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I Posted a couple weeks ago reguarding suing my landlord over an illegal apartment. I know I can't get my rent back, but since then I've had an Inspector come and he's confirmed that it is an illegal apartment and we dont have to pay any more rent, and that we can stay if we wanted until eviction.
This morning on our door the Landlord Has left a notice for Eviction on the 14th, and she is also sueing for 'unpaid rent' for December and this month. We had an agreement before we found out it was illegal that shed use the Security as decembers rent, so shes trying to get more money out of us I guess.We are leaving because she refused to treat us like tenants and did not care if we were unhappy there. Little does she know Shell get nothing because her apartment is Illegal.
Anyways, My boyfriend and I are looking to counter sue. Shes made our lives Hell for the past 3 months and we want to bring it to attention and perhaps get some kind of compensation for our troubles. I am just going to make a list of everything and i guess if anyone has any suggestions that can help us with a counter sue, it'd be appreciated. Sorry the post is so long.
- She refused to let us have our own mailbox as she thought it would ' make the mailman mad'. I have not received any mail in 3 months. My packages have been tracked as ' Notice Left' and I never receieved any notices nor did I ever receieve my items.
- She told us she had 1 grandson and he lived in the basement so he wouldnt be a problem, and shortly after her Fiance moved in with his kids, and there is constant screaming, banging which makes the floor shake, and Loud blasting music which goes on up to 3 am sometimes ALL day, and immediately at 7 in the morning the next day, causing us to lose sleep.
- Whenever we've called her to ask her to stop making so much noise, shes been very rude and refused to do anything about it, saying it's her house, and we 'know theres kids' or ' if you have a problem with it then put in your 30 day notice' but they are constantly banging on our ceiling at us when our cats or ourselves walk, and we can never have people over without them banging.
- She refused to give us a receipt for our rent in November , and she withheld my mail before i stopped getting it completely, forcing us to open it infront of her to prove what it was because it had my mothers name on it and not mine. ( it was car insurance) And said that she was going to return all of my mail to the sender. After that I never got any mail as i said.
- She is constantly screaming and yelling , slamming doors. We can hear her complaining about us through the floors, calling us names, and she frequently called us names and complained about us in the backyard which we can plainly hear. She also sat around and badmouthed us with her family after we had any contact with them.
- The Toilet ran in the bathroom and the Kitchen sink had no hot water for the first month we were there and we had to ask her many times to fix it. She finally had someone come and look at it because she had a leak in her bathroom and throught it was coming from our apartment. After that, the kitchen sink leaked, ruined our food and we had to ruin our towels and bowls catching the water, and it took another month for them to fix that leak. It rotted out the wood under the sink.
- They shut off our heat in december almost every night and half of the day, and the windows had No insulation and the cold air would blow through like a breeze. It was really cold all the time, and I was frequently sick every morning from the cold air blowing in on me.
- She told me that I couldnt have my mother visit me when I hadnt seen her in 6 months.
-Near the middle of Decemeber up until now they've been banging on our door almost every day, waking us up in the morning and calling my boyfriends phone constantly when we already said all we needed to say and told her there was nothing else to be said.
-Her fiance Opened up the locked door to our apartment and Yelled ' HELLO ' before slamming the door because I wouldnt open it, my boyfriend was at work and they only have been in contact with him. His car wasnt there, so they knew he wasnt home. I am constantly nervous that theyre going to open the door while i am there by myself. Our landlord should not be having anyone else but herself talking to us about our issues in the first place.
-Landlords fiance pulled his car right infront of our car when we were going somewhere so we couldnt leave, and stepped out of the car telling us 'dont go no where' while the landlord sat in the passenger and watched. We felt threatened and left.
-Landlords Son in law blocked my boyfriend between his car and our door and told my boyfriend ' bad things will happen' if we dont leave soon as he was coming home from work one night. We heard them making jokes about us through the floor, talking about how they should sick their dog on him and just go in and take our things out.
All in All weve just been very stressed out and unhappy there, my boyfriend has lost so much sleep that hes late for work and gets in trouble, hes very sluggish and irritable from it. We havent wanted to leave or go out because we dont want them bothering us. The season has made it hard to find somewhere new to go to , and things are just really hard right now. The list makes these things seem trivial but its been really tiring. We've done all we can, gone to the police, gone to the post office, went to the town. Just need advice now.
We have Court the 14th, if anyone has any advice, please help us out.
Well, I don't know where to start but....all I know is if it were me, I would change the locks as a start. And I would have not only my mother visiting the apartment, but every single friend of mine at the most inconvenient time of day. Oh, and i'd be making some noise of my own. I wouldn't leave until the Sheriff department came to evict me (which will take a few months), all the while not paying her a dime. I'd be a tick that she just couldn't get rid of.
....and the mail, i'd have it forwarded to my mothers house.
If she turned the heat off, i'd simply plug in an electric heater and rack up her bill to stay warm.
