Lousy Landlord

Back in august we rented an apartment here in fort wayne, In. sometime in early november we got a letter from the court house stating that this place was being taken back by the bank for non-payment of property. I phoned the landlord and she said she would be over in about an hour and would explain to me what was going on. she told me that someone at the bank was under investigation for steaing money and that they were one of the peoples money that was being stolen so their payments were not being made and not to worry about it. well needless to say we forgot all about it and she called me on a friday when the rent was due and said she would be over to pick it up. on tuesday of the following week we got a letter from them saying that they are no longer respone\sible for this property that they have filed a chapter 7 and we can't get our damage deposit back either. so we as far as i'm concerned were mislead all along, I think they knew this was coming and continued to collect rent from us when they should have just told us so we could have made arrangments to move at that time, now I don't know what we're goning to do, please help.....we have been through hell since we moved in here, they moved some people in right after we moved in and they were loud and crazy from the beginning and only after repeated calls to the landlords and the police after 4 and a half months did they finally get thrown out, I think they were just wanting the rent money from them also, thats why it took so long and we didn't want to break our lease because we didn't want to loose our deposit, which now I think we have anyway...we should have just went ahead and moved, but how was we to know? pleaee help with any advice you can offer please...down and out in Indiana...

I already got a reply on this, but didn't these people commit fraud by doing us like this...how much time do we have to find us a new place and what do we need to expect next? they are saying the gas and water is going off next week, we called the gas company and they said they will charge us a $250 deposit, we told them all we have is a gas stove, electric heat, but they said the apartment behind us has gas heat, nobody has lived there for 4 months, and we told them that also, they don't care..if we would have not honored our lease we would have been forced to honor it one way or another..aren't they obligated to honor this lease? I think what they have done to us is pure fraud, or is the justice system really wacked as I have been told..please reply, heeelllllp....

[This message has been edited by culbra@webtv.net (edited February 27, 2000).]

You can file a claim under the landlord's bankruptcy for your deposit and other losses. I don't know whether your landlord is covered, but many states have laws about deposits, where they need to be kept and how much interest has to be added. These laws apply to landlords of multi apt buildings.