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We have a batshit crazy landlady who got upset with me since I wouldn't have the handyman change the lightbulb, because it would have required him to shut the power off while I was teaching a class over zoom. She then pounded on our door and yelled at me for doing this. In response, I said "I don't need this" and closed the door. She gave me a 30 day eviction notice immediately thereafter and I threatened to "call my lawyer." Since that day, she has put up printouts about domestic abuse all over her house. She also deliberately parked in my parking space after I left to go to Safeway, and did the same to my girlfriend when she left the unit in her own car. When my girlfriend got home, she recorded a conversation the landlady was having with her friend in which she bragged that she called the sheriff and had video of me attacking both her and the handyman. She even bragged that she figured out the school where I worked and would call them to say that I was a "violent person." Anyhow, my guess is that this was something she made up over the phone because she thought my girlfriend might be listening, since she was right near our unit when she was calling her friend. Nevertheless, if she's actually crazy enough to edit a video of herself getting attacked by somebody, I wouldn't want anything to happen to me. What are my best options right now? My girlfriend recorded the conversation of her "plan" to call the sheriff, so I wonder if I have grounds to claim harassment/intimidation or anything of the sort.
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Oct 10, 2021 02:30
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 22:03 |
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Housing laws vary by state and you probably don't live where I am most familiar with the specific housing law but you should probably just move. Her threats don't have much teeth in terms of going to the police with a video that doesn't exist and would be difficult to convincingly fake, but do you really want to continue living in a place where you're harassed by anyone, let alone the property owner? You don't have any sort of damages you can prove from the landlord so no, there's not much recourse there. Find a new unit and move. In general, and in most places: It's best to research local legal aid places that may have specific info on renter's rights because laws vary. Most places, if you're on a month to month lease the landlord can legally give you a 30 day notice to vacate. If there's an active lease, the terms of the lease apply and you'd need to consult your lease. If you don't leave after 30 days they are able to take you to court and have you physically remove from the property. Evictions that go through the court system will show up on your record and make trying to rent in the future harder. I have clients who are dealing with the consequences of a legal eviction for years even with steady employment and a rental subsidy paying whatever is in excess of 30% of their income. Don't mess with eviction unless you have no other options. I know that there are a myriad of reasons why moving isn't ideal (timeframe, expense, a hosed housing/rental market, an otherwise fine location) but this kind of stuff will continue as long as you live there, even if she rescinds the 30 day notice. If she's willing to do it once, she'll do it again.
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Oct 10, 2021 19:10
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Your win condition if you fight this is you'll get to keep living in a place that a confirmed crazy person has keys to, sounds like she's doing you a favor.
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Oct 26, 2021 13:51
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Approach her, start with an apology about communication. See if you can work something out where building maintenance is communicated, because of your job. Tell her you don't want to be feuding with her, it's a nice place, you want to live there, can we work to fix the situation? Or move. Or buy a UPS and tell her you solved the problem if future maintenance is needed and it is quick. She probably took an L when the maintenance guy came out there. If the goal is to keep the place, you don't do that by crushing the landlord. They own the building. You have tenant rights butttt....
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Oct 26, 2021 15:41
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I would also caution seeking to "crush" the landlord. Do you want to continue living there? If so, just be amicable. Also, let her "call her lawyer", eviction isn't something she can just do on a whim. There is a process. And this is just a side-question I'm curious about, but what the reason a handyman had to change the lightbulb? (I've always just changed my own and never had a situation where someone was sent out to change a bulb)... was the landlord just trying to find an excuse to "force" you to let the handyman in? Or was there some legit need for the lightbulb to be replaced by the handyman?
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Oct 26, 2021 20:14
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Why the gently caress would you need to shut off the power to change a light bulb? Find a new place, then tell her if she wants you out, she can cut you a check for the full amount of your deposit plus a month's rent for the trouble.
