You have a history of being not-exactly-cooperative, and clearly you can't handle these issues without an attorney. It's that simple.
Thank you for your response. I agree with you that I need an attorney, and as I stated, I paid an attorney to
write a letter on my behalf and that forced the landlord to transfer the utilities back into the owners name & was partially reimbursed for some of the utilities but not all. This took place just a couple of months before my lease expired. When the end of my lease approached, I received a notice of non-renewal.
It's hard not to think it was discriminination (the utility fiasco) since all the other tenants utilities were included except for mine. I realize apartment size & so forth has nothing to do with whether or not utilities are included but i felt it was worth mentioning that all the apts in the complex are identical and all are x amount of dollars per month. Tenants who were here when i moved in have their utilities included and tenants who have moved in after me have their utilities included. I just felt this lended merit to the claim that i was being discriminated against.
Yes, management was aware of my disability when I moved in but I was also discriminated against when I submitted my rental application. I disclosed my disability when I submitted my rental application & it was initially denied and the reason cited for the denial was due to a 10 yr old felony conviction which i also disclosed and provided documentation from a court ordered psychiatrist that the charge was a direct result of my disability which had been undiagnosed & untreated at the time and therefore should not be held accountable and the judge agreed and the felony was exponged, which I also provided documentation of. The discrimination that occured was the fact that the manager denied my application citing this felony conviction when in fact, another tenant in the building had TWO felony convictions both of which were less than six months old. Even if my felony had not been exponged, the rental application asked for felony convictions less than 7 yrs old, mine was 10 yrs old and exponged but I disclosed this information because it shows up on a backround check without a date of conviction and I didn't want any surprises so I disclosed it believing that in doing so would vindicate me because of the statement from the psychiatrist stating it was a direct result of my disability & the fact it had been exponged but they denied me anyway citing the conviction as their reason despite them already renting to a two time recent felon which told me it really wasn't a felon they had a problem renting to because they were already renting to one, it must be my disability, so I filed a discrimination complaint with the HUD and my application for tenancy was reconsidered and subsequently approved, but i believe that because I had basically took action and they were forced to rent to me, not necessarily willing, they retaliated against me by making me pay for my own utilities and also by denying the accommodation I had requested. Upon moving in everything seemed fine. I had no idea they had it out for me from the get go & they were always nice to me and I was extra nice to them because I didn't want to have to move. They renewed my lease last year and up until I caught them making me pay for my own utilities, they planned on renewing it this year.
I am pleased to say that an attorney took my case pro bono and management agreed to renew my lease, provide the accommodation I requested and reimburse me on the remainder of the utilities I paid while the utilities were in my name. I didn't think it would work out this way because I didn't have an attorney and couldn't afford to retain one, coupled with the fact that a landlord does not need a reason for not renewing a tenants lease, but I later learned that my state recognizes the non renewal of a lease to be a retaliatory act if the tenant had complained to a gov't agency or the landlord themself within the last six months, which I had done, so had they not agreed to renew my lease at least I would've had a legal leg to stand on. Sorry this is so long, circumstantiality is something I also suffer from. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you all for your input on the matter, it is greatly appreciated.