Access Evictions.com

Sorry this is going to be long, but here is some background information:

I have lived here three years. It is a 4 unit apartment building. I had 2 year long leases, then in the third year I didn’t sign a new lease because I didn’t feel like I wanted to live here for another year. I was thinking about renting a house instead of an apartment. So my lease automatically went to a month-to-month basis which I was fine with, and I paid every month up until now. In early November, my landlord was telling me that he sold the building and the “new owner” wanted me out by December 9th, 2009. As I was waiting for the landlord to return my security deposit so I could get ready to move, I received a letter in the mail from an attorney stating that they represent Wells-Fargo and that my building had been foreclosed as of November 6, 2009. It also stated that they are giving me until February 16, 2010 to move out (basically three months). Receiving that letter was a relief because it gave me more time to save money and find a new place, yet it also confirmed that my landlord was a LIAR. He never told me anything about him potentially losing the building, he just told me he “sold” it.

So I have been living here for a month so far, and no one has come to collect rent, or I haven’t received a letter stating where to send rent payments, so I haven’t paid rent for a whole month. I have it set aside just in case though. Hopefully I can stay here until February without paying rent at all because it looks like I won’t be getting my security deposit back now. I called my old landlord about my security deposit, and he stated that he will return it. I also have a text message saved of him stating that he will return it. I called him and now his phone is disconnected! The security deposit is a whole other issue…here is the real question now.

My water and heat was always included in the rent. Everything has been fine up until yesterday. The old landlord called me from a blocked phone number about a week ago to give me a “heads up” that he will be taking the utilities out of his name on December 10th, 2009 (5 days ago). I figured everything was okay because on the 11th and 12th, we still had heat and water so I figured he switched it out of his name to the banks name or whoever manages this building, if anyone even does, and that everything would be fine. Now on the 13th, I noticed that it was getting cold in here. I touched my radiators and they were not on at all. The lady downstairs from me controls the heat and she wasn’t home so I figured that she left for the day and forgot to leave the heat on. I wasn’t too concerned because it wasn’t that bad in here. It was tolerable. Now the next day, on the 14th, it was FREEZING in here. Now 2 days with no heat. The lady downstairs is nowhere to be found. She FINALLY comes home and I ask her why the hell did she leave for 2 days and leave me with no heat.

Here is the crazy part: She responds, “I haven’t been home because it’s freezing and I have a small child! I thought the circuit or whatever on the heater went out again and we have no landlord, so I didn’t know who to call!” So now we are both having the same problem, NO HEAT. She had her friend who is an engineer come look to see what was wrong, and he says that the heater is still working, but the old landlord CUT ALL THE WIRES. He said something about the electrical wires are all cut from the gas line. So she is going to get her electrician friend come out tomorrow and try to hook the electricity back up and then we will have heat. But as for tonight, it is 19 degrees with a wind chill of 4 degrees and we both have NO HEAT. We are the only ones left in the building. The other 2 units are vacant already.

So basically, the old landlord unlocked the padlock from the basement door and accessed the heater and cut all of the wires!! We have no clue why he would do that, especially if he told us that he was switching the utilities out of his name. We are guessing maybe he didn’t take them out of his name because he doesn’t want to pay his balance and he figured that he could just come and cut everything up so he doesn’t incur more charges?? Or maybe he DID switch it out of his name and he is just crazy and wants to see me and my animals, or her and her child freeze to death? Mind you, as of November 6th, 2009, he no longer owned this building. It is now December 15th, 2009…more than a month later and he entered the building!! Doesn’t the bank have to keep the heat and water on since they offered to let us live here until February 16th and it was included in our rent?! I am thinking about calling the cops on the old landlord, at LEAST to file a report, but I don’t want to look like an idiot. They will just tell us that we have to have proof it was him. But who else has the key to something no one else in the building has ever had a key to, other than the OLD OWNER?!

I live in Indiana if this helps at all. If you think you

3 Responses to “Can my old landlord be charged criminally for entering a building he no longer owns?”