Hello,
I do hope that I'm asking this in the right place. This is about a landlord-tenant issue I'm currently dealing with and am at a loss at what to do, but I suppose that would already be logically assumed considering the forum section I'm posting in
.
Here are the facts:
- There was no signed lease, we were tenants paying on a month-to-month basis.
- We were required to pay the electric bill, which was under the female landlord's name (Our landlords were a married couple).
- Heat was fuel oil (Carosine/Gel mix).
- Rent was actually a generous $750 for the value of the house (In my opinion); but the actual reason why it was so low was because of location. It was way out in the woods, we saw the ad in the paper for around 2-3 months before my fiancee talked me into it
, if my memory serves right.
- We paid a standard first months rent plus security initially, for a total of $1,500. Payments were every 15th of the month.
- We paid everything on time until November of 2007, which I was actually late on a small electric bill by a couple days. Reason being was a transaction didn't clear on the day I expected, which would have been a day late anyway - but I notified them in advance that this would be the case. It ended up clearing on Monday after the weekend. I agreed to pay in cash, as they didn't prefer checks. Reason being is because the male/husband landlord was on disability (Which I didn't know until we had already moved in. Isn't collecting rent a form of income, so in it's own right - wouldn't it be illegal or at least terminate his status of disability? And to be honest, he didn't even seem like he had anything wrong with him that would disable him from working.)
- At this time we were no longer living at the house I will mention, as just prior I had to rush my Fiancee (At the time was pregnant) to the hospital, in an ice storm sadly (2 hour drive normally, took us 4 hours because of the storm. I made the decision to have my step-father meet us somewhere to take control of the wheel, as he's a professional driver; he drives 18 wheelers for a living. This was a good call considering we saw an ambulance plow into an embankment that night, which bothered me quite a bit.) Besides that, I state this as why we started to live at a place more locally (at a relatives), so we didn't have to drive so far. Her problems persisted for a long time, and to do this day. It turns out she may have both a brain tumor and a kidney tumor.
- We gave notification that we would be moving out and they confirmed that December would be our last payment. I was unable to pay the December rent outside of using the security, they used the security that month for that rent. Reason being is because my work is based off a client base, as I'm a freelance web developer - I had told my clients I wouldn't be able to provide service for a bit to take care of my Fiancee. Turns out not many people care, when I tried to contact them to see if they had any available work - I got the shaft (And I will note I dedicate myself to my job exceptionally, regularly working late hours and into weekends if they're in a jam. This really bothered me quite a bit emotionally, but that's besides the point.) Only one did, but he was unable to provide work at the time. We're still at this time good friends.
- However, when we attempted to get our stuff there was a plow kinda in the way. I drove my vehicle around it thinking it was just parked awkwardly, we grabbed some uncritical stuff at that time. Basically just to get things organized, went home and unpacked the vehicle.
- We then went back, and the plow was now moved down directly in our driveway. Now I got the picture that they were actually trying to block me from entering the house to get our stuff. I drove to the house to find out that they're requiring us to pay another months rent (For January, despite it still being December I will note) and on top of that, have us pay off the missed electric bill for December (This was valid, but it was a small $80 bill), and on top of that pay for heat that they put into the place we weren't even using anymore. This ran at like $100 or so dollars at the time, but a couple weeks later increased to $400 since they put in more. We had already paid the final bill of December, and all of a sudden had to pay all this? They were in turn asking for $1,200~ out of no where. To be honest, this wasn't my main concern - my main concern was how stressed my Fiancee was considering all our babies stuff was there and she was due fairly soon. She just got out of the hospital that day to help me pack, so I really took this personally. I kept my cool though and told them that I understand their view of why they didn't want us to take our stuff, which was they feared not getting paid the money; but fact is, should we have been billed this money in the first place?
- Later on my Fiancee was in the hospital, and she called them up to ask them if I could go ahead and grab some important documents she needed as well as a dog house that her mother has needed for the past month (Her mother had gotten a new dog and it needed a dog house badly since it was the winter season and we did have one). The female landlord agreed to this, but I found out at a later point that she started giving my Fiancee a ton of crap and from what I understand, even proceeded to yell at her, while my fiancee was on a hospital bed. Not to mention they moved the plow further down the road, blocking me from getting the vehicle down even a large portion of the private road - I had to trench through snow, grab the documents and carry a 100 pound dog house that was larger than me all the way back, and it was a fairly long walk. I was also supposed to drop off the house keys, which I did for them.
- Now we were kept out of the house all the way until February, where they dropped the price to $850. But wait! I also had the pay the electric bills of January. Make that what I thought would be $870, since all electric was basically off to reduce price. They said we could come and get our stuff late January. My step-father also skipped work that day to help us out, understanding our situation. We got there, and yet again the plow was blocking us. They wanted the money by the end of the week. Obviously I could pay them when I had no money still. I finally was able to pay them $500, basically all the money I had. I'd have to find the document, but I believe this was on February 2nd, we got everything that night and the next morning in a couple trips. My Fiancee had the baby on the 7th. Thank god we got our babies stuff just in time. The document though required me to pay a remaining fee of $350 and the January electric bill, which they told me that they had already taken care of and that I had time to pay.
