Well she pulled a sneaky one on us.
Everyone knows about our sewer/septic line back-ups and how the Landlord thinks it's us. Landlord even wanted us to pay the bill for the latest cleaning and we said NO.
Well, last Wednesday, we got a Certified Mail letter. From the Landlord of course. While I wasn't home, of course. So one of our daughters signed for it, took it upstairs and put it on our bed, and she left to spend the night with a friend. No note about the letter or anything.
Later that night, whilst getting ready to go to bed, I found the unopened envelope laying on the bed. I brought the letter downstairs and asked Hubby if he knew anything about it. Nope. He hadn't seen it either.
It was a letter from the Landlord demanding payment for the latest sewer line cleaning bill.
She detailed her version of the events. Including saying her son told us when he cleaned out the line the 2nd time if there were any future blockages, we'd have to pay the bill. Which was not true. He never said any such thing. I could tell he thought it was our fault by the way he acted. And he did say over and over, that we needed to be careful about what we flush down the toilets and put in the lines. But he never said we'd have to pay to fix it if the line plugged up again.
Anyway, she gave us 5 days from date of receipt of the letter to pay. She'd better receive a check for payment postmarked within 5 days of receipt of her letter for $250 or other legal action would be taken. We said screw her. We weren't going to pay. Showed the letter to the BK attny. He'd file BK against her for it and that would be it.
But something about that letter nagged at me. I don't know why, but I thought there must be something more to it than what was written in the words. I found a listing for a Landlord Tenant Dispute Mediation office for our County that's local and called there. They don't do LT Mediation. But the gal gave me another phone number to call. That office does Rental Property Building Codes regulation. Not what I needed, but that gal gave me another number to call. The office had some funky name. The lady on the phone was real nice and very helpful. Turns out they were Legal Aid.
The gal at Legal Aid said the Landlord could sue us in Small Claims court but didn't know if she could evict us. We'd need to discuss that with an attny. She said to speak to a Landlord Tenant Law attny specifically to get answers to my questions. So I called one I found and got to speak to an attny directly. The LT attny said the Landlord could run up quite a bill in Small Claims Court against us. The limit is $6K here and he could see that she could run up a bill rather easily. Attny's fees. Damages that she'd invent. etc.
And, the attny said, he'd have to look at our lease to be sure, but he'd imagine if we didn't pay up, she could evict us as well. I asked how. He said she'd show up with her bills and a copy of the letter in tow. Be granted an appointment for an eviction hearing. That would be about 10 days later. She'd show up again there with her bills, her letter, and have her son tell the Court what was said in the letter was true, and the Sheriff would issue and eviction notice. We'd have to move in 10 days.
So I cranked out a letter of counter attack addressing each and everyone of her points. Said her son's statement was a BALD FACED LIE. Named the attny I'd consulted so she knew we would get legal representation. And I told her we were paying under duress and protest.
Ran to the Bank and got a Cashier's Check for payment. Ran to the Post Office and sent it out Priority with signature required.
The Landlord was counting on us being bull headed and not looking into things so she could evict us.
Wonder what's coming next for us from our Landlord??!!
Everyone knows about our sewer/septic line back-ups and how the Landlord thinks it's us. Landlord even wanted us to pay the bill for the latest cleaning and we said NO.
Well, last Wednesday, we got a Certified Mail letter. From the Landlord of course. While I wasn't home, of course. So one of our daughters signed for it, took it upstairs and put it on our bed, and she left to spend the night with a friend. No note about the letter or anything.
Later that night, whilst getting ready to go to bed, I found the unopened envelope laying on the bed. I brought the letter downstairs and asked Hubby if he knew anything about it. Nope. He hadn't seen it either.
It was a letter from the Landlord demanding payment for the latest sewer line cleaning bill.
She detailed her version of the events. Including saying her son told us when he cleaned out the line the 2nd time if there were any future blockages, we'd have to pay the bill. Which was not true. He never said any such thing. I could tell he thought it was our fault by the way he acted. And he did say over and over, that we needed to be careful about what we flush down the toilets and put in the lines. But he never said we'd have to pay to fix it if the line plugged up again.
Anyway, she gave us 5 days from date of receipt of the letter to pay. She'd better receive a check for payment postmarked within 5 days of receipt of her letter for $250 or other legal action would be taken. We said screw her. We weren't going to pay. Showed the letter to the BK attny. He'd file BK against her for it and that would be it.
But something about that letter nagged at me. I don't know why, but I thought there must be something more to it than what was written in the words. I found a listing for a Landlord Tenant Dispute Mediation office for our County that's local and called there. They don't do LT Mediation. But the gal gave me another phone number to call. That office does Rental Property Building Codes regulation. Not what I needed, but that gal gave me another number to call. The office had some funky name. The lady on the phone was real nice and very helpful. Turns out they were Legal Aid.
The gal at Legal Aid said the Landlord could sue us in Small Claims court but didn't know if she could evict us. We'd need to discuss that with an attny. She said to speak to a Landlord Tenant Law attny specifically to get answers to my questions. So I called one I found and got to speak to an attny directly. The LT attny said the Landlord could run up quite a bill in Small Claims Court against us. The limit is $6K here and he could see that she could run up a bill rather easily. Attny's fees. Damages that she'd invent. etc.
And, the attny said, he'd have to look at our lease to be sure, but he'd imagine if we didn't pay up, she could evict us as well. I asked how. He said she'd show up with her bills and a copy of the letter in tow. Be granted an appointment for an eviction hearing. That would be about 10 days later. She'd show up again there with her bills, her letter, and have her son tell the Court what was said in the letter was true, and the Sheriff would issue and eviction notice. We'd have to move in 10 days.
So I cranked out a letter of counter attack addressing each and everyone of her points. Said her son's statement was a BALD FACED LIE. Named the attny I'd consulted so she knew we would get legal representation. And I told her we were paying under duress and protest.
Ran to the Bank and got a Cashier's Check for payment. Ran to the Post Office and sent it out Priority with signature required.
The Landlord was counting on us being bull headed and not looking into things so she could evict us.
Wonder what's coming next for us from our Landlord??!!
Comment