emergency answer please

Thank you! We contacted legal aid. After calling him 3 times they finally talked him into turning the utilities back on. They are now back on but the eviction is still on. My new question is, can we sue for damages, emotional, the food we had to go out to buy because we couldn't cook at home and etc. I don't mean to sound selfish but this guy has harassed us from almost the beginning. Also is there eviction legal if we had a promise to pay signed with the property management group for Oct. 17? Wouldn't they have to wait to file until after that date? I am sorry if I ask to many questions we are still trying to figure all this out. Legal aid is somewhat helpful but we have only talked to, I am guessing, a paralegal who is not sure of any of the questions and is waiting to pass it off to the lawyer. Which is fine, but I would just like to know where we stand. Also, is he allowed to come in the house at anytime he chooses or does he need our permission. Thank you in advance.

Ya call police and tell them everything
they just cant come and cut off all the utilities
and check this you mite get a bit of a help

[http://www.taxlawpro.org]

At the least, you should document the days the utilities were off and demand a rent credit for those days in compliance with the state statutes I listed earlier. You should not owe rent for the days when he had your utilties turned off.

You would have to sue him in small claims to get the money for your food that was ruined when the power went off. Legal aide should be able to help you with this. (You may have to make an appointment to go into legal aide and talk to the attorney himself.)

Do you have a copy of the payment agreement? If this goes to court, show it to the judge and show that they filed this before the scheduled and agreed upon date of that payment schedule. If at all possible, try and meet the payment schedule so they have no basis to evict at all. Then you can turn around and sue the LL for false eviction filing and a consturctive eviction for turning off your utilities. Make sure the judge in the eviction hearing knows that he truned off your utilities. I think I'd try to get a statement from the utilities companies if you can stating that he oprdered the utilities off. That will get him in hot water with the judge!

By the way, TN law requires giving you 14 days to pay the rent, followed by an additional 16 days to move out. See TN Code Ann. 66-28-505.

Your an amazing help, thank you so much for your time. The legal aid lawyer is contacting us on Monday, so hopefully we will be able to move on from there. We will be able to make the payment schedule, no problem, which is why this is all so ignorant. We have already paid 3/4 of our October rent. Yet he turned off our cable and internet today (having to go to neighbor for this). He is just very harassing. Can't wait to move so we can leave this house. Again thank you so much for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

Are cable and internet listed in your leaase? If so, ask your attorney to get you a reduction in the value of your rental and a rent credit for this. (What would a comparable unit without cable and internet rent for? You should get a retn credit for the difference in your rent and that one.)

Good luck and keep us posted.

Yes, cable tv / internet is included in the lease. While not a vital utility like gas and water, we feel this is just harassment. We need the internet in conjunction with job hunting, and it just happens that we are lucky enough to get to a neighbor to stay online from time to time. The management company agrees in reducing the rent already, but there was no warning and in fact we are current on the utility portion of our rent. I think we are in a good position to show he has broken the lease (numerous times) but we don't exactly have the means to move into another house! Any recommendations for a harassment case?

I know we seem to be riddled with problems but here is another one. Our property management group had us sign a promise to pay document for Oct.17, we will have our rent paid by then. They filed an eviction anyways last week and say that they can because they sent a letter out in Aug warning of eviction if we did not pay by a certain date (which we did) and because it is the same problem that they don't have to give warning and can refile eviction without notice. The date for court is not until the 22nd of Oct so it does not matter if I signed the promise as that is before the court date. I am so confused. Now I not only have to pay my rent but a court fee I don't think is legal because of the promise to pay.

I don't think you are liable for the court costs. They asked for and you signed an agreement to pay by a certain date. As such, they agreed to allow you to pay the rent by that date. They have no cause to file for eviction before that date has been reached. I would refuse to pay for the court costs. Let them take you to court for those, then show the payment agreement to the judge. Since they also signed that agreement, they are bound by it too.

Thank you. We tried to explain that to them but they honestly believe they are not in the wrong. It seemed very common sense to me, even without a law degree. I apparently don't know how to explain it well but will try again tomorrow. It will probably take the judge making a decision for them to see.