Renting A House in Santo Domingo

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

mountainannie

Platinum
Dec 11, 2003
16,350
1,358
113
elizabetheames.blogspot.com
calmer now

Thanks to all the great info here on DR1, I realized that I have a great deal here where I am since the landlady cannot now raise the rent without a huge big thing, since I have been here over two years and always paid on time.

So as long as I can get the neighbor upstairs to fix the pipes, I will just settle in. The only places that really tempt me are so much more than I am paying now!! And I am just looking in my very little neighborhood.

One of the realtors that I called has turned a bit psycho, calling my cell 6 times a day, so perhaps they are catching on to the reality of how little money there is chasing too many apartments.

But since the RE taxes are low here and maintenance is cheap and almost all these apartments are bought with 100% cash, the owners can afford to sit on them til they get their prices.

I remember back in NYC in the 70s when we had strict rent control, owners were walking away from 30,000 units a year. But then NYC has real real estate taxes. Of course, if this country actually started collecting real estate taxes, then things would be different.

No place under 148k pays annual RE taxes, according to DR1.

What are the taxes after that and does ANYONE pay them?
 
M

Mason3000

Active member
Aug 2, 2008
363
46
28
"Dominicans, are sometimes slow dealers, unless they are trying to con you."

Ain't that the truth! lol
 
M

Mason3000

Active member
Aug 2, 2008
363
46
28
Annie, I think you're on the right path. Stay where you're at and have the landlord get the pipes straightened out. Get the request in writing and make sure the landlord signs a copy before you pay the rent next time is a good first step. Then, not paying the rent until he actually fixes the pipes is a good follow up if he does nothing.

Then....take pics of the place top to bottom that are time stamped. Now start fixing the place up to your standards so at the end of the day you'll live in comfort since presumably you'll be there for a while. Sure you'll have to uninstall anything you fix when you want to leave but that's a long way in the future. Inevitably he'll claim the stuff you installed/fixed was his and then you'll need to produce the pictures to make that go away.

Annie, how about joining us for a drink this afternoon? My office is in the Zona so I could pick up in Gazcue on my way to Twist about 4:00pm if you're interested?
 
M

mountainannie

Platinum
Dec 11, 2003
16,350
1,358
113
elizabetheames.blogspot.com
thanks but

Mason3000 said:
Annie, I think you're on the right path. Stay where you're at and have the landlord get the pipes straightened out. Get the request in writing and make sure the landlord signs a copy before you pay the rent next time is a good first step. Then, not paying the rent until he actually fixes the pipes is a good follow up if he does nothing.

Then....take pics of the place top to bottom that are time stamped. Now start fixing the place up to your standards so at the end of the day you'll live in comfort since presumably you'll be there for a while. Sure you'll have to uninstall anything you fix when you want to leave but that's a long way in the future. Inevitably he'll claim the stuff you installed/fixed was his and then you'll need to produce the pictures to make that go away.

Annie, how about joining us for a drink this afternoon? My office is in the Zona so I could pick up in Gazcue on my way to Twist about 4:00pm if you're interested?
Click to expand...

Mason, thanks so much for the offer but tonight is opening night of the BALL GAME!!!! So I will be here practicing my shouts til I leave at 6 30 to be at the gate at 7 to get great seats...

does anyone have a good translation of Take me out to the ballgame?

and of course, that is where you should ALL be at 7!!!!

BEST fireworks of the season.... Not to mention MAJOR league baseball at 200 pesos a pop!! try that price at Yankee Stadium.

As for the pipes, the complexity of this particular condo are that the pipes in my ceiling are actually the responsibility of the person upstairs..... Since my landlady is such a "#$#%$&" and does not seem to have an ability to live peacefully with others, she has been unable to communicate with either the upstairs or downstairs neighbor.

However, since I do not have a car, and have for a year allowed the upstairs neighbor to park one of his two cars in my spot, and since I repaired the old AC which was making the noise of three trucks and dripping water into my downstairs neighbors apartment, both of them want me to stay. So the downstairs neighbor got the plumber to look at the upstairs neighbors pipes. And he came down very apologetic and said that he did not know that I had a problem but that he wanted me to stay and would fix the pipes.

Now how and when that will happen is still a mystery. But
since that time he has either been away or showering in the cuarto de servicio so I am drip free.

I think that this landlady has had a history of just having foreign tenants whom she drives out after two years. Then she can raise the rents to market value. As I said, I think that she figured she could threaten me into leaving the new fridge and stove and drive me out.

Those of you who followed my saga on the new fridge understand that I am not going ANYWHERE without that fridge. I may have it converted to a coffin.

So now it is just a question of getting the landlady to pick up her checks at my lawyers, and sign a receipt.

And, because I am an honest and honorable person, I will indeed give her regular rent increases as time goes on. Really I am the best tenant that ANYONE could ever find.

I would love to have a rain check on the drinks, though....
 
B

Blueceo

Member
Nov 1, 2015
192
22
18
Just saw your post. I have been renting in Santo Domingo since 2007 and have had similar experiences to you. I did however, find on reputable owner who always treated me fairly. He owns apartments on the malecon with rents fully furnished of around $700 to $800 dollars per month for two bedrooms directly in front of the ocean. His name is Franklin and his numbers are 809-548-3173 office, cell: 829-548-0225. Great guy and speaks good english.
 
