Today ends easily the happiest year of my life, and by far the most stressful year of my life. Officially the lease of the apartment love of my life (So far) ended and with it the nightmare of 9 months of subletting. I've had my share of issues with sublettors in New York, the crisis hit and I couldn't find a sublettor for more than 2 months, I've had sublettors not pay rent, move out without notice and I had a sublettor hire a lawyer after he failed to pay bills for 6 months and flooded the bathroom- instead of mopping it up, he laid out the weekend edition of the New York Times. I got the money for the bills, but found it too stressful to deal with fighting for the water damage while living in Chile. Last week in New York my neighbor directly below me knocked on the door with the super and complained his ceiling had been about to fall in for... you guessed it, 9 months.
In deciding to move to Chile I had to sublet my own room, with all of my personal things, my paintings, my ultra comfortable bed, and several pieces of furniture I had made myself. I hated leaving, but I had the chance of a lifetime to follow my heart and explore the world. Unfortunately the only person interested in renting my room gave me an immediate bad impression. I had no choice, and even though she was pushy and rude I rented her my room. My rent for my 3 bedroom apartment was 2600 and I rented her my room furnished for 1100- 10% extra for having been furnished. In the 9 months I was gone, rent was never paid by the first despite 3 sublease agreements stipulating this. Bills had become a mess, and although I came home at Christmas to sort out the confusion I was met with hostility and the annoying feeling of having a person you truly found pushy, self-absorbed and unfriendly have intimate contact with all your stuff. Moreover having decided she wanted my file cabinet which had not come with the room, she emptied the contents of what had been a well organized and personal file cabinet into another container so she could use it herself. Thanks for asking...
A couple months later, Sylvain and I decided we weren't interested in living with roommates anymore, we decided to give up the lease on the apartment. Around the same time this girl decided she wasn't going to pay her last months rent despite our sublease agreement specifically dictating the deposit was not to be used for the last months rent. She didn't warn me, or consult me, she just did it. Apparently she had met someone who said I had "stolen" her deposit. I was at a loss for who this could be, as I had never stolen a deposit before. Later I discovered it was someone who moved in for two weeks began classes at Columbia and decided she didn't like her program and moved out. She did not give the required one month notice as stipulated by the sublease agreement, and of course her deposit was forfeited for this reason. Since we had both agreed to these terms I find it rather insane to accuse me of stealing. Put simply, sublettors are a nightmare, you always lose money, and more than anything it is hugely stressful. Last week I was accused of profiting on my apartment because I subletted the room for 10% higher than the rent- this is legal under New York State law. I wonder how this person would have felt if it was his dishes being broken, his things being ruined from never having used a coaster, or spills on microfiber couches. In the end these are just things, and things are not all that important- but one feels a sort of offense when people break, and soil, and take for granted your things.
So when I went home two weeks ago, I just wanted the girl gone, I never cared about the money, she had just been so arrogant and rude, and mean people suck. I just didn't want her in my apartment anymore, which, by the way had not been cleaned since I had left in January, the kitchen had been turned into a recycling center and the shower, oh my god the shower, a black ring of mold around the basin, and it was the orange color of make-up base- needless to say, I didn't shower there until it had been cleaned. When I asked for bill money she refused- saying she always wrote a check to the other roommate- she was apparently afraid I was also a bill stealer, although since the bills were in my name, I do not see the logic in refusing to give a check written out to Con-Ed for all of 18 dollars. In the end I would have happily paid 18 dollars just to see her leave- but she refused and seemed eager to continue arguing over nothing. So I told her to forget the 18 dollars and just, um, leave. She wouldn't and continued to argue for some time, while I sat on my couch and laughed at her. Finally her dad said, but Marina, you're an illegal sublettor so what can she do? And so finally she left. She had been an illegal sublettor, but when she stopped paying rent I told the reality company she was subletting from me, knowing I couldn't trust her and wanting to cover my Parisian ass.
So there it is. My story. An end and a new start. I think I have an unread The Sun to get to... kind of perfect start to this new beginning.
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