CindyAriks
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Tennessee.
We moved into a doublewide, 4 bdrm. mobile home in April of this year. The home was only 5 years old. We rented this through a realty company, but in our lease, it stated they would be free of any obligations after we signed it, leaving it between us and the landlady. The lease was titled as a month-to-month, but hand written underneath were the words "Year Lease". There were also numerous rules throughout that would state one thing and then tell you to refer to the # on the next page as to what did or didn't apply. We did speak to a lawyer and he said the lease was "untermanable", explaining that the way it was written, neither she or us could break it. Also after having the utilities hooked up, we found that nothing in the home functioned as it was represented. The stove didn't work but also wouldn't connect to the outlet, the plug was completely different. The dishwasher had no electricity or water lines hooked to it and it also did not work after we had it all hooked up. There was no outlet for the dryer, nor was there any water supply to the refridgerator's icemaker or water dispenser. The airconditioning system's venting was not hooked up, so we didn't have airconditioning either. And the worst thing was the sewage backup. Raw sewage came up into the bathtub and around the toilets leaving fecal matter and black mold around the tub and toilets. All of this occured the first week we were there. My family came and installed the outlets for the stove and the dryer, and connected the electricity to the dishwasher. Also they put in the water supply to the refridgerator. We did inform her of these problems immediately which was on a Saturday. She asked us to wait until Monday to call a plumber as to not incur the emergency fees that would be charged for a weekend call, so we had to spend 2 nights at my family's home. I had to make ALL of the calls to the repair people even after we had asked her to do this. And in the 2 months we were there she did not come one time to check on anything. A total of 4 plumbers were called because the sewage kept backing up. The first plumber wasn't going to be paid because they said he didn't do his job, so he asked ME to pay the bill. I told the landlady I would send him his money from the rent and send her the rest. She got terribly mad, but she did finally pay him herself. She agreed to drop our rent to half for the second month for all of the problems. The dishwasher was worked on at least 4 times before he told her it needed to be replaced, but she refused to do so. The airconditioning people told me that all of the duct work would have to be replaced. We asked her for written permission to be released from the lease the first and second month we were there because nothing was working but the refridgerator and part of the stove. The water people came to check the water pressure because there was none of that either. They said we should have been getting 16 gallons per minute from the faucets, but we only got 1 gallon per minute. So this was also not working properly. We asked again for her to release us from our lease the day we were supposed to have paid the 3rd month's rent, but she still refused. We had not paid the 3rd month yet and it had been only 10 days when we received a written notice for us to vacate the place within 30 days. We were out within 1 week of that. We asked for her to do a "walk-through" of the home to show we had not damaged it in any way. She agreed to only if my parents would be the ones to come. I gave them the keys and they tried for over a week to get her to come. She never showed or called. As we were moving our stuff out, my parents thought it would be a good idea to have the county Ground Water Protection Agency to come out and inspect the sewage problem. They met the man at the home and he addressed the problem as there was not enough field line, and there needed to be at least 150 ft. more line and gravel trenches. Also he wanted the septic tank pumped and lines checked for blockages. He gave them a signed written report and also stated that no one should be living in the home until this was repaired. There are people living there now, but the problem has not been fixed. I only know this because we indirectly know the people that moved in, but she doesn't know that we know them. They did say that the small bathroom that was ruined and had the fecal matter and mold in it, was still the same way. We don't know if she fixed anything else or not. The previous tenants also had problems with the appliances and sewage backup. The bad bathroom is right next to the air intake unit of the airconditioner, so all of the mold and fecal stuff is being sucked into it and spread throughout the home. I was afraid of ecoli or other health hazards while I was there. Is it possible for it to get airborne throughout the home from this? Wouldn't this be a health hazzard? Also, she told the new tenants that she had "crazy people" there before them. Isn't this slander? After talking with the lawyer about getting our deposit back, he told us to file a small claims suit against her for "ALL" of the money we had put into the rental. So we did. I really didn't expect her to hire a lawyer, but she did. Now I am faced with the fact that I probably need one also. When I filed the suit, I don't know if I wrote it up right in the way I asked for the return of our money, deposits, moving expenses and court and attorney's fees. I was told by the lawyer that the home was "uninhabitable" and the lease "untermanable". The part I am questioning is..... I asked for my rent and deposits back, and moving expenses for the "second" move. Should I have asked for the first ones back instead? Or should it be the way I wrote it up originally? I would hate to lose because it wasn't worded correctly. I have all of the letters to her, the one from her, statements from my family members that did the work initally, one of the plumber's statements, a letter