D

DRDone

Member
Sep 29, 2014
293
2
18
To the OP Mason3000.
So you've just experienced the DR culture and how business is done.
Can I ask why you are moving to the DR?
I have to say I agree with the landlord, you don't want to rent to Dominicans as that is always a problem, and you wouldn't want to rent to any foreigners with the poor judgment to move to the DR.
You said you came from another Latin American country, well buddy, you are in a new world. This should be the time when they are buttering you up and convincing you how great it is to do business with them, when they are trying to get your money. Imagine what it will be like when you need something from them that was agreed upon - it is just a piece of paper.
What you should be searching for is a good lawyer, and/or a plane ticket elsewhere and just cut your losses.
Really 2 choices in living here, get screwed, or turn into the culture, and still get screwed, but try to make sure the other side gets even more screwed.
It's a game here of screwing over the other side, there is no business done in the DR - unless it is baseball related, and then it is just taking some resources out of the DR.
 
SantiagoDR

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
5,813
950
113
DRDone said:
To the OP Mason3000.
So you've just experienced the DR culture and how business is done.
Can I ask why you are moving to the DR?
Click to expand...

This thread was started 7 years ago and the OP has not been on DR1 for over 2 years.....
 
T

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
DRDone said:
To the OP Mason3000.
So you've just experienced the DR culture and how business is done.
Can I ask why you are moving to the DR?
I have to say I agree with the landlord, you don't want to rent to Dominicans as that is always a problem, and you wouldn't want to rent to any foreigners with the poor judgment to move to the DR.
You said you came from another Latin American country, well buddy, you are in a new world. This should be the time when they are buttering you up and convincing you how great it is to do business with them, when they are trying to get your money. Imagine what it will be like when you need something from them that was agreed upon - it is just a piece of paper.
What you should be searching for is a good lawyer, and/or a plane ticket elsewhere and just cut your losses.
Really 2 choices in living here, get screwed, or turn into the culture, and still get screwed, but try to make sure the other side gets even more screwed.
It's a game here of screwing over the other side, there is no business done in the DR - unless it is baseball related, and then it is just taking some resources out of the DR.
Click to expand...

my buddy has his house for sale in POP. it is not registered with an agent, but he just as a for sale sign up front.

one afternoon this French Canadian lady rings the bell, accompanied with the obligatory Dominican buscone. she loves the house, and wants to buy. buscone tells my friend that whenthe sale goes through, he wants 250,000 pesos for his commision. my buddy tells him that there is no contract, and that he is in no position to demand anything. he offers him 200,000, upon which the guy goes into a fit of pique, and hauls the French damsel into his car and speeds away.

the dimwit came with nothing in his pocket, and, instead of rejoicing in his windfall, wants to tell the guy who invested in the house how he should split the proceeds. these people bewilder me.
 
E

Expat13

Silver
Jun 7, 2008
3,255
50
48
DRDone said:
To the OP Mason3000.
So you've just experienced the DR culture and how business is done.
Can I ask why you are moving to the DR?
I have to say I agree with the landlord, you don't want to rent to Dominicans as that is always a problem, and you wouldn't want to rent to any foreigners with the poor judgment to move to the DR.
You said you came from another Latin American country, well buddy, you are in a new world. This should be the time when they are buttering you up and convincing you how great it is to do business with them, when they are trying to get your money. Imagine what it will be like when you need something from them that was agreed upon - it is just a piece of paper.
What you should be searching for is a good lawyer, and/or a plane ticket elsewhere and just cut your losses.
Really 2 choices in living here, get screwed, or turn into the culture, and still get screwed, but try to make sure the other side gets even more screwed.
It's a game here of screwing over the other side, there is no business done in the DR - unless it is baseball related, and then it is just taking some resources out of the DR.
Click to expand...

Mason was a friend. He and the family moved to USA back in 2010. He is American
 
W

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,330
113
this thread should merge with the 'Rent or Buy' thread............

Renting can be problematic too..... as can buying

pick your poison
 
E

Expat13

Silver
Jun 7, 2008
3,255
50
48
william webster said:
this thread should merge with the 'Rent or Buy' thread............

Renting can be problematic too..... as can buying

pick your poison
Click to expand...

For me renting was a nightmare. They never pay the maintenance fees so you get the heat from management and water shutoff etc. They dont do the upkeep as things fall apart, if something breaks they blame you and dont fix. I could go on and on!
 
W

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,330
113
The rent advocates will never admit that....

easy peasy, that renting.... not so
nothing gets attended to....

I prefer to drive my own bus........
 
E

Expat13

Silver
Jun 7, 2008
3,255
50
48
william webster said:
The rent advocates will never admit that....

easy peasy, that renting.... not so
nothing gets attended to....

I prefer to drive my own bus........
Click to expand...

Worse landlords ever in the DR. Its like applying for a loan as need a guarantor....They will guarantee 24/7 electricity hot water etc etc. What they mean to say is, you can have all these 3rd world luxuries but you will have to pay for the equipment to make it happen. If the invertor|batteries | or air cond wears out or breaks, your on the hook or in for the most frustrating, ignorant back n forth ever. Remember everything will be your fault Dominicans are never at fault. Its their thing!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom