Broken foot, surgery, landlady has no insurance...HELP!!

[newmexicotenant]

NEW MEXICO

Here's a copy of a letter I sent to my local DA, which should give you all the gist of what I need help with. Maybe someone here can help me. (letter edited for anonymity)



I have a problem and I can't find anyone who will help me.

I moved into my current residence over Thanksgiving weekend. The landlady told me at the time that the roof needed fixing and that this would be done very soon. Three months later, after several complaints and several incidences of severe leaks, the roof still wasn't fixed.

The week of February 13, the landlady finally sent someone to work on the roof. These men were not from a roofing company; there were just a couple of guys with a couple of hammers. The men stripped the roof to its bare boards, then left it mostly exposed to the rain and snow that came on the afternoon of the 13th. There was water coming through the light fixtures, a very hazardous situation. I was unable to reach my landlady, and no roofing company and no neighbor would help me, so I went up on the roof to try and spread out the thin plastic that was covering a fraction of the bare roof. My son, who is now 15, followed me up and tried to help me. By this time, the rain was turning to snow. My son was almost finished spreading the plastic when he slipped and fell from the roof, breaking his foot in several places. The breaks required surgery to set; Arel now has three screws and a staple in his left foot. He was required to spend two nights in the hospital for this procedure.

I found out the day after the accident that this house is not insured. Yet the landlady still wants me to pay some or all of the February rent. I spoke to her briefly, telling her that although I have medical insurance, I was out of pocket on many costs, including the ER copay, his pain meds, and his mobility supplies. I also told her that I hadn't yet seen bills from the ambulance service or the radiologist, and that we hadn't yet seen the orthopedist. She replied that she had done me a favor by renting me this house and that I wouldn't even receive those bills until next month anyway. She also told me that she couldn't afford to fix the roof unless I paid her at least part of the rent. This conversation took place before we found out that my son would need surgery.

I know this falls into the area of civil law, but I can't find anyone who will even talk to me about it, save a former real estate agent, who tells me that she is definitely liable for costs related to this accident, and the code enforcement officer, who tells me that this property might very well be deemed unsafe for habitation, putting my kids and me out on the street. I keep getting referred to Legal Aid, but I gross too much money for them. Law Access NM only gives advice, not representation, and I can't even get through to them; I've spent many hours on hold. The attorneys I've called won't call me back, and even Mr. Jeff Affordable Housing Initiative Diamond "doesn't do that kind of law". I can't even get the Commission on Poverty and Law to call me back. I went so far as to call someone I know at CYFD several times, with no response. Even the paper won't print a letter to the editor, because I requested that it be printed anonymously, to protect me from possible harassment by my landlady and her family and friends.

The landlady did give me a break on the deposit, she did pay the water for two months, and she did let me move in early, but now she's using those favors to manipulate me into paying what I bloody well know she's not entitled to. She called again tonight left a message, saying, "I'm trying to do what I can to help someone but I have needs too." When someone lords a favor over someone, the favor then becomes leverage, and it becomes despicable. She knows I have nowhere to go, but I know I'm in the right by taking these costs out of the rent until the costs are covered. I do still owe her money on the deposit, which of course I will pay, as that has no bearing on the actual monthly rent. If I sue her, she'll harass me until either I move out or she finds some technicality over which to evict me. If I get code enforcement involved, I'll have to move, which I definitely cannot afford to do, even if I could find someone to rent to me, with my horrible credit, at a price I can afford. I need an attorney to help me mediate this. Is there anyone you know of who would represent me for an hour or two pro bono, so that I can find some kind of resolution to this?

I'll be home, obviously, except when I have to run out and take my daughter to and from school. Please call me back. I'm very scared and very much alone in all this.

Thanks,


P.S.: Here's what I'm out of pocket on so far:

$150 ER copay
$26 walker (for one month)
$30 bath bench
$60 various medications
$25 orthopedist office visit

This comes to almost $300, and my son has another appointment with the orthopedist next week. My rent is $400. I'm not even factoring in his 3 missed weeks from school and his indefinite time away from the job he has only had for a week, or my 3 missed weeks from work, which I'm not even sure I have sufficient leave time to cover.

[Hot Topic]

Your first mistake was moving into a place after being told the roof needed repairs by someone who was obviously unwilling to commit to a timeframe for said repairs. Your next mistake was allowing the problem to go on as long as it did without notifying the housing inspector in your area.

It was incredibly foolish for you to get up on the roof yourself on the 13th. I'm sorry for your son's injury, but you have to shoulder the blame for allowing him up there. Don't bet any money on the real estate agent's claim that the landlady can be held responsible for your decision to climb up on the roof.

You've put yourself into another hole with your "horrible" credit.

[tranquility]

I guess you could sue in small claims court, but this is a complex situation where the result is unclear. The problem is that *you* decided to go up on the roof without contacting the landlady. I know why you did it and that you did attempt to contact her, but you did not contact her. Then, *you* brought up your under age son to help you. I bet neither of you are qualified roofers. If there was a major problem, you should have contacted a professional roofing company and not done it yourself.

But, if the damage was really affecting habitibility, you may have some claim. Since you can't see an attorney for whatever reasons you have, your only other option is to sue and see what a judge says. While I feel for your situation, I don't think you will win. I could be wrong, but the situation is not as clear as you might suppose.

[Cvillecpm]

The letter need to go to your landlady with a demand for reimbursement within 10 days or you will sue her in Small Claims court....and YES, you should not have gone up on the roof.

I doubt the DA will do anything except want to know who the roofers were and if they were licensed.

You should have called code or building code enforcement, documented the roof situation and had the property condenmed and THEN moved and found another place....you had lots of options other than going on the roof.