I rented an apartme.nt above my cousin in Dec of 2005. Jan 31, 2006 his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I have a room mate, with whom i split the bills. I quit my job that I had only been at for a month so that I could help take care of my cousin's wife and 6 year old daughter. With everything that was going on, my cousin and I were both late on our rent in Feb. we simply forgot. Instead of comming to me about the oversite, the landlord went to my cousin and asked him to pay my rent. During the month of Jan., our water was shut off for 4 days due to the landlord not paying the bill. This is a 5 unit apartment complex, and every tenant tried to contact him about the water and of course nobody ever recieved a call back. Now with all of the family medical issues going on, and me not working, I of course got behind on my rent. The landlord filed for eviction, which he had every right to do. I paid the back rent, and the case was dropped. Rent was due again a couple of days after meeting him at the courthouse and getting the case dropped. I informed him that it would take a couple of days because my room mate had gotten a large check from her employment, and it had to clear the bank. He said this was fine. They had evicted another tenant from the premises and his wife was here cleaning the apartment (which they didn't do to my apartment before I moved in). She came to my door and asked where the rent was, and I told her that I had already talked to her husband, and he understood what was going on. She pops off with "this better not be an excuse" and heads back to the evicted tenants apartment. My friend had been waiting for me down in my car and the landlords wife proceeds to go down there and tell her what a horrible person I am and that I never pay my rent. My rent was paid up to that month, and it was only a couple of days late. Now since I have moved in here, the dishwasher has never worked and the garbage disposal fell out of the bottom of the sink. Which of course I informed him of, and of course he never did anything about. I had to have a copy of my lease to get a key for my mailbox and it took him a month of me calling him every couple of days for him to bring me a copy, add to this the water being shut off for four days and the slander....I decided it was time to move out. My cousins wife passed away on March 3rd, and we decided it best that we find a house to live in where I can help him raise his daughter. My room mates check cleared the back, but after her nasty comments about us to someone she didn't know and who didn't live here, I decided to use that money for finding another place to live. Evidently when I paid the back rent and the case was "dropped" it really wasn't dropped, and the landlord got a judgement against us for $1,900. He was trying to charger me late fee's on my late fees. I am more than ready to move, that is not the issue. What I want to know is....is there any kind of law against a Landlord using slander? She had absolutely no right to go down and badmouth me to my friend, who she doesn't know. And he had no right to go to my cousin discussing my rent. I am not a bad person, I was not trying to pull a fast one on this guy. The fact is, there was a family emergency, and I got behind. I was in the wrong, and admitted it. And would have paid the last months rent had it not been for her running my name into the ground with my friend. Is there any chance I could sue them for the slander along with all of the problems that were never fixed around here and the water being shut off for 4 days?
