02x70 - Powerless Landlord

[bunniefuu]

They owe you for rent
and for property damage?

- That's correct.
- You took the carpet off?

And I showed 'em a section
of the carpet.

We were walking, our socks
would be black. Our feet would be black.

Our toilet got stopped up.

I would go with a plunger,
it won't even go down.

- And it never got fixed.
- Really?

[Announcer]
This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[Announcer] Isaac Yuno is suing
his former tenants,

Anvey Kelly and Kevin Jackson,

for unpaid rent and property damage.

[Bailiff]
Court come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, please.

- [Bailiff] Hello, Judge.
- [Judy] Hello.

Case number 2116.
Yuno versus Kelly Jackson.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

Mr. Yuno, you purchased a duplex home,
two different apartments?

- That's correct.
- In what month and year did you purchase

- the home?
- November of 2020.

And when you purchased it,
one of the duplexes was occupied

by the defendants?

[Isaac] That's correct.

[Judy] It is your claim
that they owe you for rent?

- Yes.
- And for property damage?

- That's correct.
- They are no longer there?

- No.
- Mr. Jackson?

- Yes.
- How long were you and your wife living

in the duplex before November of 2020?

We moved in June of 2019.

[Judy] And at the time, do you recall
who your landlord was in June of 2019?

- Yes.
- Between June of 2019,

when you first moved in,
and November of 2020,

when the plaintiff bought the property,
was there any work done on that property?

- Not at all.
- Any...

- No maintenance?
- No maintenance.

Okay. So, from the time you moved in,
the prior owner did no maintenance

on that property? Did no painting?

Oh, uh, just the minor stuff
before we moved in.

They just painted and just had everything
looking nice the floors...

So just a second.
So the prior owner painted the premises...

- Mm-hmm.
- ...and did the floors?

Yes, it was carpet and...
and some flooring in the kitchen.

And Mr. Yuno did not do any other painting

or flooring or any cosmetic work

on the duplex when he purchased it
in November of 2020?

- No.
- So whatever was there

by the previous owner
of the property is still there?

- Yes.
- I'm just asking you this

because your counterclaim
is for child endangerment,

and the child endangerment
is because of lead paint.

- That's what you write here.
- Yes.

[Judy] He didn't put in the lead paint,
right?

- Yes. Thinking about that. Yes.
- He didn't paint it.

You don't know when it was painted?
Maybe it was painted by the prior owner.

How do you know? By the way,
do you have medical records of the child

that you claim has lead poisoning?

- Yes.
- I'd like to see them.

[inaudible whispering]

[Judy] May I see them?

I have no idea what this says.

That's the, the piece of paper that he
gave me from the hospital.

- Well, I...I don't understand.
- You asked for his blood work.

I'm not a doctor so I can't...

We have something from the health
department also stating

that because my son has lead...
lead was found in his system,

they got involved.

[Judy] I understand that.
He did not paint the apartment?

- No ma'am.
- When you, just for my own curiosity,

when you bought this place,
do you remember the purchase of it?

And when you purchase a property,
usually there's an inspection.

- Yes.
- And one of the questions

usually has to do with lead paint.

Do you remember any of that
from when you purchased the property?

I didn't receive any notification
of lead paint from inspectors.

Well, usually they sign off
that there is no lead paint.

I don't remember seeing

'cause they never mentioned
anything about it.

[Judy] Nothing about lead paint?

- No.
- Okay.

Did you ever have the home tested
by the way, for lead?

Only when... when we found out
about my son having lead.

Okay. And do you have the test result?

[mumbling]

And there was lead found in two places,
not just the bathtub.

Ms. Kelly, the issue was
he didn't do any of that painting.

- Right.
- He bought the place.

You had been living there for a year
and a half before he bought the place.

- Right.
- Right?

- Yes.
- Okay, and your son was born

within that year and a half?

Well, we moved there
he was six months.

[Judy] He was six months old.
So you lived there for a year and a half

even before he purchased it?

- Yes ma'am.
- Okay.

We did buy the things
to fix the bathroom up,

and he told us to take them back .
To fix the tub and everything

'cause we asked him to fix it.

