Is it legal to send a NON Threatening Anonymous Letter? (renters, HOA)

[Annemieke Roell]

Also the fact that a wealthy neurologist is also getting section 8 subsidy for a house that couldnt sell so they are letting it destroy the market value of the neighborhood to line their own pockets. The wealthy staying wealthy, using the tax dollars for their own gain in this economy is a very strong story in these days.

How is the landlord's position and financial situation relevant? Why couldn't he/she rent to Section 8? HE/SHE isn't profiting from that because the house could be rented out to naybody on the open market. It is the tenants who are the recipients of the Section 8.

Furthermore, I seriously doubt a letter to the landlord is going to do any good, based on what the OP wrote.

I would go after the HOA and force them to enforce the rules.

[Owl]

Hmmmm.... I doubt if the landlords would care at all about your letters--or anyone else's complaints--UNLESS legal action that was forced upon them, that would cost them $$$$$ and put a major crimp in their illegal activities, was initiated.

The thing I'm guessing is that where there is any illegal activity taking place ($100 fees paid under-the-table) and that SAHA knows about this, there may be MORE illegal kickbacks related to SAHA's dealings with this couple of bums.

I'd call up the San Antonio Express News and find out the name of an investigative reporter who handles governmental corruption, and give that person the details. The reporter might want to take this on. Offer it to the reporter first, as an exclusive, before giving it to the electronic media. This may give the paper more incentive, and the story can be an ongoing article, even a feature article, that could be picked up by other news channels.

If this doesn't work, or along with your other efforts, write to someone in government in Austin who oversees such corrupt practices. Copy all kinds of people to what's going on, so that anyone who shirks their responsibility will be included in whatever comes to pass.

True story of dealing with such types of people:

My husband decided to build a kit car that would go on a VW chassis, purchased from an outfit in Michigan. He paid cash, as that's the only way the company would deliver the boxes of components. As he later found, while working on the car, there were packets of specialized screws missing. He called and wrote to the company several times, asking to be furnished with the missing pieces, was ignored, finally got fed up, hired an attorney, and sued them.

The attorney on the company's side never bothered to come to court on the appointed date. My husband was awarded treble damages. Even then the company (which was out of state, but doing business in the state we lived in) would not pay.

After many attempts to collect, our attorney turned it over the court system in the other state. The marshall's office nabbed the head of the company, put a lock on all the company's assets, bank accounts, etc., threw the owner into jail, completely locked down the company, kept all employees out, of course; and, in order to satisfy the original judgment, my husband somehow became the owner of the company. What was even more amusing was that the IRS were hot on the heels of the company's owner, but my husband's action beat them, so they became second in line to be paid.

The owner finally had to issue a certified check to my husband to cover the amount owed per the law suit, which was treble damages, in order to be released from jail.

This really happened. The point: This all came to pass, not because my husband was so tough and crafty, but because the courts don't like having their rulings dismissed by jerks who think they can play any system to their advantage.

It made me furious to read about those people, and their arrogance, so I really hope you continue on your quest to nail those scumbags.

[spamatdan]

Originally Posted by Owl

Hmmmm.... I doubt if the landlords would care at all about your letters--or anyone else's complaints--UNLESS legal action that was forced upon them, that would cost them $$$$$ and put a major crimp in their illegal activities, was initiated.

The thing I'm guessing is that where there is any illegal activity taking place ($100 fees paid under-the-table) and that SAHA knows about this, there may be MORE illegal kickbacks related to SAHA's dealings with this couple of bums.

I'd call up the San Antonio Express News and find out the name of an investigative reporter who handles governmental corruption, and give that person the details. The reporter might want to take this on. Offer it to the reporter first, as an exclusive, before giving it to the electronic media. This may give the paper more incentive, and the story can be an ongoing article, even a feature article, that could be picked up by other news channels.

If this doesn't work, or along with your other efforts, write to someone in government in Austin who oversees such corrupt practices. Copy all kinds of people to what's going on, so that anyone who shirks their responsibility will be included in whatever comes to pass.

True story of dealing with such types of people:

My husband decided to build a kit car that would go on a VW chassis, purchased from an outfit in Michigan. He paid cash, as that's the only way the company would deliver the boxes of components. As he later found, while working on the car, there were packets of specialized screws missing. He called and wrote to the company several times, asking to be furnished with the missing pieces, was ignored, finally got fed up, hired an attorney, and sued them.

The attorney on the company's side never bothered to come to court on the appointed date. My husband was awarded treble damages. Even then the company (which was out of state, but doing business in the state we lived in) would not pay.

