Landlord Breaking in and Vandalizing Apt

By Beleagured Tenant

I have been renting a mobile home for about a year and over the couse of that time I have been broken into multiple times, however this is not the typical breaki-in scenario. Instead of stealing my property, the culprit is damaging the residence. This person has damaged the tile in the kitchen, the molding around doors and smeared what appears to be purple primer on the walls of one of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms.  Outside the skirting has been removed in the back of the building as well as the latch to the door to the crawl space. Underneath in the crawl space I noticed a large hole was also torn in the bottom insulation near the furnace. I am worried that my landlord is either breaking in or has hired someone to break in to my house and damage it in order to accuse me of vandalism. I have called the police several times about this problem, but their response has been apathetic at best. I don’t know what I should do.

My landlord is suspect also because of an altercation concerning yardwork which the landlord eventually agreed to do, since external matenance is defined as landlord’s responsibility in the lease as well as my being disabled due to a serious chronic illness. Also due to my chronic illness, airconditioning is necessary but since the unit does not have central air, air conditioners needed to be installed. I psessed a large one that I needed help installing and the land lord refused to do this in defiance of the lease, so I had to do the best I could on my own as the smaller unit she provided was not sufficient. Unfortunately I could not install it correctly, and condensation leaked onto the floor damaging it. This, I promised to repair. But even after what should have been resolution, it was apparent that hard feelings were retained and, shortly after, the break-ins began. When told about the first of such break-ins, the landlord ominously said to me that it sounded like I had an enemy. The landlord has repeated those sentiments several times. There have also been break-ins to the crawlspace. Landlord refused to change locks on doors or provide security devices for windows which show evidence of being forced open, and admitted that locks are never changed between tenants. As a result, I have had to change locks and secure windows with Landlord’s written consent. Landlord also refused to put padlock on skirting, which was secured only by a latch.

Since the yardwork incident, the landlord has refused to do any reliable maintenance on the unit including repairs promised prior to occupancy. There were holes in the master bedroom cieling which were presumably due to previous tenant and holes in the inner wall due to construction/modification. Landlord refused to paint master bathroom after promising to do so, and finally I painted it with Landlord’s written consent. When the piece of skirting came off in the fall, presumably because of a hibernating animal, it took the landlord 3 weeks to respond. The "repair" consisted of duct taping the skirting in place, and now has fallen off again because of weathering. There exist holes that penetrate through the outer wall that were there upon my occupancy which the landlord promised to fix and never did. One of these holes, the landlord stuffed with reynolds wrap, the other the landlord instructed me to stuff with cottonballs, which I did not. The screen door was blown open because of a gap between the frame and the door during one of our many severe thunderstoorms, which resulted in the door falling off its hinge at the bottom and cracking the cardboard thin frame at the top. The deck is showing serious signs of weather wear, and one of the planks in front of the front door has a serious crack which could result in injury if someone steps on it. Other planks have begun to bow and it is only a matter of time before those begin cracking. Even the larger posts show serious cracking and the wood is bleached and turning grey. The plumbing consists of all pvc pipe which leaks under the unit. The resulting moisture, along with rainwater, collects under the particlewood floor and is destabilizing it. Animals routinely make a den of the crawlspace and damage things underneath it. Landlord refuses to do any extermination. I notified the landlord several months to a year ago about these problems, and reminded her monthly when I faithfully paid a rent of $300/mo.

When I applied for housing assistance, HUD requested reference from Landlord, for which Landlord gave a slanderous report. Landlord alleged uncleanliness, implied disturbance, possible drug use, and destructiveness. All of these allegations, being baseless. I am an educated single father. and a devout Zen Buddhist. Landlord also does no legal inspections of the unit.

I am not the only tenant to have troubles with Landlord. Two nearest neighbors have reported break-ins. One, which has now moved, had a completely unbelievable ordeal with Landlord. Landlord agreed to exchange yard service for rent with tenant and renigged on the deal when Landlord refused to haul brush from property. As a result, the tenant hired someone to take brush from property and charged extra towards rent to cover cost. Landlord retaliated by breaking into unit and stealing child’s clothes according to tenant, whch later Landlord admitted to in court according to Tenant. I have yet to verify this via public record. Also, after this incident, someone poured sugar into gastank of her car causing the engine to blow up. Not long after the court awarded tenant favor, according to tenant, the sewage system began to back up for which the court compelled the Landlord to repair, but which the Landlord refused. Finally, child protective services took the chid away from tenant under unsanitary conditions and shortly after Landlord evicted tenant.

This Landlord is possibly the most evil person I have ever met. Any help would be appreciated.

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