Recovering from Toxic Mold (Move + Starting Over)
Donation protected
UPDATE 3: Now we are out, as we were supposed to be by the 30th and the landlord is trying to charge ME for damages that I complained about before we even went to court. I'm going to have more legal fees in my future to fight this and my kids lost a lot in the process of moving - basically ALL of their furniture.
We need:
New beds for 3 children.
A futon/couch for the living room.
Some dressers or something to put clothes in.
The kids had a wonderful attitude about everything, including all of their losses. They have not complained once, not even about losing our Christmas tree. They were happy to see it went to a family who needed it. This has been so challenging for them in so many ways, but I am proud of the beautiful attitudes they have and through it all.
We are looking forward to getting healthy again. The doctors tell us it can be a long journey. Getting away from the exposure is the first step, but we won't magically get better overnight.
Financial support is still greatly needed and appreciated at this time as we attempt to start over.
UPDATE 2: Just chronicling continued and new damage until we move out.
Bathroom ceiling damage after Sept "repairs":
Closet water damage:
Master Bath Mold:
This is AFTER my landlord says all repairs are complete and he refuses to fix anything else.
Kitchen sink leaked through cabinets and to the basement:
Basement damage:
Water heater/ HVAC Closet:
And the basement closet - toilet was leaking upstairs for many months:
UPDATES: We settled in court with a judgment for me to move out of the home by November 30th. I am trying to get out faster because we are very sick. Lung infections, skin infections, migraines, difficulty breathing... etc. I had sepsis this past week. When it rains, water still comes in the front door and the smell of mildew permeates the house.
The front door still has mold growing all over it.
And still leaks when it rains:
There are mushrooms growing out of the house.
My hair falls out in clumps whenever I touch it.
And I still have to pay rent here for November as well. I wanted to update the fundraiser to let donors and other interested parties know what's going on. We truly appreciate everyone's support and well-wishes. We are SO grateful.
The monetary amount needed is still about the same because as it stands now, we need:
$1000 for the moving truck and expenses of moving
$5000 remaining to secure the new home
That totals $6000
We will also have to pay to get new utilities on/transferred and other related moving expenses so anything helps because I will not be able to work full time and move by myself with the kids.
What I paid out previously:
$5500 in rent at this property
$2500 legal fees
$680 in repairs on the home to improve habitability while we were here ($300 of it to an exterminator for carpenter ants after my landlord refused)
In addition to all of our regular bills, higher utilities due to the issues outlined below, travel expenses, court expenses (travel, court fees + parking, etc.), medications, doctor co-pays, food.
And I have to come up with it all while sick myself and tending to sick kids. The faster I collect the funds needed, the faster we get out of this house and hopefully on the road to recovery.
Anything and everything helps, no matter how small. We are grateful.
____
My landlord is trying to evict me illegally. I'm a single mom to five kids with special needs. I am asking for financial help to fight this wrongful eviction in court and (hopefully) find new, safer housing for us.
I will provide more details below. Please note that I DO pay my rent and this complaint is not accurate. I have canceled check to prove this.
My rent is also not due on the 1st. It's due on the 9th since I moved in on the 9th in 2016. So nothing was past due at the time he filed this against me.
Current lease:
Original lease:
I've been in my rental home for more than 3 years and always been a good tenant and paid rent on time (over $104,000 worth of it, to be exact). However, it would often take months of complaining to get my landlord to fix things.
In 2019, some severe issues could not be put off any longer and I began to insist that repairs be made. I was told, "Your rent is not for repairs. It's for the mortgage" which is obviously not true.
My landlord does not believe that squirrels literally falling through my ceiling or a 17-year old rusty water heater that was tagged by the gas company as dangerous were "serious" issues. After many months of trying to get repairs done in the home, I was left with few choices other than to exercise my legal right under state law to withhold rent until the repairs were completed (which I did for 1 month).
I followed all the legal steps in notifying my landlord of my intentions and requesting him to comply with the repairs.
For the remainder of that month, I was threatened and harassed, but those two major issues were finally resolved, and I paid the rent monies owed in full. I then asked that we discuss the remaining issues within the home before moving into the new month (Sept).
My landlord ignored me, ignored my requests for repairs, ignored my offer of mediation, and instead, went straight to the court to sue me for eviction, seemingly as retaliation.
In fact, I sent my complaint letter in August, when the rent would be due, and he did not respond until Sept. 8th (a Sunday), when he sent me a letter stating that my complaints were "baseless" and if I did not pay by the 9th, he would evict me. I was not even able to get legal advice until the 10th and he filed the eviction paperwork on the 11th, with no warning. I found out when the letter came from the court this week.
