Re: Landlord Negligence Causes Health Problems in AsthmaticC

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On 9/12/02, Dan wrote:
> You know, I have been a renter for about 15 years and lived
> in about 12 different apt/homes, but I have never run up
> against a bad landlord until now.
>
> This guy has at least 3 different names for his company,
> lists someone else as the "President" to keep his name off
> of it, and flagrantly breaks the Landlord/Tenant Code in
> many ways in our City/State. He lets his properties run
down
> and only fixes what the building inspector orders him to
> fix, regardless of how it is affecting the health and
safety
> of the occupants/tenants. He's been doing this for 20
years.
> The problem is, no one is stopping him. The Building
> Inspector, even when given a detailed list of the
> violations, refuses to follow up on them unless they are
> painfully obvious. As the head inspector put it "We only do
> a visual walkthrough, we don't poke, prod, test, sample or
> monitor anything. If it LOOKS ok, it's not a violation."
> This attitude appalled me. Afterall, the PURPOSE of the
> Housing Code is to "Promote the health, safety, and
wellfare
> or the occupants and tenants."
>
> In my case, a known foundation leak (known by the landlord)
> was never adequately fixed before we moved in. We did not
> notice it because of its location and the fact that there
> was carpetting on the basement floor. We suffered severe
> allergy and asthma problems for the time we lived there. We
> eventually found out the house had mold in the insulation,
> in the carpetting, on drywall, in the wall, and in the
> rotted floorboards which we could not see. We did
everything
> by the book and notified the landlord in writing, giving
him
> a 7 Day Notice to repair it and clean up the mold. He made
a
> feeble attempt to fix it, but when all was said and done,
> the foundation still leaked, a plumbing leak in the wall
was
> "gushing" water, and no mold had been cleaned up, just
> painted over, carpetted over, and covered up with a new
> shower surreound. Because we couldn't "see" much of the
> mold, and because the Building Inspector refused to do a
> thorough inspection, he dismissed the charge that there was
> mold in the house. How am I supposed to prosecute the
> landlord when the Building Inspector gave the house a clean
> bill of health? He did require the plumbing to be fixed,
but
> not the foundation. The head inspector said "every house
has
> foundation leaks. It's acceptable." But as many of you
> already know, trying to go up against a city dept is not
> easy, especially when they have it written into the code
> that they are not liable for anything. So, to date, I have
> an atty who is still looking into this but not seriously
> (not retained yet), I have notified the City Council, the
> State Atty General, and the Dept of Housing and Urban
> Development. So far, not one has responded. I have 4 kids
> and a wife, and we all suffered different illnesses in the
> rental house during our time there. We all improved after
> moving out (due to landlord's breach of lease for not
> adequately fixing foundation leak and removing mold). I was
> diagnosed as being allergic to at least one of the molds (I
> had bulk samples taken to state Hygienics Lab for
analysis),
> and have continuing chronic sinusitis. My asthmatic stepson
> had some serious attacks in the house, but is fine now.
>
> Are we due any damages for our suffering?
>
> The costs we have incurred to date are greater than what we
> could get from him in Small Claims court.
>
> Oh, and one other thing, the landlord turned in a
settlement
> letter to his insurance company, and we gave them a
> statement, but they are sitting on it.
>
> I cannot think of anything else to do to resolve this
> matter. The landlord has a very bad reputation in town, has
> reputed ties to another landlord who was convicted of money
> laundering, and continues to do his tenants dirty. He has a
> common practice to keep security deposits and try to get
> more money from tenants moving out by trying to charge them
> for damages which existed to the unit before they moved in.
> He needs to be stopped. Many of his tenants are low income
> people, and so what he is doing hurts them a great deal
more
> than it hurt me. I am willing to go up against him. My
> evidence of his wrongdoings is in the documents, videotape,
> and notes I made while going through this.
>
> I was prepared because my wife and I are landlords. We know
> many GOOD landlords, but this is the first BAD landlord
> we've come across. I could not live with myself if I did to
> others as he is.
>
> Your input is most welcome.
>
> Dan
> iowarenter@aol.com

Re: Landlord Negligence Causes Health Problems in AsthmaticC, 7/25/03, by Brenda.

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