Vermont.
Okay, this is going to be a long winded post but I want to completely detail the situation.
My b/f and my two year old daughter live in a two apartment duplex. This is a non smoking property. It was one of the most important reasons as to why we took this apartment in the first place. My daughter has severe reactive airway disease and needs inhilators when exacerbated, sometimes injections of prednisone or solumedrol if it gets extremely bad.
We have been here almost two years, In April a new family of tenants moved in. They told my landlord they were non-smokers. They moved in, and then they were smoking out on the porches. We closed our windows but its an old house and it seeps in through the walls and around the windows.
It was only a few days after they started smoking that my daughters symptoms returned and she has been consistantly sick with Croup and Asthmatic symptoms.
I contacted my landlord, who has told them numerous times that this was a non-smoking property and that they were not permitted to smoke anywhere on the property at ANY time. They smoke anyway. My landlord posted no smoking signs, they smoke anyway. They have absolutely no regard for the landlords.
I tried contacting the local police department at my landlords request regarding their smoking, but was told that it was not a criminal violation and they could not intervene.
A day prior to mothers day, my family came over to visit us at our house. The parked in the Designated Visitor parking behind the house as explained to us by our landlord. No sooner did my mother park her car and go to get out that both the husband and wife next door came running out of their house screaming and cursing at me and my mother. Telling her to move her f'n vehicle, that she was not allowed to park there, that she was trespassing and that this was Their property only and that they would call a tow truck. My mother said to the neighbor that her vehicle was in visitor parking as designated by our landlord and that if he called a tow truck she would have him and the tow truck driver arrested for car theft.
I told them to get out of my mothers face, that the landlord has specifically designated this spot for visitors, which they on a regular base use, which only infuriated them more.
The wife was threatening to hit my mother, the husband was holding her back, I told them that if they didn't back off I would call the police, and the wife since she couldn't get past her husband picked up a full thermos and went to throw it at my mother.
My mother told her that if she threw the thermos and it hit her she would go to jail for assault. The woman then turned and chose to hurl it at me. She struck me in the forearm, after hitting me it struck my vehicle and put a nice size dent in the fender.
My forearm injury ended up needing further medical attention as the area developed cellulitis from the blunt force trauma. So we now have medical bills, for myself, my daughters medications, and soon the repair of my fender for me Jeep where she damaged it. The vehicle is under lease so any damage will be taken into consideration at the completion for the lease contract when we go to get a new one.
We called 911, the cops came, they arrested the woman, took her and processed her. The police took pictures of our vehicle and of my injury. The woman was charged with simple assault, and was processed and released that night. Her arraignment is set for June 19th. All of the paperwork for the damage/ repair costs for my vehicle, and medical bills were dropped off at the police station and they will be sure that the judge gets all of this paperwork prior to her arraignment on monday.
My landlord was contacted and she arrived on the scene as well, she notified the tenants next door, due to the ongoing violation of the rental agreement and the assault on the tenants next door they were given thirty days notice for eviction of the premisis. They were notified that my daughter has a serious health condition and cannot be exposed to smoke. The landlord mailed a certified letter stating that and June 15th was supposed to be their last day here.
They have not moved a single thing. They are smoking more now than ever, my daughter is getting worse medically. We are prisoners in our home, we cannot go outside because of the smoke, because of their violent natures. We are going to have to deal with this crazy family for another two weeks at least! We cannot open our windows, it is summer and it is hot.
My landlord went to her lawyer the other day, they got all of their papers together to drop off at the sherriff's office to have them served today with the formal writ of posession eviction letter, she however is stating to me that now according to her lawyer, they will have until June 30th to get off of the premisis once this letter is served to them. Then and only then can the sherriff come and evict them and change the locks.
They were given their thirty days as required by vermont law, why do they get another 15 days??
They constantly are making noise late at night, purposefully waking us up. The wife was out vaccuming out her car at 11:30 at night this week... This is rediculous.
She called up my landlord last week and begged her not to throw her and her two kids out that she was sorry about everything and that her husband left her and the kids. The Boyfriend DIDNT leave her, he is still living here full time. They still smoke, more now than before.
They are not here during the day and only come home late at night. They are avoiding our landlord, won't return her phone calls. The wife next door has now left her vehicle somewhere else and has someone picking and dropping her off here, so that it looks like they aren't home, when they really are, which could potentially be a problem for the sherriff when serving them.
