Need advice on a landlord/tenant dispute ASAP PLEASE
I really need some advice, my situation is pretty complicated and I do not have much time at all to make my decision and I am very confused.I know it is alot to read, but I just had 2 twin boys one month ago and if I do have to find a new place to live by Jan. 1 it is going to be really hard, especially with it being the holidays, please help.
At the beginning of September we (the tenants) recieved a violation from the County Code Enforcement office due to trash being piled up in bags in the driveway and having 2 unregistered vechiles in the driveway. We corrected the issues in the alloted time that the gave us. However upon the county's inspection of the inside of our house, the inspector said that the finished basement that me and my partner were living in did not have a permit to be a finished basement. When we originally rented out the house we had 4 people on the lease and our personal agreement with each other was that me and my boyfriend could have the basement and my mother and her boyfriend could have the upstairs. To us it appeared to be a finished basement with a seperate closed in bedroom, bathroom and a living area. Randy, who works for a Real Estate company is the middle man between us and the landlord, was present during that conversation as it occured while taking the initial tour of the home. We had never met or spoke with the actual landlord at any time. No one was aware that the basement did not have a permit to be finished, including the landlord. Apparently whoever occupied the home previous to us renting it did the work themselves and never applied for a permit or had it inspected.
So, since there was no permit an inspection of the basement was done by the County inspector in order to begin to obtain one. Unfortunatly there were many issues that caused the inspector to decide that it was not properly finished and actually deemed it unsafe for any human occupance. The issues included a mildew smell, improper ventilation, fire hazards due to the closed off bedroom not having a door to the outside or any windows, and a broken banister. The inspector informed me that we must immediatley evacuate the basement and had 24 hours to remove all of our belongings from the basement. Since I was pregnant at the time he said that I could not be down there at all for any reason and my boyfriend could remove our belonings within the 24 hours. He then put an Unsafe placard on the basement door and stated that the basement was condemmend until further notice. This instance occured on September 20, 2007.
A copy of the violation notice was given to us and the landlord. The violation stipulated that the landlord was responsible for the following: within 24 hours smoke alarms must be installed in each individual room in the house, within 48 hours every handrail and guard must be firmly fastened, within 7 days where injurious toxic and irratting fumes and dusts are generated an exhaust ventilation system must be provided in order to remove these contaminating agents and an exhaust must be placed to circulate air outside instead of being recirculated into the interior, which all exhausts that were installed were doing, also within 7 days the landlord must obtain a permit in order to make the necessary repairs to the basement, within 30 days bedroom must have a safe exit leading to the outside.
After receiving this violation notice the landlord contacted us via e-mail stating that he was working the County Code Enforcement office in order to settle the issues in a timely manner, after which we would be able to occupy the basement again. After receiving that e-mail we did not hear anything at all pertaining to any of the issues with the basement until October 22, 2007. The landlord was issued a violation for not complying in the timeframe given to him by the County and recieved a few fines. The first person to contact us regarding finally begining to make repairs was Randy. He informed us that contractors would be coming out the following day to begin working. When the contractors arrived the following day they informed me that they were going to gut the basement of all drywall and it was going to be made back into a regular basement instead of a finished basement. I was in shock because we were told by the landlord himself in the e-mail he sent that it would be repaired and Randy had not even mentioned that it would no longer be a finished basement when we spoke with him the day before. So, when I asked the contractor why it was they had decided not to finish it, he said that when he gave the landlord the estimate for $6,000, he was instruted to not finish it, but instead turn it back into a regular basement. So, this meant that me and my boyfriend would have to perminatley live upstairs which is a huge inconveience for everyone living here. Also, I was 6 months pregnant when we found this out and had already made plans to make room for the babies that required use of finished basement.
So, they removed all the drywall and underneath on the concrete walls was a black substance that appeared to be mold. Also, the insulation was installed backwards. The contractors also removed the plumbing from where the bathroom used to be before the walls came down. Since all the tiles had to be removed from the ceiling they noticed a green substance on the pipes above the bathroom, the ceiling tiles had mold on them as well. The contractors also said that there was loose wiring in the ceiling and around electrical outlets that could have caused a fire. The contractors finished removing the drywall on Oct. 25, after that no one returned until Nov. 12 to remove the mold. The smell down there was pretty bad until the mold was removed. Randy and the landlord are saying that it was never confirmed that it was mold and they said that mold does not have a smell. After they finished removing the mold the County inspector came back out to re-inspect on Nov. 25. He found mold still left around the dryer and the heater duct was damaged. We had not been able to turn on our heat at all when the basement was condemmed because the smell would come through the vents upstairs, so we did not notice that the it would not have even worked if we tried to turn it on. On Nov. 27 the contractor came and removed the rest of the mold and on Nov. 29 came and fixed the heater.
Now for the issues I need advice on. During the month of November we made many attempts to contact the landlord to discuss a reduction in rent. Randy told us that he had asked him and he said no, but we wanted to discuss it with him ourselves. Randy was not permitted to give us a phone number to contact him, but we did have his address so we sent letters requesting to discuss the matter either in person or on the phone. We did not make a rent payment for the month of November only because we wanted to discuss the matter before paying and he never once personally contacted us and that is all we were asking for. Now come December we were still requesting to speak with him to discuss rent and had not made a payment for Nov. or Dec. rent. On Dec. 12 we received a letter from the landlord stating that we had 5 days to pay the amount owed for these 2 months or make a partial payment. So we made a partial payment. Finally on Dec. 19 Randy and the landlord came to our house and spoke with me and my mother. The landlord informed us that he had filed at the Justice of the Peace Court for an eviction due to non-payment and because we currently have more pets in the house then we originally had agreed to on the lease. Back on Sept. 17 we did receive a letter from the landlord stating that the lease had only permitted us to have 2 animals and since we now had more we had 7 days to get rid of them. We planned on dealing with the pet issue and wanted to discuss it further with the landlord, but then the whole basement issue happened 3 days later and the pet issue was never brought up again until now. He said that if we pay him everything we owe and vacate the home by Jan. 1 then he would drop the court claim for an eviction. He stated that several times and I got the feeling that he does not want to go to court. I know that I have valid complaints against him. The biggest one being how long it took for the basement to be repaired. The county did not remove the unsafe placard until 12/06, so we could not use the basement for anything for 2 1/2 months. The landlord is also saying that the damage to the heating duct was caused by a cat, but if that were the case then why would they have the heater fixed, wouldn't it be our responsibility to fix? We did not have use of heat at all this year until Nov. 29. He is also claiming that the basement was never ment to be used as a living area, but as I stated earlier Randy was present when we discusssed living in the basement and if it were finished properly there is no reason we could not use it for that purpose. Basically I want to know who has the better argument: him because of the pets and us causing the original violation with the trash and cars or us because of the length of time it took to fix all of the issues? Also, I wanted to know what my best course of action is at this point? I am definatly paying all money owed within a few days. However, I do not want to agree to leave by Jan.1st, so I was just thinking of letting him take us to court. Do I have a good case? Also, I read that in the state of Delaware it is illegal to include anything about being responsible for attornys fees in a lease agreement and that is in ours, it says that if we go to court for any reason and we lose then we are responsible for the landlords attorney's fees. If that is true, how can I use that in my case? Also, I read that a tenant can never be evicted if they have children. Is that true? Well, if you made it to the end of my complicated story I am shocked and very greatful. Please lend any advice you may have.
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