My question is about illegal apartments and my rights as a tenant.

[daisy78]

I live in the main part of a house with my 2 small children and my husband. There is an illegal apartment behind the garage and one above the garage and he just got done building another one in the basement but is saying it's for him but he lives with his girlfriend. When we moved in we were excited about the wood burning stove because we knew we would save on oil, but we didn't at all, even though we hardly ever turned on the heat, plus it was really warm this winter. I also do all my laundry in cold water. We supposedly used like $740 in almost a month. We questioned it and the landlord said that it was normal and we gave him the benifit of the doubt and trusted him for some stupid reason. We ran out of oil one time and found out that the other tennants lost their heat and hot water so we realized that we were infact paying for oil for the whole house. He also told us the electric was seperate too. It's not, we found that out when he was doing the apartment downstairs and the guy cut a wire or something. When the oil thing happened we confronted him and he is insisting he told us in the beginning which is not true because we would not have agreed to that. We told him we wanted to leave and he said we had to give him 60 days notice. We have been looking and havent found anything. He texted my husband and asked if we were still leaving and my husband said yes, he said ok then i need to get in to the house and build a wall in the one bedroom so he can rent it as a 3 bedroom rather then a 2. It's my kids room he wants to do this so we said no he would have to wait. He called my husband again and gave the dates he wanted to get into the house and my husband told him no we arent going to do that. He told my husband in not so nice words that yes it is going to happen. My husband then told him he was going to call a lawyer and then the landlord said you do that and they hung up. We do not deserve this and I hate that this is happening to us. Please what can we do to walk away from this with out drama. We have had enough drama since we moved in.

 

[mightymoose]

You are right to refuse the landlord request. If he enters the home and begins constructing a new wall he may give you grounds to leave early.
You should speak with a local lawyer to review the circumstances and to be sure when you can leave without consequence.
Personally, I would consider making a report to the county building inspector regarding any illegal structures.
Also, you will likely be able to sue the landlord over the heating and electric bills. Each apartment should be on its own meter. The landlord may end up owing you in the end.

 

[daisy78]

Thank you for responding to my issues. I'm still not sure where to start. The lawyer hasnt called us back. Is there anything we can do with out a lawyer to get out of here and get our money back? Thank you again for your time.

 

[army judge]

Thank you for responding to my issues. I'm still not sure where to start. The lawyer hasnt called us back. Is there anything we can do with out a lawyer to get out of here and get our money back? Thank you again for your time.

You can contact the city or county building inspector for a start.
They'll investigate and advise Yiu as they go.

 

[daisy78]

Hello and thank you for replying. The lease says he is responsible for the lawn and his landscapers came and did all of the yard but the part we use. He also told us he was contacting his laywer because of a bill that is due tomorrow and he hasn't recieved the check. But it's not due until tomorrow. We don't have anywhere to go and this guy is getting scary. I came home last night to find that my cats were locked in the downstairs apt that is empty but he is supposed to be moving in there. The only way they could have gotten in there is if he left the door open while he was fiddeling with whatever while he was here yesturday. I was gone all afternoon so I don't know what happened. The lease says no pets but when we moved in he had 2 cats living here for 2 weeks with us. He knew we had a cat when we moved in almost 2 years ago. Can he sue us? and do we have a case against him?Thanks for reading.