[poolgod27ia]

My girlfriend, 5 year old daughter, and I rent a house from my ex boss, when he asked me to work for him he said we can rent the house he owns and not to worry about the deposit on it. When we moved in the roof leaks upstairs in the bedroom and bathroom and downstairs bedroom closet and bathroom. He knew that the roof leaked and said he was going to roof it. 6 months after we moved in I told him that the leaky roof is getting worse and the ceiling is starting to fall and black mold was spreading in the rooms that had the leaks, he said I have the material to fix it but he made no attempts to roof the house. Well we been living in this house for 13 months now and him and I got into an argument about him not screwing me in my weekly pay so he fired me. Week later he wants his deposit and rent money. What should or can I do about this? He still hasn't done anything about the repairs? Please help me and my family, thanks

[Voodoo10]

Your employment and rental agreements are two separate issues. You first need to estabolish this in your mindset when handling the confrontation.
First, If you are not working as a "sub-contractor" and you are officially in the companys payroll books; you are an at-will employee; remember this.
The issue here is; are you responsible for the diposit and rent payments? Also, what is your LANDLORD's responsibility to provide you a habitable home of abode. It doesn't matter if you had a written or oral LEASE Agreement. It was either stated that you were required to pay a diposit or not. Determine this and stick with it and be prepared to testify to that fact. This is Step 1.
Step 2 is to determine if your landlord is providing you a "habitable structure" if not you need PAY YOUR RENT to your local municipal court, notify them of the situation in writing and forward a copy of everything to the landlord. Take pictures.. evern if its just with your cell phone. Concentrate on mold. That is dangerous and in large quantities; makes your home "un-inhabitable."

EASY SOLUTION:
Aside from all the legal stuff. Talk to the landlord sensibly. Let him/her know that continuing to let the roof and structure go to hell is only deteriorating his building and its crazy to let that go. Let the landlord know that you have intention of paying for rent at a habitable place. If the two of you cannot agree. Let them know you will pay your rent to the court and, Oh, by the way, here is my 30 day notice of intention to vacate (and start looking for another place to live.)

Unfortunately, Its sounds like the landlord wants you to move out the property.

Hope this helps. If I can help further let me know :)