Please excuse any typing errors I live in Hawai'i and the landlords live in Idaho. It's been difficult getting housing here on the Big Island, as there is this "myth" of ALOHA and it's not easy putting down roots on Lava Rock. There's Aloha in a way, but not really. The landlords of this house are trying to evict us for nonpayment of rent, when infact, we have proof of payment, and have also attempted to re-pay rent even though we payed it. 3 times these folks broken good faith agreements to arrange repayment. We've been paying rent in the form they *insisted* on : Walmart Moneygram Money-orders. We requested a direct deposit into their bank account as it is more secure ( they resisted that, said yes, then changed their minds), but lo and behold the M.O.s went missing and the trace showed that they were cashed by someone else. The Moneygram ppl say that we have to pursue it with the police and they have no liability. The landlords don't give a shit, and say that we never sent the M.O.s, and had a friend cash them for us. They've accused us of frauding them. At first they got all whoofy that we suggested that someone cashed them, and "said we said" they cashed them and lied. We never said any such thing, but now we are suspicious for sure. (guilty conscious?) So we have a lawyer, but nothing has been resolved as of yet. The lawyer has thus far said to try and settle and arrange repayment out of court. We keep getting verbal agreements that they will accept payments, and We've payed out of pocket AGAIN 1 months worth of rent and had my husband's vacation fund accessed through the Union Council directly to the landlords for the 2nd stolen rent, but that is a process that isn't quick enough for them. And they verbally change the agreement and nothing is writing other than them agreeing to accept the payment for Jan.'s rent. They are harassing me, calling me up and stressing me out. Saying that they are sending the cops over to evict me. 6 days ago, they sent a notice of eviction. They said if we didn't pay in full or part of the arrears rent, we were to be evicted. And if we didn't vacate, the rates will be doubled. I've consulted online information, and landlord/tenant hotline and I'm positive that the eviction isn't baring. Only a judge can evict. And that they have to serve me with a summons to court for a lawsuit of eviction. But now it's not clear if I am a "hold-over" tenant, and the rates are double until I vacate. I am so stressed out. My husband is working on another island, the lawyer is only accessible to him as he's provided by his Union. I don't have money to retain a lawyer that specializes in landlord/tenant law. I don't like this lawyer that the Union has provided as he persuaded my husband to hold off paying half of February's rent in because of of not fixing verbally requested repairs. The hotline person said that was a bad idea and gives more leverage to the landlords. I do know that we have proof of payment of Nov. and Jan. rent via M.O.s traced and cashed (the signature name matches someone that lives in the vicinity of my landlords) The landlords are accusing us of fraud. I have a printed and sign statement stating such. So even though we've payed Nov. rent twice, and arranged to pay again Jan.'s rent through the union council, and my husband took advice not to pay Feb.'s rent in full because of bad faith agreement to fix a leaking water catchment tank, I got calls yesterday that we will be taken to court. Nobody showed up yesterday to serve us with a summons to court. But it's scaring me that we may be liable for double the rent. On top of all this: I am to take my R.N. licensing exam monday. I've been studying for this exam for over a year. I've payed $200 to take the exam, and $500 for a assisted tutoring course to prepare for the exam as it has been 3 years since I've graduated from my nursing program. I'm alone with my 3 y.o., I've been hauling water and I only have $20 to my name. Finally 2 days ago (after waiting 5 days) the water truck delivered water. Last time I waited 2 weeks for water. I've been flushing the nasty toilet with hauled water, and trying to manage a house without water, and help my 3 y.o. to stay potty trained and not get sick from the compromised sanitation. I also contracted and infection in my toe (tropical environment : MRSA) and struggled over a week to get it looked at by a doctor and then struggled another 4 days to get antibiotics for it. I am hoping the antibiotics knock it out in time, as it was infected for over a week. I had to quit nursing to take the antibiotics, and so we also have that (tho needed) transition for my child. Also my child misses his daddy something fierce. I'm pretty stressed out, meaning that though I have intellectual understanding that this shall shake out in a good way, internally my heart rate is elevated and my sleeping is being affected, my concentration is low, I'm having a hard time focusing on studying for the exam, my intestines are hyperactive and I'm burnt out. I've nausea from the antibiotics. I'm drinking kava and taking L-5-htp as a way to calm down my parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, but it's still very evident. My back is in a lot of pain and I also have pounding headaches. One of my biggest fears all my life has been being homeless. I've been homeless before as a young adult, and we were homeless for about 4 months here before we were able to find this place. We thought that this was a good choice at the time, and so relieved to have found it. We are never going to go through this again. My husband is working so hard and trying to straighten out this situation, but he also has to work a highly demanding job. He's helping to build the new bio-diesel plant on Maui. We have never ever had these kinds of problems as renters. But this has been a big lesson by the school of hard-knocks. we've never rented from a private party before, also renting from someone off island. I've talked to my neighbor's who have been landlords and they say that these people are acting suspiciously. That the landlords are suppose to have a property manager to accept the rent, that most likely the landlords are hiding the income and not reporting it, as we also have never gotten a rent receipt for accepted rent. We have to pursue that stolen M.O.s separately, so we are planning to trace a copy of the accepted non-contested cash M.O.s to compare signatures to the stolen M.O.s. My neighbors say as long as we have proof that we've payed rent, it's not our problem that the M.O.s went missing. I'm all knotted up and can't seem to get untwisted. I'm writing this because I have no other outlet, and no pressure relief elsewhere. I'm feeling so very a lone. Usually I am not so preoccupied with myself. I am asking for empathy and some prayers to strengthen our outcome in a good way. :nopity:
Ouch. Sounds like you're getting shafted pretty badly from a few directions. Is there a local housing authority you can lodge a complaint with? I think there's something VERY fishy about the whole rental agreement- and you were taken advantage of in being pressured to agree to something you wouldn't have otherwise considering the difficulty you've experienced in finding housing.
