[tracined]

My mother, my 13 year old son and myself, have rented half of a three unit house for the last 1 1/2 years. The landlord has been difficult for some time now. Granted, we have been late, albeit only 2-5 days, on our rent about 4 times over our rental period, however, we have always paid a $50 late fee. Otherwise, we have complied with all requests and kept mostly to ourselves. We moved in with a 6 month lease. At the end of the lease, the landlord offered us a new lease for 1 year, however, she did not send it to us for a few months as she was too busy, traveling, finals, etc.. Just prior to receiving the lease in the mail, we had some unexpected trouble with our neighbors in the next unit. They are a young couple, with a new baby, and the husband had been doing some skateboarding with my Son. However, one day they went down the street to the school to skateboard and when my son returned he came to me and told me that he was made to feel uncomfortable by our neighbor. The man apparently questioned my son in depth about our house, friends that visited, our dogs, and other personal things that were inappropriate, in my eyes, to be asking my Son! Although I was upset, we seemed to have somewhat of a repoire, so I sent them a "Thank You" card, telling them how much we appreciated them as neighbors, and welcoming the new baby. I also asked, very respectfully, that if they had any concerns or questions about our family or friends to please feel free to come to me with them. But that I did not want the friendship my son and my neighbors had seveloped to be hurt or my son to be uncomfortable by any questioning. They never spoke to us or responded. Now, prior to this I had baked them a lasagne after the baby was born, loaned them my camera, etc. and been very neighborly.
Now, I wasn't sure where we stood. Then, I received an email from my landlord telling me to "be kind and courteous to our neighbors, fellow tenants and people she contracted work out to"! I couldn't understand this! Upon speaking to her, she told me that the nieghbors had complained about us, as did a man she hired to clean the gutters. She hadn't told us anyone was coming to clean the gutters and one morning at 7:45 a.m. there was a man outside my bedroom window! I was frightened and barely dressed! And I yelled at him "what are you doing out there?". But he came in and had coffee and I never knew he complained for any reason... None of this made sense! Anyway she said that the neighbors were so upset that she was making a trip down from Oregon to "mediate" the situation! I was astounded! When she arrived, she went next door and talked to them, then came over, with her Uncle, an Attorney in tow, and spoke to us unprofessionally.
I asked if we could ALL talk together, and she refused to have the neighbors in the same room with us which I found to be improper. This was clearly not mediation. When she was finished TELLING my mother and I how things would be, she also said that she was keeping us on a month to month and would not honor the 1 year lease until she saw how we were getting along with everyone! I was furious! She never honored the lease and one and half months ago, served us unexpectedly with a notice to vacate in 60 days... AT CHRISTMAS! My mother is in the advanced stages of heart disease and I politely asked if we could have 30 extra dayss so we could enjoy Christmas as my mother doesn't have many left, and she refused! We had spoken to her just one week before the notice and she gave no impression of wanting us out. I am so confused and stressed! I have not paid her rent for December and have received a 3 day notice with tomorrow being the third day. I expect to file a motion to quash as she did not serve us properly. I'm not sure just how to do it, but I'll figure it out... since this all occurred, my mothers health has become worse. She is so stressed over no Christmas for my son and having to move it has put quite a strain on her heart. She cries almost everyday. Finally, yesterday, we received a notice that she wants to enter our residence on the 22nd of this month with an electrician, plumber, artichect, etc. as her reason for asking us to leave is that she is going to turn this unit into two units... I intend on writing a letter to her and her attorney that we are respectfully denying their right to enter due to my mothers health and all the other difficulties they have caused! I feel they can wait for us to leave. We found another place and intend on leaving by the 1st of the year. Do I have any rights regarding her actions?
Thank you!

[JudyKayTee]

You can refuse to leave and force her to evict you - which will take her more than 30 days and take you through Christmas. At the eviction you can claim oral lease and argue that.

The past history does not matter IF you are in a State which does not have a very short list of reasons you can be evicted. Turning 1 unit into 2 can be reason enough in some States - unfortunately for you.

As far as entering your unit - she's entitled upon notice for repairs. She's evicting you anyway so I suppose you could protest. I just don't know you'll gain anything.

[Fr_Chuck]

No there are no rights violated. The landlord is beliving the other person on some issue.

And no a landlord does not have to get everyone together if they don't want to.

And yes if they are unhappy with you as a tenant they can give you notice to move unless you have a lease.

When the landlord complained, your response would be to the landlord "ok" and nothing more, so you disagree, you are going to win the battle basically but lose the war if you fight with a landlord.

[tracined]

I posted a previous thread regarding my landlord problems... now I am sure my rights have been violated! The day we had to be out of our rental, I waited for the Sherrif to show to ask some questions. He handed me a paper stating that I had 14-15 days to retrieve the rest of my belongings that I could not move in time. It stated that there may be storage costs, but after the time passed, my belongings would become property of the Landlord to dispose of as they wish.

Not even 10 day had passed and ALL of my belongings, which were in the garage had been taken to the dump! The garage was neatly swept and orderlly, but many personal items that were meaningful to my family were disposed of and I was given no notice. I spoke to both the landlord and the property manager who had conflicting stories. The landlord said that she had removed the lock from the garage so that "I could retrieve my stuff", yet, she did not notify me about this and I was told originally that if I went on to the property that I would be arrested for trespassing. I asked her how could she remove the lock and leave my things open to anyone who wanted to go through them. She said that she had seen "transients" and "neighbors" going through my stuff, yet did nothing about it!
The property manager said that he, too, had seen "transients" and "neighbors" going through my things as if that was an explanation as to where my stuff went. But he told me there never was a lock put on the garage door! Isn't this illegal? Didn't they have the responsibility to store my things for the 14 day period and give me a chance to retrieve them before getting rid of them? And if the garage had been ransacked as they say, it would not have been neatly swept and cleaned as I found it. They are both trying to get out of trouble for throwing my personal belongings away, and I want to sue, if I have grounds.

Also, I found a one year lease signed by the landlord sent to us dated April 14, 2008 ending April 14, 2009. Yet, she did not honor this lease because the neighbors and my family were having minor differences. She said she wanted to see how we got along before honoring it. Is this not inappropriate? And illegal? Did she not breach the contract?
The last I heard I do not have to like or get along with the neighbors as long as no one is bothering each other. Do I have grounds to sue her over this as well?

[JudyKayTee]

This should be added to your other thread to make the situation more clear. If the landlord was required to safeguard your belongings and things are missing, yes, the landlord is responsible. I assume you have a list and values. Only you know if it is above the Small Claims Court limit.

If you were evicted without legal cause, yes, you have an action for damages. Whether it's inappropriate is not a legal issue.

If your relationship with other tenants was disruptive, the landlord very well may have had grounds to evict you.

So - what can you sue for? Stolen/missing property; illegal eviction.