View Full Version : Urgent help needed re apt eviction
Cnlee
Jan 12, 2013, 12:16 PM
I am now in the position where I have only a few days to move. I had a lot of evidence of why rent was not paid. When I first moved in almost 2 yours ago I paid an extra $1500 to be used besides my deposit if I ever hit a bad spot money wise. Also when I met the manager I was shown a bottom unit right next to the security front door. I needed and explained it to her that my daughter who was born premie and was getting out of the hospital after 9 1/2 months there and couldn't go to the apartment we were already renting because she is trached on a vent and feeding tubes and the apartment didn't have the wiring required to handle it. She also knew I only had three days until the baby came and was desperate. I signed the lease in 102 and went to get the keys the next day and she had us on the 2nd fl saying the other unit was already rented and I had no choice but to take it with the promise that as soon as a downstairs apt came avail we could have it. But people came and went and we were never notified. I was in a serious accident in April 2012 and had to go to a physical rehab until the end of August. I had to buy wheelchair hospital bed etc I told her to use the extra money I paid to cover it plus every month I paid an extra $100-300 a month just in case but according to her she put it in the deposit account and couldn't use it. I was so mad because being on the second floor with a elevator that breaks down several times a week. My family trapped in it three times I couldn't get her to help me make the house a little wheelchair friendly or a shower bar anything. I couldn't use the apt like I should be able to. I asked if she could just have the maintaince man do something about the bathroom and bedroom doors because I had to put a hospital bed in the living room and a bedside commode because I couldn't get my wheelchair in the bed or bathroom doors by 1/4 of a inch. But not being able to even get into my house because the elevator was broken was worse. I would have to wait in the lobby or my car until it was fixed which could be hours and not being able to leave when I want to or change and cancel appts because of it. On top of all this I had a couple places that would help me pay my back rent to avoid the evicition but because my lease had expired they required a letter stating what she told me that my lease just rolled over and wouldn't give me the paperwork. It needed to be on company letterhead and she told me the didn't have company letterhead but printed the logo off the computer. This is from a company that manages several apartment buildings. So on the day I should be in court to answer I was in the hospital and my husband, who is not on the lease, appeared for me to let them know I had been hospitalized a few days already and was given a different date a few days later. I was transferred to physical rehab again but they let me out to attend this hearing. When I got up there the judge didn't hear anything from me not about the apartment the elevator the extra money I pd almost every month so that I had it to fall back on. He didn't let me tell him that I had places that were going to help me pay if I could get the correct paperwork. Is there anything I can do to not be evicited in 3 days. I see things on filing an appeal but having to put the money for rent with the court which I don't have which is why I had the places that was going to help me. I don't want to stay but I do need until Feb 4th when I get paid. I live in Fulton County Georgia. Thanks in advance for any advice or help. Being disabled in a wheelchair but with a sick baby and two other children and no family at all I am scared I will lose my kids. Someone suggested seeing if I gave her $500 to stay until the first that would help. Also they have a website where you can pay your rent and someone else told me to put $100 in for my house and because they technically accepted rent it would void the evicition but I can't afford to do that if it won't work.
JudyKayTee
Jan 12, 2013, 02:01 PM
What happened two years ago is pretty much irrelevant if you've lived with the outcome for two years.
If there were problems in your unit did you report them in writing to management? To your local Housing Inspector? To the Board of Health?
You can always attempt to negotiate the past due rent with management but there is no requirement that they negotiate with you. It's their choice.
The terms of your tenancy are written in the lease/contract. Verbal agreements do not change the terms of a written lease.
You can always ask legal aid (or a similar group) for assistance - but there is very little time for them to do anything on your behalf.
When you were hospitalized and not paying rent what was your plan to pay the rent? Someone was going to assist you with the rent payment before you were evicted but is not interested now?
Cnlee
Jan 12, 2013, 04:47 PM
If I am the only one on the lease that expired 6mo ago and the manager said it just rolled over. My question is if I got evicted with 7 days from the judge does it apply to my husband who moved in later and is no where on lease or eviction. We were told he had squatters rights, does he?
Cnlee
Jan 12, 2013, 04:57 PM
I had two places set up to help me but needed the letterhead paper showing my lease was valid even of it wasn't signed again when the 12 mo was over. I became friends with the manager after I lived there so only a few things that were conveyed by text like her telling me not to come home for a few hours because the elevator was broken I also text as well as talked to her about being more hanicap friendly so I didn't have to sleep and or use a commode in my living room. As for waiting for the bottom unit it was always I have someone leaving in X weeks then it's yours. It's hard to move with the baby in this condition.
joypulv
Jan 12, 2013, 05:22 PM
Please try to stay with just the dollar amounts you have or think you have in the deposit account. When you were in the hospital you told her to use the money, but it sounds like you didn't keep track. IF they are honest, it sounds like it was all used on unpaid rent?
(Handicap aids like grab bars are not the responsibility of landlords. Medicare and Medicaid don't pay for them either. Working elevators are, of course, for everyone.)
Fr_Chuck
Jan 12, 2013, 05:34 PM
Normally anyone in the home.
Fr_Chuck
Jan 12, 2013, 06:16 PM
Sorry this is happening to you, but you will have to move, there is no choice and you need to be finding a place to move and getting moved. ( not wasting time posting on internet)
Sorry to be blunt, but it appears that you went to court and have a court ordered eviction, so you will be set out on the street if you are not moved in time.
But what happened two years ago, is not really an issue to this, nor a issue in court for eviction, since you have stayed for 2 years, those issues were accepted by you.
The landlord is not responsible for handicap issues in your apartment, Even homes with stairs are not required to have ramps put in.
And if the elevator passes inspection, and it fixed when it breaks down, the fact it is not great for you, is a reason you move.
From what you wrote ( although you put in so much that has no bearing on eviction) I see no reason the eviction is not valid.
No paying them money is not going to stop the eviction.
AK lawyer
Jan 13, 2013, 07:08 AM
The only issue I can see is whether the $1,500 was properly credited to you and all used up. If so, all of that extra information only confuses the issues. If your lease is up and you have been properly noticed for eviction, the eviction order is valid. Pack your bags.
ScottGem
Jan 13, 2013, 08:53 AM
Instead of paying the landlord extra, you should have been putting the extra in a separate savings account to cover you. Trusting the landlord to manage this extra money was a BIG mistake. The point is now moot. The judge was looking at one facts, that your rent was behind. None of the rest matters. The judge should have looked at your figures that show the total amount paid versus the total due. If what you paid exceeds the total due, then you shouldn't have been evicted for unpaid rent. That would be grounds for appeal.
But if you don't file an appeal and a stay of the eviction, you can be forcibly removed. So I would look for a new place, then sue the landlord for the overage paid.
When you move into a new place, don't give the landlord extra but put it in a savings account as I suggested.