Thank you everyone for your advice. We went to court again today and finalized the settlement. Nothing really changed from the terms I posted earlier except that we wrote in that if he won't drop the civil suit, then I will counter for the rest of the money he owes me. He was adamant that he will not drop the civil suit and if I won't settle, he will further pursue a jury trial. Mentally and physically I am drained from all this. My children are suffering because I have to spend all my time working on getting information together for my lawyer and I can't spend time with them. If this actually went to a jury trial, it's going to last months and my lawyers fees would just continue to grow. My lawyer advised that we just settle and let my insurance company take care of the civil suit. I felt like that was the best route to go. The tenant made a comment that I don't have to worry because my insurance company will pay him what he's owed. Frankly, he's owed nothing but I know some insurance companies will just pay out to avoid spending alot of time on these cases.
He files in his civil suit that the apartment is not legally habitable. The craziness of this is that if it isn't habitable, why did he propose on his settlement terms that he not get evicted and when I said no, he then ask if he could stay for several months so he can pack and find a place? If it's so uninhabitable, wouldn't you want to leave asap?
He claims he is subjected to lead-based paint, extensive mold, faulty plumbing, fire hazards and basic sanitation.
Lead-based paint? It originally may have had lead-based paint when it was first built but I'm sure the building have been painted over many times since the 60's.
Extensive mold? In 2011 he had mold growing over his shower. I looked at it and it seemed to me that it was a housekeeping issue. It was just above the shower area and no where else in the bathroom. I will admit that I did let it go for a good 6 months before I went back to look at it and then I had all the sheet rock above the shower replaced. He said he was satisfied.
Faulty Plumbing? After I posted the 3 days notice to pay or quit on his door, he puts in a service request and says the water goes from freezing to scalding in his shower. Had a plumber come out and he said he feels a slight fluctuation in the water when he has the bathroom faucet also running and he's flushing to toilet. Recommended that I change out the valves to better regulate the water temperature. Had him test all the 4 units and he said he didn't see a problem but would recommend to fix in all units because they all have the original plumbing.
Fire Hazards? Not sure what he's referring to but could be that one of the tenants has alot of stuff stored in his garage.
Basic Sanitation? One of the households in the building constantly throws trash under the stairwell that he has to walk past everyday. I have told these people so many times to clean up after themselves. I recently sent them a notice and told them if I go by and I see trash under there again because they throw garbage bags there, I will send them a notice to move.
Sorry this is so long. Do you think I should have the plumbing fixed now or just wait until this guy moves out?
One last thing, he said that I hired gardeners who purposely came to steal his things in the yard. He never told me about this and the only reason I know is he just filed a police report about it 2 weeks ago and the officer who wrote the report called me about it. The last time the gardener was there was back in June and he now decides to file a police report over 3 month later. Do they come any crazier?
Nov.1: Property Mgmt company is taking over.
