Landlord Harassment (apartment complex, rental, eviction)

[Someone in need]

Good morning,


Due to a job loss in 2021 I had to use federal assistance to pay rent in my apartment building. I was several month's in the rear with rental payments. My Landlords management company tried to evict me. I had a date from court for the eviction hearing, thinking the rent has been paid, the management company would withdraw that hearing. They did not and another date in court was send to me. I attended that hearing and found out that the court still believed that I have not taking care of the rent. The judge was surprised when I told him the rent was paid to them in November 2021 and we are in January 2022. The judge ask the management company why we were there and they answered, that they want me to sign a notice to move out by the end of the month. The judge replied that the rent has been paid and is being paid and that he cant do that. I was again dragged into court in March, to move out. Reason given that the management company is afraid that the rent will not be paid again, because I was late (a few day's for last month rent).
I have been living here for 14 years and our building was always very diverse, people got along, it was good. For the last year, several tenants move and some were evicted. All of the apartments that were rented out again, this time to only Brazilian tenants, the management company is run by Brazilian's as well.

I am not a racist, but sadly I have to point out where they are from, because it's part of my problem in this building.

Almost non of the new tenants speak to me, when I said Hi, I just got bad looks. I found out not to long ago from another neighbor that my story is well known in the bldg. She knew of the eviction proceedings that I took money from an organization to pay the rent I owed.
My electricity was constantly turned off, and I had to go to the laundry room to turn it back on, only mine. The building has several people who work for management that also live here. Next door to me and under me. These are all new people, who are so loud, especially next to me, 2 adults a 6 or 7 year old boy and an infant. Hammering at night, having people over late at night and the boy only runs in the apartment and what sounds like him bouncing balls on the walls. Never had electric turning of, my wifi will turn off of will be super slow on a regular basis. I had now 8 flat tires and my apartment door was open when I came home, I mean the door was wide open. I have since brought a security camera. I have a ESA (a dog) and my neighbor under me will take her phone out and record me, but only when I have my dog with me. My neighbor next to me, will hang her clothing on the part that divides our balcony and everyday I find trash on my balcony.
I don't have proof for this only the trash and clothing on my balcony. But I have another court date for this month, I guess for me to get out of here. I want to move so badly but haven't found anything yet. I am so stressed because these things go on on almost a daily basis.
I am a 60 year old Female with MS. Is there anything I can do to make this stop until I move.

[bostongymjunkie]

You may want to check in with these people:
https://www.gbls.org/

[WestieWhitie]

Your landlord isn’t obligated to renew your lease and based on your post they have zero reason to renew your lease.

[Strannik33]

OP, if you missed more than one month of the rent (and perhaps even a single month, depending on the lease terms and state laws), the landlord can surely evict you. The fact that you call this harassment just shows you don't know what real harassment looks like.

It's because I feared dealing with people like you that I decided not to become a landlord.

As for your situation, if you cannot afford the apartment because of job loss, perhaps you could move in with the relatives. That's how it was done in the old times. Nothing new here.

[WestieWhitie]

Originally Posted by Strannik33

OP, if you missed more than one month of the rent (and perhaps even a single month, depending on the lease terms and state laws), the landlord can surely evict you. The fact that you call this harassment just shows you don't know what real harassment looks like.

It's because I feared dealing with people like you that I decided not to become a landlord.

As for your situation, if you cannot afford the apartment because of job loss, perhaps you could move in with the relatives. That's how it was done in the old times. Nothing new here.

I’m in the same boat - planning to upsize and would love to keep the current property but the very real possibility of ending up with an impossible to evict dirtbag thanks to the tenant-skewed housing laws makes me second-guess it.

[Remy11]

Originally Posted by Strannik33

OP, if you missed more than one month of the rent (and perhaps even a single month, depending on the lease terms and state laws), the landlord can surely evict you. The fact that you call this harassment just shows you don't know what real harassment looks like.

It's because I feared dealing with people like you that I decided not to become a landlord.

As for your situation, if you cannot afford the apartment because of job loss, perhaps you could move in with the relatives. That's how it was done in the old times. Nothing new here.

Ditto. A few years ago I inherited a multi-family home from a relative. Luckily, it had been paid off for many years, so I could have lived in one unit, rented the other two, quit my job, and lived comfortably off the two rent checks. However, I heard one too many nightmare stories about tenant-skewed housing laws here in Mass, so I made the tough decision to sell it and move to a single-family home. It's too bad because I could have been living a nice life of leisure with no mortgage and a nice monthly income but I was way too scared to take the landlord plunge.

And you can't always trust the property manager route either. My father's good friends had a second home up in Brunswick, ME. The weren't getting up there as much as they would've liked due to some medical issues the husband was having, so they hired a property manager to collect the rent and keep an eye on things as it was getting rented to mostly Bowdoin College students. They went up one weekend to check on things and the students had completely trashed the place. They ended up having to pay a bundle to fix it back up since the property manager was basically turning up once a month to collect the rent and walking right back out the door.

Mass definitely allows tenants get away with A LOT compared to other states. A friend's sibling was living in Colorado and fell on hard times. Within 48 hours of a single late rent payment, he was getting ordered to pay within 24 hours or the apartment complex was going to change the locks and serve him a court summons.

[WestieWhitie]

Originally Posted by Remy11

Ditto. A few years ago I inherited a multi-family home from a relative. Luckily, it had been paid off for many years, so I could have lived in one unit, rented the other two, quit my job, and lived comfortably off the two rent checks. However, I heard one too many nightmare stories about tenant-skewed housing laws here in Mass, so I made the tough decision to sell it and move to a single-family home. It's too bad because I could have been living a nice life of leisure with no mortgage and a nice monthly income but I was way too scared to take the landlord plunge.

And you can't always trust the property manager route either. My father's good friends had a second home up in Brunswick, ME. The weren't getting up there as much as they would've liked due to some medical issues the husband was having, so they hired a property manager to collect the rent and keep an eye on things as it was getting rented to mostly Bowdoin College students. They went up one weekend to check on things and the students had completely trashed the place. They ended up having to pay a bundle to fix it back up since the property manager was basically turning up once a month to collect the rent and walking right back out the door.

Mass definitely allows tenants get away with A LOT compared to other states. A friend's sibling was living in Colorado and fell on hard times. Within 48 hours of a single late rent payment, he was getting ordered to pay within 24 hours or the apartment complex was going to change the locks and serve him a court summons.

Funny thing is rents would have been lower here if you could get a deadbeat booted out with a couple weeks instead of a couple years. There are plenty of mom and pop landlords with paid off properties who don’t have to squeeze out every last penny in order to not end up in the red but they need to price in the very real possibility of no income for several years while being on the hook for property taxes and maintenance.

[mdovell]

I'm a little bit confused here because you haven't said that much for specifics. When you lost your job and you said you use federal assistance are you referring to unemployment or some other program? So you then we're months back in the rent. But then you said they were payments made and then you slipped again for a few days..

If the electricity is turned off for the unit that is usually only done when there's a shut-off notice and it takes quite a bit to shut off power. Will you pay your electrical bill all throughout this? Utility companies generally will not forgive things as good as landlords. The house I bought had a five-figure water lien on it that was paid for by The Flipper that sold it to me.

It's obvious that you want to move into a better place and I can certainly understand why but the fact of the matter remains is that if you're looking for a reference from the prior landlord you're not going to be able to provide one.

[bostongymjunkie]

The implication I read here is that people in the building are effing with her by shutting the power off to her unit. There must be an emergency switch in the building somewhere.