sunshine50
New Member
In April 08, we lease/optioned a property in Orrville OH. Paid $5000 down and payments were $1600 a month. House $235K. Term one year. The date on the lease was the 1st, but we did not move in until the 12th as the owners were still in the property and could not get out until then. First problem, they refused to prorate the rent, I paid them $1600 when I moved in and 30 days later paid them another $1600 and so on. they said they wanted to have the rent due on the 1st, I said fine, prorate the rent and we will do that, they refused and said I was late on the rent by paying it on the due date when i moved in. They expected the 1600, they accepted the rent on that date for 3 months. In the meantime, the next door neighbor kept in constant contact with them, he is an old man who complains all the time, if the boys played basketball he was out watching them with his arms crossed and never said a word to me. Also, they refused to fix the pool, which was not opened when we moved in in April, but they left the heater on the roof of the shed, so many leaves in the pool, it couldnt be cleaned easily. i asked them to fix it, as I didnt own the house to see if the pool was operational and they told me it was. This also caused a riff, as I told them I did not live there when they closed the pool, they did not disclose to me the pool was broken, so they needed to fix it. no they said , that is your problem under "maintenance" of the property. I told them that maintenance is not fixing something that was broken in the fall or winter when I was not there. I had all kids over, hispanic ones, african american ones etc, I had an open door policy as I dont let me kids run the street, so I always had well behaved teenagers over. Well, on the last of June, I had Nolan come to stay while his grandmother recuperated from surgery. He is African American. The neighbor made a racial slur to him and immediately apparently called the landlords. the landlords sent me a snotty email that said they wanted me "out of the house", they were going to evict me as my "rent was always late" and would serve me a notice on my door. They also wanted to invoke an "inspection clause" which the landlords verbally told me "we would NEVER do this, its a formality," I questioned this in an email when the contract came out. Well, since I dont deal with crazy very well and have an 87 year old mother, I decided to get out so i started packing. i did a bunch of upgrades to the house, such as attractive painting, borders, a $1600 door (which I left) also. They wanted to invoke thier clause, so they came to the door and told my 87 year old mother, that "if you dont let me in, we are coming in" I came home just as this was happening, as since nothing was going on at my house except packing, I let them in, they inspected the house, made postive comments actually, I told them that this was my last month there, there were many things they didnt disclose on the house, such as mold behind the paneling in the basement and mold popping up on the walls that they painted over to sell the house. I gave them the $1600 for the 10th of July to the 10th of August and said, you want me out, you dont have to evict me, I am nervous staying here" so I am packing. she said "no, my husband was just mad, so you can stay, I told her never mind, I am going! you refused to fix the pool (one reason I selected the house) and your basement is full of mold also, there are many things that I fixed, such as a garbage disposal that was rusted shut so they had to know it wasnt working, the guy who fixed it said it hadnt worked for YEARS..and my kids and my mother are being made nuts by your psyco actions. So they left and I got another email to get out of thier house "your house is filthy" and yes it was as I had packing material, stuff all over my kitchen counters as i was moving! We left really fast! They had the neighbor stalk me and when I went to retrieve some of my belongings and also clean the house for moveout, they called the police and told the cleaning person, that "the owners have evicted the person living here" so get out. There was never an eviction action filed and I was unable to get the house totally cleaned. My rent wasnt up until the 10th of August and this was the 21st of July. I thought about suing them, but I figured for my kids and moms sake, I would just be glad to get rid of these apparently racist crazy people! But now they are suing me for "damages" to thier house, the carpet was 30 years old, and thier animals peed all over it, they abandoned thier unneutered male cat and told me it was a house cat, they would have it put to sleep if i didnt take it, wel'l, I took it and it peed all over the house, i had to make it an outdoor cat. So the 30 year old carpet is now "damaged" I told her that I wanted to pergo the whole house when I closed the first month i moved in, as the carpet stunk so bad..what can I do to defend myself from suit..do I have a case to sue them?? thanks so much. I am not a lawsuit person, they are, the neighbor said the woman sued her employer and bragged how she got the pool a new roof and a new furnace of her suit. Oh, and she also called me and tried to extort me for $14000 and she wouldnt sue me if I paid by NOON..these people are nuts, and since I now cant stay away from them, what do I do?? PLease please help me...