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Oct 29, 2021 03:20
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Landlord here: 1. You are not going to crush your landlord in court and they will not crush you, but you can both waste a lot of time and emotions on this. 2. Every state and some counties in each state are different so it would help to know where you live. In my state the process to evict some is to A. First give a 5 day notice to pay or quit where you have a chance to pay up or fix whatever the issue is. B. After 5 days the landlord must pay to file a lawsuit with the county courthouse. C. After this a processor must serve you court papers. The landlord also pays for this. D. When the court date arrives both parties must take off work or hire a lawyer to represent them. If anyone fails to show the other side wins. Check to see if your court has a 30 day notice instead. 3. If you both make it to court and you are current on the rent the judge may get mad at the landlord for wasting everyone's time but you never know. 99% of the people in there are behind on their rent and the landlords are in a hurry to write off some bad debt but has to get them out before he can replace them. The courts would be clogged if everyone who yelled something unfriendly decided to go to court. Some judges are tenant friendly and will go out of the way to help them any way possible. Other judges don't care and just follow the law. Other judges just make up their own rules and ignore the law. Some judges think tenants are idiots as those are usually the kind that make it to court. My local judge lately has asked us to meet for a few minutes prior to coming before them to see if we can solve it on our own first. If you can't you go before the judge. The judge will evict or not evict. No one will be paid a lot of money by the other party. 99% of judges would not evict a person current on their rent who yelled or did not let a maintenance man turn off power during a work call. Your 4. If you get evicted the process is different in all states, but in my state the landlord now has to pay a sheriff to come throw you out and change the locks if you don't leave on your own. This will take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks depending on how busy the sheriff is. 5. It is in both parties best interest to not go to court. A. The landlord had to take off work, pay to file the lawsuit, pay for the person to serve you and pay a sheriff to change the locks if you drag it all the way to the end. Then they need to pay to get the unit ready to rent and pay to advertise and spend their time showing the apartment and will lose 1-2 months of rent during the turnover. B. The tenant will now have to take off work to go to court and will have a public record that someone sued them for eviction and then may or may not have an eviction on their record. An eviction is the mark of death if you plan on renting again. Then you have to move and will likely lose all past rent and your deposit. The judge may make you pay rent to the day/month you move out. If you look at this process you can see it is not worth it to go to evictions court so you might as well try to solve it ahead of time. 1. Try to patch it up with you landlord. 2. If not then be really annoying and see if the landlord will let you break your lease and give your deposit back. Make sure you get this agreement in writing. If they don't provide something then type it up on your own and have them sign it. 3. If the above fails get ready to waste a lot of time and not be satisfied with the outcome even if you win. Neither of you will get a bunch of money. An eviction is a terrible thing to have on your record. Landlord is likely out thousands of dollars even if they win. If you win you still have to deal with the landlord through the rest of your lease. If you decide to go to court you need to document all the stuff landlord is doing wrong. 1. Blocking your parking is wrong - take a picture. 2. In my state you need to give 24 hours notice prior to entering a property unless there is an emergency. Document landlord did not provide adequate notice. 3. Yelling doesnt account for much in court as anyone can make things up. You can record it to be prepared but this may never get heard. 4. If you are behind on your rent at the court date the judge may ignore all other facts and tell you to file your own lawsuit about your grievances. If the lawsuit is filed based on missing rent they will ignore all other topics. I suggest you be current on your rent before going to a judge. Your landlord does not have ground for an eviction now but if you quit paying your rent they will. Last year I had a tenant documenting all this stuff she said I was doing wrong and threatening to sue my pants off so she wanted me to settle out of court. As I know the law I just documented everything and had to sue when they quit paying their rent. Despite a lot of threats I knew I would win because I followed the law and was not scared of going to court. The tenant turned in their keys the night before the court date. I would have easily won and given them an eviction on their record, but due to covid I had to drop the lawsuit after they left and they got off with no record. I was out 2 months rent and tenant lost their deposit. toben fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Nov 11, 2021 |
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Nov 11, 2021 18:10
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I would rally the local peasants around the cause and take advantage of the Japanese invasion to distract the central government and ease the pressure on your own forces.
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Nov 12, 2021 02:36
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You're probably doing something to annoy your landlady that you may or may not have realized. The thing with your lightbulb is probably the tipping point for your landlady. You could probably drag out the process and make the eviction financially costly for her, but it will cost you too in terms of general stress. Unless you're forced to rent somewhere like in NYC, you should have no problem packing up and leaving - it will probably improve your mental well-being too.
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Nov 17, 2021 00:12
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 22:03 |
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Nov 17, 2021 14:39
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