After many attempts to collect, our attorney turned it over the court system in the other state. The marshall's office nabbed the head of the company, put a lock on all the company's assets, bank accounts, etc., threw the owner into jail, completely locked down the company, kept all employees out, of course; and, in order to satisfy the original judgment, my husband somehow became the owner of the company. What was even more amusing was that the IRS were hot on the heels of the company's owner, but my husband's action beat them, so they became second in line to be paid.

The owner finally had to issue a certified check to my husband to cover the amount owed per the law suit, which was treble damages, in order to be released from jail.

This really happened. The point: This all came to pass, not because my husband was so tough and crafty, but because the courts don't like having their rulings dismissed by jerks who think they can play any system to their advantage.

It made me furious to read about those people, and their arrogance, so I really hope you continue on your quest to nail those scumbags.

Holy Cow!!! Great story on how to obtain justice! I cannot wait to hear more!

[rd2007]

That was a great story Owl. I love to see the little guy win and justice was definitely served. I hope the best for the OP here and I think this could get interesting. We haven't had a good corruption story in a few weeks.

[scuba steve]

Yeah, I wait for the story of pwning the landlord. Both them and the tenants sound like real lowlifes.

[guerosincero]

In addition to exploring the angles already suggested, since a state governmental entity is involved (SAHA) you should consider doing an open records request to them under the Texas Open Records Act (the Act may be called something else now), and perhaps a Federal Freedom of Information Act request to HUD, which I am assuming is the federal government agency that oversees Section 8 housing.

The information you would want to request based on my reading of your issue would be whatever documents the agency has on this particular slumlord and perhaps the agencies' inter-departmental memos regarding their policing of under the table payments. Be creative. The point is to get the governmental agency to tell you what the hell they do with complaints about non-compliant landlords in general and this one in particular. If you call SAHA and HUD up, they should be able to give you the instructions or direct you on line on how to make requests.

Since governmental entities are required under law to release information in response to open records requests or explain a legal basis to you as to why they won't release information within a fairly short period of time, you have put the governmental entity in the absolute worst position possible: the position of having to do work. Indeed, oftentimes the work required to honor your request or explain why they can't honor your request is more work than if they had just simply done what was expected from them in the first place.

Here's my own success story, there was a lot of bad stuff happening on our block ever since a couple of street lights had gone out (or had been shot out by local delinquents?). Several neighbors had called about getting the lights fixed, but no crew ever came out. So first lesson learned, if your communication to an agency isn't in writing and date-stamped, it is worthless for holding an agency accountable.

So I made a written request over email to CPS to get light fixed. They promised it would get fixed within 4 to 6 weeks.

After 8 weeks passed, I sent an open records request to CPS via email with the re line "How Long Does It Take CPS to Change A Light Bulb". I copied the entire board of directors so they could see what an average customer had put up with just to get a simple request honored. I asked for the last two years' worth of light bulb change requests in my zip code to include records showing how long it took on average to get a light bulb changed. I offered to come down and review the records and copy what I needed.

Wouldn't you know, I got a call from their in-house attorney the next day, who had to play the role of customer service representative. That afternoon, the two street lights were repaired. In return, I dropped my request for records.

So while I can't guarantee results, I can tell you that you would be surprised at how much attention open records requests will get you.

Best of luck.

[DigginHouseVibez]

Originally Posted by Schousse

How is the landlord's position and financial situation relevant? Why couldn't he/she rent to Section 8? HE/SHE isn't profiting from that because the house could be rented out to naybody on the open market. It is the tenants who are the recipients of the Section 8.

Furthermore, I seriously doubt a letter to the landlord is going to do any good, based on what the OP wrote.

I would go after the HOA and force them to enforce the rules.

You must not have read my initial post addressing the fact that they were "swindling" their tenants out of an extra 100.00 per month "under the table" and doing so by making them feel like the homes they lived in were "too nice for them" being on section 8 and threatening to not renew their leases thus forcing them to look for the normal, not so nice, section 8 homes found elsewhere.

[DigginHouseVibez]

Originally Posted by guerosincero

In addition to exploring the angles already suggested, since a state governmental entity is involved (SAHA) you should consider doing an open records request to them under the Texas Open Records Act (the Act may be called something else now), and perhaps a Federal Freedom of Information Act request to HUD, which I am assuming is the federal government agency that oversees Section 8 housing.

We must have been using the same "brainwave". I just did that.
I will contact troubleshooters as soon as I receive everything in writing and we're making plans to rent our home out and leave here within the next two months. I have about six open code compliance violation reports for several of the rental properties that are huge issues and our towing company does ZERO to enforce any of the illegal parking so I'm reporting them as well (to the troubleshooters - since they're paid for a service that NEVER occurs). I'll call them one more time to let them know first. I'm sick of all of it. I do what I"m supposed to but I'm treated like a "nuisance" for expecting others to do their parts (neighbors) or jobs? (the management company, landlords, HOA, etc). Now they're all gonna hate me and I don't care because I won't live here anymore!!!

