July 16, 2006
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CIU Students be forewarned
Our Leaving Letter to our Landlord
Pat Murphy owns a great deal of property around CIU- both trailers and areas near the village and other side roads along Monticello, and particularly a big chunk of land immediately to the left of CIU with houses and small apartments on it. We presently live here, and have been forced by conditions here to find a new home. My Wife is the one who pushed for this- the idea of having mice crawling on her, of having insects, palmetto roaches, and spiders climbing on her AND our son was unacceptable and I agree. Our landlord was unwilling to invest in personal or hired pest removal, and I finally had to put it in God’s hands- and thankfully he provided a solution in a nice new house. We hate being in debt, but this is the answer for now.
We were told, because the date we received confirmation of our new house- and informed Pat Murphy- was ten days short of our thirty day notice- we would not receive our deposite back *unless we found someone else to take our places by the 1st of next month*. Basically, if we make him happy- he makes us happy. It dissapoints me that we would face this situation with not only a professed believer in Christ, but a fellow member of our own Church. I contacted student life at CIU- and was informed others have complained, and that they might eventually bring these complaints as a group to Mr. Murphy. So, I plan to submit this letter to them- and to Pat Murphy directly in a few days when I get this printed. First, I thought I would share it with you. We have rented from Pat Murphy now for 3-4 years and had intended to keep doing so. Many students wanting to leave the dorms end up moving here, and while neither my Wife nor I will benefit at all from any changes he now makes- at least we can feel that we have done our part.
I am an activist- I see a change that needs to be made ,and I make myself heard. So- this is me doing so. I cannot see wrong or negligence done and do nothing. I encourage you to let other CIU students and people going there know about the problems that have been experienced here- we’re not the only ones, but we are being vocal about it.
-Patrick *below is my letter*
To Pat Murphy,
It has been my
hope from the time I notified you onwards to keep this matter God-honouring and
to show respect and kindness. I intend to keep it so, and while my Wife has
expressed a strong desire to stay and get our deposit back we have no intention
to go beyond our writes or to break our contract. We will honour our agreement-
and even though we will not receive our deposit back we will still attempt to
leave the house reasonably clean and well kept. I had originally intended not
to elaborate on the subject- such as the time to referred multiple times to us
finding a replacement- however I feel that it is appropriate for me to now do
so with respect and politeness as your brother in Christ, and a fellow
representative of our church home.You have acted as
a businessman and landlord and held up to your agreements. You have come to fix
major appliance issues, you have kept the land in relatively good condition.
You have always been polite and provided what you said you would with only a
few exceptions. I am not sure if you have quite done so in the pest department-
if your responsibility is to make sure our home is clean from vermin, then you
have not, but if it is not, then perhaps you have. As a landlord you have done
just fine. However, you have definitely not gone above and beyond. We do not
expect ‘special treatment’- either as members of your church, or planning to go
to the mission field. Yet we feel as a believer in Christ you have not shown
more than ‘just enough’ to us or other tenants here. Your renters are people
who are often trying to serve Christ by going to school- most can barely afford
to get by. While your rent is definitely affordable- whether it is the amount
of land you care for or general responsibilities you have, the fact you have
not hired more help, I do not know nor is it my responsibility to know- you
have made choices that make us feel far less than family members (in the body
of Christ).I understand that
the previous tenant left because of health issues with mould- much in the way
things have happened with my Wife, his Wife pushed them to leave because of
mould in the apartment. When we finally pushed you to fix this, long after we
had moved in, rather than tearing out the bathroom you simply covered the walls
up. You had planned to steam clean the carpets- years later, in the last month
or two, when my Wife brought that up she informed me that you had no plans to
do so unless we moved out. This shows the attitude that you are interested in
caring for your places in order to make money off new tenants- but not to
support your family members presently living here. You have met your legal and
worldly obligations to my knowledge- but is that all you feel responsible for?