Well, I don't know where to start but....all I know is if it were me, I would change the locks as a start. And I would have not only my mother visiting the apartment, but every single friend of mine at the most inconvenient time of day. Oh, and i'd be making some noise of my own. I wouldn't leave until the Sheriff department came to evict me (which will take a few months), all the while not paying her a dime. I'd be a tick that she just couldn't get rid of.
....and the mail, i'd have it forwarded to my mothers house.
If she turned the heat off, i'd simply plug in an electric heater and rack up her bill to stay warm.
Well , what can i add . As a former Property Mgr. Legal or not when you go to court the judge is only going to be concerned as to wheather or not you paid the rent . you Did sign a rental contract? I am assuming that she is doing an unlawful detainer action . An action he/she can take with or without a contract . anything else will be a civil matter that he can't and will not discuss at that time . so the land lord will get a judgement against you which will hurt you in the future when you try to rent another place . if you are looking for some advice then this would be it . Move as soon as possisable ,better before the court date, that way you will allready have gotten into your new apartment. The sheriff will only get the same orders from the court , with the complacitions that I stated. Not being a legal rental only hampers you in making them comply with city codes , which will mean you can't live there anyway's. sorry wish a could give better help but thats the fact's .
man i woulda lost my damn mind and probly woulda started destroying things, or the landlord himself. or u could mistakenly burn the house down, the landlord wont get anything from insurance if they find out there was an illegal apartment. 2 wrongs dont make a right, but scumbags need to be dealt with accordingly.
Your landlord CANNOT GET A DIME IN RENT IF THE APARTMENT IS ILLEGAL. Period. End of story. When you go to court with this slumlord, make sure to write up papers of your own, stating that the apartment is illegal and, therefore, she is not entitled to a penny in rent.
I don't know how much you know about drafting legal papers, but it's not that difficult for you to do. However, you MUST answer each and every one of the claims in her papers AND make a separate section for your counterclaims.
You're probably not going to get any money for the problems she's caused you, but it will put her on the defensive. In the meantime, take video, photos, and record the screaming banging and blasting music and bring that to court.
Oh, and while I don't agree with TeamExit's idea of burning the house down, I might "trip" over her uneven walkway or over some trash she left outside and sue the pants off her..... Don't know if you'll get anything, but her insurance will drop her like a hot potato once they find out her single family dwelling is being used as a multi-family dwelling. And let's not forget about our friends at the IRS and NYS Taxation and Finance.... I'm sure they would LOVE to know all about her!
so the land lord will get a judgement against you which will hurt you in the future when you try to rent another place . .
The slumlord will ONLY get a judgement of possession..... meaning, she will have to move. In this instance, the slumlord CANNOT get a judgement for any back rent at all since the apartment is completely illegal.
Breach of warranty of habitability. Illegal apartment is not fit to be inhabited per NY State law.
Failure to provide adequate heat Nov-April
Breaking and entering (opening the door)
Breach of your quiet enjoyment (no visitors)
Mail tampering (opening or otherwise withholding your mail)
Harrassment (blocking you in and intimidating you, banging on the door for no reason etc)
As for the whole "**** the mailman off"? NO. She didn't want anyone to know she was renting out an illegal apartment.
Make sure you have copies of everything you've reported (town, police, mail etc) and make sure you have the notice from the town stating it is an illegal apartment.
oh, and get out NOW. Find somewhere else. Don't still be in the apartment on the 14ht but still show up to court. An eviction will hurt you in the long run, illegal apartment or not.
When you go to court, stick to the main points (like they turned the heat off on you in December) without being whiny (like they won't care she had her grandson and 40 other people living down stairs). Be polite and hold your tongue. If you have to write out what you want to say and have others read it.
The judge will care about the legal issues (no heat, stealing mail) not about the 'minor' things (like noise from others etc)
The slumlord will ONLY get a judgement of possession..... meaning, she will have to move. In this instance, the slumlord CANNOT get a judgement for any back rent at all since the apartment is completely illegal.
But it still shows as an eviction in public records and could hinder the ability to get a future apartment.
But it still shows as an eviction in public records and could hinder the ability to get a future apartment.
She would be best to move out before the court date, anyway. You can believe this slumlord is going to harass her to the ends of the earth and make her life even more miserable than she is now!
She should find a new apt, move her stuff little by little, and keep possession of this apt until right before the court date (a day or two). Then, when she goes to court, she can tell the judge she's already vacated the apartment and explain the illegality of the apt.
The slumlord won't get a penny and possession would be a moot point since she's already out. In the meantime, the slumlord will have said UNDER OATH that she was renting out an illegal apartment and collecting rent on it (yes, she's already done so in the papers, but to have her verbalize it in a court of law is another story)
So when we go to court on the 14th, well have Eviction on our records? Or do we have to move out by a certain date or else well get it on our records? I dont want my record tarnished...
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