I've been evicted. Kicked out, tossed from my home, told in a short unfriendly note that I have 60 days to vacate the premises. Why? No explanation was offered, just that they have "new plans" for the property. I bet they do. I bet they have plans to paint it and turn around and rent it for twice what I'm paying, or maybe they're going to sell it (I've offered to buy it but they said no) or maybe they're going to do what everyone else in West Asheville is doing and plop about 5 hideous modular homes on the lot and make big, big bucks. Whatever. It shouldn't matter to me what they're going to do with it but it does.
I love this house. I've lived here for six years, which is longer than I've ever lived anywhere in my whole life and I don't want to move and I'm so upset I can hardly even breathe. I've spent a small fortune on the house and garden and yard which I landscaped myself and planted with perennials and even a goddamn Japanese maple tree not to mention huge butterfly bushes and a hydrangea and a rose garden and, god, all those day lilies and tulips and daffodils and dahlias. I want to cry. I've never missed a rent payment or barely even been late (I was late in February because I had to go out of town for a death in the family for chrissakes) and I've never asked the landlords to do a god damn thing, which is good because they don't ever fix anything or do anything anyway. And they're fucking kicking me out. And they said that they didn't have to give me 60 days because there's no lease but they're doing it out of the kindness of their hearts and because I've been a good tenant. There's no goddamn lease because they never got around to writing a new one up last July when they raised the rent, even though they said they were going to. But then they've never gotten around to a lot of things, like fixing the fucking plumbing.
And now if I want my security deposit back I'm going to have to fix all the stuff like the screens where the cats chewed holes and so on and so forth and what am I going to do with all the shit in the shed and the basement? I have way too much stuff. They'll never give me my security deposit back anyway; there's a bad patch on the living room floor from when Theo was a puppy. Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck. What the fuck am I going to do? I am so doomed. I have no money and 2 dogs and the worlds worst credit record. Noone will rent to me - I went bankrupt two years ago. I can't believe this. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should leave Asheville or stay or what and I'm just totally upset. God. Damn. Hell. Fuck.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
8 comments:
I'll second the fuck... is there any negotiation w/ the landlord, or opportunity for reasoning? I'll call you; if there's anything I can do to help, lemme know!
OK. You have certain rights even without a lease. But you need to take a deep breath and start preparing and then acting, ASAP.
Legally, you *can* force the issue and take it to court without a lease as long as you have proof that the owners have been accepting any amount of money for rent. You can even forcibly hold the propery for up to as much as 6 months while it's in dispute - and if you do it all above board and legal and it's not a pay-or-quit type eviction, they're not allowed to let it fuck with your credit.
If you have any documentation of repair requests that went unheeded, gather that. If not, write down what you have as accurately as possible. Phone/bill records showing calls to the landlord's number on the days of those incidents will help a lot as a basic "time signature" proof kind of thing.
Find your local renter's advocate, if any. Ashville should have one considering the flavor of the politics there. I found this quickly: http://www.ahcabc.org/links/links.html but I'm not finding a direct renter's advocate yet.
Because your landlord failed to do upkeep, and because "normal wear and tear" is part of the upkeep, he can't, say, keep your deposit because the carpet is now 6 years old or more. Likewise for painting and other things. There's a certain amount of normal wear and damage that it is totally illegal to charge against the deposit for. That's not the function of the deposit. The deposit is for "abnormal" wear and tear and usage.
(Which, yes, you probably have a bit of, perhaps enough to eat up your deposit, but you cannot let them charge you for the normal stuff. They also can't charge you *more* then your deposit unless they take it to court and prove damages.)
As it is, legally, the landlord MUST invest money - RENT money - in the property for upkeep and repairs. If they have failed to do this it's actually a powerful bargaining chip in court.
In short, with everything you've described, getting a renter's advocate or advocate-lawyer to check out your situation would be a pretty good idea.
You've been a reliable, uncomplaining renter and as such you have more rights than you'd imagine.
Also, I know you probably have some help out there, but if you need it we can find a way to get me there I'm totally available to help pack/move/etc. I even worked on a moving crew for a year. I'm great at cleaning up someone else's messy room. Not so much my own.
**makes pre-emptive wish for the cheapest possible round trip greyhound ticket from some generous mechazen or mefite who isn't broke like felicity or I**
Fliss, 2 BR in Montford for 600... I'm going to check it out tonight about dogs, etc. And Loq is right... there are options.
God damn, I'm sorry to hear this. I wish there was more than I could do realistically other than buy you a beer and give you a hug next time I see you...
Not for nothing, but the house next to ours is vacant now. Not sure how much the guy wants for it per month, but if you're interested I can get you in contact with the owner.
sorry to hear about losing your home. If you want to stay in the 'hood, there are several for rent signs around Hudson St, Langwell Ave, Nebraska Ave. Still convenient to the Ingles!
I'm very sorry to hear about this. That said, you can fight it, and you still have options. There are other places in town, and since some of them are owned by real people with real hearts, I suspect you'll be able to find something. But, if the movie "Boom: The Sound of Eviction" is any indicator, this is going to become an all-too-common story very soon,
Thanks, y'all. I just started browsing craigslist and there's nothing much on there, but I'll find something and yes, please, if you are out and about either West Asheville or near downtown - five points, montford, etc - then please, please write down all the phone numbers for rentals that you see and email them to me. I appreciate it!
Post a Comment