The Sherriff was supposed to drop off the eviction papers on the 15th according to my landlord. However the sherriff never came, and I have not seen them as of yet this so I called them.
Unfortunately since I am not the landlord or the tenant being evicted they cannot share that information with me. However she did tell me that according to their office once the judgement of eviction has been served by the sherriff they are only supposed to have 5 days to be out before the sheriff comes in and changes the locks for my landlord. Which confuses me because my landlord told me that it would be fifteen days after being served the papers according to her lawyer....
There is honestly too much conflicting information which makes it tough to get a good understanding of the law here.
I made my landlord aware of the fact that the papers were not served and she contacted their office. Apparently there is only one sheriff who is designated to serve these types of papers for the whole county and he will be out until next week, so they said there is no one to serve the papers. The clock will not start ticking until they get these papers. My landlord is very upset because when she dropped the papers off and paid the fee she was told that they would be delivered that night.
According to my landlord this woman next door also told her that she intends to sue my landlord, so this is just getting messier by the day. My landlord assured me that these people will be evicted it is just a matter of when it will happen.
My family will not come over to visit here because of their violent natures.
We cannot peacably enjoy the property which we rent, and have not been able to enjoy it since April when they moved in. After the assault my daughter and I try to never be here without my boyfriend being present. The few times that I have come home alone to the house with my daughter they will come out of the house and walk behind my vehicle and go to their car then walk behind my vehicle again trying to intimidate us.
At the time of the assault I asked for a restraining order but the police told me that it would be nearly impossible to enforce due to the fact that for at least the time being they are our neighbors. Which I do understand I guess.
So between my daughters deteriorating health condition and her medication and doctors visits,the injuries from the assault to myself and the damage to my vehicle, not being able to enjoy our home, emotional stress, harrassment, loss of sleep, the whole nine yards this is really upsetting to us.
The other thing that is bothering me is that I have had no information given to me regarding this case, as I was told that charges would be brought on her and she would have to go to court. I don't know if I need to present at the hearing, if I need to have a lawyer with me... I have no clue....
Can I sue them in court for these damages, which will also include a portion of if not all of my monthly rent from their moving in since we cannot enjoy our property which we pay for?
How do I go about this? A personal injury lawyer?
What should I expect process wise?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You!
DanielleWhat is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Vermont
Okay, this is going to be a long winded post but I want to completely detail the situation.
My b/f and my two year old daughter live in a two apartment duplex. This is a non smoking property. It was one of the most important reasons as to why we took this apartment in the first place. My daughter has severe reactive airway disease and needs inhilators when exacerbated, sometimes injections of prednisone or solumedrol if it gets extremely bad.
We have been here almost two years, In April a new family of tenants moved in. They told my landlord they were non-smokers. They moved in, and then they were smoking out on the porches. We closed our windows but its an old house and it seeps in through the walls and around the windows.
It was only a few days after they started smoking that my daughters symptoms returned and she has been consistantly sick with Croup and Asthmatic symptoms.
I contacted my landlord, who has told them numerous times that this was a non-smoking property and that they were not permitted to smoke anywhere on the property at ANY time. They smoke anyway. My landlord posted no smoking signs, they smoke anyway. They have absolutely no regard for the landlords.
I tried contacting the local police department at my landlords request regarding their smoking, but was told that it was not a criminal violation and they could not intervene.
A day prior to mothers day, my family came over to visit us at our house. The parked in the Designated Visitor parking behind the house as explained to us by our landlord. No sooner did my mother park her car and go to get out that both the husband and wife next door came running out of their house screaming and cursing at me and my mother. Telling her to move her f'n vehicle, that she was not allowed to park there, that she was trespassing and that this was Their property only and that they would call a tow truck. My mother said to the neighbor that her vehicle was in visitor parking as designated by our landlord and that if he called a tow truck she would have him and the tow truck driver arrested for car theft.
I told them to get out of my mothers face, that the landlord has specifically designated this spot for visitors, which they on a regular base use, which only infuriated them more.
The wife was threatening to hit my mother, the husband was holding her back, I told them that if they didn't back off I would call the police, and the wife since she couldn't get past her husband picked up a full thermos and went to throw it at my mother.
My mother told her that if she threw the thermos and it hit her she would go to jail for assault. The woman then turned and chose to hurl it at me. She struck me in the forearm, after hitting me it struck my vehicle and put a nice size dent in the fender.