Well Dear Forum Beloveds, for what it's worth here's the update: I am more than positive that I've failed my licensing exam. I was so friggin' stressed that I never got into the zone required for clear critical thinking . As for the rental situation. The son of the landlords showed up today to evaluate the tank, take pictures and inspect. He also reported that his daddy learned this morning that the our lawyer isn't representing us anymore. This is news to me, so I called up the dear Hubby, and he assured me that it wasn't true, that we do have a lawyer. Yet it is difficult not to be stressed out. There is this trick that my mind does to me and turns on this animal instinct to run, run away. Fly, fly away little birdie. Alas, dear Stinkfoot the Housing Authority applies to public housing & does not apply for our situation. I did however consult a "hotline" and researched stuff on line. Got good info from San Francisco Tenant's Union I think that the intimidation tactics are exactly that, for intimidation. I am working on trying to maintain calmness and know that this isn't the worst that can happen. That things worse than this happen to people all the time and we are going to pull through no matter what. So the landlords are coming over from Idaho and are planning to go through with the suit for eviction. Our lawyer, my Hubby and other people think that it'll get overturned. How I understand it is that we are going to get served, then we contest and then it goes to trail. The law says that if they accepted payment for the arrears rent they can't evict. We've paid them in full so what's the beef? No empathy for our situation, that someone that lives down the road jacked their mail and cashed our rent checks. It's all too emotional. I'm thinking the shine is off the place and we'll move eventually, but we have to save. Hopefully they will make an offer to get us to leave. Dreams happen.
Yeah I'm pretty sure that as long as you have proof that you'd sent those MO's and they are being cashed by someone who lives near your landlords, then it's their own problem that someone is stealing their mail and cashing their money. You did everything they wanted. If they just accepted direct deposits in the first place, you wouldn't be in this mess. And it was THEM who requested that you pay by MO, not you. I'd say you should start a paypal account and ask for small donations, I'd definitly contribute some cash for your cause, I can't even BEGIN to believe how much you're going through right now.
Nothing matters here but Hawaiian law. Do you have a rental agreement? A legal one? If you don't have it in writing, you've don't have a leg to stand on. Verbal agreements are WORTHLESS. You're going to need a lawyer if you can't wade through this yourself. x
Unless you have a lease you are in a bad spot. Even if they cannot legally evict you, they can legally give you a 30 day notice to vacate. They do not (in my state) have to give a reason why they are making you move when you rent month to month. It is not an eviction, but a termination of rental agreement. If for some reason they do have to give a reason (by law) there they can simply say "remodeling it to sell" and it is a valid reason for owners to ask tenants to move. If you sent the MO's by mail and did not get a delivery confirmation it is on you that they did not arrive, sorry. Always get a delivery confirmation when sending ANYTHING of monetary value, especially if it for bills or rent, and all correspondences with landlords. Hard as it may be to find a place to live you might want to start looking. Good luck!
hand them cash money then ask for a reciept. no sense in relying on a chain of people to get yoru money there.
