I moved in a beautiful, newly renovated home in Saraland in March. For 1 year the house was great. About 16 months after I moved in a hurricane came and I noticed that the roof leaked in the dining room, one of the bedrooms and in the master bedroom. I called the Owner Harry Smith and warned him of this, he said he would come by and look at it. The next time it rained I called him again, and again he said he would come by and look at it. This went on for several months.
One night I was putting my 7 year old son to bed and saw that there was mold on the ceiling of his room. I called Harry Smith again and he asked if he and his wife and children could come by. When they arrived his wife began yelling that I should have contacted them sooner. I explained to her that I had spoken with her husband several times about this. He of course denied it.
A month later, on a Friday in January, I was leaving the house to pick up my children from school and saw a note attached to my mailbox. I got out and was furious with what I saw. It was a second eviction notice! It stated that I had 10 days from the date of the notice to vacate the premises voluntarily or the Sheriff's department would arrive at the home. The 10th day was the day before. I didn't know what to do. I called the number to the sheriff's department and the lady told me that I had to vacate the premises if I didn't want the sheriff's department to throw my things out. I told her that I wanted a copy of the original 1st and 2nd notices. She said that it could take weeks to get me that information. So I called Melanie Smith, and she said that if I would have notified them of the leaky roof sooner it wouldn't have come to this and that she had no idea why I didn't get my 1st notice of eviction. Again, I explained to her that I had informed her husband several times and she said if I didn't have a receipt of a certified letter mailed to them that I couldn't prove I had told them.
That Friday night and all day Saturday I packed up the entire 4 bedroom house by myself and moved all of my things into a storage room on Sunday. Me and my 2 children had to stay with friends and family for several months. I tried to rent an apartment only to find out that this was also reported on my background report. What a con artist. I paid 800.00 in rent for the month of January and only stayed in the house 11 days that month, and he kept my 1,000.00 deposit.
I called my attorney and he said that because I paid the man in cash there was nothing I could do. I also had no proof that I had informed him of the damage prior to these events.
This man and his wife, who works in the business office for Mobile Infirmary, are the worst landlords I have ever known. If you ever meet these people RUN the other way. They will steal your money just like they have many others in the Saraland area.
0 comments