I'm ready to rent my house out and rent another home elsewhere until I know for SURE that I want to live in that area of town. We're even considering maybe living somewhere fun that we wouldnt necessarily want to settle down but might be something a little different than what we're used to. I can't sell this house right now. . not with the market the way it is and another of our neighbors had to leave town and is now renting out their house so we know that's our only option. Fortunately we purchased this house when the neighborhood was still inexpensive (Funny, we're back to that now!) and our mortgage is not horrible and renting the property out is definitely feasible! We'll even leave the security cameras and system, etc. . . heck maybe I'll rent to section 8! (without asking for money under the table!)

[rd2007]

going after the government agencies that oversee them is a great idea. The one thing the government can do well is lay the smack down on their own employess once they get busted. I'm thinking everyone will sing like birds on the rat

[DigginHouseVibez]

Originally Posted by Owl

Hmmmm.... I doubt if the landlords would care at all about your letters--or anyone else's complaints--UNLESS legal action that was forced upon them, that would cost them $$$$$ and put a major crimp in their illegal activities, was initiated.

The thing I'm guessing is that where there is any illegal activity taking place ($100 fees paid under-the-table) and that SAHA knows about this, there may be MORE illegal kickbacks related to SAHA's dealings with this couple of bums.

I'd call up the San Antonio Express News and find out the name of an investigative reporter who handles governmental corruption, and give that person the details. The reporter might want to take this on. Offer it to the reporter first, as an exclusive, before giving it to the electronic media. This may give the paper more incentive, and the story can be an ongoing article, even a feature article, that could be picked up by other news channels.

If this doesn't work, or along with your other efforts, write to someone in government in Austin who oversees such corrupt practices. Copy all kinds of people to what's going on, so that anyone who shirks their responsibility will be included in whatever comes to pass.

True story of dealing with such types of people:

My husband decided to build a kit car that would go on a VW chassis, purchased from an outfit in Michigan. He paid cash, as that's the only way the company would deliver the boxes of components. As he later found, while working on the car, there were packets of specialized screws missing. He called and wrote to the company several times, asking to be furnished with the missing pieces, was ignored, finally got fed up, hired an attorney, and sued them.

The attorney on the company's side never bothered to come to court on the appointed date. My husband was awarded treble damages. Even then the company (which was out of state, but doing business in the state we lived in) would not pay.

After many attempts to collect, our attorney turned it over the court system in the other state. The marshall's office nabbed the head of the company, put a lock on all the company's assets, bank accounts, etc., threw the owner into jail, completely locked down the company, kept all employees out, of course; and, in order to satisfy the original judgment, my husband somehow became the owner of the company. What was even more amusing was that the IRS were hot on the heels of the company's owner, but my husband's action beat them, so they became second in line to be paid.

The owner finally had to issue a certified check to my husband to cover the amount owed per the law suit, which was treble damages, in order to be released from jail.

This really happened. The point: This all came to pass, not because my husband was so tough and crafty, but because the courts don't like having their rulings dismissed by jerks who think they can play any system to their advantage.

It made me furious to read about those people, and their arrogance, so I really hope you continue on your quest to nail those scumbags.

Oh my gosh! I don't know how I accidentally scrolled past what you posted yesterday but I did and WOW! Same as everyone else I'm very impressed!

We had a MINOR victory yesterday - the neighbors who live in their house and are always parked all over the place had the same thing going on - cars all over the place, loud music and when we'd go outside they'd make "wahh wahh" noises and laugh and point.

I called the towing company's after hours number in the middle of the night. I could tell I woke someone up. I have a security camera running and told them that they were under CONTRACT. I also told them that I had proof via the photos we've taken and the camera tapes running that shows they are STEALING from us by not providing the service they've paid for. I told him that I could prove that yesterday, for more than six hours straight, my street was littered with cars preventing some larger vehicles from getting through and asked him if he wanted me to call troubleshooters.

The car blocking our driveway across the street (partially blocking. . we could have maneuvered around it but why should I have to??? I respect them enough not to do that to them!) - anyway, that car was towed about thirty minutes after I called. One of the girls had a FIT and I was tempted to go outside and yell "wahhhh wahhhh" but I didn't. It was satisfaction enough to see one small feat conquered. If they do it again I'll call again. . . and again and again and I'm keeping my camera running.

The landlord is still getting a letter. Their yard outside had remnants from a barbecue (dirty grill and all) EVERYWHERE and it's gross.