Wrongful Eviction of Disabled Tenant in Ohio

[nbmatt]

If your neighbors are creating noise in excess of what's legally permitted, or are using illegal drugs in a manner that can be detected from outside of their premises, you can call 911

They have been called many times for it and always say there is nothing they can do.
.

You haven't told us that you requested accommodation. Tell us now - exactly what did you tell your landlord about your condition and exactly how do you propose that he would have accommodated you? Some disabilities are obvious, but it's in no way obvious that somebody who talks or shouts is doing so because of a medical condition.

Landlord has been informed of the tourette syndrome and anxiety with the symptoms. Yelling, swearing out, animal noises can happen for short periods of time occasionally, where number of attacks and triggering can increase from emotional distress, upset, anger, fear, stress, and issues such as neighbors causing grief. Grief can come in the form of harassment, bullying, illegal activities such as drug use where authorities do nothing about, etc..

Obviously I would propose to put insulation in as a first step. There are also affordable sound proof materials that could be put up, that act identical to insulation but more as sound barriers. But general insulation, as there should be, needs to be implemented for sure.

Are you stating that the only noise you have created that has ever been an issue is that you can document to be the direct result of Tourette's? If not, please clarify.

Yes. A good 90% of it is direct result of tourettes. The other 10% maybe as a result of anger and feeling of unjustice of illegal activities of the neighbors. For example ("THIS IS BS THAT NOTHING IS DONE. IF THEY CAN DO IT THEN I WILL TOO" kind of thing).

You just compared shouting and barking like a dog to "the slightest of noises such as a whisper or a 'fart'". Your melodrama does not help clarify the issues.

I don't understand?

Noise and drugs are two separate issues.

But both are part of my argument here because of my anger of the unjustice causes 10% of yelling. Emotional buildup. A person mind can only handle and take so much before it releases. Everyone does at some point.

Again, if you can smell drugs and are breathing smoke out of somebody else's unit, you can call 911.

They say there is nothing they can do.

Are you sure you're not being evicted for insulting and attacking the people who are trying to help you?

[/quote]

Yes I am sure. The only insulting and attacking comes from the other tenants. To add to that, the tenant above us is tape recording every private conversation here in my home, eavesdropping on everything, with a criminal record and with criminal and tortious attempts. He goes down to the downtown McDonalds every morning and spreads false rumors that my mom and I are "screwing" each other when that is untrue. Says he has it on tape when he doesn't as it is not true. The other night police were called because the smell of drugs. As the police were walking toward the neighbors and asking who called, the neighbors said "dont know you have to ask him" as they pointed at my apartment. They said "he'll call you guys for anything, even when his dick is small"

The police asked me what was up. After telling them, they went back over to the neighbors and said "are you smoking wacky tobacco again?" They declined and the other officer said "its been going on since I've become a detective down at the bureau"

Nearly every officer on the police force know all about these people and of their past 50+ criminal offenses of drugs, theft, assault, menacing, domestic violence, disorderly conduct, etc.. There was a time where one of them had a warrant for his arrest over theft. The police picked him up and called to the station that they had him. The station said to let him go.

So no, the insults and attacks are from them, not me.

To be exact, the reason on the notice is listed as yelling and pounding. I deny the pounding. I don't get physical or violent. In fact, every time I get beat up I am the one who never throws a punch even in self defense. I can't be violent for my disabilities. The pounding is from the other tenant. I even caught him saying that he was pounding, but it was my voice the landlord heard in the recording. They assumed that because my voice was heard at the same time of pounding, that it was my pounding. If that is sufficient, then I guess I can record someone else's voice and start pounding on walls and say "its their voice so it must of been them pounding." That is another example of the 10% yelling triggered by other sources. Perhaps I was yelling for them to stop their pounding? ("KEEP IT DOWN OR I'LL CALL THE LANDLORD"

One time the guys smoking it up with drugs, the landlord did come to serve an eviction notice but we saw and overheard him tell them not to worry they arent evicted and to forget what we say. He only come with eviction thing to make it look like he take care of the problem.

I only say they either evict all or evict no one and no one has any right to complain of loud noise, it is hypocrit. My yelling, guy upstairs pounds, stomps and play his tv real loud, guy next door play their music real loud with drugs and beer partying yelling and screaming , other lady upstairs bring drug dealers in and out all day long and they make yelling noise and stomping too. No right for complaints. No right for evicting one and not the other. Discrimination because I am not illegal partier with the 3 of them and because I am disabled and they aren't. People heard the guy upstairs reporting say he try to get us kicked out so he can move down here.

