Please bear with me. It's a long story.
I live in a two family rental home in a rural upstate county. My lease expired on June 1, 2006 and I have been a month-to month tenant since then.
I have (foolishly) always given the landlord the benefit of the doubt. Every time I asked him to fix something I heard a sob story of how he tried to send someone to do whatever and they never got back to him and he was selling the property and had no money, etc…so he'd either do the work himself that should have been done by a professional (mold remediation) or not do a thing. Certain issues I did not push because I was unable to find any statute that covered such a repair (one was fixing the huge ruts in our dirt/clay/gravel driveway that fill up with water to lake proportions every time it rains).
I have always paid my rent, though not always within the 5-day grace period, but I have never been charged a late fee. When he raised rent by $30 per month I didn't flinch and accepted this because of his explanation that rising fuel costs (he pays for our oil heat- ((and we have no access to the thermostat)) ) necessitated it.
In mid April of this year- we lost heat. This was not the first time we'd had problems with this issue but he'd fixed it before within a day or two. I called immediately and left a detailed message on the landlord's cell phone (which was the contact number he'd given me). I gave him several days to respond and when he didn't- I called back and left another message. Again- no response.
At this point I withheld rent—I now believe I should have also sent a letter but at that time I hadn't realized it. My suspicion was that he'd (again) neglected to have the tank filled. On the 23 of May the landlord left a "Pay Rent or Quit" notice taped to our door that gave us 3 days to respond. Under that was a notice to vacate by June 30th. I called the landlord to find out why he'd never responded to my phone messages and he told me he had never gotten them. I informed him again of the lack of heat and how I knew that he had to provide us with heat until May 31. He said that it had been 80 degrees a couple of days ago (it had been 40 and 50 degrees prior to that) and demanded that I pay rent and late fees. I refused and told him we'd be out by June 30th as the notice requested and told him he could use our security deposit to pay for adjusted rent if he felt it necessary.
In addition, we have also had an ongoing issue with the septic system here- the landlord tried to "fix" it the last time I complained but since it has gotten warm again – the ground has thawed enough to allow seepage and stench that collects outside my child's bedroom window in a huge, open pit. I reported this to the county health department because I also noticed on the real-estate listing he has stated that there is a "new" septic system. On the 29th of May I received confirmation from the county investigators that the matter would be looked into in a couple of days. Last night we received a hand-written envelope from a stranger at the door that contains a downloaded form for a court appearance. There was no official stamp and it was obviously a pre-fab document. It said we had a court date on June 7th and we have 3 days before that date to respond. It seeks rent and late fees for May AND June (according to our earlier lease provisions we have until the 5th before a late fee is imposed and until the 14th to pay) and seeks to have us vacate the premises by June 7th.
Though I am going to respond through the court, I can't see that this is legal. It comes at a suspicious time --after my complaint to the health department—and after we already had notice to vacate at the end of June. Can he really kick us out so much sooner?
I live in a two family rental home in a rural upstate county. My lease expired on June 1, 2006 and I have been a month-to month tenant since then.
I have (foolishly) always given the landlord the benefit of the doubt. Every time I asked him to fix something I heard a sob story of how he tried to send someone to do whatever and they never got back to him and he was selling the property and had no money, etc…so he'd either do the work himself that should have been done by a professional (mold remediation) or not do a thing. Certain issues I did not push because I was unable to find any statute that covered such a repair (one was fixing the huge ruts in our dirt/clay/gravel driveway that fill up with water to lake proportions every time it rains).
I have always paid my rent, though not always within the 5-day grace period, but I have never been charged a late fee. When he raised rent by $30 per month I didn't flinch and accepted this because of his explanation that rising fuel costs (he pays for our oil heat- ((and we have no access to the thermostat)) ) necessitated it.
In mid April of this year- we lost heat. This was not the first time we'd had problems with this issue but he'd fixed it before within a day or two. I called immediately and left a detailed message on the landlord's cell phone (which was the contact number he'd given me). I gave him several days to respond and when he didn't- I called back and left another message. Again- no response.
At this point I withheld rent—I now believe I should have also sent a letter but at that time I hadn't realized it. My suspicion was that he'd (again) neglected to have the tank filled. On the 23 of May the landlord left a "Pay Rent or Quit" notice taped to our door that gave us 3 days to respond. Under that was a notice to vacate by June 30th. I called the landlord to find out why he'd never responded to my phone messages and he told me he had never gotten them. I informed him again of the lack of heat and how I knew that he had to provide us with heat until May 31. He said that it had been 80 degrees a couple of days ago (it had been 40 and 50 degrees prior to that) and demanded that I pay rent and late fees. I refused and told him we'd be out by June 30th as the notice requested and told him he could use our security deposit to pay for adjusted rent if he felt it necessary.
In addition, we have also had an ongoing issue with the septic system here- the landlord tried to "fix" it the last time I complained but since it has gotten warm again – the ground has thawed enough to allow seepage and stench that collects outside my child's bedroom window in a huge, open pit. I reported this to the county health department because I also noticed on the real-estate listing he has stated that there is a "new" septic system. On the 29th of May I received confirmation from the county investigators that the matter would be looked into in a couple of days. Last night we received a hand-written envelope from a stranger at the door that contains a downloaded form for a court appearance. There was no official stamp and it was obviously a pre-fab document. It said we had a court date on June 7th and we have 3 days before that date to respond. It seeks rent and late fees for May AND June (according to our earlier lease provisions we have until the 5th before a late fee is imposed and until the 14th to pay) and seeks to have us vacate the premises by June 7th.
Though I am going to respond through the court, I can't see that this is legal. It comes at a suspicious time --after my complaint to the health department—and after we already had notice to vacate at the end of June. Can he really kick us out so much sooner?
