Help Needed Immediately

[angelynn2007]

I live in NC and I have been in my current house for 1 year. I live with my daughter, her husband and 3 small children, 2 of which are handicapped. Several months ago we notified our landlord of a water leak inside the wall and he never did anything about it. He was informed we are moving shortly due to my son-n-law being in the military. We're just waiting for his orders. I went last week to sell my china cabinet from the kitchen and noticed behind it the wall was full of black mold. We informed him of this and he told us to spray it with bleach and wipe it down, at that point the wall collapsed filling our home with mold spores. My grandsond who by the way was a premie was taken to the hosptial just this morning and is having breathing problems...serious breathing problems. Basically our problem is our landlord removed the wall and sprayed bleach all over it to contain it and said when he returns from his vacation he will take care of this. This was saturday 9/13/08 but by sunday morning we were served a 30 eviction notice. We have no money because we just paid the rent and he made sure to cash the checks before he sent the eviction notice. No one in our state will help us, basically they are saying too bad, suck it up and move. Where are we to go with no money and this is not our fault. For 1 year we have been here with nothing but problems, we even have a water sample where our water comes out the color of blood. I am concerned for my grandbabies, but the biggest issuse now is being thrown out on the street with 3 small...sick babies and basically they said it is not their problem or concern where we go. We have called the health dept/environmental control, building inspetors, every darn lawyer in our county and NO ONE WILL HELP US!! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP US, WE ARE DESPERATE FOR SOMEONE TO HEAR US IF I HAVE TO SCREAM IT TO THE WORLD. HOW CAN THE LAWS PROTECT THE LANDLORD LIKE THIS AND NOT CARE ABOUT US AND EVICT US WHEN WE HAVE NEVER MISSED PAYING OUR RENT OR CAUSED ANY PROBLEMS...PLEASE SOMEONE HELP US FOR MY BABIES....I HATE TO SOUND LIKE I AM BEGGING, BUT REALLY AT THIS POINT I AM!!

Call the city building inspector. I know that sounds odd, but the house is now uninhabitable because of the wall falling. The building inspector will cite the owner and require that he make repairs to the house. Also call the legal aide in your area and let them know the LL is retaliating against you for asking for repairs to be made. Let hem know that your rent is current and that he refuses to repair.

The other problem is that you must have no lease currently, correct? The LL needs no reason to ask you to move if you have no lease (unless you live in NJ or in a rent controlled area). If you have no lease, you do need to move within the state time limit. This is not an eviction, but the LL refusing to renew the rental agreement. It is his right, just as it is your right to give him the same notice to leave at any time. Contact family services to see if they can help you of the housing department of the branch of the military of your family member for help in affording to move.

Wish I had better news and more help for you.

Unfortunately we did call the building inspectors and basically they said that the house does not need to be up to code only up to the year it was built and that they dont deal with mold situations. As far as the lease goes, we are on a month to month lease. Can he withold our deposit because of this issue being his problem. It just seems funny to me that there is nothing that can be done because of the living conditions we were/are in. As far as the military goes, we are waiting for orders to go to another base, we were actually turned down because of my son being severly autistic to the base in Georgia so now we are basically stuck. Having just paid the rent we have no money to move anywhere and cant even get temp housing in a marine corps town when you are air force, God knows they have not been much help either. see the thing is not so much we want to stay here and I dont believe in suing anyone but my grandson is barely breathing and no one seems to even want to listen. I want to call the news channel and have them do a story, but I am afraid that he will get us for slander. Where are the tentants rights?? He is a slum lord not a LL and I don't feel it is fair. What does someone have to do to get help...die??? You know i really for once am not so proud of the country I am living in when your family and families family fight for our freedom, but God forbid when you need help your country is not there for you!! It's a shame! I guess my other question would be he sent a hand written notice for us to vacate within 30 days with no probable cause, what happens next if we refused to be out in 30 days or cant be??

[angelynn2007]

by the way that last reply was by me...angelynn2007. I do thank you to the ONE and only person that bothered to try and help!!

I really wish I could be of more help. Since you have no lease, the LL is allowed to tell you (even by hand written letter) that he will not renew your monthly agreement. This tells you to move out at the end of those 30 days. It is not an eviction. If you do not move out within that time, he can go to the court and file for an eviction though. You really don't have a choice I'm afraid. You will have to move.

If the building inspector did not cite the LL for anything, the house meets the applicable code. (It is grandfathered in under the code in efffect at the time it was built.) But someone there must be in charge of mold. If it is not the building inspector or the health department, perhaps it is HUD in that area. Still, you shouldn't wait for the mold repairs. You need to get out for your family's health.

Try contacting metro housing or Section 8 for emergency assistance along with Family Services. Contact churches and any other county or city program available to get the funds to move out. Call the Job and Family services or the appropriate city department and ask about any programs for emergency assistance (some city building departments have seperate programs). Also call the military base and ask them about any assistance they can provide. You need to find another place to live ASAP.

When you leave, take photos of the entire house and the mold. If he attempts to keep your deposit, file against him in small claims court to get your money back. Legal aide should help you with this.

Good luck and take care of your family.

[angelynn2007]

Thanks, but we have pretty much exhausted all our means. I guess it is just in the hands of God and I pray this man can sleep good at night knowing he is doing us so wrong. I know God tells us to do good for evil, but I am having a hard time with this one. I really hope and pray that no one will rent this house. You know what is really strange about the whole thing...he still owes a mortgage on this house and he has people already in it paying him $750.00 for a house that is not even worth it and no one to move in here, so I just don't understand why they would make us leave when we were willing to work with them to get this corrected.

So, I will ask one more question, if he takes us to court to evict us, how long do we have to be out. We are not going to leave until we are made too because we already see what kind of person he is and know he will not give us our $750.00 back, besides he already took our money and we have no where to go. Actually...I guess I have 2 questions. Can I get into trouble if I call the newspaper or the media to do a story on the unfairness of everything that has happened, I think the public has a right to know, but I dont want to get into trouble for slandering his name...even though it is the truth and we have so much photos to document everything? Please help me this one last time.

Thanks!!

I can't tell you how long an eviction takes in NC as I am not in that state. Normally though, once the 30 days expires, he goes to the clerk of court and fills out the papers to ask for an eviction hearing. The clerk schedules one for a future date (here, within a month of the completion of the forms - this may be longer or shorter depending on how many cases are heard in your local court). You have an opportunity to appear in court on that date to present your side. However, since the whole eviction case wil be that he gave you notice to leave and you didn't, your testimony will have to focus on why you didn't leave (not on what was wrong with the house). If the judge or magistrate rules for possession by the LL, you are given only a couple of days to get out. Then a set out by a court bailiff or sheriff is set to place your belongings on the street.

I strongly suggest you do not allow this to happen and that you leave before he files with the court. Once filed, it is part of your court record for any future LL to see. You will be denied places based on that record. Contact all the social service agencies in your area for help with moving expenses. Ask charities. You need to be out within those 30 days.

The problem with a newspaper story is that they often get the story wrong. For instance, I read a story last week about my duplex fire here. The paper reported all the residents' names incorrectly, their ages were wrong, reported who was in the building incorrectly, and those they did report correctly were listed as being in the wrong units. If you report it to the newspaper and they get the story wrong, the LL may hold that you lied to them and sue you. Reporters aren't the best at getting the facts straight! At least, not those around here.