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Help in S.Carolina (Charlotte area) [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-09-09

I need help. For many things, but right here and now I’m looking for help with a legal issue—one for which I’ve been trying to find legal help for over 3 years. (I’ve contacted every “legal aid” type group and “bar group” in 2 states. No one has helped.)

All I want to do is file, in civil/magistrate’s court, to have my ex-landlord return my security deposit. And to feel “reasonably safe” in doing so.

Sounds simple, right? I started out just looking for answers to very basic questions: What does “3 years” mean? (It WAS “2 years”, but when I went to file, the Clerk told me I had another year. This might be because the landlord had created an LLC?)

Another “simple” question: What are my risks? The landlord could be ordered to pay my court costs, and up to 3 times the security deposit amount. What can I be ordered to pay? I assume her court costs, but is there anything else? And, since she simply fabricated charges against the security deposit, how could I ensure that any “court costs” aren’t “inflated”?

Basic outline: I rented a unit after porting my HUD Voucher. Yes, pretty much unseen (I’d seen the outside years before, but not the inside). But my family had spend a lot of time cleaning and painting there, and I knew the Housing Authority would do their inspection—which it failed the first time. A couple simple repairs were done, and it passed.

After moving in, the most pressing concern was how to get Internet service. I’d asked several times before moving, but the question was always blown off. I needed to use the telephone line, but the landlord had “shoved it back into the wall because no one uses it any more and I plastered over it.” I cut into the wall where she said to look, and found mold. I’d already found other ‘possible areas of mold’.

Later, when the weather first turned cold, I turned on the furnace and...it went directly to “emergency heat” and never heated the unit. I have Raynaud’s, and I was so cold that first night. It was also very painful. The next day, my parents insisted I come to their place, and the cold, combined with the mold report, meant I never went back.

Nothing was taken care of. When I went to my case manager at the HA, the landlord had already talked to her, and I was just given a list of other places that would take a Voucher. (There were 5-6 places, and I don’t think any were available.) Over the next 6 or so months, the landlord barely communicated with me. When she did, she often threatened to turn me into HUD if I didn’t return to her unit (she wanted me there to ‘help keep an eye on’ her rentals). But she refused to get it repaired. Finally, she gave me ~2 weeks notice that she wouldn’t renew my lease. I sent the required letter to ‘demand’ the return of my security deposit. She answered with, “I’m sorry. I wish I could but...” and a list of charges which, somehow, just about equaled the security deposit. There were NO invoices or receipts. If I were in a giving mood, I’d probably agree to about $100. But I’d still think that was an overblown price for mowing.

I’m on disability. I had a Section 8 Housing Voucher. Unrelated to my disability, I had an accident about 10 years ago which resulted in a severe TBI (for which I’ve never been able to get appropriate treatment). I’d rented for more than 30 years before all this without a problem. But this landlord’s refusal to repair the unit and make it “habitable”—and the Housing Authority’s refusal to enforce HUD regulations— means I’ve now lost pretty much everything I cared about:

I’d worked very hard with my doctors, and had hopes, before moving to South Carolina, of trying to go back to work part-time. But I developed new health issues after moving, and my current ones have been exacerbated.

My “companion/therapy animal” was staying with a lovely couple to give me a month or two to move and settle in. I didn’t want to make it extra hard for her (to see me and then have me gone again), so I wouldn’t let myself visit her. And then she died...young and suddenly. (And I will never, EVER forgive the landlord, or God, for that.)

There is NOTHING to rent in this area if you’re poor. The landlord knew that—she warned me before ending my lease. So my Voucher was taken away. I wish they’d alerted me, as I maybe could have ported it back to Wisconsin and at least had a home. Now I have no options (other than the full-of-mold moneypit mobile home my sisters picked out for me).

I think my relationship with my family has been forever damaged. The landlord was a friend...I thought. She was a family friend, and is now my sister-in-law. My family finds it easier to believe that I caused all this—that I chose to make myself homeless—than to think negatively of her. No one in my family has even said they’re sorry this happened to me. They’ve been convinced that I am “mentally ill” and there is nothing I can say to convince them otherwise.