- This is what finally broke my cool. I just recently got a phone call stating that they're looking to take me to court to pay this remaining fee, and the price have increased to $440 ($940 total) because the male/husband said he refuses to pay the electric bill (Despite telling me it was already paid), so it's collecting.
- That wasn't the kicker that bothered me ironically though. It was the fact that they stated that they had to replace the carpets because of the stains, per result of unauthorized pets. What the hell? The carpet had a ton of stains on it to begin with, they even told us that. Once when we initially visited the house, which we had a witness with us. And again when we had 3+ witnesses when we paid them the security deposit. The dog we initially had I talked my Fiancee into letting go to a relative temporarily until her hot spots were fixed (She was accidentally tearing at the walls/floor when she kicked her foot, I wanted to prevent any damage done to the house). My Fiancee then asked the female landlord if she can get two more dogs, and the landlord agreed to it. We got those two dogs (6 hour drive, and the main purpose was to actually save their lives - as the only other option was a shelter that would have simply killed them. Besides that they were wonderful dogs to be honest, we had to give them up though when we moved out. Couldn't keep the dogs at the place we stayed at.) So right there it was authorized. What bothered me was the fact that the stains were blamed on us, when they existed to begin with. Not to say they didn't have accidents, but the accidents were only in spots where there was already a visible stain.
-------------------------------------------------
My question is am I delusional and is the way I handled everything unreasonable and that these fees were legally just and that I should worry if I'm brought to court? Right now I could theoretically afford paying them off, but I have a baby to take care of, let alone my Fiancee. Or was what they did completely beyond their element? I did read some where that someone legally can't stop you from getting your belongings, whether or not you paid the rent. But beyond that, can't what they did be construed as extortion?
I will also note that the plow blocking us was not theirs, but their son's who lived next door. But they did allow him to do this and stated that.
To be honest, right now I'm at a complete loss as to what is right or wrong anymore, and I always thought I had a strong moral sense. I would actually be in the USMC right now if I hadn't found out my Fiancee was pregnant prior to leaving for boot camp, I found it more morally obligating to support her directly than to live up to my contract with the Corps.
What's your take on it? And I'm sorry for the length of this, I just wanted to get the details out
I do hope that I'm asking this in the right place. This is about a landlord-tenant issue I'm currently dealing with and am at a loss at what to do, but I suppose that would already be logically assumed considering the forum section I'm posting in
.Here are the facts:
- There was no signed lease, we were tenants paying on a month-to-month basis.
- We were required to pay the electric bill, which was under the female landlord's name (Our landlords were a married couple).
- Heat was fuel oil (Carosine/Gel mix).
- Rent was actually a generous $750 for the value of the house (In my opinion); but the actual reason why it was so low was because of location. It was way out in the woods, we saw the ad in the paper for around 2-3 months before my fiancee talked me into it
, if my memory serves right.- We paid a standard first months rent plus security initially, for a total of $1,500. Payments were every 15th of the month.
- We paid everything on time until November of 2007, which I was actually late on a small electric bill by a couple days. Reason being was a transaction didn't clear on the day I expected, which would have been a day late anyway - but I notified them in advance that this would be the case. It ended up clearing on Monday after the weekend. I agreed to pay in cash, as they didn't prefer checks. Reason being is because the male/husband landlord was on disability (Which I didn't know until we had already moved in. Isn't collecting rent a form of income, so in it's own right - wouldn't it be illegal or at least terminate his status of disability? And to be honest, he didn't even seem like he had anything wrong with him that would disable him from working.)
- At this time we were no longer living at the house I will mention, as just prior I had to rush my Fiancee (At the time was pregnant) to the hospital, in an ice storm sadly (2 hour drive normally, took us 4 hours because of the storm. I made the decision to have my step-father meet us somewhere to take control of the wheel, as he's a professional driver; he drives 18 wheelers for a living. This was a good call considering we saw an ambulance plow into an embankment that night, which bothered me quite a bit.) Besides that, I state this as why we started to live at a place more locally (at a relatives), so we didn't have to drive so far. Her problems persisted for a long time, and to do this day. It turns out she may have both a brain tumor and a kidney tumor.
- We gave notification that we would be moving out and they confirmed that December would be our last payment. I was unable to pay the December rent outside of using the security, they used the security that month for that rent. Reason being is because my work is based off a client base, as I'm a freelance web developer - I had told my clients I wouldn't be able to provide service for a bit to take care of my Fiancee. Turns out not many people care, when I tried to contact them to see if they had any available work - I got the shaft (And I will note I dedicate myself to my job exceptionally, regularly working late hours and into weekends if they're in a jam. This really bothered me quite a bit emotionally, but that's besides the point.) Only one did, but he was unable to provide work at the time. We're still at this time good friends.
