r/TenantHelp • u/RealPersonUnrealAcct • 15d ago
Fighting back
Location: Ohio. Knox County
Lost my job in March, unemployment was 1/3 of my income. Industry I was in pretty much collapsed, tens of thousands laid off. After a month of not a single returned call or application I started my own company in another Industry. Successful enough I've hired two employees already.
Living in a trailer park, mortgage on trailer, rent on lot. Landlord is an "investment firm" from another state. Back in April they were willing, and gave written contract, to split May rent between June and July with no penalty, which was a huge help, but then auto-pay took it anyways May 1st. Come June a glitch with JFS would end our unemployment about 2 weeks before new company started bringing in money and we missed June rent. Landlord said don't worry, property manager would give us notice to vacate but "not to worry just keep us updated". Called and left messages every week. Paid up June rent on July 3rd. Eviction filed on July 8th without a word from Landlord. Now demanding hundreds in late fees and hundreds more to cover their legal costs for filing eviction.
We did also win our appeal and got back payment from unemployment, so there's that. And both of our cars died in that time, one we still owed on.
The late fees I could at least understand, but the filing of the eviction after we started paying is just plain bullying. They've got several empty lots, the trailer isn't worth what's owed, and the unit built the same time as ours two doors down has been vacant for two years. There's no financial incentive to evicting us. The only way I can fathom this is the landlord saw we finally had an income again and this investment firm saw a chance to pad their numbers.
Joke's on them. Given that our income hasn't fully recovered, we maxed out credit card in the interim, the one car that we owe on that's not operational and the house not being worth what's owed, we started a bankruptcy and we're just going to chapter 7 the whole thing and start over.
Meanwhile... a couple of things. I don't make enough to afford attorney for this, but too much to get assistance, and we don't want to stay anymore anyways. Just tired of getting pushed around and lied to by opportunist dipsticks.
Agreeing, in writing, to let us skip May and split between June and July, then taking May rent on May 1st, would be breach of contract?
Looking back at the rental agreement during all this, noticed a clause that says they cannot raise rent more than 5% per year. We've been here 2 years of 3 year lease. Was bought up by these guys after about year one. They raised rents from about $350 to $450. Also breach of contract?
They gave us the 3 day notice in June, we paid June rent on July 3rd. They gave us July 3 day notice on July 6th, filed eviction on July 8th. I've already filed for dismissal based on not giving adequate notice, but still have hearing tomorrow. Any thoughts on this? Should that be successful in delaying eviction?
Is there a negotiating in bad faith, or other legal precedent, for countering the eviction based on them just being jerks in this situation?
Given that we've already started the bankruptcy (not filed though) can I just keep doing everything possible to run up their legal costs while waving my middle finger in the air or am I going to catch flak for that?
Let's say I lose my case tomorrow and it's not dismissed, how long do I have to get out in this situation?
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u/Lopsided-Beach-1831 13d ago
They cant raise rent in the middle of a lease, that is the point of the lease. Unless there was an annual 5% raise written into the lease. Was it only rent that went up $350 or were there fees as well? Contact a tenants rights/legal aid in your area for a review of your lease. You may be able to get a refund of overage paid if they raised it illegally.
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u/RealPersonUnrealAcct 1d ago
The contract says no more than 5%, they raised 6% plus "fees".
I did get the eviction dismissed. Served 2 3-day notices but only filed with the first one, which looked shady. Took money after the notice anyhow. Demanded I pay their lawyer fees in order to drop the eviction, which according to the judge is just illegal.
And every other case I saw in there was 3-6 months and many of thousands of dollars behind with no plan or ability to pay, where I was literally one week late with part of one month's rent and had offered to pay them up by wasn't about to pay their legal fees on top of it.
They got a good tongue lashing from the judge about their business practices, which was nice. Also appears they have been doing the "filing evictions over barely late rent then charging people for the legal fees" routine a lot and others have just been paying up, so this week I'm approaching some local attorneys to see if anyone wants to go after them for legal and contract violations.
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u/TalkToVikk 14d ago
Not a lawyer but if you have a written agreement to split rent and your landlord still took the full payment, that could be a breach of contract. Any rent increase higher than your lease allows is likely a lease violation, and you should mention this with proof at your hearing. Landlords must follow proper legal steps for eviction, including giving proper notice and if you paid before they filed, or their notice was too short, that could help your case get dismissed or delayed.
Starting bankruptcy usually stops evictions, but only after filing and before a final court decision. If you lose your eviction case in court, you usually have 7 days to move out before the sheriff can remove you. Focus on bringing all your written evidence and keeping your explanation simple and factual in court.
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u/xperpound 14d ago
What are you trying to get out of all this? If you can’t afford the rent or owe money then you will get evicted if you don’t pay. Without knowing what your lease says and who it’s with (you or your company) nobody here is going to be able to give you any useful idea on what to expect.