from my previous landlords, pictures of how we left the home, the report from the county ground water man, all of the calls I made to her and the repair people are highlighted from my cell phone bill (we only had a cell phone, no landline), my moving expense receipts, my lease, copies of money orders for rent, receipt for deposit and first month's rent, wittnesses, and a graphic video of all that was wrong with the home. I honestly can't afford a lawyer, but I have always heard that only a fool represents himself. I really don't know if I've written the claim suit up right and I don't know what to do. Do I need to hire a lawyer or is it possible to state my case and hopefully win? I don't know where else to turn. I really need some advice as to what I need to do. We lived in a nightmare for the entire time we were there. We loved the home and the area and really tried to make it our home. It was beautiful, but it was not functionable. There were 3 counties involved in this, and I had a hard time trying to file the small claims suit. The home was located in one county, the rent was sent to another county and the lease was signed in another county. The lawyer said we could file in either of the three places, but a judge advised us to file it in the county we signed the lease in. If you have any advice you can give me, I would really be grateful. Also, if I need to hire an attorney I will do that somehow. I originally filed for $2836.00, but this needs to be amended somewhat because I did recieve $275.00 back on the electricity and water deposits from my final bills. Also I think I need to deduct $200.00 more for the second elecrtic deposit, because they will return this on my last bill if I ever move again. This would bring the total down to--$2361.00 instead of the original $2836.00. I paid a filing fee of $115.50, so if I add that back on, the total I will be claiming is $2476.50, actual out-of-pocket expences. I did not add any cell phone charges, even though I know I had some from all of the calling the repair people and different places to try to rent. The lawyer I spoke with, told me he did not normally handle this type of case, but thought it would be a fun case to try because she broke the lease and I had a lot of evidence in my favor. He said that he would charge $500.00 for his services. He also said that even though I asked for attorney fees and court costs, that I probably would not be awarded this even if I won. I don't want to lose this case, but I don't want to just break even either. It just wouldn't be worth all of my time and trouble. If I hire a lawyer and win all that I have asked for, I would come out ahead by about $2000.00. But I have no way of knowing how the judge will look at this. PLEASE help me with any advice you can and any opinions you may have. I really appreciate your time and attention to this. My new court date is 11/23/05. It has been postponed twice already, so I don't know if this one will go through or not. Thank you again for listening and any help and advice. Sincerely, C.A.
We moved into a doublewide, 4 bdrm. mobile home in April of this year. The home was only 5 years old. We rented this through a realty company, but in our lease, it stated they would be free of any obligations after we signed it, leaving it between us and the landlady. The lease was titled as a month-to-month, but hand written underneath were the words "Year Lease". There were also numerous rules throughout that would state one thing and then tell you to refer to the # on the next page as to what did or didn't apply. We did speak to a lawyer and he said the lease was "untermanable", explaining that the way it was written, neither she or us could break it. Also after having the utilities hooked up, we found that nothing in the home functioned as it was represented. The stove didn't work but also wouldn't connect to the outlet, the plug was completely different. The dishwasher had no electricity or water lines hooked to it and it also did not work after we had it all hooked up. There was no outlet for the dryer, nor was there any water supply to the refridgerator's icemaker or water dispenser. The airconditioning system's venting was not hooked up, so we didn't have airconditioning either. And the worst thing was the sewage backup. Raw sewage came up into the bathtub and around the toilets leaving fecal matter and black mold around the tub and toilets. All of this occured the first week we were there. My family came and installed the outlets for the stove and the dryer, and connected the electricity to the dishwasher. Also they put in the water supply to the refridgerator. We did inform her of these problems immediately which was on a Saturday. She asked us to wait until Monday to call a plumber as to not incur the emergency fees that would be charged for a weekend call, so we had to spend 2 nights at my family's home. I had to make ALL of the calls to the repair people even after we had asked her to do this. And in the 2 months we were there she did not come one time to check on anything. A total of 4 plumbers were called because the sewage kept backing up. The first plumber wasn't going to be paid because they said he didn't do his job, so he asked ME to pay the bill. I told the landlady I would send him his money from the rent and send her the rest. She got terribly mad, but she did finally pay him herself. She agreed to drop our rent to half for the second month for all of the problems. The dishwasher was worked on at least 4 times before he told her it needed to be replaced, but she refused to do so. The airconditioning people told me that all of the duct work would have to be replaced. We asked her for written permission to be released from the lease the first and second month we were there because nothing was working but the refridgerator and part of the stove. The water people came to check the water pressure because there was none of that either. They said we should have been getting 16 gallons per minute from the faucets, but we only