I am a tennant in a NYC apartment building which accepts HUD which is a government program which pays a portion of my monthly rent based on my income. The building in which I live is responsible for communicating any vital information back and forth between me and the HUD office. The management office in my building have always acted irresponsibly by losing documents that I have sent them and I have to take the fall for this. You see, HUD requires that I must fill out papers every year to get recertified for HUD and I am to turn these into the management office in my building who in turn is supposed to turn these over to the HUD office.
A few years ago, They did not handle the situation as required by them and basically did not admit to the lost papers but instead told HUD that I never filed to be recertified. Being that I was not recertified without my knowledge, I continued to pay my portion of the monthly rent and HUD did not pay their half because I wasn't a certified recipient anymore.
Years went by without anyone informing me of this and long story short, the building management has come forward saying that I have to pay the portion that HUD did not pay over the years and that adds up to $15,000. I had legal representation that basically led me to signing a stipulation of the courts stationg that I would pay all of the balance within 2 months because the building would not accept a payment plan spread over time. An impossible feat for me being that I don't have a savings or an income that could cover that. I was manipulated by my lawyer to sign this and did not have a clear understanding of what was going on.
The time to pay the $15,000 came and went so I switched to another attorney who could help me and actually listen to me and my problem and try and work with whay I have available to fit the situation. Basically being that I signed a stipulation, my lawyer informed me that a judge would not overlook it or change it because I signed an agreement and it is my full responsibility to fulfill it. At this point the only thing I could do in order to legally make a payment plan AND put the building where I live in a position to where they would back off trying to evict me is to file bankruptcy. As sad as this whole thing is and my impecable credit, I had no other choice but to do so. I filed chapter 11 which will allow me to pay the money back in 5 years.
Now in August, I will have to go back to court to have my bankrupty reviewed so they can see that I have been making all of my payments in on time when this happends, they will readjust my payments to fit in a 5 year period so my current payments starting in september will triple in price. Now I have a few issues that I feel need to be addressed because from what you have read above, I have taken the entire fall for the management of my buildings irresponsabilities. My lawyer has instructed me to contact HUD to see if they will pay all of the back rent that they WOULD have paid if they have recieved the recertification papers from my buildings management. HUD does not respond to my calls and management offers no help at all. I am in a desperate situation now because I have to pay the rent, standard bills and the back payments to go towards the $15,000 that was owed. I don't feel I should have to pay that because it was neglegance on the buildings management part that I was both not recertified AND not notified about this. This case I believe is a valuable lawsuit waiting to happen againist the management of my building, Thessalonica Court due to the fact that they commited fraud by falsifying documents and Purjury because they stated false facts about the situation to the government agengy known as HUD. What do I do? Who do I call, How can I get this money paid off that I was initially supposed to be getting government AID on? Please help. I am desperate and now my monthly debt exceeds my monthly income. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
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