Given an Eviction Notice While Living in Raw Sewer

I am in the State of Michigan


I paid $2100.00 to the landlord even though he did not require this. I wanted to pay the full amount for the six months I intend to rent the house. I asked him if I did so would he knock off $50 of the rent, as I felt it was way too steep. He agreed. Well, my funds did not come in for the second installment for the rental agreement and I could not pay him, which was a blessing in disguise anyways. Turns out, less than a week after I was here the septic tank backed up into the basement. This went on for nearly a month. I became very sick during this time. I am not sure if it was the raw sewage flowing through the heat system or not. During this time, he sent me a reminder letter to pay the $150 that I owed him, since I was not going to pay the full six months up front. I had left the house twice during this time and had been gone over a week each time. So I did not receive the letter until I returned home. When I got home I got an awful letter in the mail telling me, either pay the $150 (Feb. 22nd) or I am evicted and to move out by March 12th. I could not believe it. The basement was still not livable, and there was no way I could put my furniture down there. Also the basement was advertised for a washer and dryer hook-up, well there is NONE. Sink leaked for two weeks, and had to have buckets and continuously dump them. The area I live in, most rentals go for $600-700 max, so the house I live in is pretty high end. The raw sewer, what can I do? I really do not want to pay him a dime more. I am moving out anyways. After the threatening eviction letter. I cannot get the raw sewer smell out of the basement, so I have chose to keep my furniture in the garage, until I find another place. Ridiculous. Should I pay rent today? It was due 3-15-10??

I assume you reported the problem with the septic system as soon as it occurred. Then what happened?

Are you talking about a formal notice to quit? A 7 day notice for nonpayment?

The fix is simple. Yes, if you are late on rent for the amount you owe, you need to pay this. However, if it is as bad as you say, you need to do two things immediately: 1) take pictures of everything and write down in a journal every conversation you've had, promises made, etc... and 2) take tons of pictures...

You will need the dates this mess started. You can sue him in civil court and if you are reporting the situation to us they way it happened, you will not be required to pay the rent for all the days the judge deems the rental uninhabitable. The more proof you have of how and when this happened and what was and wasn't done to remedy the basement, the better off you'll be.

However, until this time, you owe the rent by law.