My fiance, our 3 year old daughter and I moved into this apartment at the end of November, it's in a big complex. The manager that was there when we moved in quit... which sucks because I liked her and she seemed competent. The office assistant that somehow still works there is absolutely awful as a person and as an assistant. We qualified for Section 42 due to me being on disability and my fiance only working part time because he is also my caretaker when I'm sick. With this program, we get a couple hundred dollars off of rent (we pay $763 a month) and our utilities are capped so if our electric, water, and sanitation go over $174 the complex covers it. We pay electric directly to the electric company and the water/sanitation is billed to us by the complex if the electric bill doesn't meet the cap. Our electric finally went under the cap when we stopped using the heat and we got our first water/sanitation bill last month. It was about $50. Earlier this week, I got a call from the office and my fiance went down to the office. The new manager told him that although we had been paying rent every month we weren't paying enough and that we were supposed to be paying over $900 a month. He showed him the lease and it was in her computer that rent was $763 so we had no idea what she was talking about. She was confused too and then insisted that the difference was because of unpaid utilities and that it had been accruing since we moved in... 7 months ago... and we're just hearing about it now. We told her that we'd been paying the electric ourselves (as we were told to do when we moved in) and that we had just gotten our water bill for $50. We requested an itemized bill or invoice of how what we bill and she refuses to provide one... she just says we owe $1,100. Our neighbor said that they have done this sort of crap to other people before including him but they all just paid it so they didn't have to move or moved out. Since she couldn't tell us how we owed that much money or why it was just being brought up now when 2 months ago we had checked with the old manager and she said our account was paid up and they actually owed us money for a referral and reimbursement for food lost when they didn't fix our fridge and that she was working on it but had a lot of paperwork to fix because of her inept assistant.
Yesterday (Friday, June 10) they left a note on our door at 6:30 pm (after the office was closed) saying we need to pay $1,100 or move out by the 18th. Once again there was no explanation as to what this money is owed for. We have the $1,100 and would pay it if they actually could show us why we owed the money... but they won't and I really don't think we owe it.
We've been having problems with the assistant harassing us since March. Our refrigerator broke which was a big problem because I am on refrigerated medicine for Crohn's Disease. We called the office (March 2) and the assistant said she put in a work order. We went ahead and got ice and freezer packs to keep it cold until they fixed it. The next day they still hadn't fixed it and we called again. The assistant said that they were going to get to it we just needed to be more patient (as my food is rotting). The next day I went to the office and spoke directly to the manager. She looked it up and found out that the assistant had never even put in a work order. She also said that they were going to reimburse us but it would take a few months. Now that she's gone, we asked the new manager about it and the assistant denied that we had ever called and said that me going into the office was the only time we contacted them about it. I still have the phone record of me calling on the 2nd and 4th and a Facebook message to my friend around this time complaining about them forgetting the work order.
A week or so after the fridge incident the assistant left a note on our pickup truck saying that it was going to be towed on March 18th for expired tags... except the tags didn't expire until March 31. The vehicle also ran fine and had new tires... there was no reason to get it towed. When we went down to the office she insisted that we were wrong and that it was expired, she checked it and when she saw that she was wrong she told us that if we didn't have it renewed by then she was having it towed on the 1st. We took care of it. We still have the note that was left on the car and proof of the actual expiration dates on the plates.
Everything was fine until the old manager left because she had told the assistant to leave us alone. When the new manager started it all went downhill. A couple weeks ago, maintenance came into my apartment while I was home alone. I was having a Crohn's flare and was on bedrest so when somebody knocked on the door while I was trying to take a nap and I ignored it because I figured it was my annoying neighbor or something. All of a sudden, the door opened and some dude I didn't know just walked into my home. I immediately covered myself with a blanket (I was just wearing underwear and a tank top because I was home alone and relaxing) and told him to get out. He just responded with, "Maintenance. Did you have a problem with your light?" I told them I had no idea and that he needed to get out because he didn't give notice or get permission to come in my home. He rolled his eyes and said, "I just need to check something," and he continued to walk around my kitchen and living room. I told him I really didn't care and he needed to fucking leave. Apparently, our neighbor had a lamp catch on fire and he put it outside of his door. Since there was no damage to the apartment he didn't report it, he just hadn't thrown away the lamp yet. Somehow maintenance and management thought that meant they could go above the law and enter a premises after being told that they had the wrong place and needed to leave... several times. We reported it to the office because I was raped when I was younger and having some strange dude come into my house when I was home alone in my underwear while I was too sick to get out of bed and refusing to leave freaked me out. I was shaking until my fiance got home. Even if I hadn't been raped as a kid, it's still illegal as hell to enter like that.
The next day the assistant pounded on the door like she was a cop trying to serve a search warrant and didn't stop until my fiance opened the door. When we opened it, she was giggling and said, "Oh, wrong apartment." I'm pretty well adjusted to what happened, but having someone come into your apartment like that is kind of freaky for just about anyone and it really seemed like she was doing it to mock me being upset.
I've already left a message to report it to HUD housing's fraud department. They were out of the office so I'm going to call back Monday if I need to. I'm going into the office today and demanding a print out of everything I've paid in rent and on Monday I'm going to be calling legal aide. If they can't take my case, our parents said they are going to help pay for a lawyer because we're pretty sure such a clear case of government housing fraud and extorting a disabled girl and her family would be a decent payout. I also want to see the manager and her assistant fired.
So, what should I be doing now? Any idea who to report to? Does what they're doing sound super illegal and sketchy to anyone else? I seriously will pay the friggin bill if they just tell me what it's for but I honestly can't think how we could owe them anything, much less $1,100. Why are they just bringing it up now after 7 months? If they're part of a government subsidized housing program aren't they supposed to keep on their stuff?
Thanks for your time. Sorry if it's not perfect grammar or whatever, I'm just really stressed and freaking out.
Submitted June 11, 2016 at 03:55PM by hulagain http://ift.tt/1ZGaUrS legaladvice
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