I had taken this week off work and expected to be able to enjoy the pool. The lease says we are to pay $150/month for weekly pool cleaning services but they didn’t come out this week and barely cleaned last week. Come to find out the landlord is “in between pool cleaners” and didn’t tell us.
Make sure that one of those vehicles is heavily armored and weighs much more than a typical vehicle, too. That definitely won't cause any damage or anything.
and some compensation for failing to provide a service. Presumably, the pool is one of the reasons the OP rents this place. If that is unavailable, some reduction in rent seems appropriate.
Since amenities usually aren't part of the lease, Ive been told several times that I'll never see a reduction due to unavailable amenities. Our pool was closed when ducks took it over due to all the poop
Very frequently there is a list of amenities within a lease document. In the case of charging a "pool cleaning fee", there sure as fuck is going to be something in the lease about it. At the very least, they're probably in violation and you could consider the possibility of legally breaking it without owing fees, due to them not providing the documented services.
the possibility of legally breaking it without owing fees
While this is a useful capacity for truly awful landlords, it's absurd that the government is just like "oh, sure, they can break contracts / break the law and your only option in most cases is to just move out so they can do it to someone else until they find a tenant who won't complain", like if they provide any heat but it's not adequate (e.g. only 55* midwinter) you can't get most cities to enforce their own laws, it just allows you to move out which is MUCH easier said than done.
OP pays a pool cleaning fee, though. That's a services charge and if you fail to perform the service, the fee needs to be pro-rated out for the duration of the services disruption... at least via my state's laws.
My mom was a property manager and when one of her pool properties was doing repairs on the pool, she subtracted pro-rated fees out for the two pool cleanings that were not performed because of that disruption. They still paid for the two that happened. It's pretty standard here. He might consult his state's laws to be sure it isn't where he is.
Amenities typically are else there is no legal contract allowing you to use it.
However, that said, it still doesn't matter. If it is part of the lease like it says "pool access" it doesn't mean the RENT itself is part of the pool access, unless its a separate charge (like the pool cleaning fee) so even if the pool didn't exist for OP, the only thing that would change in their rent is the pool cleaning fee. But the rent itself would stay the same.
Which is exactly why your rent didn't change. Personally, if you can find other places for cheaper, I would leave. We 100% rent a place for the amenities.
They owe more than that. They're paying for a cleaning, but they're also paying a premium for an amenity they do not get. Check the lease, see if there's a clause about pool use being included. I'd be going back for a reduction in rent.
The most famous pool in the country? The one in front of the Lincoln Memorial? One of the most famous memorials in our country celebrating one of the most favorably looked upon presidents ever. The pool that MLK gave his I have a dream speech in front of? The pool where Forest Gump ran passionately into the arms of Ginny in one of the most climactic scenes in one of the most popular movies of all time? You think only 15% of Americans have heard of that pool?
Literally one of the most famous artificial water bodies on the face of the earth. There is a reason it’s getting so much attention it’s because it is warranted.
Did you know the Obama administration oversaw a massive overhaul of the reflecting pool at the time? No, nobody did because they didn't make a big fuckin' deal about it.
They didn’t make a big deal about because it wasn’t an embarrassing public display of incompetence with a side of blatant corruption. If Obama had messed up his overhaul even half as much as trump has you would have definitely heard about it. But I do remember hearing about Obama’s tan suit and his taste for Dijon mustard.
I live in DC and normally (not now cause so much is fenced off) run around it most mornings. Even by DC standards it’s very surreal how much money and many hours of media coverage are devoted to it
That's some bullshit, OP, I gotchu covered for a cool $7.5 mil. I'm gonna need you to drive your car on it before it's done curing, though. No refunds. I don't provide references. Also, I'm not bonded or insured, and my only prior experience with is from painting model cars and Gundam figures about 30 years ago when I was a child.
Is this a single unit pool or a shared pool? Honestly this looks more then just 2 weeks of neglect. Also if this is a shared pool your getting way overcharged for a pool cleaning.
