My landlord has been harassing my boyfriend and I almost since we moved in about 6 months ago. The harrassment consists of:
-Blaming us for lighting fireworks in the parking lot (which actually woke us up and was very annoying and then we got blamed for it),
-Blaming us for the police being called for noise (the police didnt knock on our door, only a few other apartments. The landlord called the police department the next day to let them know that it was my boyfriend and I making the noise. It wasnt.
-Blaming us again for noise when my boyfriend wasnt even there and even after we showed him hotel reciepts still didnt believe us and insisted that is was us because someone heard footsteps going up the stairs, and we live up the stairs (so do other people).
This harrassment has made it very uncomfortable living there, we couldnt even use the pool or fitness center out of fear we might run into him and be blamed for something else. We were worried that the next time someone made any kind of noise we would be evicted for it. So, at the end of April we gave them a notice that we would like to be out of the apartment by May 31st and break the lease early, this is earlier than the 2 month stipulation written in the lease but the landlord said he would let us out after 1 month if he rented it to someone else. Since then my boyfriend and I have been cooperative in keeping it clean for showings and letting him have access to the apartment when needed. I have moved out of the apartment already because I got a job in another city. But my boyfriend is planning on staying at the apartment until the lease runs out. We moved out my belongings and left the guest bed, tv, some living room furniture and kitchen equipment in the apartment among other things for my boyfriend to use while he stays there until the lease has ended. My boyfriend just spent 2 days visiting me on his days off and then returned to the apartment to find the locks changed with a note saying that if we want the rest of our stuff we will need to bring rent to the office. Now, I didnt realize my boyfriend hadnt dropped a check off for rent yet (today is the 12th) but I think that is a bit premature for a complete eviction since our rent isnt due until the 5th of the month, so its only 1 week late and we've never been late before. In addition to this, the landlord only has office hours on Monday 10a-1p, and Thurs/Fri 3p-6p, today is Wednesday, theres no way for him to clear this up or give the landlord a check since he wont be around until tomorrow. He doesnt have anywhere to sleep tonight and has no access to his work uniforms.
I am wondering if we can take any legal action against him and the condo association 1. for the verbal harrassment that caused us to want to break the lease early, 2. for evicting us with no attempt to contact us, after the rent was late only 1 week. In the lease, it states a 30 day notice for eviction. This guy has been getting very angry with us and rude, when the new apartment people called to verify residency with him, he was extremely rude and hung up on her and threatened to call her back and tell her things to make us not be able to move if we didnt "cooperate" but we were cooperating. Now that it has gotten this far I wish I had kept the harrassing voicemails. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
-Blaming us for lighting fireworks in the parking lot (which actually woke us up and was very annoying and then we got blamed for it),
-Blaming us for the police being called for noise (the police didnt knock on our door, only a few other apartments. The landlord called the police department the next day to let them know that it was my boyfriend and I making the noise. It wasnt.
-Blaming us again for noise when my boyfriend wasnt even there and even after we showed him hotel reciepts still didnt believe us and insisted that is was us because someone heard footsteps going up the stairs, and we live up the stairs (so do other people).
This harrassment has made it very uncomfortable living there, we couldnt even use the pool or fitness center out of fear we might run into him and be blamed for something else. We were worried that the next time someone made any kind of noise we would be evicted for it. So, at the end of April we gave them a notice that we would like to be out of the apartment by May 31st and break the lease early, this is earlier than the 2 month stipulation written in the lease but the landlord said he would let us out after 1 month if he rented it to someone else. Since then my boyfriend and I have been cooperative in keeping it clean for showings and letting him have access to the apartment when needed. I have moved out of the apartment already because I got a job in another city. But my boyfriend is planning on staying at the apartment until the lease runs out. We moved out my belongings and left the guest bed, tv, some living room furniture and kitchen equipment in the apartment among other things for my boyfriend to use while he stays there until the lease has ended. My boyfriend just spent 2 days visiting me on his days off and then returned to the apartment to find the locks changed with a note saying that if we want the rest of our stuff we will need to bring rent to the office. Now, I didnt realize my boyfriend hadnt dropped a check off for rent yet (today is the 12th) but I think that is a bit premature for a complete eviction since our rent isnt due until the 5th of the month, so its only 1 week late and we've never been late before. In addition to this, the landlord only has office hours on Monday 10a-1p, and Thurs/Fri 3p-6p, today is Wednesday, theres no way for him to clear this up or give the landlord a check since he wont be around until tomorrow. He doesnt have anywhere to sleep tonight and has no access to his work uniforms.
I am wondering if we can take any legal action against him and the condo association 1. for the verbal harrassment that caused us to want to break the lease early, 2. for evicting us with no attempt to contact us, after the rent was late only 1 week. In the lease, it states a 30 day notice for eviction. This guy has been getting very angry with us and rude, when the new apartment people called to verify residency with him, he was extremely rude and hung up on her and threatened to call her back and tell her things to make us not be able to move if we didnt "cooperate" but we were cooperating. Now that it has gotten this far I wish I had kept the harrassing voicemails. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.