Uncertainty settled

I got a new landlord friend on Saturday. He says he wants us to be friends, and he hates the term landlord. This finally ends the uncertainty I've been living under for the past nine months.

You see, I've lived in my townhouse rental for 10 years now. The building was owned - long with several others - by a local, quite elderly man and managed by his sons. One son was friendly enough, but the other I must admit I found intimidating. He NEVER smiled. The father I saw the week I moved into my home and never again after that.

The father died last Christmas, and I had no idea what they family might choose to do with the rental properties. For months, I heard nothing, then finally, one of the sons called to say that his mother would be selling. Where would that leave me?

Well, it's finally sorted now. My rent has gone up by $50 a month, but I expected that. However, many repairs that needed to be done for a long time were completed by Sunday. 

My garbage disposal died a couple of months ago. We've learned to live without it, but the sludge buildup caused the drain to be slow, so each cycle of the dishwasher had the steaming hot water backing up into the sink. We kept the plunger in a permanent position in the kitchen. On the advice of his real estate agent (dammit), the new landlord removed the disposal (he did ask if it would be ok and was willing to replace it, but I went along anyway - we can live without it), and he replumbed under the sink. The drainage is clear now. Works for me.

My upstairs toilet has been out of commission for about nine years now. He replaced that so we finally don't have to trek downstairs in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

The combination shelf/clothes rack in my daughter's closet collapsed a couple of months ago. He replaced that immediately.

He's also going to replace the patio door, because a few years ago the wood core rotted out, and it's been taped closed ever since. He's looking for a replacement handle for our outside water spigot as well. One of the sons removed that "for the winter to prevent it freezing" several years ago and never put it back. We've had a sprinkler in the garage for hot summer days that the girls have never been able to use.

The new guy's very nice (I'd gotten that impression when he did the initial walkthrough, but now it's completely confirmed). He said, "You've been here a long time and we want to keep you happy." That's awfully nice, isn't it?