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

Dan,

Hi
My husband and I are in the same situation. We had a
landlord who was well, for the records say he's not a very
nice man and shame on him for being able to go to bed and
night and be the one who can sleep at night while we suffer
from his neglect. I think that all slumlords should be made
to live a month in their own rental units and deal with the
crap that we had to live with on a day to day basis. Both my
husband and I already have a history of epilepsy. And now I
have severe allergies. And of course the list goes on and on
and on. I too went to the housing inspector and tried to get
something done and he was found to have 27 violations in just
our apt alone not including the one above us and the home he
owns next door which never had an inspection done. He was
given 60 days to make repairs. We were scheduled for a pre-
trial and it was adjourned because he had filed a motion to
have our personal things removed from the home so he can have
a demolition company come it and tear the house down. I hope
that you can get what you want. Any and everyone in this
room we are not crazy its not in our heads but don't let
anyone tell you different fight for your rights be a voice in
your town. Do what ever it takes to be HEARD we have to
fight this war on something that is so dangerous not only to
us but our future (OUR CHILDREN) they are the ones who will
have to face this even more than us, if any of you read the
bible in the book of Lev. 14:33-35 NIV it tells about mold.
Use what you have to do and let them know we know that mold
has been around for a long time but to let them know what the
laws were for treating such a problem.
> 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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