May '13 and give me an estimate, to remove the mold from this house, of over $1400 and that didn't include the bedroom that has the most recent water damage from tropical storm Andrea. That was 06 June '13 - there was water coming in from the Eastern most wall of the house. Approx. 18-20 inches from the outside wall penetrating into the room, the water was being absorbed by three dressers that I had along that outside wall, all of which have been damaged by sitting in that water for some period of time before I'd noticed the water in that room and removed them from the water.

  After lodging all of these complaints within a relatively short period of time of my moving in Lisa reneged on our oral agreement stating and I quote "that conversation never happened" which was an outright lie. Then (01 May '13) demanded that I pay the full $700 going forward knowing full well, based on our earlier conversation, that I wouldn't have the money to pay it and she could then evict me and have someone else move in here so that they can take advantage

of them like they are now trying to take advantage of me, a disabled veteran that has since been ruled disabled by the Social Security Association from a motor vehicle accident in March of '11.

I've had three back operations as a result of that accident all of which were at the Laser Spine

Institute in Tampa, 30 Nov '12; 19 March '13; and 04 April '13 - I've also had a surgery on my left

arm for ulnerapathy on 04 Jan. '13 at the VA Hospital in Bay Pines. They (Lisa R Crosby/Richard

E Huffman) should be thoroughly ashamed with themselves but they have never been a landlord

before and apparently had no idea what they were getting into and therefore are showing

absolutely no remorse.

  The three day notice sent by the landlord is improper because it seeks late fees which are not rent under the lease agreement. Also, I have signed a two year lease for which a 60-day written notice is required prior to the end of any annual period if they are wanting possession of the property. This also was not done .

  I have sent two documents by certified mail, and a third will be going out on 18 June '13 in 

regards to the newest leak in the livingroom, to the landlord, the initial two documents are in

reference to FL Statute 83.51(1) regarding mold, no smoke detector, screens with holes in them, windows that don't open or that the pane falls out of when opened, the A/C unit needing to be sealed up, water damage that was caused by water entering the house through an outside wall, and the front door being difficult to open after it rains. Richard E Huffman responded to ONLY 2 of the easy fix items - he took 2 screens out and had them rescreened and then handed them back to me to reinstall, and he purchased a smoke detector and handed that to me to install. I reinstalled the screens so that I could attempt to air this place out by opening the windows with screens, however I did not install the smoke detector - that's NOT my responsibility! There was one in this house when I went to see Lisa about the oral agreement, she was painting at the time and had taken down the old one and apparently threw it away. These people want to collect rent on a building that was flooded before they bought it (all of the wall to wall carpeting had to be removed - that's still sitting in the backyard from before I moved in) but they won't put a dime into repairing the water/mold problems that have caused me great stress, agravation and health issues - not to mention all of the time I've had to move and remove items that were sitting in free standing water.

  Lastly, I have gone out of my way to prove that there is a water/moisture problem in this house and that it has caused further damage in creating mold because it wasn't taken care of properly initially. I brought ServiceMaster 24 Hour into the house for an extensive search and estimate for damages, they have provided me with a quote for the work that needs to be done. While they were here they showed me evidence of termite damage as well. Since then I have been looking for another place to live because of my new found health conditions while attempting to deal with the landlord in a respectful manner.

  It is my understanding that they are now attempting to sell this house because they're not 

happy being landlords, or maintenance people for that matter, nor do they have the extra money

to make the correct repairs by someone that is licensed to do so. However, I believe they have

found out that selling this house now with all of the water and mold problems will be next to

impossible, unless they're willing to take a substantial loss that is, so they are trying to make

things as difficult as possible for me in hopes that I'll just pack up my stuff and leave -

unfortunately for them it will not be that easy. I don't have an extra $750 to move again within 6

months of my moving in to this location, not to mention first/last/and security deposit for another

place unless I'm compensated for my losses here and they would pay for me to move to another

location.

  Anyone with knowledge of real estate, or a real estate attorney, would know how to conduct the proper searches in order to protect a potential home buyer from the types of problems listed above before investing your money into a dive like this residence. However, if the previous owner doesn't do the repair work needed professionaly and correctly by a licensed professional and takes it upon themselves to fix the problems as they see fit then the potential home buyer could be buying someone elses problems that were just covered up. That's the reason for this post - I was taken advantage of grossly and I do not want that to happen to the next person that attempts to rent and/or purchase from Lisa R Crosby. She ONLY paid $32.5K for this single family dwelling 2br 1.5b 1cg home and has apparently been offered $39K for the house - hhhmmmm, I wonder if they are aware that they are paying $6.5K more for a home that has some pretty significant problems and that Lisa R Crosby has invested EXTREMELY little money to make this place any better. Now, her so called property mgr is attempting to repair this mold issue himself without a license - again, an attempt to cover up a significant problem the cheap and inexpensive way so that his fiance Lisa R Crosby can get a face lift and other augmentations to her body while I'm suffering from health conditions by residing her rental home that has been diagnosed as having mold!

  Consider yourself forewarned - before moving, or buying an investment as big as a home do the proper searches and conduct the proper investigations in regards to the home! ....too bad you can't get a "home fax report" for even better protection like a prospective auto buyer would have acces to a "car fax report" at his/her disposal if they wanted one to be certain they wern't buying a salvaged title vehicle or a lemon.

....and for landlords - DON'T ever think, EVEN for a minute, that you are renting to someone that just fell off the turnip truck and doesn't know their rights - you could be in for a real surprise when you are served a counter suit from a tenant that knows their rights!  

  Also, it should be duly noted that I have done everything in my power, short of hiring an attorney because typically they have their own financial aganda, to make the public aware of the ongoing issues with this home. This would include, but not be limited to, filing my reasoning as to why I should not be evicted to the Pasco County Court, getting an estimate from a company that could first diagnose the mold and then remediate it professionally, filing a complaint with the Department of Business and Prefessional Regulation as to the fact that Richard E Huffman, an unlicesned mold remediator, is attempting to repair a mold problem himself, and filing another complaint with the Pasco County Code Enforcement with regards to FL Statute 83.51(1) documents that I have sent via certified mail to Lisa R Crosby and she has neglected to respond favorably.