My landlord isn't the smartest cookie in the jar. However, she seems to think she is, and she also seems to think that I'm stupid. I can honestly say, and not without a little pride, and even a little bit of gloating at her expense: I'm smarter than she is. But I like to let her believe she has the upper hand. Let me get into it a bit further.

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The New Rental Agreement

Let me start off by telling you the things I'm grateful for. It's not all bad.
I was quite happy when we could move here when we had nowhere else to go. It was a blessing at the time. But blessings come and go, and even though I am still quite happy with the place we're in, a lot has changed.
One of those things is that my landlord is extremely cheap. And by extremely cheap, I mean EXTREMELY cheap. Let me explain: for instance, we had a crazy leak. I mean water literally running down the ceiling onto the stairs...When I told her about this, she told me that it is MY responsibility to have the roof taken care of, and have someone come to put this impermeable stuff on it to keep water from seeping through the roof, the ceiling, and eventually our stairs...
I disagree. It's HER house, and if SHE doesn't maintain it, there's no way in hell she can put that on me...

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There's one slight issue with that, and that's that she will eventually have people take care of the issue, but they will half-ass it in a way that it only solves the issue for a few months at best...
Then it's back to square one.
It's not the only thing I bumped heads with her about. It's a lot of little things combined.
So I've decided to just bite the bullet, and take care of it. But then the little vindictive part of me comes out, and I already have in the back of my mind that SHE will NOT profit from anything I get fixed...So the water pump I bought and had installed, will be coming with me when I leave here.
I saved the old pump, so she'll get that back the way it was when I started getting issues with it.

The pool pump I purchased? Yeah, I'll be selling that thing. No way in hell that's going to stay here. And so on. It's funny, because my old neighbor gave me a bunch of her things and made me pinky-swear that I wouldn't let her have it if I ever were to move...Her literal words: "I'd rather have you set it on fire, than give any of it to her..." So yeah, I'm not the only one feeling the same things about the woman.

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But yesterday was the cream of the crop of all insults, and all I can do is laugh about it, because I know she'll be kicking herself, not me.
We had to go to Cancun to sign the new rental agreement at the notary office. It was overdue since the 1st of March.
She messaged me the day before telling me she could give me a ride to Cancun, but I'd have to be at the highway at 3.30 pm, because we had an appointment at 5 pm, and with traffic...bla bla...
My daughter was joining me. Anyway, at 2.30 pm she sends me a message telling me to meet her at the highway at 3.45 pm. Fine. So we made our way to the highway at 3.30 pm. Halfway to the highway, I received another message that she'd be '10 minutes late, and would see me at 4 pm'.
10 minutes late in my book is 3.55, not 4 pm, but hey, this is Mexico...
At 3.58 she sends me a message that she's on her way...In Mexican time keeping, this means: 'I'm still at my house and ready to get into my car and leave.'

So yeah, we waited in the blistering Mexican heat for more than 30 minutes, no shelter, nothing...
She arrived at 4.25 pm...No apologies, nothing. My mood had already changed from being "OK" to being not so OK anymore. Pretty pissed to be honest. She's Mexican, she knows how unforgiving the sun can be...The remark: "Wooh, it's HOT!" didn't help either.

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So as I got my sweaty self onto her leather seats, she started: "I included a clause in this contract." Raising an eye brow, I nodded..."Yeah, so the pool is your responsibility." she continues. I knew this. It's an agreement we have. I pay a little less rent, but take on the HUGE responsibility of taking care of the pool. I'm fine with it, because it means there's no strange pool cleaners entering the back yard willy nilly...
But this wasn't all. The clause: "If the pool is not at the highest standard, I will charge you a fine." I nodded again, and in my mind I was thinking: "Yeah, let's see if you can implement that, because there's NO way in HELL that I'll pay you anything if you decide the pool is not to your standards..."
She continued: "Because I am renting out the other house, like, next month or so, so the pool needs to be perfect." (read: I will charge the new tenants for a job that you're doing).

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The funny thing is, later on in the office, she tells me she's going to call the water company to have the water disconnected on the other house. Now, why would you do that if you're going to rent it out next month? 🤔 Because she's lying. That's why.
Furthermore, I had asked her if she was going to raise the rent. She was, by 500 pesos (US$25).
After this, I asked her if we could do a two-year contract...Yeah, fine she says, but she'd have to raise the rent again, and it wouldn't be by 500 next year, but 1500...
Now, that's where I call her a dumbass...
In my humble view, a two year contract is to keep the price at the same level for those two years.
Not to increase it again next year.
So I thanked her and told her 1 year it is...
The dumbass move on her end is that now I know what her plans are, so I have more than enough time to move elsewhere before the year is up...
And I'll have enough time to 'fix' the house to go back to the way she left it for me too.
Dumb, I tell you. But thinking she's smart...

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And here comes the kicker: at the office, she asks me: "So are you moving out after this year?" I tell he: "No, I wasn't planning to." (and I wouldn't tell her if I was) and she goes:
"OK, because I am selling the house, but I can only sell the both at the same time, so I will tell the person who is buying it that they'll have to wait..."
Now, let me ask you: which investor who is buying property, is willing to wait for two more years to do so? The house isn't a gem. It's a total bust if you ask me. There's next to no maintenance done on it, other than what I have done. But the other house...Well, my neighbor moved out October 2023...I haven't seen anyone come to the house to do any maintenance on it since.
It's laughable at best. And another lie she thinks I'm falling for. And another thing: she can't just sell the house without offering it to me first. They're actually quite strict about that here.

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So while it may sound like a lot of bullshit, and a bad situation to be in, I can only laugh.
Because I had already been thinking of finding something else. She just pushed me to actively search for something. Maybe here, or another state. But either way: after this contract ends, we're out of here. Maybe even before. And I'll make sure she won't benefit from the work I've done here. I'm mean like that. But I have 9 months now for all of the above.
The salary boost gives me more options now. I don't have to take her shit anymore. I can actually do things on my terms now. It's quite nice to have that option.