got 1 gallon per minute. So this was also not working properly. We asked again for her to release us from our lease the day we were supposed to have paid the 3rd month's rent, but she still refused. We had not paid the 3rd month yet and it had been only 10 days when we received a written notice for us to vacate the place within 30 days. We were out within 1 week of that. We asked for her to do a "walk-through" of the home to show we had not damaged it in any way. She agreed to only if my parents would be the ones to come. I gave them the keys and they tried for over a week to get her to come. She never showed or called. As we were moving our stuff out, my parents thought it would be a good idea to have the county Ground Water Protection Agency to come out and inspect the sewage problem. They met the man at the home and he addressed the problem as there was not enough field line, and there needed to be at least 150 ft. more line and gravel trenches. Also he wanted the septic tank pumped and lines checked for blockages. He gave them a signed written report and also stated that no one should be living in the home until this was repaired. There are people living there now, but the problem has not been fixed. I only know this because we indirectly know the people that moved in, but she doesn't know that we know them. They did say that the small bathroom that was ruined and had the fecal matter and mold in it, was still the same way. We don't know if she fixed anything else or not. The previous tenants also had problems with the appliances and sewage backup. The bad bathroom is right next to the air intake unit of the airconditioner, so all of the mold and fecal stuff is being sucked into it and spread throughout the home. I was afraid of ecoli or other health hazards while I was there. Is it possible for it to get airborne throughout the home from this? Wouldn't this be a health hazzard? Also, she told the new tenants that she had "crazy people" there before them. Isn't this slander? After talking with the lawyer about getting our deposit back, he told us to file a small claims suit against her for "ALL" of the money we had put into the rental. So we did. I really didn't expect her to hire a lawyer, but she did. Now I am faced with the fact that I probably need one also. When I filed the suit, I don't know if I wrote it up right in the way I asked for the return of our money, deposits, moving expenses and court and attorney's fees. I was told by the lawyer that the home was "uninhabitable" and the lease "untermanable". The part I am questioning is..... I asked for my rent and deposits back, and moving expenses for the "second" move. Should I have asked for the first ones back instead? Or should it be the way I wrote it up originally? I would hate to lose because it wasn't worded correctly. I have all of the letters to her, the one from her, statements from my family members that did the work initally, one of the plumber's statements, a letter from my previous landlords, pictures of how we left the home, the report from the county ground water man, all of the calls I made to her and the repair people are highlighted from my cell phone bill (we only had a cell phone, no landline), my moving expense receipts, my lease, copies of money orders for rent, receipt for deposit and first month's rent, wittnesses, and a graphic video of all that was wrong with the home. I honestly can't afford a lawyer, but I have always heard that only a fool represents himself. I really don't know if I've written the claim suit up right and I don't know what to do. Do I need to hire a lawyer or is it possible to state my case and hopefully win? I don't know where else to turn. I really need some advice as to what I need to do. We lived in a nightmare for the entire time we were there. We loved the home and the area and really tried to make it our home. It was beautiful, but it was not functionable. There were 3 counties involved in this, and I had a hard time trying to file the small claims suit. The home was located in one county, the rent was sent to another county and the lease was signed in another county. The lawyer said we could file in either of the three places, but a judge advised us to file it in the county we signed the lease in. If you have any advice you can give me, I would really be grateful. Also, if I need to hire an attorney I will do that somehow. I originally filed for $2836.00, but this needs to be amended somewhat because I did recieve $275.00 back on the electricity and water deposits from my final bills. Also I think I need to deduct $200.00 more for the second elecrtic deposit, because they will return this on my last bill if I ever move again. This would bring the total down to--$2361.00 instead of the original $2836.00. I paid a filing fee of $115.50, so if I add that back on, the total I will be claiming is $2476.50, actual out-of-pocket expences. I did not add any cell phone charges, even though I know I had some from all of the calling the repair people and different places to try to rent. The lawyer I spoke with, told me he did not normally handle this type of case, but thought it would be a fun case to try because she broke the lease and I had a lot of evidence in my favor. He said that he would charge $500.00 for his services. He also said that even though I asked for attorney fees and court costs, that I probably would not be awarded this even if I won. I don't want to lose this case, but I don't want to just break even either. It just wouldn't be worth all of my time and trouble. If I hire a lawyer and win all that I have asked for, I would come out ahead by about $2000.00. But I have no way of knowing how the judge will look at this. PLEASE help me with any advice you can and any opinions you may have. I really appreciate your time and attention to this. My new court date is 11/23/05. It has been postponed twice already, so I don't know if this one will go through or not. Thank you again for listening and any help and advice. Sincerely, C.A.
