santiago landlord from hell

francine

New member
Nov 14, 2004
7
0
0
I am leaving Santiago. I have been on the island for 22 years and have had great experience with Dominicans and Haitians alike. This last house I rented for 4+ years has the landlord from hell. He came through today with his lawyer and fingered every tiny nail hole and hummed and hawed over all kinds of ridiculous things. We have to see him again on Friday and are assuming he will try and keep our deposit. Any one out there have any advice? We should have kept all the receipts for all the plumbing and electrical stuff that we repaired ourselves. I would love to warn other expats about this moron man so that if someone else rents the house they will know what to expect. It is in las Casildas which is a popular area for expats.
 

francine

New member
Nov 14, 2004
7
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0
how it ended

Ok, so this is what happened. The landlord had us meet with his lawyer who asked us to pay 15,000 RD to paint the house because the filtration problem was definately our fault. (what an idiot) He ended up keeping about 4500 RD from the deposit as we did not pay the last month rent as per the comments. Anyway Las Casilda is the neighbourhood beside cerros de Gurabo. Renters beware...Calle E #3
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
3,563
0
0
Francine, let him sue you, but first, get some confederates and line them up with a story for use as witnesses in a future trial, go register a police complaint, say breaking and entering, threats, and do anything that you have to do, but please, please don't step on your landlord's blue suede shoes...


Merry christmas! ;-)
 

fuchs4d

Active member
Mar 7, 2004
347
189
43
Dominican renters never pay back deposits. In most cases, they do not have it anymore so they simply can not pay something back.
Renters usually do not pay rent the last months before they leave.
I heard this several times from Domincan people.

The landlord coming with his layer is a bad sign, you should be prepared for the worst.
The lawyer will not want to spent his time for nothing, the landlord probably want to get the max out of the gringo.
Best take your valuables (car etc.) out a little earlier, make a date to leave but already have everything out to avoid an "embargo".
 

bronzeallspice

Live everyday like it's your last
Mar 26, 2012
11,009
2
38
I would just live out the two months deposit and not pay the landlord another dime.Get everything
in order,buy my plane ticket and get the hell out!
 
Feb 7, 2007
8,005
625
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If anybody finds himself in a similar situation as the OP (even 6 years later), do this:

1) ALWAYS tell the landlord you are moving out about a week before you move out, do not pay your two months rents, the first months just say "you have no money now that you will pay in 15 days" and then say you are moving out.
2) Do NIT allow them to enter the property if possible at all, make yourself busy "i have to be in la capital today, tomorrow in puerto plata, etc.)
3) if they try to frighten you by saying they will sue etc... counter that you are not afraid that they broke the law in the first place because the law REQUIRES the landlord to deposit the security deposits in Banco Agricola.

If you break a law, you cannot sue somebody else for consequences of your breaking the law in the first place ...

of course, this only in the case you have a "tense" relationship with your landlord. If on the other hand the landlord has always been good to you and you have always paid your rent on time, just talk like reasonable people ....
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
If anybody finds himself in a similar situation as the OP (even 6 years later), do this:

1) ALWAYS tell the landlord you are moving out about a week before you move out, do not pay your two months rents, the first months just say "you have no money now that you will pay in 15 days" and then say you are moving out.
2) Do NIT allow them to enter the property if possible at all, make yourself busy "i have to be in la capital today, tomorrow in puerto plata, etc.)
3) if they try to frighten you by saying they will sue etc... counter that you are not afraid that they broke the law in the first place because the law REQUIRES the landlord to deposit the security deposits in Banco Agricola.

If you break a law, you cannot sue somebody else for consequences of your breaking the law in the first place ...

of course, this only in the case you have a "tense" relationship with your landlord. If on the other hand the landlord has always been good to you and you have always paid your rent on time, just talk like reasonable people ....
When I moved out I adviced 3 months before leaving, so they could start looking for a new renter while I was still there. Stopped paying 2 months before moving out. We did disagree on some things when I moved out with respect to painting. I did what I thought was reasonable, painted all te walls, some doors. But she couldn't force me doing more than what's reasonable, while there was no deposit left.