Ghimeabragh

Sleep Deprivation…

In my ongoing battle against my landlord and bedbugs, who as far as I am concerned are no different in that they are both uncaring unfeeling greedy little bloodsuckers, I can now claim sleep deprivation.

“But 40 year old magpie,” you ask, “how can you tell?”

Simple. I’m on the verge of tears when talking to my lawyer about this. I only cry when I”m either extremely upset or very tired.

They did what passes for them as “extermination” one week ago. Listen, Charlie, a certification in the handling of poisons used for the eradication of vermin does not mean you are expert at eradicating them. Quite the contrary. I had to point out an area for you to spray, you moved nothing than a foam seat a bit away from a wall, sprayed the cat toy and blanket when you sprayed by the radiator, you sprayed my cat’s food rather than be bothered to ask me to move them,I asked you to stop so I could move them. You failed to spray the entire living/sleeping area of my studio. Oh, wait, that would have required you to actually know what the fuck you were doing. A professional would have taken 4 – 6 hours to exterminate.You took a total of perhaps 30 minutes with a “water-based” pesticide that didn’t do shit for eradicating the little parasites from the sofabed, let alone the the apartment. Oh, I’m sure you believe they are gone, and that no one ever complained to you before.

Oh, and thanks for telling me you had no intention of honoring the Stip. Makes my case to the Judge when we go back to L/T Court that much easier.

Ghimeabragh

There was a very good reason I didn’t give the money to the Court

July 20, 2010, I signed a stip agreement with the Calello Agency in the presence of their lawyer, that in return for paying my July rent , they’d make repairs and exterminate bedbugs by the end of July. That didn’t happen, as I knew it would go down that way.

On Aug 2, I hand-delivered this letter:

August 2, 2010
[Address removed]
Dear M—,
Under the terms of the stip we (You, the Agency Lawyer and I) signed on 20 July 2010, certain conditions were to me be met in order for the rent of July 2010 t be paid.
My July/August rent is now in escrow pending the complete fulfillment of the July 20 stip.

Unfortunately, there is more to that stip than simply providing me that which should have been provided in March when I took possession of my apartment located at [address removed], namely my mailbox key; I am still awaiting the following portions of the stip to be addressed:
The broken window
the torn screen
the fire escape (Charlie coming in with a workman to “measure” or any other nonsense meant to assuage me that it is being addressed will not be considered addressing this safety issue)
The bedbugs. Under NJ state law, you are obligated to deal immediately with the issue, not three plus months or longer after being informed of the infestation. Again, Charlie coming in to improperly deal with this issue will not be considered to be fulfilling the stip. The chemical used is highly toxic, and if the way Charlie “sprayed” for roaches is an indication, the result will only bed bugs that are more resistant to the chemical than they are at present.

If you or Charlie cannot reach me by phone, it takes little effort for Charlie to stop by and slide a note under my door regarding the above issues. Unless of course, Charlie   (or you) prefers to be required by Court order to act.

Sincerely yours,
[my signature]

Please note, I indicated in the letter, that I was withholding both July and August as they had not honored the agreement. There was no objection to my withholding my July rent at that time. Fast forward to August 13, 2 days after they got around to repairing the windows and “exterminating”: I was mailed a three day notice to quit for, get this; NON-PAYMENT OF RENT. They went to get the withheld monies from the court without completing the terms of the Stip – fixing the fire escape, and got spanked.To make it better, Charlie intimated, that they weren’t going to make the fire escape repair, saying that the struts under the landing was sufficient.

The missing fire escape bolt and brick

The same day as I received the letter, I was the recipient of this as well:

The pestcide sure worked, Charlie

I’m still being bit. They want me out. I’m looking for relief for the breach of contract.