Violation of Contract by Property Manager – Providencia

I hope that you can understand my English. I am a North American living and working in Chile. I request your professional assistance.

Brief Description:

Myself, my partner Ximena and her daughter entered han agreement vía a property agency (a service provider for the owner, a 91 year old man). Our rental agreement was for a ‘functional’ 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom top floor duplex (2 pisos) in a older apartment building (35 years old) located in Providencia. We started to live in this duplex on June 20,2015.

After one month, we began to discover many problems with the duplex, and the property agency did NOT take any proactive action to resolve the problems. Here are the problems in a precise form:

* 75% less water pressure exclusively in our apartment beginning end of July, early August. When we moved on June 21 in the water pressure was 100% perfect and good (note: we were out of Santiago. From July 10 to July 25).
* Old Calefont malfunctioning (dangerous). There are 2 calefonts (one old, one new). Inspection calls for new calefont to replace the old, as it is improper.
* Gas inspection (certified hizo 9000) informed us that installation of new calefont was not properly installed and we have a very small leak (dangerous).
* Electricity cuts out, some sockets not secure (dangerous).
* Internal speaker/phone from apartment to the lobby front desk, security not working (one works 50% of the time, the other broke after the first week, and only worked 20% of the time).
* Invoices (facturas) for water, gas, electric (in the owners name) were sent to us without knowledge that over 50% of the charges were debts from the previous renters.
* Small bug infestation in the main bathroom, possibly wood bugs.
* problems with kitchen cabinets, doors, Windows that cannot open or close due to broken parts and / or very cheap attempts to ‘patch’ problems and not fix.
* We were told by the property agency the cold water was included in the common expenses, and it is not.
* We were told by the property agency that the rental amount monthly was a fixed amount ($550.000 CLP monthly) and the invoice is based on the UF adjusted amount, which has increased $8.000 CLP monthly since June 20,2015.
* I have visited the office of the property manager to insist on action and to coem to a solution. The visit is always a promise to fix it, but the promise is always broken with no result.

The biggest problems are:
1. Lost significant water pressure (over 75%) for a period of over 12 weeks.
2. Electric problems with the circuits.
3. Gas and calefont problems.

Formally, I want to make demand for indemnity and compensation from the property agency (service provider) and / or owner for negligence and improper business practices.

More important, I demand the apartment problems are solved, so we can stay in the duplex, as the location is perfect, and want to stay in our rights to stay with the conditions that were PROMISED by the property agency when we signed the contract. In other words want to legally force the property agency (service provider) and / or the owner to make the necessary promises to provide us with that original expectation of our original agreements. If this does not agree, then we will look and search to live in a new location, BUT ONLY if the property agency pays for everything to make that transition possible. We demand this and a more expensive secondary selection.

Essentials:

1. The service provider is behaving as if we are responsible for these problems. This is extremely indignant of him. The facts are very clear and documented by us that ALL the problems listed in this letter are true and they are the full responsibility of the property agency (service provider) and / or owner. In essence, my family and I are victims of a violation of agreements. We moved into a NON-FUNCTIONING apartment without proper due diligence or proper inspection to fix problems that are related to the past.

2. We demand indemnity compensation for all the time and hours lost, the 2 bathrooms not working for over 12 weeks, and all debts that are not ours. We spent over 40 hours trying to solve these problems. We took time from work to meet with gasfiters, inspectors, the property agency at their office, etc. My rate for private consulting (opportunity cost for one hour served) is charge between $30.000 CLP to $60.000 CLP depending on the work. The 2 bathrooms not functioning equate to $5.000 CLP per day per bathroom. All debts from previous persons that do not have any consideration with my family or me must be retracted with a formal apology for all negligence.

Thank you for taking time to review my claim. If you sense that we can demand for other matters not included), I welcome your professional thoughts. This will be the first time ever in my entire lifetime that I am willing to demand legally compensation and indemnity from someone. In my good conscience, this case is a definition of when justice should be put in front of ignorance and persons who should not be permitted to engage in such business practices without the proper and diligence necessary.

I really hope you contact me.

Steve T.