Infoshop
Friday, June 25 2010 @ 03:26 AM UTC

Contributed by: Anonymous

Maria and her family lived in a building that had water seeping into the walls, causing huge amounts of black mold to grow. Maria, who cleans houses for a living, kept wiping the mold away, but almost immediately it would grow back again. She reported the problem to the landlord, a company that owns several large properties in Seattle. Instead of dealing with the problem, the head of property management dismissed Maria's concerns and insulted her about her poor English. Maria's kids started getting sick and having to go to the hospital with respiratory problems.

Five-week campaign beats back predatory landlord in Seattle

Maria and her family lived in a building that had water seeping into the walls, causing huge amounts of black mold to grow. Maria, who cleans houses for a living, kept wiping the mold away, but almost immediately it would grow back again. She reported the problem to the landlord, a company that owns several large properties in Seattle. Instead of dealing with the problem, the head of property management dismissed Maria's concerns and insulted her about her poor English. Maria's kids started getting sick and having to go to the hospital with respiratory problems.

At this point, Maria decided they had to get out of that building. She gave notice to the company that they were moving. It was 15 days from the end of the month, instead of the customary 20 days notice, but the landlord gave no indication that it would be a problem if they went ahead and moved, so they did. A few weeks later, the company sent Maria a letter. It said that she owed them a full month's rent ($800) for the month after she had moved out, that they were keeping her entire deposit, and that they were charging her an additional $700 in mysterious fees. If she didn't pay them $1500, her credit and rental history could be ruined.

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story...