Landlords are awful people, and I don't feel safe. (apartment, disclosure, tenant)
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I live in Illinois, to start. I have lived here for about eight months. Always pay rent on time, and cause NO problems what so ever. I have five children, so obviously, no wild parties, or loud late nights. My children are for the most part well behaved and quiet when in the house, and reserve their rowdy behavior for outdoor play time. The upstairs tenants and I got along very well, and were friends, bbq-ing together, and talking frequently. At the end of June, the tenant upstairs had a window, that was put in the frame backwards, (the landlords were well aware of this.) and did not have the glass sealed into the frame fall on her, causing sever injuries and forcing her to have surgery. Subsequently, she had medical bills she could not afford as her insurance only covered part, and lost her job at an animal shelter because of this. She did the logical thing, and sued them, since it was caused by their negligence. The landlords insurance agent even agreed when he came to DISPUTE the claims! Afterward the neighbor re-signed a one year lease, which I witnessed, because she had nowhere else to go. This is when things went downhill.
September 27, 2010, early in the morning the husband of our landlord pair attempted to run down the boyfriend of our upstairs neighbor pair. There were three witnesses to this, and we live in a small town. The police officer did nothing, and lied, saying he would file a report, and did not, when it was requested several times. He is friends with the landlord.
Then the landlord wife sent a TEXT MESSAGE to the upstairs tenant demanding that they leave by the end of the weekend. This incident happened on a Saturday. The landlord was informed that was not a legal eviction, and showed up with a proper notice the next day. The landlord was also claiming they were on a month to month lease, and that the re-signing never occurred. (She had promised several times to give the girl a copy, but did not, so fault falls to upstairs tenant for not making sure to have a copy, it was her first apt. She was very young, and naive.) Making this part of a very long story short, The upstairs tenants left, choosing not to fight, and had to make an out of state move to stay with relatives.
Now I am the only tenant in the two flat. The landlords became unhappy with me when my kids were turning up sick, and I lead tested the house, and found it full of lead based paint, and pipes. They gave me no lead disclosure, no protect your family from lead brochure, NOTHING when I viewed the apartment, or when I moved in. I asked them to fix the chipping paint, which they want to do by painting over it. I insisted they have a professional do the work. (Usually their drunk friends do it, they husband is also a drunk and shows up to take care of maintainence issues drunk.) She would not answer me and only wanted to communicate via text. Once the upstairs tenants were gone, she began speaking to me again, and I keep trying to amicably come to an arrangement. She apparently has no idea the upstairs tenant and I were friends as she sited the reason for the eviction that I complained about the upstairs tenant, untrue, and then tried to say the upstairs tenant blamed my children for breaking the screen door. The upstairs tenant laughed out loud when I spoke to her and told her this, that was also my reaction when I heard it. They are liars, cheapskates, and also not above attempted vehicular manslaughter.
She is demanding that no one be home when she comes to do the re-painting, even though no scraping and such is being done. I do not trust these people at all. I want to be present for all repairs to make sure they don't try to pull a fast one or do something that could result in harm to myself or my children. I have no money to move again, this is the only place in my area that I can afford, and I have no family that can take us in. Also, the husband is a creep. He constantly makes threats, and is upstair renovating the upstairs apartment, with no permit, in a LEAD INFESTED HOUSE without a certified contractor. What should I do, as I am in no position to move?
Last edited by Infa-red; 10-21-2010 at 04:09 PM..
Reason: Trying to fix formatting
Could you please edit your post to include paragraphs, or double space it?
I only got about an 1/8th of the way in, and couldnt read anymore.
Will try to help if we can read it!
I would definitely talk to a lawyer, but I would also guess that someone like a city health inspector or building inspector should be able to help you to. If it were me, I would call the city (or the health department) and ask them who you should talk to about a rental property with a lead problem. They might actually be a good (and free) resource.