Well we do have a lease (for a year, starting last september) not month-to-month. here in Hawai'i the landlord cannot evict without a Judges permission. In other words, theses landtards have to sue us for eviction. THey cannot call me and threaten to send over the cops (like they did on Valentine's Day) to evict my child & I... I made sure, I called hot-lines and the I called the police. Somehow these folks think that they could evict us because they wrote into the lease that they could (for late rent payment, which we were never late on, but the rent got jacked in the mail...) but regardless what the landtards think they can write into the lease it is *still* subordinate to the state's landlord/tenant codes & laws. So here's the update (if anyone is interested): we've paid them a *second time* for missing rent. The november & January rents where traced as cashed. By someone who lives in their town! We sent second payment November by return registered receipt Bank MO and the Januarys by my Husband's union vacation fund ( a very formal process) which required approval and many faxes and signatures... So that happened last month, and we were relaxing thinking that since we were payed up (really overpaid) but hey... Our plan that is in the works is relocation to Maui. We found a place that is more reasonable & with all utilities included. We thought that since a door closed, another would open... Well the landtards say that they have not received payment! Un-bee-he-leave-able. I am starting to think that these folks have some sort of drinking/drug or gambling problem to be so belligerent. And to top it off: we've faxed in writing (as we've learned be experience that these folks talk, but never honor their promises) work requests numerous times, for the water system (leaking to the extent of us going through 4000 gallon in 2 weeks, which is practically impossible), dishwasher and clothes drier not working. They have yet to send a fix it guy. We are in the process of utilizing a plumber, which by law we can do and then legally take it off the rent, but then there is a limit to how much we can take off the rent. So here we are with a gi-normous case of lease violations against them. We are hoping to use this as leverage to demand in writing allowance to end lease without penalty. For *I have a strong suspicion* that these folks are also try to jack us for our security deposit. But my dear Hipsterz, we are under a time restraint as we have now a place to move to but now 2 places to pay rent on (way too much money), so *SEND VIBES* for our little family! There is only so much money we can come up with. We don't have credit, we operate from paycheck to paycheck... These folks say they have filed for court date of April 8th, but we have yet to be served. I want them to serve us (or our lawyer) so that we can have authority guides this manner. The landtards don't follow the law, infact they try to throw faked codes at us in writing that say that they have a right to evict us without following certain rules that exist for the rest of us. They need to be helped in their misguided practices. I'm trying to keep negative hate thoughts out of my mind. After all, these folks are sentient beings that were once cute little babies that were huggable and kissable... I'm having a hard time at keeping that in my mind though. We've been through a lot of pressure regarding this. I' m looking forward to Maui as being present is so stressful for me. O the school of hard knocks! NEVER EVER RENT FROM PRIVATE ABSENTEE LANDLORDS. Rent from an agency, they follow the law.
I feel for you sf. Landlord sounds shifty based on what you've written. I've got my own predicament with a shady landlord that I won't get into... but I feel for ya! p.s. in the future I would send all money orders via certified mail with proof of delivery.
Sending good vibes. Maybe something good will come out of this, if you can relocate to Maui. I love Maui and am so jealous that you have a chance to live there. Keep us updated. Peace.
Right! YES! YOUR ARE RIGHT!! AND we tried, we did, but they always hemmed and hawed...I've learned that from the school of hard knocks, but the situation that led us down this twisted path was that the Landtards *insisted* on these *specific* MO (we should have been suspicious, but we were desperate for a home as we have a 3 y.o. trying to potty train and needing stability, and we had been homeless on the island for a month already.) I appeared normal for a few months and then the shit started to fly (specifically during the holidays, isn't that ironic?) well now things are turning into favorable conditions, meaning tho we are still struggling with the situation, we have such a huge case against them, that it may work out for the better, I just like to operate with honor and integrity, where as these folks don't. It's sad really... So we've been having serious problems with the water system, I'm hoping that the pump goes, so that we can vacate immediately! Or something like that, as to speed things up!
Ok Dear Beloved Hipters~ maybe this is a sign that if one stays the path of integrity you get what you put out. THings are lining up in a good way. Even tho some would think from the surface a horrid roller-coaster ride threw all the levels of hell: They water pump for the house is now burnt out: ka -plewy... a professional plumber came to help us out of a problem and diagnosed it as a fire hazard (as the pump was visibly arching electricity, which explains the $100 increase in the elec. bill for last month, eh??) Yeah we faxed 'em like over a month ago, and they sent their son, and all he did was take pictures and give excuses to the problems... So.. now we are hauling water from the Ho'okena spring (just 3 miles from our road) and we can deal with it as I grew up hauling water in Colorado (hippy ancestry yah know)... But the drag is doing a move out clean without running water (2 bathrooms, 2 toilets to haul flushing water & a kid still figuring out the potty routine) No washing machine to do the last of the bedding (it's a "turn-key" and I have to give all the linens & bedding a washing, have to clean the screens, and the geckos shit everywhere (but they are really cute)... So since this is a real lease violation (sub-standard housing situation) We may be out of here in a week ( I wish it was less, but how would one do all that, with the cleaning, having the hubby on Maui, a 30+ mile drive to the airport, shipping cargo, and shipping the car too and that's another pan to fry all together... geez! :leaving: I'm going to the beach, fergettaboutit!!!
Sounds like you're going to be so busy that a week is going to fly by! You must be in a really remote area. The nearest water is 3 miles? Where are you going to be on Maui?
Vigilante Justice. Only way to go. You have to track the son of a bitch down! ....Okay I'm sorry but that'd be a full load of false hope... Tell ya what, just kill a bunch of people you don't like, it might help ya. No seriously, just find another place if you can, and good luck.
