Landlord had car towed Illegally and rented an inhospitable house. is there a case?

[mabypac]

My landlord (also my uncle)
Rented me and my family a house with a leaky roof, and in awful shape under the conditions that he would repair the roof and if we liked we could fix the place up a bit. there was no written lease, it was all verbal, month to month.

long story short, he never got the roof fixed and about 4 months in he told us the siding was made of Asbestos! the only reason he even told us then (as we had been making many improvements to the home) is because we asked if we could replace the siding.
we made probably around 500$ worth of renovations to the home over several months but the roof was never fixed. so we moved. we got an apartment and arranged to have our things moved but before we could he changed the locks on the doors! when we told him this was illegal he gave us the key AFTER we called the cops. then two days later we came back to move some more stuff, and they were changed Again!

he informed us that our ac units had been stolen. how did he know we had not taken them? and had our car towed off of his property without notice to us and still has not told us where it is! the car was parked in a locked, gated property, out of the way, with verbal consent from him and had approximately 1500$ worth of Items stored inside it.

So we filed a small claims suit.
he answered with a countersuit claiming 6000$ worth of damages to the property, however, the property was in better condition when we left than when we began renting. I doubt he even had a certificate of occupancy. according to our state law the house was condemnable.

Do we have a case?

 

[army judge]

I don't know if you have a case.
No one can tell you that.
You thought you had a case, because you filed a lawsuit.
Don't worry about his counter-claim, other than to prepare your defenses (which you mapped out in your post).
You also should proceed with your lawsuit, unless your reasoning has changed.


As to who stole the units, if you can't prove he did it, his story will be accepted.

As far as him having your car towed, you have no written proof. He'll say he never agreed to allow storage of your car on his property. You won't win on that point, either.

Finally, you rented the home in the poor condition you complain about now. You stayed there a few months, too. There isn't much in that argument for you, except the lack of a certificate of habitability.

 

[mightymoose]

If done legally, the towed vehicle should have been reported to law enforcement. If you call the police and give the plate number they should be able to tell you who towed it and where to... unless your uncle towed it himself... in which case he has stolen it. If a tow company took it then you will have to pay them, but you will be able to sue whoever authorized the tow (not the tow company) for whatever the cost was.

The countersuit is probably not based on anything significant, but other than your missing car I'm not sure what your damages might be.

 

[mabypac]

We called the police with the tag # and no company on record had towed it. he however ADMITTED on TAPE that he towed our car, had the information on it's whereabouts, and would not give it back unless we pay money we do not owe him.

He also threatened my spouse with "you know they will crush it" if we do not pay him soon enough.
@ army judge
yes, we rented a house in poor condition UNDER the circumstance that he make repairs along and along.
no repairs were made, the verbal contract was breeched. I understand it will be difficult to prove this as fact, but it does not change the fact that we were wronged.

 

[army judge]

I'm not the one you need to convince.

As I said, unless you get him to admit to any of this, you have nothing.

From what you've reported this morning, don't expect him to help you. So, unless he supports your story, you have nothing.

We called the police with the tag # and no company on record had towed it. he however ADMITTED on TAPE that he towed our car, had the information on it's whereabouts, and would not give it back unless we pay money we do not owe him.

He also threatened my spouse with "you know they will crush it" if we do not pay him soon enough.
@ army judge
yes, we rented a house in poor condition UNDER the circumstance that he make repairs along and along.
no repairs were made, the verbal contract was breeched. I understand it will be difficult to prove this as fact, but it does not change the fact that we were wronged.

 

[mabypac]

He has a bad nack for running himself in circles and exposing his lies. maybe when in session he will do this. we also had police contact him and speak with him on the car matter and I am sure they will testify on our behalf. We also have pictures of the before and after of most of our renovations. we could have several different people come in to testify we were paying rent and were not behind. the main problem is that we have no written proof because he refused to write a lease (even when we requested one) and he rarely gave us receipts for payment. (we had one but it is still locked in the old house)

any advice on how to help our case?

@ armyjudge - thank you for your input! it is greatly appreciated.

 

[mightymoose]

You should see if the police will accept a report for your stolen vehicle. They have no record of it being towed, and you don't know where it is. This goes a little beyond the typical "civil problem".

I agree that you won't likely get far with the argument about the condition of the house.

 

[mabypac]

so, as an update, he had his attorney file a continuance till further notice. we Googled his attorney and this is what we found:

www DOT noethics.net/News/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1571%3Aattorney-r-joseph-hammill-of-brunswick-ga-moron-unethical-and-a-bigot-&catid=35%3Aattorney-misfits&Itemid=54

(the thing would not let me post links)


now, before any further speculation, I would like to point out that I am a White man, I am HAPPILY common law married to a black woman, and I have two mixed children. I am worried this may affect my case. is there anything I can do?

comments? suggestions?

 

[army judge]

The race of any of the parties should have no relevance to the court. The court won't take judicial notice of the race of your children and your marital status.

Just focus on the facts.

Prove your case. The judge isn't interested in gossip or innuendo.