Our family has felt worse about our living conditions and our place in life-
because when we walk out, we often walk out to an overgrown lawn. When you
mowed, you would often skip us- not taking the time to call and let me know you
desired me to move my plants so you could mow our lawn. We have had infestation
after infestation- my Wife has woken up with roaches and spiders crawling over
her, and she is terrified our baby might experience that. We have owned NO
animals (fish, only) and yet have experienced fleas recently. We cannot afford
to invest in extermination- and doing so only to our half of the building would
be ineffective. Yet you did not express a desire to help us handle this
problem, nor did you feel it your responsibility.I understand that
the landscape and area care was significantly more thorough as well, according
to a neighbour, prior to your ownership. Trees have overgrown, the buildings
have dilapidated. When we request improvements- ones we are even willing to do-
you have made clear we can do them with our own money, but you will not invest
in it. Obviously, for us to do this we would be increasing the value of your
property and loose most of that investment ourselves. When furniture needs
to be adjusted or moved- you expect us to move it, and last time my pregnant
Wife ended up doing a majority of work moving couches to the empty white house
along with children whom I believe were yours. I received permission to plant a
bush in order to make our yard just a little prettier and enjoy fresh rosemary-
which costs $4.00 for one sprig at the supermarket- and whomever you had trim
the weeds ‘mistook’ the very obvious and large bush for a weed and proceeded to
whack it to a nub that has, after close to a year, still not regrown. We have
to time our showers with neighbours and the time of day in order to insure that
we have enough water pressure to take a shower- we cannot get a water saving or
pressure increasing shower because the plumbing does not allow it and after
mentioning it to you you did not express any willingness to do what was necessary
to change it.I would be
disappointed, but not surprised, at such a history working with a businessman
who owned property. But, again, this is an area supporting students dedicating
their lives to serve Christ- and you are not only a professed believer, but a
representative of my own church body. We are struggling to support ourselves,
and the Church which you support is providing financial aid for us- as well as
our extended families. My Wife made it clear in the last month that she could
not live in a place where, like she remembered as a child growing up in a poor
family, spiders and insects crawl over her- and her child. After your
unwillingness to help, we were forced to look for new housing options. We had
to do this quickly because of the urgent situation for our family- and as soon
as we finalised the housing deal, we notified you- ten days short of the
required time to get our deposit back. We were willing to rent here for several
years more, until we left for the mission field- however, due to your decisions
my family has been unable to continue here. God has blessed us by providing a
home that is in better condition than our present one, has four bedrooms, a
large kitchen, two roomy full baths, and a nice living and family room- and we
will pay less a month on property taxes, mortgage, and water fees combined than
we do now for rent.We understand
that there are others who have lived and are living on your property with
similar disappointments. Oh, I realise nobody can please everyone- but whatever
the cause, it seems to be consistent here. You have expressed how important you
find word of mouth, and have told us you will meet our need if we meet yours.
Mr. Murphy, I will be direct and honest with you- I would not recommend these
conditions to another person, much less an unbeliever, unless it was a
temporary step towards finding a better place. You provide a decent place to
live, but definitely not long term. I have approached CIU with our
disappointments and am working with others to gather other disappointed
believers who also attend(ed) CIU together to approach you with our reasons.
The end goal is to see change (my family, sadly, will not benefit from these
changes- but hopefully, other believers will) happen, or else to see your
ability to advertise through CIU removed. I am saddened to have to take these
steps, since I am not an aggressive person or one to want to see such things
occur. I am a person, however, who does not let things that seem wrong stay
that way.I am not
interested now in getting our deposit back, though it seems impossible anyway.
I not only will not recommend our apartment- but I will work to see that our
word of mouth is accurate and honest as to our disappointments here, and
encourage others with similar experiences to help other CIU students avoid this
sort of situation. I also am part of a web-ring of current and former CIU
students and intend to post this same message there as well. We have confronted
you privately and seen no action- so now, for the benefit of future students,
we seek to make our matters known alongside others to see change wrought.Most Sincerely,
Patrick R.
FlanaganEDIT- I will note that one reason many do not talk about their poor experiences here, is because of the whole “deposit” issue. If they want to get someone to take their place, and get their 300-500 dollars back, they can’t say negative things about it- and they end up helping Mr. Murphy out. Mr. Murphy also benefits from turnover, because everytime someone new moves in- he can raise the rates. However, if someone like us lives here too long, he is forced to keep the price the same for a longer period of time. So in the end, Pat Murphy will probably benefit from us leaving our apartment- unless our situation is made known. I doubt anyone wants roaches crawling on them, bats in the attic, mould in their bathroom, or overgrown and unappealing lawn. The sad thing is- he keeps excellent care of the larger house next to us, and lets our area look awful.
I might also note that we have NEVER missed a payment on our rent- we’ve done our best to be good tenants. When we have notified about an issue, or expressed a need, I have always tried in writing to be polite and to encourage him for positive things we have seen done. My Wife would have liked to wring his neck *laughs* but until recently I’ve kept a positive outlook on it all. I didn’t realise just how hard this whole thing was on Kat until recently. I thought it was at a 4 maybe out of 10, but it was really a 9 or 10.