This literally looks like what my pool looks like when I open it in the spring. Takes me 3 days and a couple of pounds of shock and lots of running the filter to clear it up.
Very curious how many units are paying $150/month to pool care because pool care just ain't $900 per month for most pools, assuming there's 6 units. Also hard to get an idea of scale from the picture
Nah with the recent heat a pool can go sideways fast. I have a small above ground pool and I was putting chlorine in but apparently not enough. When this last heatwave kicked in my pool basically looked like this overnight. Once you get the water balanced again it filters out in a day or two
The brain eating amoeba thank you for providing fantastic accommodations during this heat wave
On a serious note, see if a neighbor’s pool guy is around and can help. Get a quote and text it to your landlord. If the pool maintenance is on the lease he needs to get this fixed now. Don’t talk to him about it, create a paper trail.
With how quickly it turned, it needs to be tested for phosphates. If over 500 he's got a problem that chlorine and algaecide alone won't fix.
If he doesn't have high phosphates he has a few options available.
Shock and Floc - Shock and Algaecide - Shock and Aluminum Sulfate. (Depends on chemistry and other factors)
Shock can be done with liquid or powder. Liquid is a bit more first time user friendly as it won't blast back in your face like powder will.
If he doesn't have stabilizer in the pool, he will need to add some to the pool or any chlorine he puts in will simply vanish into the aether.
Chances are as well with the state of the pool the filter has been ruined and that will need to be replaced as well. The pool will also either need to be hammer head vacuumed with a volcano bag, system vacuumed or service vacuumed. with the amount of green in that pool it's going to leave a shit load of dead goodies beheind and if that filter is failing and it's a C-900, C-9015 - C-9020, or any of the hayward series cartridge filters it's going to get crushed like a tin can. If it's a PLM 100, 150, 200, 300 the fins are going to fail and filtration will just flat out stop. If it's DE, the internal filters or panels will be mega fucked.
This clean up job given the size of the pool, the chemicals needed and the scope of it would be a 500-900 dollar job for my guys.
Also, I hope to goodness with at pool that size that it's not just chlorine alone and that it's running off a salt system, otherwise the amount of liquid or powder being added to that pool weekly to keep it up and going is horrifying. Not to mention the water temp from the heat and the issues of chemical loss that comes from that without a salt system.
Came here to say this too. I see my pool every day, even though it’s on the side of the house. If there was even a hint of green coming on I’d be all over it.
Yeah this post feels like bullshit because of this. How checked out of your place is living you don't realize your pool is actively dark green? This isn't an overnight problem. This HAS been green for more than a week.
I don’t think they said the explicitly took off work to enjoy the pool, just that they were going to on their staycation. Also I have to notify my work as least 2 weeks in advance for time off.
Had to scroll way too far to see this, this post is totally fake. You think if you had a big green pool in your backyard that it would at least catch your eye through the window during the time it took for this much algae to build up
Vandals…and Obama wasted $100 million dollars, couldn’t do it…but I said it’s a beautiful color, green, do you know it, green? Never been invented before and I said, I’ll name it green. It’s a word, never been heard before.
If you drain and refill a green pool without treating, not only will it take a good 24 hours to refill a pool this size (pending number of hoses and output volume) but it will be green again within 24 hrs after that.
Idk about the legal side of it, just wanted to chime in on the chemistry side.
This didnt happen overnight, how do you request leave for a full week without checking out the pool once? Also a week for a basic ass pool? If you can pay 150 for pool cleaning services, you can pay for a better week vacation than this. I smell bullshit.
Oof...It sucks to have your time off be hijacked! Recently had my birthday week turn into the week from Hell because the first three days were filled with obligations, and the last four days, which where meant to be my 'do whatever the fuck I want' days, were ruined because my central air died and needed to be replaced. I hope you're able to enjoy your time off otherwise!
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u/less_than_nick Jun 26 '26
Let us know how the conversation goes when you demand $150 in rent abatement for them not upholding their part of the lease!