Their caseworker is the first person I spoke with. I'm not talking straight Sec 8. I'm talking an assistance program when DCF is involved, to try to keep the kids with the parents. Straight Sec 8 has been a mixed bag - just like self-paying tenants. But in our experience, every single family that has come with the assistance of an agency has been an unmitigated disaster. It almost immediately becomes obvious why the family needs the assistance of a caseworker to be housed.
So the caseworker first spoke with the family, and they apparently said they would stop using the space heaters, but would not get rid of the extra tenant (Grandma) . BTW, the gas heat system had the place at over 78 degrees on a really cold day, so it's not that there is ANYTHING wrong with the heat. But we went ahead and put in over a grand of additional insulation in the attic, because of their complaint. The windows are good. The place is as well insulated and as draft-free as is reasonably possible in a hundred year old building. They just like to be in t shirts and shorts, and have the kids in just a diaper, in the wintertime. I suspect that they are on an unlimited use electricity subsidy program, and for that reason, they prefer to heat with electricity. I took a look at the lease, and it specifically prohibits the use of any heating or lighting source other than the gas heating system provided, and the electricity for lighting - no kerosene lamps, no alternate heating system.
So I sent the KAPA letter (as advised by our excellent real estate attorney). At that point, the tenant, who had ignored previous communication, responded that Grandma is just "visiting" (NOT what she told her caseworker), and that she DOES have a bed in a specific nursing home, that they were just "trying it out", to see if they could manage keeping her with them, and that if they could, THEN they were going to ask if they could have her move in with them, and that meanwhile, one of the bedrooms in the house would be dedicated to her exclusive use when she visits, which means that they are packing 7 children into two bedrooms, with the fourth bedroom set up with a walker, oxygen, all Grandma's needs for when she "visits" but there's not much I can do about them stuffing 7 kids into 2 bedrooms, while keeping a guest bedroom. Lease says that a guest may only stay 14 days in a year, but tenant is claiming that the law allows 14 days every six months - I cannot find anything confirming that, so I'm telling her she's got to file what is in the lease.
They're not happy about it, but at least now I think that they realize that they cannot have Grandma lose her nursing home bed. It scares the crap out of me to think of what could happen if they were to cause a fire by using electric space heaters. The way the unit is set up, Grandma, who uses a walker and is on oxygen, is on the second floor (when she "visits"), and they and their 7 children who are very young, we're talking 5 of them are under the age of 5, are on the third floor. There is no way they would be able to get everyone out if they were to cause a fire. Not to mention the fact that they're endangering the other residents of the building with the use of the electric space heaters, overloading the circuits.
They have committed other horrible violations, but that we're getting under control, despite their lack of cooperation.
But now I at least have it documented that they cannot move Grandma in, and that they may not use space heaters. Hopefully, they will accept what they had been told before I agreed to rent to them, and that has now been formalized in the KAPA letter, not to mention in their lease - that they could not add another person to the tenancy. I just want them to comply with the terms of their lease, and not endanger themselves and the other residents of the building.
