m_why_1972
New member
Hi everyone,
I’m reaching out for advice and support regarding a difficult situation I experienced earlier this year. I lived in a mobile home park in Illinois. I was paying lot rent to the park while renting to own the trailer from a private individual. Unfortunately, the park management initiated an eviction against me, not the trailer owner.
Here’s a summary of what happened:
Any guidance or similar experiences would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank You.
I’m reaching out for advice and support regarding a difficult situation I experienced earlier this year. I lived in a mobile home park in Illinois. I was paying lot rent to the park while renting to own the trailer from a private individual. Unfortunately, the park management initiated an eviction against me, not the trailer owner.
Here’s a summary of what happened:
- Background: The park manager, who was previously a friend, developed animosity towards us after we requested he not display a firearm while intoxicated in our home. This manager had a history of problematic behavior, including breaking down our door and attempting to damage our car while my children were inside, which led to police involvement.
- Financial Hardship: After the park fired my ex-partner, who was the park manager, we fell behind on rent due to the loss of income and the challenges of caring for our two disabled children, who are deaf.
- Court Proceedings: We received a court summons regarding the overdue rent. At the initial court appearance, the park’s attorney advised us to obtain rental assistance and present proof at the next court date. However, the subsequent court date was changed to a Zoom meeting without proper notification, and despite numerous attempts to contact the attorney, we received no response. We did show up early for the court date with proof of the assistance , and even notified the bailiff who we were, the time of court and the judge, after some time is when he came back and told us that it was over and to contact the Parks lawyer as he was the one responsible for letting us know what had happened during the court date.
- Eviction: Eventually, we found an eviction notice on the ground outside on my porch. The sheriff’s office enforced the eviction, and the park manager instructed us to collect our belongings from the curb the following day. During the eviction, the manager and other tenants he was friends with damaged and destroyed our property, including essential items for our children as they had cochlear devices , including accessories for the devices. Everything was boxed up but we found the labeled box for the kids opened and rained on the next morning This incident was recorded by a neighbor.
- Vandalism: Additionally, one of our vehicles was vandalized by a neighbor and the trailer owner, further compounding our losses.
- Sheriff’s Office and Police Involvement: I called the sheriff’s office, and they informed me that professional movers should be hired to handle our belongings. However, this did not happen. Instead, I received texts from neighbors who were disgusted by how our belongings were thrown outside, with no police presence during the process. I called the police when the manager trespassed and told me I couldn’t retrieve the rest of my belongings until the next morning, despite it raining all night. The police were not very helpful.
- Notice Issues: I found the eviction notice on the ground outside two weeks before the move-out date. It appeared that the notice had been taped to my door but had come off. As a result, I had only half of my belongings packed, and even those were damaged during the eviction.
- Manager’s Awareness and Behavior: The park manager was aware of my children’s disabilities, as he used to be a friend. However, due to his drinking issues and erratic behavior, I kept my distance. I have since discovered that he has numerous charges for criminal damage to state-supported property, littering, disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer, and DUI. He also harassed us when we did move our stuff, in front of police officers as well, We did have friends and some of my family helping us move, they did not try and speak with the manager or cause issues, but the manager still trespassed them so that we had less help, officers said there was nothing they could do about it, they even had to hold back the manager at a point from running up trying to intimidate and scare them. This was all reordered thankfully from my neighbors security footage as proof of the situation
Any guidance or similar experiences would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank You.
