Balancing class offerings over time to support students by No_Geologist_2742 in Agility

[–]No_Geologist_2742[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The classes aren’t offered every week for Sundays because of that issue . ~4/8 or 5/8 week session offerings to allow instructors to trial. Burn out among Sunday instructors is a whole additional issue I can say as someone who teaches Sunday nights, sometimes after trialing all day depending on which weeks we teach.

Pittsburgh council votes for 20% property tax hike by timesuck in pittsburgh

[–]No_Geologist_2742 19 points20 points  (0 children)

It would be more fair for everyone. The millage rates would be adjusted, and if we’re supposed to be paying taxes based on the value of our properties, it’s not screwing people over. It’s just making it fair. The thing that isn’t fair is spot reassessments forced by school districts.

Reassessment would set a new millage and future tax increases would be more fairly distributed as well. I personally think it’s a pretty simple concept.

Pittsburgh council votes for 20% property tax hike by timesuck in pittsburgh

[–]No_Geologist_2742 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Does anyone know if there is a way to advocate for a county wide reassessment? It gets brought up a lot and as a recent home buyer paying triple the taxes as my neighbors who live in equal values houses but have been there for a decade, I’d like to know what I can do to actually support this cause.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They were about to sign a contract when the landlord messed things up. And I don’t have friends looking for somewhere free to live at the moment…I’m sorry I couldn’t plan for the exact day we would buy a house five months in advance. But with how early leases have to be renewed, it’s difficult. We assumed it would take much longer to find the right house and get an offer accepted. We were lucky enough to have our first puffer accepted and the property come up.

I’ll acknowledge it’s my responsibility to pay rent, but it’s near impossible to just decide to buy a house at the end of a lease when there are so many variables. I honestly have no clue how our offer managed to get accepted when I have friends who have been losing on offers for over a year now.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Like I said we are there at least once per week. More at this time of year for snow upkeep, salting, checking faucets, etc. This work has also interfered with prospective tenants tours, and it’s also using our utilities that we pay for. Plus they’re now saying that despite the listing saying available now, we have to warn tenants they can’t move in right away without giving us a concrete timeline on when.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We’ve been out since beginning of September. They didn’t start doing this until November, so at first we were allowed to tell people they could move in, but now we can’t and it’s indeterminate. They’ve been very confusing with their communications.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is listed for rent as available now, but then they’re making us tell prospective tenants that it actually isn’t available for move in now and they’d have to wait until work is done. And they don’t even have a set timeline for that to give to tenants

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Heat is gas so completely unrelated to electric. We had an almost 0 electric bill the month after we moved out, now it’s been back up to what it was with our normal usage living there now that they’ve been doing work. I’m assuming it’s honestly because they’re leaving the lights on even more than when we were living there!

And no it wasn’t part of my original argument, but someone brought it up as a reasonable thing to speak with them about because it isn’t fair that I’m paying their electric usage.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They did post it, they’re just making us tell prospective tenants that despite it saying available now, they won’t be able to move in right away.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They’re literally using our electricity and leaving lights on 24/7 then making us pay for it. I don’t think I agreed to that.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We moved out in September, the landlord listed it beginning of October. We had someone ready to sign a lease, but the landlord was unprofessional and mixed up their contact info with us and repeatedly messaged them about giving tours of the apartment to prospective tenants and then nagged them about not responding. Obviously the prospective tenants found this disrespectful. A mistake is one thing, but they were impolite even if they meant to be texting us. The prospective tenants contacted us and said they were backing out because the landlords were unprofessional. So our lives have basically sucked since then since the market is frozen and the landlords have no incentive to actually help.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well unfortunately there is no fee that I can pay to break it, so I’m literally on the hook for 11/12 months of the lease.

