What Went Wrong: Update

Brandie got a call from the storage unit today, and sadly this is just typical of our experiences this fall: our credit card had supposedly been denied several weeks ago, and they were just calling now to tell us of the late fee that had been accumulating since. Of course the fellow was curt and unhelpful over the phone when Brandie asked questions about the problem.

Our credit card company knew nothing of the situation however, no charge had been attempted the day the storage unit claimed. It turns out the storage unit's card machine had a system server error, and never bothered to try our card again; they just started racking up a late fee for us. Fortunately the storage unit company dropped the late fee when this was discovered, but come on, people!

Also an update on the situation in Kingston: we ended up hiring that lawyer our realtor recommended after she called him back and straightened him out, he apologized. He then sent a very reasonable letter to the sub-landlord that she never replied to. We appealed to the actual owner and real landlord to talk to his tenant, again no reply. We hired a building inspector and found out the house isn't registered with the state and therefore isn't a legal unit. It also has a list of violations:

1) gap in wall between two bedrooms must be repaired
2) smoke detectors must be installed in all bedrooms
3) a carbon monoxide detector must be installed
4) peeling paint must be scraped and repainted
5) inoperable windows must be repaired
6) exposed wiring must be repaired

The owner is going to be fined $150/mo now until they're all resolved.

We also found out that the sub-landlord had originally tried to sue her landlord to get out of her lease, which ran contrary to the story she told us (she wanted to buy it, and he wouldn't sell.) They apparently didn't have a good relationship either.