So the things we had like to get the tub
fixed, the flooring and everything,

he told us to take back.

How many people were living
in the duplex?

- [Anvey] Our...in our apartment?
- In your apartment.

- [Anvey] Four.
- [Kelvin] Four.

- Four? Including the baby?
- Mm-hmm.

- Yes Ma'am.
- Including the baby.

- And how old's the other child?
- Uh, she's 14.

Okay. Do you have that report?

[Kevin] No, this is just stating
where it was at.

- The health department?
- Yes. I thought that piece of paper

- that I gave you was that one.
- No.

- This is just...
- This doesn't say...

...this is just showing where the lead
was found in the house.

How old is this duplex?

It was built in 1906.
So, almost 115 years or so.

Yeah. And they certainly used
lead paint then.

Possibly. Yeah. I'm not sure about it.

- [Judy] Not sure.
- I don't understand about it.

Ms. Kelly, Mr. Jackson,
that's not his fault.

- Mm-hmm.
- [Judy] Not his fault.

So now I would like to know
Mr. Yuno is suing you for rent.

And I'd like to know first,
how much rent were you paying?

Seven fifty.

[Judy] And that's what you were paying
under the old lease?

- Yes.
- And were you current on your rent

when Mr. Yuno took over the property?

- Yes.
- In November of 2020?

- Yes.
- So far, correct?

That's accurate.

When did you stop paying rent?

December of 2021.

- So you paid rent for a year?
- Yes ma'am.

Were you working Mr. Jackson?

Uh, yes. When I first moved in, yes,
I was working two jobs.

And were you working from November of 2020
to December of 2021?

- Yes, I was. It was...I was.
- For whom?

Um, I was working
for TGI Friday's.

And Ms. Kelly, were you working?

No Ma'am. I'm disabled.

And how much were you receiving in pay?

I was only getting...

If you have to think about it,
you don't remember.

Yeah, I wasn't getting too much
'cause it was during Covid

and I was working at a restaurant
and I was only allowed to work three days

out of the week.

Okay. And what happened
in December of 2021?

What happened was he already sent us
a letter previously saying

that he wanted to go up
on the rent to, uh...

Okay. So you had no lease anymore
and he wanted to raise the rent?

- [Both] Mm-hmm.
- [Judy] Okay.

I believe you.

And that was the reason
that you used to try to evict them before?

Yes, that was the first one,
but I don't agree with his statement.

Well, what statement
don't you agree with?

[theme music playing]

[Announcer] Isaac Yuno claims
his former tenants,

Anvey Kelly and Kevin Jackson,

owe for unpaid rent and property damage.

Anvey and Kevin are countersuing
for child endangerment,

and a constructive eviction.

In what month was that?

- Uh, he sent it to us. I want to say...
- Do you remember Mr. Yuno?

It was 90 days before the 1st of December.

So that would've been, I think,
September 31st or October 31st.

That he was raising the rent to what?

To a $1,000 a month.

Effective December?

- Yes, December 1st.
- And what happened in December?

We were at that time looking
for a new apartment and by that time

it was higher because around that time
a lot of the rent was going up

from just being like $800, $900
to $1,200 to $1,400 for rent,

you know, for a month there.

-Um...
- [Judy] Don't speak.

- Okay.
- And that was, you know what, why,

why we stopped paying rent
because we were actually looking

for a house
even when he gave me the 90 days.

Okay, so Mr. Jackson,
based upon what you just told me,

sir... stop shaking your head,
stop, just...

based upon what you told me,
your landlord

gave you 90 days notice
that if you wished to stay on,

he was raising your rent
to $1,000 a month.

- Yes.
- And you started to look around

- for a new place?
- Yes.

And the new places
were very expensive.

- Yes.
- And you didn't find a place?

- No.
- So you decided to stay in this place?

[Kevin] No, uh...

- So what did you do?
- Yeah, well... yeah, we...

[Judy] So if you didn't find a place
in December...

It was trying to stay there
until we found a place.

I assumed they paid rent in September?

- Yes.
- Oh, yes, yes.

- In October?
- Yes.