This means he gave me less than 48 hours to respond to this threat that was sent on a weekend before he illegally filed paperwork on me to wrongfully evict me.
Furthermore, on September 11th when his complaint was filed, my August rent was paid in full and September rent is not late (according to my lease) until after the 15th, so I was 100% current on my rent at the time the eviction complaint was filed.
In addition, my complaints were not baseless and I have more than enough proof of such, as well as proof that I followed the law to the letter in order to exercise my legal right to withhold rent in order to get these serious repairs done.
Here are some photos of attic damage and squirrel waste from the infestation that was allowed to remain over 6 months.
Squirrels in my house:
And videos of them scratching. I sent these recordings to my landlord begging him to get someone in for this. It would wake the kids and scare them, and I was exhausted all the time. This went on from March until late August (after I withheld one month rent to demand he fix it) before he got a professional to get the squirrels out. In these videos, you can see old patch jobs from previous times they had scratched through. That was how he "fixed it".
They fell through the ceiling from the attic. They would scratch and chew, did considerable damage to the attic, the ventilation, the attic fan, and wiring in the attic. They also made holes in the ceiling and feces and insulation would fall through into the bedroom. And there were urine and feces stains on the ceiling, as well as a big stain where the mother had her babies over the master bath. Again, this infestation was allowed to remain for 6 months. It was only dealt with AFTER I withheld my rent to force the landlord's hand.
Chewed wiring in the attic.
Water damage from roof holes and leaks:
Water damage under leaky sink that took months to get fixed:
The damage here leaked all the way into the next floor of the home, so repairs are also needed down there.
Landlord is refusing to fix the mold and damage here and in other areas.
Here is photo evidence of the water heater issue.
Damage to my front door from rot (it would not secure safely and could get pushed open with the wind. The front windows are also rotted like this and my back door.
Someone else giving an assessment of the rot and damage to the front of the home:
And the back of the home:
These are just a handful of many, many issues that include leaks, pests like carpenter ants doing structural damage, and out-of-date smoke detectors - just to name a few.
The home was very nice when I moved in in 2016 but the landlord's idea of "fixing" things is to get the cheapest bidder to slap some paint over it and call it fine. This neglect has led to more serious issues. For example, ignoring the squirrel infestation for 6 months allowed them time to do considerable property damage.
It also meant our sleep was impacted, my kids regularly had nightmares and we suffered from exhaustion from the noises and the scratching through the ceiling, my utility bills were higher for months (especially when they broke the attic fan and pulled out all the insulation), and there was squirrel waste in the ventilation blowing throughout the home (we all have severe asthma and allergies). The smell was overwhelming and unbearable at times.
My kids take shots to try to help with this allergy problem:
They are on many different medications and have been in and out of the doctor regularly for complications - breathing issues, severe asthma attack, skin rashes and severe eczema outbreaks, bronchitis, croup, strep throat, repeated tonsillitis, pneumonia... there is an obvious air quality issue happening in the home and late last school year, my son missed so much school due to illness, he was at risk of being held back for the year, despite his good grades. My landlord ignored all my complaints. For the squirrel infestation, he said, "I'm getting to it..." for over 5 months.
Everyone says, "Just move out!" but I have a lease (binding contract), and housing is hard to find (and expensive) in my area. My children have autism and other special needs and it's the start of the school year. Moving creates a great hardship for us. I was just trying to get my landlord to do the right thing and fix the problems so we could be safe and comfortable in our home.
So I've been stuck - not enough money to move, but no other way to force my landlord to fix things here. Things just got worse, and the mold and the pests were making us very sick.
I DO have my rent money. What I do not have is:
- any extra money to hire an attorney to help me fight this and see that justice is served and we are not bullied out of our home
- or funds to just move all of us (and my business I run from home) to a new house.
I am setting this fund to the amount the court is requesting I post in order to cease the eviction. However, I will be able to show the judge proof that I do not owe this much, and that I have paid out of pocket for some repairs already because I simply could not wait any longer on my landlord.
My hope is that with the right legal representation, we will win and the remaining funds can be used to help secure safe and decent housing, away from people who bully and threaten us.
[When I complained that my children have severe allergies and asthma and were getting sick from these problems, the landlord's wife said in front of my children, "Well, you can just move out then" and continued to make comments and threats that they would kick me out. This had my children in tears, fearing that we would be homeless.]
This home was our fresh start after a domestic violence situation that left us homeless for six months. I've worked very hard to put a roof over our heads - and a nice one at that. I pay a lot of rent (see above) to live in a "luxury" home in a private community. I certainly did not anticipate I would be dealing with some sort of slumlord situation.