[Dogmatique]

And you need to see that this incident is in the United States, not Canada. Canada laws differ, so Canada's input is not needed in this matter. Please kindly remove yourself from my post.

Sigh. My information says I live NEAR Canada. As in, one of the US states bordering Canada. Please read.

But I will not respond further.

[nbmatt]

Sigh. My information says I live NEAR Canada. As in, one of the US states bordering Canada. Please read.

But I will not respond further.

Sorry

I feel bad for what I say. I am hurt by my situation and do not mean to take it out on you.

[Dogmatique]

To be honest, I think we ALL feel somewhat empathetic with what you're experiencing. Tourette's IS often a completely debilitating condition and can seriously disable a person.

I do feel for you - but I'm just not sure you actually have a cause of action. However if everyone else is telling that you do, then go with what they're saying. They've met you in person and they know all of the details while all we have is the bare bones and the difficulty of communicating over a message board. Trust the people that you've talked to in person.

I do wish you good luck, and I wish you at least a measure of peace.

[jk]

Yessir. But what I say is that they never even once warned me, never once made any accommodation. Like said, there is no insulation and the only thing standing between my unit and other units is 2 sheets of paper thin (fiber board I believe), so you can hear even the slightest of noises such as a whisper or a "fart" from a 100 feet away. Since that is disturbing the peace too that can be eviction?

I am not trying to justify anything. I am saying that it is illegal that they tell me there's nothing they can do about the others being loud but then turn around and evict me.

Tell me how the landlord does not have to treat everyone equally? He does... I am paying for my rent. What these people are doing is illegal with their drugs. I should not be required to smell drugs and breathe in smoke when it is illegal. Why else are there laws in place? Why else does the Fair Housing Act, an official LAW against inequality?

Like I say before, close this forum down then and tell everyone that their eviction regardless of reason is just and there is nothing they can do. The landlord does not have to treat them equally.

Fair Housing, HUD, ADA, and Legal Aid all seem to disagree with you. Again that shows none of you here know what you're talking about. I guess I need to have this forum shut down for spreading false information with claims of being lawyers and legal experts. Certainly doesn't seem so to me. Your discriminations will be part of my lawsuit. Thanks and bye.

so, you are saying because you have mental issues the landlord has to give you special treatment?

Of course you provided the landlord with proof of your mental impairment and your request for accommodation, right?


as far as Fair Housing, HUD, ADA, and Legal Aid; you be sure to let us know what the are all doing for you.

as to not being able to afford to live elsewhere: you might cut out the non-essentials:

My service that ** I ** paid $140 for was being interrupted by their theft.

That's $140/month you could put towards rent elsewhere.

[nbmatt]

When I say cant afford anywhere else that includes cutting off the non essentials. On a very limited income the current place is rent only with all utilities paid except for cable and phone. With that rental service, cost for groceries, medical and counseling bills, cost for fuel to get to and from medical appointments and counseling appointments, cost of fuel to get to and from school, we would be lucky to have any money (even $5) left by the end of the 1st week of the month. I do have medical insurance but it only covers a percentage and I am refused service if I do not pay like $30 every appointment. I can't pay with nothing. I am not proud of living like that and am not proud of living with my disabilities. There is a reason I am trying to fix it by going to counseling and school so I can get a degree to get a good job to get out of here in a better place. I do not want to let my disabilities hold me back but sometimes I have no control of that. It is not my fault that I was born with disabilities, I did not ask for them. It is not my fault that I am no medical doctor with the ability to write prescriptions or I would. I have been through tons of doctors that all never give me medication for my disabilities. They try to give me stuff that I already take before and does not work. You tell them that it doesn't work and they ask you immediately afterwards if you want or need a refill??? The only medicine I've had that works out of the thousands of different kinds, my doctors take them away because my counselor is against the use of that medicine - ativan or xanax... Even though it is the only 2 that have worked ever.

