Description
Good afternoon --
I had previously called regarding my current situation in our rental unit. We've had consistent issues with our landlord and property management company since we moved in. It wasn't until about a month ago that I finally called the City of St. Petersburg and was notified that I was living in an illegal duplex-- which started the unraveling of multiple issues with the current living situation.
We have one meter on a two-unit house, therefore our landlord has tried to get us to paid obscene "flat" amounts to "cover" gas and electric. In most cases we would have been paying over $150/mo, and they would not give us money back if we went over -- we never signed that addendum.
Now that we know it's an illegal duplex, I've been told by other City staff that no one can move in until separate meters are put onto the house for the second unit, which solves the gas issue, but not the electric.
The issue I'm now dealing with is that the washer and dryer are connected to our energy bill, and there are 4 other tenants living in the duplex behind us who use this washer and dryer. We have seen a 50% increase in our electric bill ($98 to $151), and we are required to pay $1.50 for each load of laundry -- estimating about $30/mo. I've reached out to our property management company requesting reimbursement from our landlord with no response, and I've asked our landlord directly while she was visiting the property and she said she was "still looking into it". It's now been a month since I sent the email requesting reimbursement from our landlord, and I still have not heard back, seen any type of reimbursement or solution to this issue.
This is unfair to to us and is costing us a ridiculous amount of money that we are not responsible for. If someone from zoning or the building department could call or send me an email to discuss, I've literally found no way to reconcile any of our issues with our landlord or property management company until we've had the City involved.
Thank you for your help!
Mallory Roberts
mallory.roberts2@gmail.com
254-722-9186
4 Comments
Sara Somers (Registered User)
Acknowledged Mayor's Action Center 5 (Registered User)
Update from the Codes Compliance Department: a case has been opened and is being investigated for this reported location. Any further updates or action will be handled by the Codes department. To track the status of this case, or to find contact information for the assigned investigator, click here:
https://actiononline.stpete.org/Click2GovCE/casesearch.html?caseYear=18&caseNumber=10240
or call 727-893-7373 and refer to the above case number.
mallory.roberts (Registered User)
Closed Customer Support (Verified Official)
The City of St Petersburg periodically reviews old SeeClickFix reports in an effort to clean-up past issues that were resolved some time ago. We are now marking as 'closed' those issues that were submitted in the past for which the work has been completed or the issue has otherwise been resolved.
If you think for any reason that the issue you submitted in the past might still be unresolved, please feel free to submit a new report with the SeeClickFix St. Pete website or mobile app and we will make sure the issue is directed to the appropriate City department to be addressed as soon as possible.
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