Can your landlord/manager kick you out of your apartment if you call the health department on them?

Question

I am not on a lease, and I have a serious mold problem in my apartment (mold mushrooms growing out of my walls in bathroom) my celing has caved in once the problem was not fixed properly. I think I need to go to a higher authority for help but I am worried I will get kicked out, a manger can find any reason/ lie. I keep getting sinus infections. I don't have money right now to move. Can I get kicked out for complaining?

Answer 1

No, but your landlord will not state the reason for evicting you was because you complained to the health department, that would be called retaliatory eviction like whistle blowing you are protected, but as stated above landlord can try an evict for other reasons,

What type of lease does the tenant have with the landlord? if month to month lease then the landlord can give month notice to terminate w/o reason. You can claim that ending the lease is a pretext for your reporting the mold it would be your burden to demonstrate that charge.

You state you are not on the lease, what does the lease say about additional people living in the unit? Any other lease violations?

If you live in a city some cities have extra landlord tenant laws that restrict what a landlord can or can not do.

take pictures of the mold, try and clean it with bleach to demonstrate you tried to mitigate the situation, if mold comes back document it, if you have a little cash there are in the yellow pages mold companies that will come out take sample and process it

Answer 2

he can come up with whatever reason or lie he likes, but he has to have PROOF! take pictures and document everything. if you send complaints do them in writing and mail them certified so they have to sign for them. keep copies of eveything you send and the reciepts for the certified charge(couple dollars) if you can afford to go to the drs. or have health insurance see a dr. and complain about your health issues brought on by this mold.
contact in your area the fair housing division(maybe call the local police station or city hall and ask if they have the #) maybe even 411 will have it. anyway, call them and put in a complaint. also by all means contact the health department. let them come around and see the conditions this landlords is forcing you to live in. he is breaking your lease by making your home unliveable and unsafe. get your facts together and dont back down. bullies like your landlord like to intimidate tenents so stand strong and dont back down until something is done to your satisfaction. he cnnot legally kick you out for complaining, if that was true i would be living on the street constantly.

Answer 3

Many states have laws prohibiting "retaliatory evictions" and you might try finding out what your state's laws say by doing a computer search under "retaliatory evictions in (State)". Also try contacting your local landlord-tenant affairs office (if there is one) or Office of the Attorney General. Take photos for proof. You can also consider calling the local housing code enforcement office.

Answer 4

yes
but they will evict you "creatively" so as not to look like wrongful eviction. keep in mind mold is still a "hot" issue and there are plenty of lawyers who are willing to sue on such grounds, in fact when i had my last apartment, they was asing posted at the entrace to the building complexng stating the presence of asbestos ( in the celing ), but since that has pretty much played out in the courts, the manager wanted me to notify as soon as possible any mold that i may find, she was not concenred about asbestos ( remember before that lawyers were suing about lead paint ), so after the mold issue plays out they will find something next. good luck, all i can say is cover your bases, maybe there is a housing authority, keep in mind his insurance carrier will probaly raise his rates on the presence of mold, so see if you can find out who the carrier is ( as it's probaly public record ).

Answer 5

I was in a similar situation but I had a backup plan. If you can't afford to move, you probably can't afford to tick them off. It's not supposed to be that way but that is how it is, unfortunately.

Can you spray some bleach water on the walls to kill some of the growth? Maybe you can get some other tenants to join you in reporting so it's not to their benefit to evict everybody.

Answer 6

No. Most states have laws where you can put your rent into escrow when there is a valid complaint about the conditions or health environment. You may have to document it though, take pictures if you have to. Check out your state laws.

Answer 7

I would say YES. The law is made to protect them. So many politicians own apartments.