***Just a correction as I cannot get to the edit button again. The incident with running down my neighbor, occurred in the early morning hours of September 25, 2010.
Also, I sure would get a hold of any renters statutes in Il to find out about them asking you to leave the premises to paint, and also I would find out about disclosure of lead paint in your county.
I have not read the op. Just the title... When speaking in generalities you may have a point, and a personal grievence; however, you should try being a landlord. For the most part, landlords have no individual property rights. For the most part, tenants don't care about the property, don't pay promptly, commit crimes, and misbehave. Tenants are often terribly uneducated, but know all about rental rights laws. Now, when a good tenant comes along, they are doubted automatically because of the sterotypes that are often far more populous than not. If you are a good tenant fight with those who pull you down. Like shoplifters, your rents go up, or you are mistreated because of the behavior of others who are not reported. Sad..
I have not read the op. Just the title... When speaking in generalities you may have a point, and a personal grievence; however, you should try being a landlord. For the most part, landlords have no individual property rights. For the most part, tenants don't care about the property, don't pay promptly, commit crimes, and misbehave. Tenants are often terribly uneducated, but know all about rental rights laws. Now, when a good tenant comes along, they are doubted automatically because of the sterotypes that are often far more populous than not. If you are a good tenant fight with those who pull you down. Like shoplifters, your rents go up, or you are mistreated because of the behavior of others who are not reported. Sad..
Maybe you should have read the OP before going on your rent. I don't know about you but if I were in the OP situation I would be fighting with the landlord who is trying to run over his with his car(!) hiding dangerous chemicals from tenants while thier health suffers.
With all due respect then you are an idiot who shouldn't be responding, particularly when this thread only has a few posts.
To the OP, I read your post earlier tonight but didn't have the time to respond. You should contact your local health department if you believe you have an issue. A landlord is required in almost every jurisdiction to provide a habitable environment and "habitability" is pretty much spelled out in the majority of state laws where landlords and tenants are concerned.
Lead paint is almost unheard of these days. You say that, "I lead tested the house, and found it full of lead based paint, and pipes." How did you do that testing? If you hired an independent and licensed contractor familiar with lead paint issues and you have a written report attesting to the fact that the paint is indeed lead-based then you might have cause to seek redress. Hie thee to your local health Department - what are you waiting for?
With all due respect I think there's more here than meets the eye. Having five children as a single Mom must be very difficult.
First, Thank you to all who have responded. I should add. I did at home lead testing with my father, they were swab tests for leach-able lead only. Here is the sad sticking point I have come to. My kids blood lead tests, through the health dept. While elevated were not at "high enough" levels for either the state or the county health dept. to step in and get involved, even though they have gone up since they were tested a year ago, before we lived here for their school. My children would have to be at a blood lead level of 10mg/dL which is considered toxic/poisoned to do ANYTHING. The same goes for finding an attorney with whom to begin a case against them. The EPA will take action for them only not giving me a disclosure/safety packet. So essentially all they have to do is paint over the chipping areas. So they are allowed to poison my kids, and I can't do anything until its HAPPENED! My daughter is up to 5mg/dL and she is 3, I am terrified for her, and for my 7mo. old who is just starting to move around on her own.
I will look into the lead pipe links, thank you for those, I don't think I have found them yet! =D
I am not exactly a single mom, I do have a S.O. who is helping me deal with all of this, I just got out of an abusive relationship, to the chagrin of my whole family apparently, in April of 2009. Long unrelated stupid story. But I don't have much money, and moving is out of the question at the moment. I don't have anywhere else to go. I just want to know what I should do to make the health dept. stand up and take notice, NO BLOOD LEAD LEVEL IS SAFE IN CHILDREN! Come ON! I have been making phone calls, and emailing etc. all the time, they are likely beginning to hate me, but my kids health is on the line. I just wish I could find a suitable place to move in the same low price range. GRRR...Sorry for the rant. Thanks for all the responses though! =D
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