|
Hello,
I just learned that a lease I HAD to break five years ago is destroying
my credit. It is the only ding compared to multiple credit cards, house
and car that are all perfect, and the lender told me that it weighs
especially heavy on my score because it is housing.
I had no choice but to leave the apartment after four months because the
landlord, despite many promises, would not respond to a dangerous
neighbor. The tenant moved in less than a month after me, and was
immediately a problem. From the start, EVERY single night he was
fighting with his girlfriend until dawn. After that, it just got worse.
One night he came home drunk (moreso than usual) and started beating on
our door with something very heavy. We were scared for our lives that we
were going to be robbed and beat to death. This went on for hours, until
he fell asleep in the hallway. He seriously snored so loudly that we
couldn't get back to sleep (that combined with fear.) On another
occasion, we were watching through our peephole as he chased his
girlfriend around the hall with a knife. We called the police pretty
much every night, of course. One night I was home alone, and the man
started beating on the door. (I am 5'2" and very petite, so this was
pretty frightening!) My fianc had to leave work and when he got home,
he found that the door had been forcible kicked in several inches. We
communicated every incident with the manager, who at first responded
reasonably. She told us that if it got up to three police reports, she
would evict. After several months and many reports, when the neighbor
was arrested, we asked the manager if she was ever going to hold her
promise to evict. At that time she became nasty and accused us of lying
to hurt the neighbors. She stated that the complex owner was a judge,
and that he could have the reports removed from the post office, and
make our lives hell. Upon yet another late night with the neighbor
screaming and threatening to kill his girlfriend, we told her we had to
leave. She told us that would be fine, she wasn't going to evict the
dangerous element, but that she wouldn't hold us to our lease.
We went on and bought a house a year later with no problem, and are now
looking to move into a new home. On our credit report is a large balance
to the apartment complex that we had never received any bill or
indication of.
Ohio laws show that the landlord must keep the apartment clean, up to
code and inhabitable, and if not, the tenant has the right to terminate
the contract. It does not specifically address keeping the premises free
from violence, but I do not see any reasonable way we should be held
liable for the rest of the lease when we had to protect our lives.
We are in the process of requesting copies of the multiple police
reports (which apparently the manager couldn't have "removed") and
contacting an attorney. However, an attorney estimate is over $1000.
Now, we are faced with paying thousands of dollars to clear our credit
of something we do not legally or ethically owe, or paying thousands to
an attorney instead.
It should be a crime for the apartment and credit agency to force us
into this situation where we must prove our innocence! We had to break
the lease to protect our lives, and based on the Ohio revised code, we
feel we were completely within our rights to do so.
The credit bureau is completely rude and unhelpful. The apartment
complex has no contact information in the phonebook or via calling
information. We have no way to figure out who the actual owner is.
At that time, we both lost a lot of work moving out (especially since we
had just moved in!,) we incurred moving expenses, lost our deposit and
the month's rent (we moved one week into the month,) and more.
How can we get this unfair report off of our credit without losing even
more? The thought of paying some unethical scummy landlord thousands of
dollars for not keeping the premises safe is outrageous, but the nasty
manager assures us that she will continually report it for the rest of
our lives! The credit report we received today shows that she has
reported it as a fresh debt as recently as last month.
HELP!
mjoann
|
| |
| |
|
