C
chrobyn
Guest
Hello. We live in Brooklyn, NY and have been renting our apartment since 3/15/2000. We have 5 children and of course the landlords knew that when we moved in and were ok with it. We were told that we would be given a lease when we moved in and we never received one, even after many requests. Regardless we have still been paying our rent of $1500.00 per month and have notified the landlords SEVERAL times of all of the things that need to be fixed in the apartment. They always assured us that it would be fixed and on a couple occasions some men were brought into the house to give estimates but, no one has ever done any work. My husband and I decided to be as patient as we could, we know how expensive repairs can be and we had a good relationship with the landlords and knew it was their first home, meanwhile we were still paying the rent. On December 1, 2000, the landlord rang the door bell and said that he liked myself, my husband and children but that he wanted us to find another aprtment because the children were "running and destroying the apartment". We contacted Brooklyn Tenants Council and they told us to write a letter to the landlord telling him we would file and HP (Housing Preservation) action against him in 10 days if repairs were not done. We did this so that an inspector would come in the house and see the damages were not made by my children but, due to poor workmanship when the work was originally done and so they couldn't blame the repairs that we had been asking them for months to fix, on us or our children. We also told them of the intent to withhold the rent until these repairs were made. We opened a separate bank account in which Dec. and Jan. rent have been deposited. They tried to have a contractor (for an estimate) come at 6:30 pm (dinner time) without any notice and we refused entry. The same contractor came later in the week (with notice) and he made an appointment to start work the next day. He then later called and cancelled and we made a later appointment which I had to cancel for my son to go to the Doctor and a couple of other things that had to be done. My husband and the landlords husband then made an other appointment for a few days later. The next morning, 2 contractors were at my door, and we denied access because no arrangements had been made and my son was ill. The next day again, we were told that contractors would be coming, I said we had to step out but, that we would be back in time for the contractors. We did return in time but no one showed up nor were we told they weren't coming. That is the last time contractors were discussed. The landlord called my husband wanting the rent , and my husband told him no, that there had been no repairs done , and the landlord said he would get his money one way or the other. A couple of days later we recieved a summons to appear in small claims court. Thay are suing us for $2500. for damage to real and personal property. After all of that, my question is do they have grounds to sue? and how do we defend ourselves against this claim ? We obviously are still living here and gave them a security deposit of $1500 which I believe is to be used for the last months rent or any damages that we have done while living here. I have no idea what damages they are suing us for, unless they are talking about the repairs that have been needed to be fixed, and they are using this to get the rent money.
Any advice you could give us would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Chrobyn
Any advice you could give us would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Chrobyn