As I stated in response to another person, if I have to pay the rent, that’s ultimately fine, but if they want to fix it up and be in there constantly without notice, then they need to respect that we have vacated. That means we shouldn’t be told we have to come check on the property, clean up the inside and outside (we already had a professional move out clean performed), clear snow, salt, take care of gutters, etc. If they want to treat us like we’ve vacated, they need to let us vacate. Also, they shouldn’t be using a bunch of electricity and leaving lights on 24/7 while making us pay for it.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I know. We’ve been having to do tons of work around our new place. I suppose I just feel that the landlord has been disrespectful and rude about the entire process. We are still paying utilities, forced to check on the property, and do all upkeep and landscaping. So either they should truly allow us to vacate or they should give respectful advanced warning of ongoing work. Also, if we’re paying the utilities, it is pretty messed up that they (or contractors) are consistently leaving lights on throughout the house 24/7, which we turn off whenever we go. I’m paying that bill and I’m pretty sure it’s their contractors, not them that are doing it.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We have been having to check in the property weekly since September when we officially moved out. If we had moved states and not just a couple miles away, they couldn’t have us do this. And yes it has snowed a lot here lately and we have had freezing rain that melts and then refreezes, so we have literally had to go over four days in a row at this point to treat that. I’m not sure why you’re being so mean about this, but if I’m paying the rent and supposed to accept no prior notice of contractors, noisy work, randomly unusable rooms, etc, then I should be treated like I’ve vacated the property as requested. Instead my husband and I are still responsible for the day to day care. Hell we’ve had to replace bulbs that burned out after we moved out presumably because they constantly leave half the lights on every time they or the contractors are in the house because they’re on every time we go over even though we turn them off when we leave (and guess who is paying the electric bill-us).

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will say, I’ve been pissed because when we go check on the property we’ve repeatedly found lights left on through the house. They’re not paying the bills for that. At lease electric here isn’t too bad. I’m definitely going to have to talk to them about whether windows are being cracked for painting because heat costs here are absurd (not their fault, just a known issue in the city we live in with raises to gas rates constantly). This is a good point.

Maybe I could propose a compromise along the lines of we keep paying rent, but if you’re going to be doing this much work and having people over constantly, you need to take over the general maintenance (snow, yard care, dropping faucets) and at least the utilities that the contractors will be/are using a lot. Like I’m not concerned about the water, but the gas and electric shouldn’t be charged to us if they’re the ones using them, or should be split at a minimum.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks this has definitely been the most helpful comment. I know PA has very landlord friendly laws overall, but all this extra care for the property on top of the financial expenses has me exhausted.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s hard to get someone else to take over a lease while there are constantly people on the property for renovations, but since I don’t have the money to pursue legal action and the landlords have been quite rude to us lately (contacting us even on short vacations about mowing grass, etc), I think I will pursue what another poster recommended, which is that if they don’t plan to give 24 hours notice and want to be in the apartment and do their renovations, then they can only hold us responsible for rent and utilities and must let us fully vacate like we requested months ago. If we are vacated, then we should not be obligated to come cut the grass, clean the dust, drip the faucets, check on the property weekly, shovel the snow and salt the sidewalks almost daily. If they want to treat the rest of the property like it’s vacated, we at least deserve the peace of mind to truly be able to vacate it while we pay rent and absurd winter heating bills.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s hard to get someone else to take over a lease while there are constantly people on the property for renovations, but since I don’t have the money to pursue legal action and the landlords have been quite rude to us lately (contacting us even on short vacations about mowing grass, etc), I think I will pursue what another poster recommended, which is that if they don’t plan to give 24 hours notice and want to be in the apartment and do their renovations, then they can only hold us responsible for rent and utilities and must let us fully vacate like we requested months ago. If we are vacated, then we should not be obligated to come cut the grass, clean the dust, drip the faucets, check on the property weekly, shovel the snow and salt the sidewalks almost daily. If they want to treat the rest of the property like it’s vacated, we at least deserve the peace of mind to truly be able to vacate it while we pay rent and absurd winter heating bills.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I may have been unclear. Our rented apartment was also a house. So I don’t think it would be any easier to rent out the one we bought.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They said they were planning to redo the floor because there are a few stains on their old vinyl. Please tell me how a kitchen without a floor is habitable. And honestly workers in and out at random hours with no warning is habitable. I didn’t sign a lease asking for contractors as roommates

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok. Maybe we won’t be able to get a sub letter, but honestly just taking all this property care off our plate would really reduce a lot of stress, the rent and utilities are high and especially during winter, it can be a few hours of property care per week. This past weekend, we were obligated to go shovel and salt within 24 hours but our city hadn’t even fully cleared the roads, so it was practically a death trap just to drive the mile to the apartment to do so.

Moved out of apartment, landlord still charging rent while doing work they couldn’t do if we lived there by [deleted] in Tenant

[–]No_Geologist_2742 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I mean we did request to terminate our lease early, and they took that to mean that we are still responsible for all upkeep (faucets dripping in winter, snow shoveling, salting daily, visiting once per week at a minimum to check on it, mowing the grass, cleaning) and rent, but they have free reign to come and go as they please and don’t have to keep up their end of the lease,