That said, to share... My mom dated a guy that we lived with and he was very abusive and dangerous. He screw us over because he did drugs (we did not know at the time) and that was priority. He ran up our credit (stole credit cards and money from us), made us give him all our money, etc.. We had bills in our name and they all got jacked up sky high of $5,000+ so we are still in debt to utility companies and that is one reason that all utilities paid is absolutely necessary. Neither of us can get electric, gas, water in our name. All while in the end, that criminal got out ahead with a brand new house his mom bought him , brand new vehicle, all his bills paid for him, etc.. I remember getting hundreds of thousands of dollars inheritance from my dad and grandparents dying and that was all gone in a week because he took it. You can judge and say that we had a choice and didn't have to give. Until you lived in that situation you wouldn't understand that sure it may have choice but we did not know at the time. He manipulated us mentally, emotionally, and physically and had us live in fear believing he would kill us, believing we would be living homeless, be living dead. Back as a child, I was sexually molest by a guy that was ordered in lawsuit to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. He never did. All his assets were supposed to be frozen but he somehow was able to give away all his properties, all his vehicles, etc.. Now he is out of prison 10 years later and is enjoying himself being ahead in life once again with a stable income and ownership of a farm valued at $500,000. Not cool. We do not have money to afford a lawyer to get what is owed out of that deal either. With all the shit happen to me, I could have probably sued and possibly been filthy rich but no. I do not want to use my disabilities or past as an excuse or exploit it to get ahead. I want to do it legitimately through my own hard work. It is my goal one day to start a company and become multi billionaire and be able to walk up to random people in need and give them a million dollars and start with people who helped me get there (counselors, etc). Explain to me how I deserve any of this hatred with my good intention and loving of the entire world including you ???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVjbo8dW9c8

[Mr. Knowitall]

It's difficult to accommodate Tourette's in the same manner as most other disabilities, as the focus of the accommodation will typically have to be to try to make other tenants more understanding. Sometimes the tenant with Tourette's will help the landlord with an educational process, other times the landlord will have to try to act based upon knowledge of the condition without the tenant's help.

Given that the landlord references yelling and pounding, I expect that he's going to argue that the eviction notice has nothing to do with Tourette's, as Tourette's does not cause a tenant to pound on the floor/ceiling and that yelling that occurs in association with such pounding is reasonably inferred to be volitional - going along with the pounding - as opposed to involuntary. I'm speculating, of course.

It's possible to respond that all of the incidents were episodes of Tourette's, but that will be more complicated if the other affected tenants say that the issue was pounding, or yelling while pounding, whether or not that's true.

Your best bet at this point would be to try to team up with a disability advocacy group or legal aid association (assuming you qualify for legal aid) to build a defense to the eviction claim and, depending upon what you can document, a possible claim for housing discrimination.

[nbmatt]

It's difficult to accommodate Tourette's in the same manner as most other disabilities, as the focus of the accommodation will typically have to be to try to make other tenants more understanding. Sometimes the tenant with Tourette's will help the landlord with an educational process, other times the landlord will have to try to act based upon knowledge of the condition without the tenant's help.

Given that the landlord references yelling and pounding, I expect that he's going to argue that the eviction notice has nothing to do with Tourette's, as Tourette's does not cause a tenant to pound on the floor/ceiling and that yelling that occurs in association with such pounding is reasonably inferred to be volitional - going along with the pounding - as opposed to involuntary. I'm speculating, of course.

It's possible to respond that all of the incidents were episodes of Tourette's, but that will be more complicated if the other affected tenants say that the issue was pounding, or yelling while pounding, whether or not that's true.

Your best bet at this point would be to try to team up with a disability advocacy group or legal aid association (assuming you qualify for legal aid) to build a defense to the eviction claim and, depending upon what you can document, a possible claim for housing discrimination.

Ok

I just will point out that I never do any pounding. The only thing they go by to say I pound is a tape recording which could be anyone. I will make a tape and pound and I can tell the landlord it was the guy upstairs pounding ? That will work? I don't like deception so I would not do that but I am just trying to figure out why when they use the tape recorder of themself pounding and say its me, it is accepted but if I do that , they tell me that does not prove who did the pounding. I have video taping where you can hear the guy blairing his TV and you can see it on youtube. At least in my video record it proves the sounds didn't come from me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXWkkfhwvwU

Will they accept that for court ?

[PandorasBox]

I think what it comes down to is this:

Music is a steady, stable, predictable thing.

Tourette's outburts.....the barking like a dog, or sudden yelling....can frighten people.

I have two disabilities of my own. A reasonable accommodation is something like a cart for heavy items, a telephone with an adequate volume control.

The only accommodation I can suggest to you is at your next apartment unit.....meet your neighbors and explain your condition and it's symptoms, and provide Management with a doctors note and information on Tourette's so they will understand.

You can go talk to management with the same stuff I recommend above, but it seems they have already made up their mind to evict you.

Best to start packing up and looking at new places now. Get rid of non-essential services. You really can live without TV, etc., trust me.

www.forrent.com
www.apartmentguide.com
www.apartments.com

[jk]

Will they accept that for court ?

for what? That you are exposed to what is typical in most apartments I have seen? That is not unusual and is not going to be seen as objectionable, especially in the middle of the day.