is it too late to sue?

What is the name of your state? ny in july 2002, my family moved into a 3 bd flat. the upstairs tenants were a 28 year old lady, a 9 year old girl, and a 12 year old boy. we had 2 cars and them 1. we all parked in the driveway, on our own sides. we had no problems for 4 months. all of a sudden we started hearing pounding, loud music, etc,all at night. we called the landlord and asked if he could talk to them. we had to call the landlord 3 sep. times. all of a sudden one day in dec. we got a knock at the door. it was the landlord asking us to not do the things that we had originally called him about!!! when we started telling him that it was the people upstairs, not us, remember the phone calls, the lady upstairs came down behind the landlord and started screaming at us that she was going to beat me up, (i was pregnant), that our 4 year olds roller skated and threw basket balls at her ceiling(the don't know how to skate, and the ceilings are high!!), and that we parked too far over for her to get out!! She also said we turned on all of her light switches and used her washing machine, which we each had our own!!! the landlord told her to be quiet and go upstairs and she told him to **ck off!! then he left and came back saying he was sorry and it was all her!!! about 4 hours later, she was in the basement where we could hear her perfectly on the phone asking someone to come over to our house, put a gun in my husband's mouth, and beat the crap out of all of us!!! we called the landlord and he said call the police. we did and when they got there, they stood in the kitchen and listened to her threats for a while before going downstairs and telling her they heard it and if anything happened to us or our stuff, she would be in trouble. they also called the landlord from our house and told him what happened. we were told she has a record and if anything else happened to call again. from that point on we documented everything. there where loud noises, being blocked in the driveway, name calling, the kids rang our doorbell and ran, the landlord wouldn't call us back, when he did he told us he couldn't do anything. the police were called 4 times. we slept with our kids in our room and barricaids on our 2 doors, i was put on anxiety and depression meds because i was scared to leave my house by myself!!! i fell down the stairs while i was pregnant because the landlord wouldn't do his snow removal, the people upstairs drove all over the lawn and tried to say it was us(we had suv's, they had a neon!!)we took pictures of the lawn and the stairs. i have letters from my doctor. after conferring with an attorney friend who went over our lease, we sent a return reciept 30 day notice to move. when moving in we paid 1st, last, and security. the day before we moved, we got a court summons for eviction and rent due. we went to court and an attorney outside read it and said to leave if we were moving out the next day. we moved out the next day and 2 days later there was a 72 hour notice on our door. we went back to clean the apartment for sec. dep. and found the landlord there throwing the rest of our stuff in the trash!!! we took pictures. he left and we ended up calling the police because my husband's new shotgun was missing!!! the police never got ah old of the landlord, but he was the only one there. he refused our sec. dep., even though we were paid up!!! can we still sue? can i sue for all the distress during my pregnancy? how much? we also researched why the lady before us moved, the lady upstairs said the same exact things about her, and the landlord did nothing!!! we spoke to her. what can we do?

" I Love New York " LOL

I know it's not funny , but your out of there.
Take the Landlord to Court. He could have evicted the other tenants as "Objection Tenants " and chose not to.
That's the way slum lords operate .

Good thing you didn't get injured falling on uncleaned entry & sidewalks.

My guess is you can at least get your Security Deposit back . I don't know how long you lived there.

You could also sue your former Landlord for destroying your property when he threw it out,If it was damaged.

I doubt if you will get awarded anything for stress.

I know what you dealt with.We live in a 4 bdrm. apt. House,and some of the tenants that have lived here you wouldn't believe either. Yes we had been threatened too. But since I'm a Male that don't take that kinda **** I dealt with it.

The landlord is a slumlord too. I've had it out with him many times. This month he even came for his rent the end of the prior month, but he didn't get it then. Geeze talk about greedy ..

Anyway sue under the term " Constructive eviction", which means the landlord refused to evict the other tenants that threatened you as well as all the other issues as " Objectionable Tenants".
He allowed your Peace,quiet,and enjoyment of your premises,to be disrupted w/o taking actions .

good luck !!

Well, I read your LONG story and am still confused!! (And even more so by the 'answer' by Blonde).

"he refused our sec. dep., even though we were paid up!!!"
*** What the hell does that mean. How could he refuse your deposit?? Didn't you pay that when you moved in?? And what relevance does your being 'paid up' have to do with the deposit anyway??

"can we still sue?"
*** Sue over what??

"can i sue for all the distress during my pregnancy?"
*** No.

"how much?"
*** Zero.

"what can we do?"
*** About what??

reread

obviously you need to reread my question and the reply from blonde. the answers to your questions are right there, and the reply answered every one of them. in case you didn't know, when you move into an apartment, you give a security deposit, only to have it given back when you move out as long as nothing is damaged. some landlords keep it if all of your rent is not paid up. ours was and he kept our security deposit. therefore, that would be what we are sueing for!!! is that plain enough for you? do you need it explained as if i were talking to a 4 year old?

