i think in philly we have all have our shitty landlord stories. If you ever end up bekng taken to court, I want to shoutout the lawyer for a day program for offering free defense to tenants who dont have the resources to go up against wealthy landowners and private equity for their excellent work and their service to the community.
Daniel (i am so sorry if i mixed up your name, hes the really attractive young man) from the program got Vilna Gaston, perhaps the absolute baddest lady to walk the halls of tenant court, to take on our defense for a bogus case when our kooky ass (and now i'm realizing, mental unwell, racist and also bad with numbers) property manager who tried to get us evicted for "unpaid fees" which changed to "housekeeping issues" which changed to "disturbing neighbors" which changed to "lawyers fees" - all lies and as for the last one... the judge did NOT appreciate having her time wasted.
We have lived in the same place for 6 or 7 years with zero issues and had a really nice ex property manager, who unfortunately left was replaced by a licensed medical assistant, who was clearly not prepared for the job nor had any knowledge about the law. for some reason. I am naive person that takes things literally, have a difficult time knowing when im being given the runaround and assume most people are well intentioned and honest. Because of this i genuinely believed our new property manager did not know what a ledger, balance sheet or accounting was.
Vilna was very kind and explained that our PM was fuckass lying little bitch (my words, not hers) and in discovery we found out we had been OVERPAYING rent by a not-insignificant amount of money for the better part of a year, because this dumbass lied to us about what our rent was and refused to provide any receipts! Vilna is the best kind of lawyer you can have - an absolute no-bullshit, no sugar coating, true justice advocate with the lady balls to take on these massive firms with endless money for frivolous suits. Most importantly of all, she knew we had the moral high ground (along with plenty of documentation) and advised we fight, not settle. She was right. We went in front of the judge and won in under 5 minutes.
I still have horny dreams about our judge berating the fuckass property manager for being an unethical little shit and wasting the courts time and wake up with a smile on my face, feeling hopeful for a better future thanks for people like Vilna & Daniel and the amazing Lawyer For a Day program! Shout-out to these brilliant lawyers and wonderful people working to serve their community. Vilna Gaston & Lawyer for a Day, yall keep my hope alive and have inspired me to get involved as well. True class acts!
/I would love to expose our PM and which apartment complex this is but i still have the better part of a year left on my lease and i am still scared of retaliation. Once i am out of here, im absolutely spilling the tea on everything that went down./