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condemned rental property

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earlymrng

Junior Member
Minnesota
I have a lease for a home that now has a sewage leak. The landlord told me that I cannot come back to the home (I have been in a hotel). The landlord is keeping my deposit to cover the rent for March. We were in the house for 5 days in March and have been in a hotel since. Can the landlord legally keep my deposit even though we are not able to stay in the house. Also, I am now homeless because of this issue. The landlord stated that she could not afford to keep putting me up in a hotel (and the insurance will not pay for it) Any help is appreciated.
 


Cvillecpm

Senior Member
Tell us the part BEFORE the sewage leak, please AND has the property been condemned as the title of your post suggests?.
 

earlymrng

Junior Member
Minnesota -
We had told the landlord previously that the sink/tub/toilet, all drains were plugged. She called someone and they came and looked and told her she needed to get it fixed. They told her that if she didn't get it fixed, it would cost her more in the long run. The house is being foreclosed and I believe has been through the sheriff's auction. Around the first of this month, we began smelling sewage. We looked under the house and when the toilet was flushed, the sewage was coming up from the ground. We told the landlord. She called a plumber and he told us that we could not stay there. I am pregnant and there is methane gas, along with other fumes. The landlord told us that we always had friends over and we could stay with them. I spoke with someone and they called the landlord and she decided to put us up at a hotel. Now, she states she cannot afford for us to stay there and the insurance will not pay for it.
 

Cvillecpm

Senior Member
See, that wasn't so hard....now, is the property posted as CONDEMNED?

If it is, you won't get anything back and you can't go back as the city/county will remove utility meters - water, elec, gas.

If it is not condemned, AND it is in forclosure or the bank owns it, you can't go back because your landlord does not owne it anymore AND the bank does not have to honor your lease.

I suspect your landlord does not have the $$$ you paid in rent or any deposit so going after her will be a waste of time as she will just declare bankruptcy. The only ASSEST she probably HAD being the real estate that has now been foreclosed.

You need to get to social services, catholic charities and sign up for welfare, food stamps for you and your baby if you have not done these steps already.
 

earlymrng

Junior Member
The property is not condemned - formally. I have just been told that I cannot live there because of the gases, etc..and the landlord is not going to have it fixed. My only concern was that I receive my deposit back. I realize that she is not going to voluntarily give it back and I also understand that I would have to file with the courts and it probably would not be worth it in the end. Thank you for your assistance.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Early Can you recall the name of the plumber and try to get the plumber to give you a written letter stating all he can about the houses plumbing failure? IF So then What township are you in ?
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
If you can learn the name and get statement from the plumber, then the next thing to learn is if you still have possession of the unit ( keys with some of your things in it ) is if your township Or county ( St Louis, Lake , Cook) has a building inspector who can come out to verify that the house has a sewer system failure. IF there is no one from your city /county who can inspect it to give you a report then you would have to rely on the report from the plumber to help speed up your deposit return. read up Landlord-Tenant Laws of Minnesota, Section 504 sections 3 and 4 , 3.
(a) Every landlord shall:
within three weeks after termination of the tenancy; or
within five days of the date when the tenant leaves the building or dwelling due to the legal condemnation of the building or dwelling in which the tenant lives for reasons not due to willful, malicious, or irresponsible conduct of the tenant,
then a little later in 4 4.
Any landlord who fails to:
provide a written statement within three weeks of termination of the tenancy;
provide a written statement within five days of the date when the tenant leaves the building or dwelling due to the legal condemnation of the building or dwelling in which the tenant lives for reasons not due to willful, malicious, or irresponsible conduct of the tenant; or
transfer or return a deposit as required by subdivision 5,
after receipt of the tenant's mailing address or deliver instructions, as required in subdivision 3, shall be liable to the tenant for damages in an amount equal to the portion of the deposit withheld by the landlord and interest thereon as provided in subdivision 2, as a penalty, in addition to the portion of the deposit wrongfully withheld by the landlord and interest thereon.
 

Pojo

Member
I agree you would waste your time trying to get any money from the LL regardless of the LL responsibilities. Nothing there to get.

You should move on quickly and get aid for yourself before the baby is born instead of chasing a person in court who hasn't a pot to hiss in.

Legal rights? Yes you PROBABLY have some but collecting will be next to impossible and you have things to do instead of worryin about this mess.
 

acmb05

Senior Member
I agree you would waste your time trying to get any money from the LL regardless of the LL responsibilities. Nothing there to get.

You should move on quickly and get aid for yourself before the baby is born instead of chasing a person in court who hasn't a pot to hiss in.

Legal rights? Yes you PROBABLY have some but collecting will be next to impossible and you have things to do instead of worryin about this mess.
I would disagree with this. In todays market it may not be the fact that the landlord may not have the money. More than likely scenario is property value has dropped so much that the house is just not worth fixing and owner has decided to let the bank have it back. If this is the case and the owner has another house that she lives in then taking this to small claims could get her money back.
 

TigerD

Senior Member
I would disagree with this. In todays market it may not be the fact that the landlord may not have the money. More than likely scenario is property value has dropped so much that the house is just not worth fixing and owner has decided to let the bank have it back. If this is the case and the owner has another house that she lives in then taking this to small claims could get her money back.
There is a big difference between winning a judgment and collecting a judgment. Also, some states - like Missouri - a small claims judgment can't be used to attached liens on property.


DC
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Unless there has been a change in the law I do know of Minnesota LLs who have lost court cases with tenants , the tenants won judgements , LL and did not pay them and later learned that the tenant had a lien that interfered with the sale of the LLs own home so the LL had to have the closing agent set aside the funds , get release and pay off the tenant anyway. SO in the long run unless there has been a change in law here , it is still worth while for a tenant to see it thru when they are gonna have to go after a LL to get deposit funds back. Lastly as often as LLs use court ordered judgments that can end up interfering with tenants credit ITs just as acceptable for a tenant to do it back to a LL!
 

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