I’m really struggling with everything now. I think most of it is because of the cognitive/executive function issues related to the TBI. But playing a part is, I’m sure, the stress and depression of constantly being given near-impossible tasks (remediate the mold yourself; repair the fixer-upper with no money). I’ve been trying to write this diary for about a year now...it’s just one of those things that I can’t seem to do/finish.

So...going to court—even civil court—against a person who is absolutely pathological about money and will “come at me” if/when I file...that doesn’t seem possible. When I took some paperwork down to the court house a year ago, one of the clerk’s gave me more help/advice than I’d ever received from any lawyer or so-called ‘legal help’ groups. She told me how to get more evidence in (with “addendums”), because the one other time I’d tried filing a civil case, the judge wouldn’t let me use all the evidence I’d collected because I didn’t know you had to file it beforehand (civil court is NOT for “regular people”).

She asked what Housing Authority it was, and when I told her, she said that HA had had some serious problems but now had a new director. (My case manager still seems to work there.)

She said I could file against the landlord, and her LLC, and any other LLCs she had/has.

BUT...this stopped me completely that day, and here I am, a year later, trying to get it figured out/done—the landlord has moved to another county and the county I was about to file in couldn’t serve her. So, how do I get her served?? Or do I file in HER county?

I took as many notes as I could from talking to that wonderful clerk. But I don’t know what to do with it all. I get too easily overwhelmed now. And too easily distracted, which might partly be because there’s too many ‘things I have to do NOW’ (e.g., how to remediate the mold at the new place, how to FIND all the mold first, how to repair the water heater, can the mold on the HVAC coils be cleaned, etc., etc., etc.).

Why do I want to file? It’s not really the money. Of course I could use it, but I’ve tried offering it to lawyers (contingency)—that didn’t work. The biggest reason is probably because it’s my last way of standing up for myself...of saying that I matter, and I’m not a liar, and I respect and take care of other people’s property, and I deserve/d better. Other reasons: it’d be nice to have someone else share in the consequences of not maintaining one’s property, and it might help (if I win):

— if I can find a way to “report” her to HUD, so that she’s never allowed to participate in any other programs so she can never hurt another person as she did me, and

— I’d like to file a complaint against the HA and my case manager, so their rules & processes are changed to they act to actually help and protect “vulnerable persons” and not the landlords.

It seems there’s more, but I can’t remember them. And if I pause and look up where I wrote them down, I’ll never get back to this, and it will never get published (again).

Biggest questions right now:

— What is the FILING DEADLINE? Because maybe this is all moot.

— What are my financial risks? I have nothing, so maybe it’s nothing. Or maybe they can take it from my SSDI check.

— Where do I file (which county), who do I list as defendant/s, and how do I get her served?

Is there anyone who can help me? Guidance from afar would work. Help me understand the court system and my best steps. Be there when something stumps me (again). Prod me so I remember that THIS is the most important thing right now. (I can figure out mini-splits and how to install them later.) I mean, if there’s someone in this area, that’d be great! I “live” in the Mint Hill/Matthews/Charlotte area (North Carolina). I’m sure I’ll be alone at court, or, if my family is there, they’ll be sitting in support of the landlord.

Or, if you’re in this area and do “handyman” work, I could sure use some help figuring out what to do with the mobile home I was given (and where I can’t afford the lot rent, lol).

I’ll do my best to quickly answer any questions in the comments...although I haven’t slept yet and will have to very soon.

Now...this is far too long, and too rambling. And yet, there are things I’ve forgotten to include that are important. And I could let any of those things stop me, yet again, from at least reaching out and asking for help. I’ve been on this site for many years (although over the last 4 years, I’m almost never out here). I’ve seen the people here help each other in amazing ways. I don’t know that will happen in this case, because it’s complicated and...it’s hard. But all I can do is ask. Sometimes, that’s all we can do.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/9/2192388/-Help-in-S-Carolina-Charlotte-area

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