Re: reread

ilovemykids said:

obviously you need to reread my question and the reply from blonde. the answers to your questions are right there, and the reply answered every one of them. in case you didn't know, when you move into an apartment, you give a security deposit, only to have it given back when you move out as long as nothing is damaged. some landlords keep it if all of your rent is not paid up. ours was and he kept our security deposit. therefore, that would be what we are sueing for!!! is that plain enough for you? do you need it explained as if i were talking to a 4 year old?

Click to expand...

**A: oh brother. Why are we never short of idiots here.

"do you need it explained as if i were talking to a 4 year old?"
*** Only when you write like a 3 year old.

And guess what.... I asked the questions I did because Blonde's advice was NOT correct in several places. But, with your NewYukker attitude, who cares. Go ahead and follow his/her advice.

Hint: This was NOT 'constructive eviction'.

all of a sudden we started hearing pounding, loud music, etc,all at night. we called the landlord and asked if he could talk to them. we had to call the landlord 3 sep. times. all of a sudden one day in dec. we got a knock at the door. it was the landlord asking us to not do the things that we had originally called him about!!! when we started telling him that it was the people upstairs, not us, remember the phone calls, the lady upstairs came down behind the landlord and started screaming at us that she was going to beat me up, (i was pregnant), that our 4 year olds roller skated and threw basket balls at her ceiling(the don't know how to skate, and the ceilings are high!!), and that we parked too far over for her to get out!! She also said we turned on all of her light switches and used her washing machine, which we each had our own!!! the landlord told her to be quiet and go upstairs and she told him to **ck off!! then he left and came back saying he was sorry and it was all her!!! [ quote ]

Sorry jetX , The landlord allowed the tenant's Peace,Quit,& enjoyment of their premises to be disrupted on a constant basis (They pay rent for ) and are entitled to under ordenances (landlord / tenant - responsibilities ), and the landlord failed to evict .

Okay, Blonde, since you brought it up.....

"Take the Landlord to Court. He could have evicted the other tenants as "Objection Tenants " and chose not to."
*** There is no statutory requirement for a landlord to evict 'other' tenants. Simply, the landlord has the right to evict (or not) whoever is in violation of their lease. And thought a landlord CAN evict a tenant for violating someone elses 'right to peaceful enjoyment', there is no requirement for them to do so. And absent a requirement, there is no civil claim.

"That's the way slum lords operate ."
*** Agreed, that is ONE of the ways that 'slumlords' can operate.

"My guess is you can at least get your Security Deposit back . I don't know how long you lived there."
*** Of course that is a possibility, but since we do NOT have sufficient information to state that, it is anyones guess as to whether the writer can actually get the deposit returned.... or even has a right to.

"You could also sue your former Landlord for destroying your property when he threw it out,If it was damaged."
*** Again, you don't have sufficient facts to state that. There MAY be a possible claim, but that would depend on far more facts than offered. For example, why was the (former) tenants property still in there and for how long?

"I doubt if you will get awarded anything for stress."
*** Not only doubt, but since 'stress' is not a compensible claim, there is NO CHANCE of getting anything.

"Anyway sue under the term " Constructive eviction", which means the landlord refused to evict the other tenants that threatened you as well as all the other issues as " Objectionable Tenants"."
*** That is NOT 'constructive eviction'. In fact, when a tenant complains of neighbors violating their 'right to peaceful enjoyment' the landlord has several options. They include doing nothing at all, allowing the 'complainer' to terminate the lease or considering eviction of the 'troublemakers'. BTW, 'constructive eviction' is when the landlord does not go through a legal eviction of a tenant but takes steps which keep the tenant from continuing to live in the premises. Clearly, that is NOT the case here.

"He allowed your Peace,quiet,and enjoyment of your premises,to be disrupted w/o taking actions ."
*** And that, in itself, is not actionable.

There are several possible LEGAL remedies that could be available to the original writer, but since he/she has decided to follow your advice, I will stay out of that part of this thread.

jetx

i'm not going to continue to fall to your level,but i am going to state that my lease says if we move out we have to give a 30 day notice, which we did. it also says if our rent was paid up we get our security deposit back as long as nothing was damaged. nothing was damaged and our rent was paid up. our stuff was in there for 1/2 day while we were putting the rest of our stuff in the new apartment. we spoke to the police about it and the landlord was not supposed to be in our apartment, or touch our stuff until the agreed upon departure date. he was in there 2 days early, and stole my husband's gun. so now are you satisfied? is that up to your expectations of how a person should write or disperse information? thanks for your help. oh, by the way i wasn't accepting anyone's info over anyone elses, i was looking for legal advice and i thought that is what i had recieved. instead, i have to read replies from someone degrading me instead of helping me.