|
Support Center
Home
FAQ
Forums
Tickets
Return to ezLandlordForms
Enter your search term here...
Search
New support ticket
Check ticket status
1-877-367-6771
Start a new topic
Discussions
ezLandlord Questions and Answers
State Landlord-Tenant Law
HELP!!!! What kind of legal rights/options do i have against my slumlord landlord?
J
Jessica B
started a topic
over 7 years ago
A major property management group in numerous states, including mine are corrupt and crooked! Even their attorney, who has only been practicing law for 2 years, is too. As retaliation for calling code enforcement in our city, they have started the eviction process though we have been BEGGING them since the beginning of April to fix the major household issues in our rental property. The house we're renting is a 3br 2ba home that we are renting for $850 a month and it is myself, my husband, my 15 month old (who has down syndrome and health problems), and our newborn who is almost 5 months who reside here. The major leak in the kitchen from a rook leak has yet to be repaired or even looked at. Therefore there is now black mold and mildew growing on the tiles of our ceiling now. THAT alone has caused my son's breathing problems to become worse. I now use his inhaler more than I ever have his whole entire life. Not to mention the wood of the house is swelling so badly that the walls are no longer flush with the window frames, so you can just see the remaining water that isn't coming through the ceiling draining through the walls. And since it has been ignored and neglected there are now tiny black moths laying eggs and hatching and infesting the home. Then, 2 of the 3 bedrooms of our house are now considered uninhabitable by code enforcement (well, on the citation it states that there are NO HABITABLE ROOMS in the household) due to the subterranean termites and drywood termites and the severe damage they have caused the structure of the home. We have photographs and documentation of the damage and the feces from the billions of termites. We have responded to the residential eviction summons, paid the alleged amount of money the landlord claims we owe them (though I sent a legally correct letter stating we were withholding our rent until these things were fixed and/or addressed after paying our rent the last time- so they received it via certified mail 20 days before our next due date for rent). Then to top it off, as retaliation or negligence, neither one of them a viable excuse- they falsely put my husband in another properties eviction at the same time they filed ours with the court clerk. So now, no matter what he has an eviction on his record at an address where we have never resided, nor even met the tenant who lived there until we found out about all this on the online court clerk forum ourselves. What can we do to make sure these scumbags cannot do this to other people? What can we do as pressing charges? Or retrieving compensation for the pain and heartache this has caused us? These falsified documents are now going to effect us and where we can move to in the future, until we can file a motion, go in front of a judge, and get this removed from his record. It may not have my husband on the FINALIZED paperwork, but what landlord is going to INVESTIGATE these things when there are plenty of other people looking for a place to rent? NONE. This has now rendered us in soooo many ways and it is so very very wrong. I have already contacted news groups about it and told them our story. Code enforcement supervisors are now investigating their other properties in the same area, etc. And all of this started with a simple request for an exterminator to get rid of the 2 types of termites that have severely infested the home, and to fix the leak in the kitchen (and simply replace the tiles in the ceiling to rid it of the mold and mildew). But they refused and when I withheld rent, they began to threaten me, told me to leave and they would put an eviction on my record, etc. I documented EVERYTHING from April on up to date as far as maintenance requests, text conversations, emails, photographs of the progression, notified them I was recording when I recorded phone conversations, and so forth. Any advice from the peanut gallery out there??? I am at a complete loss and don't want another family to get harassed and forced to live in these
1 Comment
N
Natalie H
said
about 7 years ago
Hi Jessica, I'm sorry you are going through this. I understand your sense of righteousness in "winning" against the landlords/management company, but if something was affecting my child's breathing, I would take matters into my own hands and "fix" the problem as much as I could then go back and try and get them for costs to repay you. I don't think that you can threaten to withhold rent -no matter how legal sounding it was - but there should be something with a certain amount of days the landlord has to fix issues - or something that says "within a timely manner". Unfortunately it is not your duty to teach the slumlord a lesson, hopefully it'll be a judge or someone, but those a$$holds give us "good guys" a bad name. Good luck
Login
to post a comment
More topics in
State Landlord-Tenant Law
Rent increases
Addendum to Lease regarding utilities
30-day notice on a two month lease.
condo noise
Early termination of lease - Return of Security Deposit
Heat
48 hr notice
24 hr notice of entry
How to defend yourself in civil court against a tenant?
my tenant changed the locks on my property without my permission, did not notify me or give me keys. Is this legal ?
ezLandlord, Inc. 22228 St. Barts Lane Estero, FL 33928
BECOME A MEMBER
-
DOCUMENTS
-
TENANT SCREENING
-
RENT PAYMENT
-
PRICING
-
RESOURCES