- [Anvey] Yes.
- [Judy] They paid rent in October?

- Yes.
- Good.

And November?

Um, November was the last month
that they paid.

- So they paid in November?
- Yes.

So you stopped paying rent
in December of 2021?

Yes.

- [Judy] Do... don't...
- Can I say... what? Oh.

- No, you cannot.
- Okay.

- If I need you I'll come to you.
- Okay. Yes, ma'am.

- Okay?
- Okay.

Because so far he's doing fine.

You stopped paying rent
in December of 2021.

Tell me why.

We didn't wanna live there
ourselves anymore either

but it was just a lot of things going on
at...at the...at the house.

Like after my father passed away
and he first gave us

the first eviction notice,
because he gave us more, more than one.

- Just a second.
- Okay. I'm sorry.

- We're, we are skipping over.
- Okay.

He didn't give you an eviction notice,
I assume, until you stop paying rent.

No, uh, before December,
he gave us like, three of them I think.

I want...I wanna say three.

- Really?
- Yes.

Why were you trying to evict them before?

They had torn up the carpet upstairs.

It was a moratorium for evictions,
but there was a stipulation

that emergency evictions
for nuisance tenants

could be granted before then.

Is there any reason
why you took up the carpets?

Yes. The, uh, same thing
before he took over the...

everything was in the house
before that.

And...and we complained
to the previous owner that the carpet

was already dirty.
They said that they were gonna come

and shampoo it, but, but never did.
Like we were walking,

our socks would be
black, our feet would be black, you know,

so we wanted to take the carpet up.
It was...it was dirty to us.

And, uh, I myself
actually told him about it.

I went downstairs to his apartment
'cause he lived downstairs from us,

talked to him about it.
He came upstairs and I showed him

a section of the carpet
that wasn't even connected to the floor.

You can lift up the whole carpet
and across a whole section of the wall.

And then when I did that, he seen
that the hardwood looked at kind of decent

and instead of putting new carpet on,
he wanted the hardwood to get sanded down

and just get...get stained
and you know, and lacquered over.

- So you took the carpet off?
- Yes.

I believe you.

Sounds right Mr. Yuno? Okay.

And that was the reason
that you used to try to evict them before?

Yes, that was the first one,
but I don't agree with his statement.

Well, what statement don't you agree with?

Well, a number of things that he said
that I didn't authorize him.

We spoke, I asked him in the first meeting
if there was anything that they wanted

to have spruced up
or anything as a good gesture.

And they took it upon themselves to take
up the carpet without my permission.

Okay. Not a huge deal.
Not a huge deal.

You could use it as a huge deal
if you want your tenants out

because you know you can re-rent
that duplex for substantially more money.

It was more about their conduct
that they were being very disturbing

behavior and just being off the wall.

So I wanted them out for a lot of reasons.

I know, but only one of them qualified
under the eviction moratorium.

- Yes. For emergency of dismantling...
- [laughing]

Only one...
and that would've been the carpet.

Okay. Mr. Jackson?

- Yes.
- I'm back to you sir.

I haven't figured out yet.

You stopped paying rent in December
and you moved out in what month?

- We didn't move out until...
- June.

June. June.

June. So January, February, March,
April, and May,

let's say five months rent
that you didn't pay, correct?

- Yes.
- Why?

- [Anvey] Can I speak Your Honor?
- Just no, him.

Tell me why you didn't pay
the five months rent Mr. Jackson.

We just figured that, you know,
well we didn't figure, we didn't wanna pay

him a $1,000 because to us...

Okay. So let's say you didn't wanna pay
him a $1000.

- Mm-hmm.
- Even though you just told me

finding another place
would be more expensive.

- [Kevin] Mm-hmm.
- Right?

You said 12, 1,400
but you didn't give him 750,

you gave him zero for those five months.

So I'm gonna come back to you Mr. Jackson.

Does your wife receive disability payments
because of her disability?

- Yes.
- Yes. How much a month?

- That I don't know.
- Um, like, a thousand...

How much a month
do you receive Ms. Kelly?

- A thousand dollars.
- [Judy] $1,000?