I will be working hard to raise the funds myself while also taking care of my family and keeping up our regular bills, but I greatly appreciate any help with making this happen, since I have only 2 weeks until my court hearing. Thank you very much. I am grateful.
We need:
New beds for 3 children.
A futon/couch for the living room.
Some dressers or something to put clothes in.
The kids had a wonderful attitude about everything, including all of their losses. They have not complained once, not even about losing our Christmas tree. They were happy to see it went to a family who needed it. This has been so challenging for them in so many ways, but I am proud of the beautiful attitudes they have and through it all.
We are looking forward to getting healthy again. The doctors tell us it can be a long journey. Getting away from the exposure is the first step, but we won't magically get better overnight.
Financial support is still greatly needed and appreciated at this time as we attempt to start over.
UPDATE 2: Just chronicling continued and new damage until we move out.
Bathroom ceiling damage after Sept "repairs":
Closet water damage:
Master Bath Mold:
This is AFTER my landlord says all repairs are complete and he refuses to fix anything else.
Kitchen sink leaked through cabinets and to the basement:
Basement damage:
Water heater/ HVAC Closet:
And the basement closet - toilet was leaking upstairs for many months:
UPDATES: We settled in court with a judgment for me to move out of the home by November 30th. I am trying to get out faster because we are very sick. Lung infections, skin infections, migraines, difficulty breathing... etc. I had sepsis this past week. When it rains, water still comes in the front door and the smell of mildew permeates the house.
The front door still has mold growing all over it.
And still leaks when it rains:
There are mushrooms growing out of the house.
My hair falls out in clumps whenever I touch it.
And I still have to pay rent here for November as well. I wanted to update the fundraiser to let donors and other interested parties know what's going on. We truly appreciate everyone's support and well-wishes. We are SO grateful.
The monetary amount needed is still about the same because as it stands now, we need:
$1000 for the moving truck and expenses of moving
$5000 remaining to secure the new home
That totals $6000
We will also have to pay to get new utilities on/transferred and other related moving expenses so anything helps because I will not be able to work full time and move by myself with the kids.
What I paid out previously:
$5500 in rent at this property
$2500 legal fees
$680 in repairs on the home to improve habitability while we were here ($300 of it to an exterminator for carpenter ants after my landlord refused)
In addition to all of our regular bills, higher utilities due to the issues outlined below, travel expenses, court expenses (travel, court fees + parking, etc.), medications, doctor co-pays, food.
And I have to come up with it all while sick myself and tending to sick kids. The faster I collect the funds needed, the faster we get out of this house and hopefully on the road to recovery.
Anything and everything helps, no matter how small. We are grateful.
____
My landlord is trying to evict me illegally. I'm a single mom to five kids with special needs. I am asking for financial help to fight this wrongful eviction in court and (hopefully) find new, safer housing for us.
I will provide more details below. Please note that I DO pay my rent and this complaint is not accurate. I have canceled check to prove this.
My rent is also not due on the 1st. It's due on the 9th since I moved in on the 9th in 2016. So nothing was past due at the time he filed this against me.
Current lease:
Original lease:
I've been in my rental home for more than 3 years and always been a good tenant and paid rent on time (over $104,000 worth of it, to be exact). However, it would often take months of complaining to get my landlord to fix things.
In 2019, some severe issues could not be put off any longer and I began to insist that repairs be made. I was told, "Your rent is not for repairs. It's for the mortgage" which is obviously not true.
My landlord does not believe that squirrels literally falling through my ceiling or a 17-year old rusty water heater that was tagged by the gas company as dangerous were "serious" issues. After many months of trying to get repairs done in the home, I was left with few choices other than to exercise my legal right under state law to withhold rent until the repairs were completed (which I did for 1 month).
I followed all the legal steps in notifying my landlord of my intentions and requesting him to comply with the repairs.
For the remainder of that month, I was threatened and harassed, but those two major issues were finally resolved, and I paid the rent monies owed in full. I then asked that we discuss the remaining issues within the home before moving into the new month (Sept).
My landlord ignored me, ignored my requests for repairs, ignored my offer of mediation, and instead, went straight to the court to sue me for eviction, seemingly as retaliation.
In fact, I sent my complaint letter in August, when the rent would be due, and he did not respond until Sept. 8th (a Sunday), when he sent me a letter stating that my complaints were "baseless" and if I did not pay by the 9th, he would evict me. I was not even able to get legal advice until the 10th and he filed the eviction paperwork on the 11th, with no warning. I found out when the letter came from the court this week.
This means he gave me less than 48 hours to respond to this threat that was sent on a weekend before he illegally filed paperwork on me to wrongfully evict me.
Furthermore, on September 11th when his complaint was filed, my August rent was paid in full and September rent is not late (according to my lease) until after the 15th, so I was 100% current on my rent at the time the eviction complaint was filed.