My forearm injury ended up needing further medical attention as the area developed cellulitis from the blunt force trauma. So we now have medical bills, for myself, my daughters medications, and soon the repair of my fender for me Jeep where she damaged it. The vehicle is under lease so any damage will be taken into consideration at the completion for the lease contract when we go to get a new one.
We called 911, the cops came, they arrested the woman, took her and processed her. The police took pictures of our vehicle and of my injury. The woman was charged with simple assault, and was processed and released that night. Her arraignment is set for June 19th. All of the paperwork for the damage/ repair costs for my vehicle, and medical bills were dropped off at the police station and they will be sure that the judge gets all of this paperwork prior to her arraignment on monday.
My landlord was contacted and she arrived on the scene as well, she notified the tenants next door, due to the ongoing violation of the rental agreement and the assault on the tenants next door they were given thirty days notice for eviction of the premisis. They were notified that my daughter has a serious health condition and cannot be exposed to smoke. The landlord mailed a certified letter stating that and June 15th was supposed to be their last day here.
They have not moved a single thing. They are smoking more now than ever, my daughter is getting worse medically. We are prisoners in our home, we cannot go outside because of the smoke, because of their violent natures. We are going to have to deal with this crazy family for another two weeks at least! We cannot open our windows, it is summer and it is hot.
My landlord went to her lawyer the other day, they got all of their papers together to drop off at the sherriff's office to have them served today with the formal writ of posession eviction letter, she however is stating to me that now according to her lawyer, they will have until June 30th to get off of the premisis once this letter is served to them. Then and only then can the sherriff come and evict them and change the locks.
They were given their thirty days as required by vermont law, why do they get another 15 days??
They constantly are making noise late at night, purposefully waking us up. The wife was out vaccuming out her car at 11:30 at night this week... This is rediculous.
She called up my landlord last week and begged her not to throw her and her two kids out that she was sorry about everything and that her husband left her and the kids. The Boyfriend DIDNT leave her, he is still living here full time. They still smoke, more now than before.
They are not here during the day and only come home late at night. They are avoiding our landlord, won't return her phone calls. The wife next door has now left her vehicle somewhere else and has someone picking and dropping her off here, so that it looks like they aren't home, when they really are, which could potentially be a problem for the sherriff when serving them.
The Sherriff was supposed to drop off the eviction papers on the 15th according to my landlord. However the sherriff never came, and I have not seen them as of yet this so I called them.
Unfortunately since I am not the landlord or the tenant being evicted they cannot share that information with me. However she did tell me that according to their office once the judgement of eviction has been served by the sherriff they are only supposed to have 5 days to be out before the sheriff comes in and changes the locks for my landlord. Which confuses me because my landlord told me that it would be fifteen days after being served the papers according to her lawyer....
There is honestly too much conflicting information which makes it tough to get a good understanding of the law here.
I made my landlord aware of the fact that the papers were not served and she contacted their office. Apparently there is only one sheriff who is designated to serve these types of papers for the whole county and he will be out until next week, so they said there is no one to serve the papers. The clock will not start ticking until they get these papers. My landlord is very upset because when she dropped the papers off and paid the fee she was told that they would be delivered that night.
According to my landlord this woman next door also told her that she intends to sue my landlord, so this is just getting messier by the day. My landlord assured me that these people will be evicted it is just a matter of when it will happen.
My family will not come over to visit here because of their violent natures.
We cannot peacably enjoy the property which we rent, and have not been able to enjoy it since April when they moved in. After the assault my daughter and I try to never be here without my boyfriend being present. The few times that I have come home alone to the house with my daughter they will come out of the house and walk behind my vehicle and go to their car then walk behind my vehicle again trying to intimidate us.
At the time of the assault I asked for a restraining order but the police told me that it would be nearly impossible to enforce due to the fact that for at least the time being they are our neighbors. Which I do understand I guess.
So between my daughters deteriorating health condition and her medication and doctors visits,the injuries from the assault to myself and the damage to my vehicle, not being able to enjoy our home, emotional stress, harrassment, loss of sleep, the whole nine yards this is really upsetting to us.
The other thing that is bothering me is that I have had no information given to me regarding this case, as I was told that charges would be brought on her and she would have to go to court. I don't know if I need to present at the hearing, if I need to have a lawyer with me... I have no clue....
Can I sue them in court for these damages, which will also include a portion of if not all of my monthly rent from their moving in since we cannot enjoy our property which we pay for?
How do I go about this? A personal injury lawyer?
What should I expect process wise?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You!
DanielleWhat is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Vermont