What to do in this situation

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I want him to pay for this

I’m near the end of my patience and I don’t know what to do.

We moved into a rental house and it’s a great place for us. Cheap, allows dogs, neighborhood we love, plenty of space. But the landlord kept putting me off when I would ask for a written copy of our lease. He only wanted to rent to us month to month.

In December, there was an issue when I tried to pay him via Venmo. I was able to send half but the other half triggered some alert in their system and they froze my account and held all the money I had in it while they did an investigation. It took three weeks and even though I was up front with the landlord and showed him proof of the situation, and despite his repeated assurances it was no big deal, he suddenly started accusing me of lying to him and demanding the payment immediately. I offered to apply for rental assistance using a program for hiv positive individuals which would have paid him the balance due (at the time $455) and the next five months guaranteed. He agreed but told me I’d have to pay late fees which I said was fine. He also demanded I put the gas service in my name the next day. I reminded him that all of my money was held by Venmo and I wouldn’t be able to pay the $80 deposit until it was released or my next payday.

The next day he shut the gas service off, left me a voicemail saying that he had lost patience with me and that our relationship wasn’t going to work out and that he didn’t want any money from anything with AIDS. Then he told me I was in the house illegally and had two days to leave. At this point I was in the office applying for the assistance and I would have had him paid by the end of the day.

I provided a cdc declaration and informed him we had nowhere to go in two days. He said he didn’t care and accused me of playing games. He threatened to call the police if we weren’t out in one hour.

I contacted an attorney for advice who advised that I finish the application for assistance and inform him of my rights. I informed him I had spoken to an attorney and had the ability to pay him right then. I apologized again for any inconvenience and asked if we could put everything behind us. He responded with a 30 day notice to vacate.

Since then, I have tried to pay rent every month and either been ignored or had it refused. He has sent neighbors over to ask when we were moving, threatened to call the police, made comments about renting to “those kind of people,” harassed a neighbor who recommended us for the house because she told him we were roommates (we are a married gay couple) and he was furious when he found out we were married, sent a letter threatening to call the police and stating that the house was not available for rent (even though the for rent sign is still posted) and that he has no intention of renting it “to us.”

He has filed for eviction but is trying to evict for holding over as a bypass of the cdc moratorium.

His petition falsely states that he has provided us with information about the cares act and that he did not receive a cdc declaration. He submitted screenshots of text messages between us completely out of context.

Then the winter storm hit and our pipes burst. He will not respond to me about the issue and has not made any attempt to repair them. I have paid $750 out of pocket for a plumber who told us the copper and lead pipes in the house were so poorly maintained he was surprised we haven’t had lead poisoning or a massive leak. I was provided no lead disclosure.

He owns ten houses on this block. They are all single family houses but he has the entire block listed as one multi family unit to avoid paying the full property tax. He has multiple homes attached to the same water meter and line so even when our pipes are fixed, we’ll still have low water pressure and there will still be leaks under the neighbors’ houses and into the yards.

We have been without running water for almost a month. All of our dishes were ruined by sitting in a dirty sink for weeks. We had to throw them all out and scrub the kitchen with water jugs we bought because it was starting to smell and attract insects.

We have to urinate in the sink and drain the hot water heater to flush the toilet. We have had to rent hotel rooms and travel to friends’ homes to shower and bathe our dog. We have spent close to $250 on bottled and jug water.

And now, my mother who lives in Louisiana has had three strokes in one week. She has been in and out of the hospital. I cannot even go check on her or, god forbid, be there in case she dies because I have to be ready in case we get a hearing date. I have to be both looking for another place to live just in case, and putting together my defense to the eviction while trying to get running water restored.

I don’t trust that he won’t try something shady the moment I left like trying to have my husband arrested or my dog impounded or that all of our possessions won’t be thrown into the street.

It’s caused so much stress and worry and it’s all for nothing. He’s honestly just being petty, childish, and vindictive at this point.

Well two can play that game. I vow to make this man's life miserable now. I've reported him to the city, county, state, and federal government. I'm going to file suit against him for retaliatory eviction, discrimination, failure to make repairs, infliction of undue emotional strain, endangering health and safety, and perjury for his false statements on the eviction petition. I've been interviewed on camera by a local news station and have been posting this story with his name and the name of his LLC everywhere I can. (It's Louis Sabbagh of Hustle City Properties LLC by the way. His phone number is +1 (713) 231-8995. The company has two addresses ive found. The real one is 23107 ENCHANTED LANDING LN, KATY, TX 77494 but his notices to me list it as 800 Wilcrest Drive Suite 214. Houston Texas 77042. That's actually the address for Transworld Business Solutions which is apparently where he works as a business broker.)

I’ve contacted elected officials and lawyers about this. Several want to take the case already.

I would love to bury this guy. Totally ruin his reputation, get him fined and thrown in jail. I would love to take this house from him. If I can’t do that, I would love to bankrupt him. I want him to lose his home like he’s trying to do to us.

Barring any of that, right now I just want to make this as difficult and stressful as possible for him. I’ve filed an answer and submitted enough evidence to prove he is retaliating, that he has made false statements on the petition, that he has tried to intimidate and bully me out, that he has refused to make a necessary repair, refused to accept payments, ignored attempts at reconciliation, and has used shady and unethical practices. It’s currently taking about three months for eviction cases to be heard in our local justice of the peace court. He filed in February 5, so we likely won’t even have court until sometime in late April or early May. I’ve also made a demand and paid the fee for a jury trial. If I have to, I’ll file an appeal. I’ll hold this up as long as possible and tie him up in court for years if possible. I’ll ruin his reputation and expose him as the slumlord and homophobe he is. I will ruin and bury him.