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Landlord is trying to sue me for getting condemned, can he do this?

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Procode

Junior Member
I am currently a college student in Albany NY. Me and my 2 friends rent a house from a landlord for 1 year. Last December we had a small party at the house which caused the Police to come. After the Police trashed our house and broke our stove, they also condemned it. Resulting in me being homeless for 2 weeks. Now to un-condemn the house the landlord claims to have spent slightly over $3,000 for inspections and repairs. However the only repairs I seen were the walls being painted which was for no reason at all, as there was nothing wrong with the walls to begin with. He wants a $1,000 from each of us and is now threatening to take us to court this week if we don't pay. Apparently the reason for the house being condemned was beer on the floor and it being messy, which also makes no sense at all. Ok maybe the floor was wet a bit but the same thing happens when you wash it... He also says that his lawyer chargers $250 an hour for his work and whatever the final cost is will also have to be paid by us.

Please help, is he trying to scare us into paying him this money, or is it really possible for him to do all those things to us?

Thank you in advance for your replies!
 


justalayman

Senior Member
Apparently the reason for the house being condemned was beer on the floor and it being messy, which also makes no sense at all.
You are correct. When you read the order of condemnation from the department of health, come on back and let us know why it was condemned. It makes all the difference in the world in responding to your questions.
 

Procode

Junior Member
You are correct. When you read the order of condemnation from the department of health, come on back and let us know why it was condemned. It makes all the difference in the world in responding to your questions.
I was never given that, so basically it all comes down to why the house was condemned? I mean if those are the reasons then can the landlord sue us? I just want to know if I have a fighting chance or not. Also can we be charged for his lawyer fees?
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Condemnation is not just about housekeeping issues, get your city inspections desk to give you guys a copy of the report that lead to condemnation and read it. There must have been something big like elect or plumbing or heating system violations or major construction done with out permits. BTW beer spilled on carpet is damage but there has to be something else going on , so why dont you get the inspections report and then come back and post what they found as reason for condemnation ( curious , did city put a notice on the exit doors of the building stating it was condemned and why ? )
 

justalayman

Senior Member
if your actions are what caused the premises to be condemned, yes, the landlord can seek damages from you. If it was something beyond your control, the LL would not have any right to seek compensation from you.

whether the LL could get legal costs or not would be based on your lease. If you agreed to it should there be a need to sue you, then they can be recovered. If no agreement, unless your acts are considered to be malicious, there is little chance of him getting attorney's fees.
 

Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Police do not condemn a house (and frankly, it sounds strange that "they" trashed the house and broke the stove).

Much of what you posted makes no sense.

Gail
 

Procode

Junior Member
Believe it or not that is what they do, it really is out of hand and out of control down there. I am happy I am graduating this year. My house was one of the 3 condemned that night. They condemned the other house just because it was "dirty" from what I heard. They kicked down all of the doors in the house and destroyed things that were hanging on the walls. I was not present for that and cannot prove it so that is really a separate deal. It really is outrageous what they do to college students down there though.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
What you heard and what is a matter of public record at your city building inspections are two very different things, Inspections records are public and will inc what they see and for a rental unit to be condemned only for housekeeping issues means its a garbage house , so much trash and food debris piled up often with pet waste that it becomes a health hazard as well as attracting rodents. SO pertaining to the unit you rented on monday go get a copy of any inspections reports /condemnation records on file for your rental unit and read them.
 

Procode

Junior Member
All my landlord said is that there was beer on the floor which caused an electrical hazard, bunch of bull if anything. I'll try to get the records.
 

optdan

Junior Member
I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like there were existing problems with the house you were renting and the raid on your house just allowed the police to uncover the problem. They may have said that the beer on the floor created the problem, but if beer on the floor creates a hazard worthy of condemning a house then there must have been some electrical problems that you didn't know about. Maybe there were bare and exposed wires on the floor behind the fridge, behind the stove or some other hidden location that you could not see. And because there was beer all over the floor it created a problem that made the police feel that they had to condemn the house. Who knows, maybe there were some major problems that you don't even know about and the landlord is just trying to recover some of his losses that he thinks he can blame on you.

Go to your city hall and get a copy of the report. You might have to pay for the report, but it will probably tell you everything you need to know.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
Police do not condemn a house (and frankly, it sounds strange that "they" trashed the house and broke the stove).

Much of what you posted makes no sense.

Gail
Having attended college in Albany myself (albeit, last century), Gail hit the nail on the head. Without the inspection report, none of this makes any sense.
 

Searchertwin

Senior Member
There is more to the story than op is telling.

One, a "small party" will not end with police coming, unless the small got out of hand.
Two, why would police "damage a stove"? Maybe something illegal was cooking?

Three, she stated, "Police trashed our house". In a section she wrote she describe police trashing as "breaking down doors, AND destroyed things on wall."
So LL is probably suing for doors damage, and we know for painting walls, op stated this.

Four, if op REALLY didn't feel she did nothing wrong, than why is she not complaining about LL to pay for the two weeks her being "homeless".

Five, she is complaining about how "beer" was reason for house to be condemn. She stated, " reason for the house being condemned was beer on the floor and it being messy, ..... Ok maybe the floor was wet a bit but the same thing happens when you wash it".
Trying to find excuses to make it right. So how bad was it? Was beer scattered all over the place, walls for instance?
Add those all together and who do you think is guilty?

Agree that op needs to find inspection report to find true nature of condemning the house. But I believe she knows already.
 

Procode

Junior Member
I understand what I said makes no sense but you guys do not currently attend the school and do not know what goes on around here. The cops do whatever the hell they want. Arresting people for no reason, making sh*t up and so much other illegal stuff that it's repulsive. Also I am not a she, but a he. I have the reports now... so here it is...

Must clean and repair all interior surface damaged by excessive amounts of beer on floor

Must have licensed electrician obtain electric permit and evaluate all electric documenting it is safe to restore electric
This is what apparently the inspector said. However even the landlord himself admitted to me that it was all bullsh*t and that he never seen anyone do this kind of cr*p before.

As I mentioned the police do this on purpose to scare us of have any parties ever.

I have the lease now as well and there is nothing regarding the lawyer fees or about being condemned written at all, it's a fairly short lease.
It only says this about the damages:
"If something is damaged because of tenants misuse than the tenant has to fix it" - my own words

Believe me or not we really did not do anything bad and the party did not get out of control, this neighborhood is known for partying and the police patrol this area very hard to catch us, instead of catching real criminals. The cop even said he felt bad about breaking up this party because of it being so small.

You guys have no idea how bad the situation is regarding these issues over here, and nobody is able to do anything about it because it's hard to get proof. Every time someone tries to take a video of what the cops are doing they break their cell phones or arrest them for interfering with the law or some cr*p like that.
 

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