In addition, my complaints were not baseless and I have more than enough proof of such, as well as proof that I followed the law to the letter in order to exercise my legal right to withhold rent in order to get these serious repairs done.
Here are some photos of attic damage and squirrel waste from the infestation that was allowed to remain over 6 months.
Squirrels in my house:
And videos of them scratching. I sent these recordings to my landlord begging him to get someone in for this. It would wake the kids and scare them, and I was exhausted all the time. This went on from March until late August (after I withheld one month rent to demand he fix it) before he got a professional to get the squirrels out. In these videos, you can see old patch jobs from previous times they had scratched through. That was how he "fixed it".
They fell through the ceiling from the attic. They would scratch and chew, did considerable damage to the attic, the ventilation, the attic fan, and wiring in the attic. They also made holes in the ceiling and feces and insulation would fall through into the bedroom. And there were urine and feces stains on the ceiling, as well as a big stain where the mother had her babies over the master bath. Again, this infestation was allowed to remain for 6 months. It was only dealt with AFTER I withheld my rent to force the landlord's hand.
Chewed wiring in the attic.
Water damage from roof holes and leaks:
Water damage under leaky sink that took months to get fixed:
The damage here leaked all the way into the next floor of the home, so repairs are also needed down there.
Landlord is refusing to fix the mold and damage here and in other areas.
Here is photo evidence of the water heater issue.
Damage to my front door from rot (it would not secure safely and could get pushed open with the wind. The front windows are also rotted like this and my back door.
Someone else giving an assessment of the rot and damage to the front of the home:
And the back of the home:
These are just a handful of many, many issues that include leaks, pests like carpenter ants doing structural damage, and out-of-date smoke detectors - just to name a few.
The home was very nice when I moved in in 2016 but the landlord's idea of "fixing" things is to get the cheapest bidder to slap some paint over it and call it fine. This neglect has led to more serious issues. For example, ignoring the squirrel infestation for 6 months allowed them time to do considerable property damage.
It also meant our sleep was impacted, my kids regularly had nightmares and we suffered from exhaustion from the noises and the scratching through the ceiling, my utility bills were higher for months (especially when they broke the attic fan and pulled out all the insulation), and there was squirrel waste in the ventilation blowing throughout the home (we all have severe asthma and allergies). The smell was overwhelming and unbearable at times.
My kids take shots to try to help with this allergy problem:
They are on many different medications and have been in and out of the doctor regularly for complications - breathing issues, severe asthma attack, skin rashes and severe eczema outbreaks, bronchitis, croup, strep throat, repeated tonsillitis, pneumonia... there is an obvious air quality issue happening in the home and late last school year, my son missed so much school due to illness, he was at risk of being held back for the year, despite his good grades. My landlord ignored all my complaints. For the squirrel infestation, he said, "I'm getting to it..." for over 5 months.
Everyone says, "Just move out!" but I have a lease (binding contract), and housing is hard to find (and expensive) in my area. My children have autism and other special needs and it's the start of the school year. Moving creates a great hardship for us. I was just trying to get my landlord to do the right thing and fix the problems so we could be safe and comfortable in our home.
So I've been stuck - not enough money to move, but no other way to force my landlord to fix things here. Things just got worse, and the mold and the pests were making us very sick.
I DO have my rent money. What I do not have is:
- any extra money to hire an attorney to help me fight this and see that justice is served and we are not bullied out of our home
- or funds to just move all of us (and my business I run from home) to a new house.
I am setting this fund to the amount the court is requesting I post in order to cease the eviction. However, I will be able to show the judge proof that I do not owe this much, and that I have paid out of pocket for some repairs already because I simply could not wait any longer on my landlord.
My hope is that with the right legal representation, we will win and the remaining funds can be used to help secure safe and decent housing, away from people who bully and threaten us.
[When I complained that my children have severe allergies and asthma and were getting sick from these problems, the landlord's wife said in front of my children, "Well, you can just move out then" and continued to make comments and threats that they would kick me out. This had my children in tears, fearing that we would be homeless.]
This home was our fresh start after a domestic violence situation that left us homeless for six months. I've worked very hard to put a roof over our heads - and a nice one at that. I pay a lot of rent (see above) to live in a "luxury" home in a private community. I certainly did not anticipate I would be dealing with some sort of slumlord situation.
I will be working hard to raise the funds myself while also taking care of my family and keeping up our regular bills, but I greatly appreciate any help with making this happen, since I have only 2 weeks until my court hearing. Thank you very much. I am grateful.
Organizer
Lisa Clark
Organizer
Old Bridge Township, NJ
