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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Weehawken, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    8

    Exclamation Being Evicted from Poorly Maintained Premises

    Back in December 2010 my friend who I will call "A.D." invited me & my friend "N" to move into her apartment & split the rent with her. A.D. told me it was all set, her landlord was cool and that he was her boss. Before I moved in I met the landlord and he installed my washer machine for me. Everything seemed OK. In January 2011 my friend "N" & I moved in. This was our first apartment ever. We were never asked to sign a lease & nothing was ever mentioned to us about a lease. Maybe about a month or two into living in this apartment I complained to the landlord that the driveway was not being shoveled after snow storms. It was my understanding when you pay rent somewhere the landlord is responsible for maintenance the property. He told me no one told him I was moving in & that my name wasn't on a "lease" at that point. Later I found out no lease was ever drawn up. I said I was interested in signing a lease if it would make him maintain the property. He then told me my rent would cost "$500 more a month due to "liabilities." In fear of such a large price hike in my rent I did not sign a lease at that time.
    For months nothing was said. I gave A.D. my cash & she paid the rent via her checks. A.D., N, & I also split utilities. At the end of September 2011 A.D. moved out. We were asked to pay A.D. back for her security deposit ourselves & she would release the apartment to us. We were then asked to sign a lease with a man "R' who was residing in the basement & apparently without my knowledge was sharing utilities with us. I thought it was a little strange that we had to pay our roommate "A.D." back for her security deposit in cash or check form instead of having to actually pay the landlord. We were also never notified where that security deposit he took from "A.D." was placed. "N" & I signed the lease with "R" because at the time we had nowhere else to go. Since we signed a lease in October 2011 The Landlord always accepted our rent separate from "R''s rent. We never knew how "R' & the landlord did business. We just continued to make our payments.
    Finally now that I signed a lease it was time to ask the landlord for the repairs on my apartment. The kitchen sink needed fixing & the dishwasher was broken. He came & put a shower head on my sink which is still here to this day & he never fixed the dishwasher. I text messaged him a few times & he just never got back to me. I eventually let go.
    In June of 2012 a garbage can filled with dog food had been knocked over on our property. The garbage can must have been there since the year prior. It was filled with maggots & rotted meat. The property stunk & actually believe it or not the whole block smelled awful. I was pregnant at the time & I called the board of health. The board of health said they could not do anything about bad smells but they'd put in a call to my landlord. The landlord after a full day of complaining finally put down some soap & water on the driveway. It still smelled really awful for about a week. At that point my Mom & her boyfriend came down & cleaned my property for me.
    In August 2012 my son was born.
    Time went on. We continued to pay our rent. Hurricane Sandy hits in October. In October "R" who resides in the basement comes to me & makes me aware of the fact that he has leaks in his ceiling, his bathroom sink is falling in, & he has no heat, & there is a possibility of black mold in our basement. We text our landlord & he claims he'll fix it. He went downstairs & looked at the heat & told "R" that it works. We notify the board of health but never hear back. Months go by. "R" has no heat. We complain & the landlord continues to do nothing.
    On January 8th 2013 we are notified that "R" has not been up to date with his portion of the rent & has not been up to date with his rent since November '12. "R' tells us he is not willing to pay the rent until his problems are fixed. Since "R" stopped paying his rent our landlord refused to take our rent. The board of health finally gets back to "R" & begins working with him on his case of habitability. The board of health issues a Notice of Violation & Order to Terminate to the landlord. The violation is N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.23(n) REVOCATION He was ordered to terminate the violations on or before 2/21/2013. I have a copy of the order.
    January 26th 2013 The Landlord comes & fixes "R''s heat.
    On February 26th The Landlord took us to eviction court. The case was dismissed because he did not have a copy of the deed.
    On April 17th he took us eviction court again. We have a letter from the Leveling Board stating that while our apartment was approved as a duplex it was only approved as duplex for recreational use dated for April 10th 2013 & that our landlord is in violation. Our lease does not state anything about the basement only being for recreational use & as I stated before I never even knew we shared utilities until "A.D." moved out in September 2011. We've spoken with the Rent Leveling board & they seem to believe we are owed 6 months relocation. The eviction court doesn't seem quite sure. I am trying to retain a lawyer, however I have been unsuccessful since my trial is Tuesday April 23rd 2013. I am not sure what to do. It is a very complicated situation that I do not understand. I have an infant child & I do plan to move out of this apartment by May 15th but I need a little more time because my new home does not close until that date & I do not have the funds to cover "R"'s payments & he is still unwilling to pay & the landlord is still unwilling to accept my payments. Also on April 17th my landlord posted a "Temporary Certificate of Registration" in the hallway. It was issued on 3/21/2013 & expires 6/21/2013. I'm not sure what that means. Someone please help asap!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,026

    Default Re: Being Evicted from Poorly Maintained Premises

    Sounds like all you can do is plead you case to the court that you have another place to move into on May 15th and could you please have the time to remain in the rental unit until then (I'm assuming that's your goal here). Bring any paperwork to show that yes, you do have a closing date then.

    All your other complaints about repair issues are not part of any of this since some of them go back several years and have nothing to do with the current matter.

    Gail

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Weehawken, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    8

    Default Re: Being Evicted from Poorly Maintained Premises

    The board of health & the rental board are now involved though. That doesn't count for anything?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,026

    Default Re: Being Evicted from Poorly Maintained Premises

    ?Like what?

    Having a dishwasher that doesn't work does not make a rental unit uninhabitable. Neither does a garbage can that fell over in June of 2012 and smelled bad.

    "R" may have some valid claims for him basement residence but you don't live in the basement.

    What do you hope to achieve here? If some type of relocation fee and you can't find an attorney before the April 23rd trial, you'll just have to wait and see how this whole thing plays out.

    Gail

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Weehawken, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    8

    Default Re: Being Evicted from Poorly Maintained Premises

    Quote Quoting gail in georgia
    View Post
    ?Like what?

    Having a dishwasher that doesn't work does not make a rental unit uninhabitable. Neither does a garbage can that fell over in June of 2012 and smelled bad.

    "R" may have some valid claims for him basement residence but you don't live in the basement.

    What do you hope to achieve here? If some type of relocation fee and you can't find an attorney before the April 23rd trial, you'll just have to wait and see how this whole thing plays out.

    Gail
    No but I put all of these claims in writing & the basement is supposedly apart of our apartment. That does not count either? The way he gt us all to sign a lease with a guy we don't know doesn't count either?

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