- However, when we attempted to get our stuff there was a plow kinda in the way. I drove my vehicle around it thinking it was just parked awkwardly, we grabbed some uncritical stuff at that time. Basically just to get things organized, went home and unpacked the vehicle.
- We then went back, and the plow was now moved down directly in our driveway. Now I got the picture that they were actually trying to block me from entering the house to get our stuff. I drove to the house to find out that they're requiring us to pay another months rent (For January, despite it still being December I will note) and on top of that, have us pay off the missed electric bill for December (This was valid, but it was a small $80 bill), and on top of that pay for heat that they put into the place we weren't even using anymore. This ran at like $100 or so dollars at the time, but a couple weeks later increased to $400 since they put in more. We had already paid the final bill of December, and all of a sudden had to pay all this? They were in turn asking for $1,200~ out of no where. To be honest, this wasn't my main concern - my main concern was how stressed my Fiancee was considering all our babies stuff was there and she was due fairly soon. She just got out of the hospital that day to help me pack, so I really took this personally. I kept my cool though and told them that I understand their view of why they didn't want us to take our stuff, which was they feared not getting paid the money; but fact is, should we have been billed this money in the first place?
- Later on my Fiancee was in the hospital, and she called them up to ask them if I could go ahead and grab some important documents she needed as well as a dog house that her mother has needed for the past month (Her mother had gotten a new dog and it needed a dog house badly since it was the winter season and we did have one). The female landlord agreed to this, but I found out at a later point that she started giving my Fiancee a ton of crap and from what I understand, even proceeded to yell at her, while my fiancee was on a hospital bed. Not to mention they moved the plow further down the road, blocking me from getting the vehicle down even a large portion of the private road - I had to trench through snow, grab the documents and carry a 100 pound dog house that was larger than me all the way back, and it was a fairly long walk. I was also supposed to drop off the house keys, which I did for them.
- Now we were kept out of the house all the way until February, where they dropped the price to $850. But wait! I also had the pay the electric bills of January. Make that what I thought would be $870, since all electric was basically off to reduce price. They said we could come and get our stuff late January. My step-father also skipped work that day to help us out, understanding our situation. We got there, and yet again the plow was blocking us. They wanted the money by the end of the week. Obviously I could pay them when I had no money still. I finally was able to pay them $500, basically all the money I had. I'd have to find the document, but I believe this was on February 2nd, we got everything that night and the next morning in a couple trips. My Fiancee had the baby on the 7th. Thank god we got our babies stuff just in time. The document though required me to pay a remaining fee of $350 and the January electric bill, which they told me that they had already taken care of and that I had time to pay.
- This is what finally broke my cool. I just recently got a phone call stating that they're looking to take me to court to pay this remaining fee, and the price have increased to $440 ($940 total) because the male/husband said he refuses to pay the electric bill (Despite telling me it was already paid), so it's collecting.
- That wasn't the kicker that bothered me ironically though
. It was the fact that they stated that they had to replace the carpets because of the stains, per result of unauthorized pets. What the hell? The carpet had a ton of stains on it to begin with, they even told us that. Once when we initially visited the house, which we had a witness with us. And again when we had 3+ witnesses when we paid them the security deposit. The dog we initially had I talked my Fiancee into letting go to a relative temporarily until her hot spots were fixed (She was accidentally tearing at the walls/floor when she kicked her foot, I wanted to prevent any damage done to the house). My Fiancee then asked the female landlord if she can get two more dogs, and the landlord agreed to it. We got those two dogs (6 hour drive, and the main purpose was to actually save their lives - as the only other option was a shelter that would have simply killed them. Besides that they were wonderful dogs to be honest, we had to give them up though when we moved out. Couldn't keep the dogs at the place we stayed at.) So right there it was authorized. What bothered me was the fact that the stains were blamed on us, when they existed to begin with. Not to say they didn't have accidents, but the accidents were only in spots where there was already a visible stain. -------------------------------------------------
My question is am I delusional and is the way I handled everything unreasonable and that these fees were legally just and that I should worry if I'm brought to court? Right now I could theoretically afford paying them off, but I have a baby to take care of, let alone my Fiancee. Or was what they did completely beyond their element? I did read some where that someone legally can't stop you from getting your belongings, whether or not you paid the rent. But beyond that, can't what they did be construed as extortion?
I will also note that the plow blocking us was not theirs, but their son's who lived next door. But they did allow him to do this and stated that.
To be honest, right now I'm at a complete loss as to what is right or wrong anymore, and I always thought I had a strong moral sense. I would actually be in the USMC right now if I hadn't found out my Fiancee was pregnant prior to leaving for boot camp, I found it more morally obligating to support her directly than to live up to my contract with the Corps.
What's your take on it? And I'm sorry for the length of this, I just wanted to get the details out