- Mm-hmm.
- And did you continue to receive

that $1,000 every month
from December until June?

- Yes, ma'am.
- You see? Certain things remain constant.

Your disability payments remain constant.

- [Anvey] Right.
- If you live in an apartment,

and you have the same sort of income,
then you pay rent.

- Right.
- And if you didn't pay a $1,000

so I...I hear you... well.

- That's what he said he wanted.
- Mm-hmm.

And he's the landlord
and he's allowed to do that

if you are going to stay in his premises.

But you paid nothing Mr. Jackson
and that's what I don't understand.

- Well, the furnace was busted...
- Just a second.

- Yeah.
- Ms. Kelly?

- Sorry, ma'am.
- What?

[Judy] You paid nothing.

Yeah, yeah, nothing.

Where did you move in June?

Moved in the same area,
like kind of, like probably 10 minutes

away from that particular street.

[Judy] Is it a private house
or an apartment?

It's a house. It's a duplex as well.

[Judy] Duplex? So the same sort of setup?

- Mm-hmm.
- And how much rent are you paying?

Pay, uh, $950.

So almost as much as he wanted
in his rent.

But are you more comfortable in that unit?

- Yes.
- Okay.

My wife walked down there
and asked was he the landlord?

And he just said
that he was the...the building manager.

So nobody even got rent for the month
of November when we lived there.

Not him or even the previous people
because he didn't even come upstairs

to introduce us.

Well, I wouldn't complain about that, sir.
if... you're ahead of the game so far.

[theme music playing]

[Announcer] Isaac Yuno claims his tenants,
Anvey Kelly and Kevin Jackson,

owe for unpaid rent
and property damage.

Anvey and Kevin claim
Isaac forced them to leave.

Now you saved over five months,
let's say minimally 750.

- Hmm?
- 3,750.

Thirty-seven fifty.

Now Mr. Yuno, the only question
that I have to ask you is,

Mr. Jackson and Ms. Kelly say that

they filled out some sort of forms

for rent relief during Covid,
and you signed it

and they say you received money
from the state for any unpaid rent.

Did you receive any money from the state
for rent that they didn't pay?

No, I approached them with an application,
but the program that funds

the landlord relief for the moratorium

was only open for one month
and it came and it went

and I missed it and I never got it.
So I did have them fill out something

it was just a hardship thing,
but they didn't give me the money for it.

- I never received anything.
- So you didn't receive any money?

So, so far, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Jackson,

you owe Mr. Yuno $3,750 for rent

that you didn't pay while you occupied
his premises.

You, your furniture, your children,
I don't care what it's,

that's what you didn't pay.

And you can't save up your money
and not pay your landlord.

That's his business.
Just like you work for Friday's

and you get your pay
when you're supposed to,

that's his business.

He bought a house,
he was counting on the income

from that house
to pay some of his expenses.

And you didn't pay it.
Well, there's no question

that you have to pay it.
Now you have a counter claim.

I've already gotten rid of
"child endangerment."

House is 150 years old.
"Constructive eviction."

So I'd like you to tell me
your allegations of constructive eviction.

Is that like from him not doing anything
to the apartment while we lived there?

[Judy] I assume, you say
you were "constructively evicted."

- Yes. He, uh...
- But you didn't leave?

Yeah. Yes. He has a couple text messages
in here where...where he says

that he actually came up
to the apartment to check things.

He...he brought a permit like,
when he first got there in November,

- we didn't have a working toilet until...
- Just a second.

- Yeah, I'm sorry.
- So before he bought it...

- Mm-hmm.
- Is that what you're telling me?

I mean, uh, not before. I'm sorry.

When he got the apartment in November,
the...the previous owners...

we were trying to contact
to see who we pay for rent.

Just a second here.
He bought the duplex in November of 2020.

- Yes.
- Is what you are telling me, Mr. Jackson

that certain things weren't working prior
to his purchasing the property?

[Kevin] No, no.
I'm sorry, I wanna take that back.

After he purchased it,
we didn't even know he purchased it

'cause he was living downstairs.

And my wife walked down there
and asked was he the landlord.

He just said
that he was the building manager.

So nobody even got rent for the month
of November when we lived there.

