What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AZ
My landlord has discriminated against me by refusing to grant a reasonable accommodation and also for including all utilities to every tenant in the building except me (I was told utilities were NOT included even though they really are.) Neighbors with the same exact size apt as me, with the same number of bedrooms, who moved in before me and after me, all have their utilities included, but mine were not.
After finding out about this, I complained to my landlord who denied telling me I was responsible for paying my own utilities and said I took it upon myself to put the utilities in my name, but I produced emails from her instructing me to turn ALL of the utilities on in my name and that I could not move in until I do. She didn't say anything after proving this. I then looked at my lease and saw that it says utilities are not my responsibility. I contacted an attorney and paid $200 to have a letter sent to the landlord informing them that they were in violation of the lease and upon receiving this letter, they transferred the utilities out of my name and into the owner's name but have refused to reimburse me for the year and ten months I had been paying them all myself, which is thousands of dollars.
Before the utility issue occurred, I had submitted a written request (as well as verbal requests) for a reasonable accommodation because I have a disability. It turns out that the reasonable accommodation I was requesting isn't an accommodation at all but is available to all tenants, disabled or not, but the landlord told me this service was not available. Since the service I requested was not unreasonable and is directly related to my disability, it should have been granted. Despite my several requests, both verbal & written, this request was not granted, nor denied, it was just simply ignored.
I have been requesting the accommodation for a year and ten months without success. Then, through all my neighbors, I found out that the service I was requesting via a reasonable accommodation request was actually being offered and utilized by all the other tenants in my complex but was exclusively being denied to me. When I specifically asked for this service, the landlord told me it wasn't available, even though it was, and all my neighbors were utilizing it. After complaining about this through the attorney who wrote the letter, he called the landlord directly and got them to allow me to use the service as well.
Two days later, I received notification from the landlord that my lease will not be renewed at the end of it's term, which will be next month. Although my state's statutes on Landlord/Tenant Laws do not include non-renewal of lease as a retaliatory action, I have found caselaw in other cases in my state that have allowed the non-renewal of a lease to be considered a retaliatory action if it met certain criteria.
My issue is, I spent all I could afford on an attorney and there is a waiting list for legal aid and my lease will expire before legal aid will even see my case, let alone assign it to an attorney.
Is there anything else I can do to prevent the landlord from doing this?
Thank you for your response.
Thank you.
My landlord has discriminated against me by refusing to grant a reasonable accommodation and also for including all utilities to every tenant in the building except me (I was told utilities were NOT included even though they really are.) Neighbors with the same exact size apt as me, with the same number of bedrooms, who moved in before me and after me, all have their utilities included, but mine were not.
After finding out about this, I complained to my landlord who denied telling me I was responsible for paying my own utilities and said I took it upon myself to put the utilities in my name, but I produced emails from her instructing me to turn ALL of the utilities on in my name and that I could not move in until I do. She didn't say anything after proving this. I then looked at my lease and saw that it says utilities are not my responsibility. I contacted an attorney and paid $200 to have a letter sent to the landlord informing them that they were in violation of the lease and upon receiving this letter, they transferred the utilities out of my name and into the owner's name but have refused to reimburse me for the year and ten months I had been paying them all myself, which is thousands of dollars.
Before the utility issue occurred, I had submitted a written request (as well as verbal requests) for a reasonable accommodation because I have a disability. It turns out that the reasonable accommodation I was requesting isn't an accommodation at all but is available to all tenants, disabled or not, but the landlord told me this service was not available. Since the service I requested was not unreasonable and is directly related to my disability, it should have been granted. Despite my several requests, both verbal & written, this request was not granted, nor denied, it was just simply ignored.
I have been requesting the accommodation for a year and ten months without success. Then, through all my neighbors, I found out that the service I was requesting via a reasonable accommodation request was actually being offered and utilized by all the other tenants in my complex but was exclusively being denied to me. When I specifically asked for this service, the landlord told me it wasn't available, even though it was, and all my neighbors were utilizing it. After complaining about this through the attorney who wrote the letter, he called the landlord directly and got them to allow me to use the service as well.
Two days later, I received notification from the landlord that my lease will not be renewed at the end of it's term, which will be next month. Although my state's statutes on Landlord/Tenant Laws do not include non-renewal of lease as a retaliatory action, I have found caselaw in other cases in my state that have allowed the non-renewal of a lease to be considered a retaliatory action if it met certain criteria.
My issue is, I spent all I could afford on an attorney and there is a waiting list for legal aid and my lease will expire before legal aid will even see my case, let alone assign it to an attorney.
Is there anything else I can do to prevent the landlord from doing this?
Thank you for your response.
Thank you.
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