Not him or even the previous people
because he didn't even come upstairs

- to introduce us. But, I'm...
- [Judy] Well, I wouldn't...

Yeah, I wouldn't complain about that,
you're ahead of the game so far.

- If you didn't pay rent for November.
- Yeah. Yeah.

You didn't pay the prior landlord,
and you didn't pay him.

So, so far you're ahead $750.
Okay, keep going.

I go back to the, yeah. November, yeah.

So during November our toilet got stopped
up like right before Thanksgiving.

So shortly after he purchases it.

- Yeah.
- He hadn't been up in the apartment?

- Mm-mmm.
- Right?

- No, not at all.
- Just you, your wife,

your teenage daughter
and the baby.

Yeah, and the kids.

[Judy] Okay. And the toilet got
stuffed up. And?

And...and...and he brought in a plumber.
And then, the guy found out

that my son put a little toy in there
and he...and he actually got the toy out.

- So the toilet was broken by your son?
- Mm-hmm.

Okay. So now the plumber said,
here's the toy,

kid threw a toy down the toilet,
not unusual. And...?

And then the very next month in December,
my son didn't put anything down there,

the toilet started acting up again.

It wouldn't flush for like, all the way up
until the next year.

And it never got fixed.
But it was from...

Well, you had to have, sir,
you lived there with three adults.

- [Kevin] Mm-hmm.
- So there had to be a functioning toilet

- in the house.
- It wasn't functioning.

So where did you go
to use a functioning restroom?

Her mom lived up the street from us,
you know, so sometimes

we would live up the street,
or sometimes we would just use the toilet.

Okay. You owe him $3,750 for rent
that you didn't pay.

Counterclaim's dismissed, we're finished.
Thank you very much.

[Bailiff] This court is adjourned.

I had to collect money,
monetary judgment through the Courts.

You know, him being a landlord,
he left us living in crappy conditions.

It was unbearable situation
that I was going through with the noise

and the disturbances.

Yeah. He never came up there
at all to fix anything.

And the destruction of the property.

He started making up so many rules,
you know, to make it uncomfortable

for us to live there.

Well, it was, um, it's pretty quiet.
No.

That man is crazy.
I'm glad it's over with.

You know what I think is interesting,
Sarah, with these cases,

we've had a lot of them.

The forgiveness
that the government wanted to show

to people who were having trouble
during Covid.

You know, work related trouble,
didn't have the same income

and didn't wanna have a whole bunch
of dispossessed homeless people.

- It came from a good place.
- Mm-hmm.

As did some of the monies
that were sent out by the government

to sort of help people
over a difficult time

during the height of Covid.

But then there are other people
who suffer as a result of that.

Like a landlord who buys a property,
a duplex property.

Part of it is in for income
so that they can pay off mortgage taxes,

lawn service, whatever you have to pay
on a house.

And then the defendants
who really had no changed circumstances

that they indicated to me,
he was working,

she was getting whatever she gets
from disability,

which is not insubstantial.

I don't know if they get any other
assistance for any of their other children

but certainly they moved into a place
that's more expensive now

That's not far away.
They just decided not to pay rent.

And I don't think that that is the spirit
of what the...

either the federal government
or the states who enacted it

meant to happen because the plaintiff
owner of this property has rights too.

- Yeah.
- You've taken away a right of his.

I agree to an extent,

but I also think that
that's more a problem

on the government's implementation
of the moratorium in the first place.

That's what ended up hurting the landlord.

These people were simply taking advantage
of a legal loophole

that was created for them.

He was in the restaurant business,
which as we know

was one of the toughest hit by Covid.

- [Judy] Right.
- She was on a fixed income

that wouldn't be enough to cover...
well, barely enough to cover the rent

on its own.
And then they have to support themselves,

feed themselves.
They have two children.

- Mm-hmm.
- So I'm sympathetic towards

the taking advantage of a legal loophole.

So I don't know if I was in your position,
I might have decided differently.

- Okay.
- But that's okay. Agree to disagree.

- That sometimes happens.
- Yeah.

[theme music playing]

[Announcer] Have you been cheated?