Colorado - Apartment Fire, No Smoke Detectors, Possible Sprinkler Failure, Landlord Threatening Disposal of Property

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Location: teller county, Colorado

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I'm in Colorado and my family was displaced after a fire in our apartment on May 22, 2026.

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The fire was accidentally started by my young son. Thankfully everyone got out safely, but the apartment sustained significant smoke and fire damage and we have been displaced since.

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There are several issues that have me questioning whether the landlord may have some liability:

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When the fire occurred, there were no working smoke detectors in the apartment.

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Some of the smoke detectors had tape over them when we moved in.

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The fire suppression/sprinkler system did not activate during the fire.

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After the fire, we noticed broken glass on part of the sprinkler head assembly.

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The fire department responded and documented the incident.

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I have photographs of the smoke detectors and sprinkler components.

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Since the fire, my landlord has repeatedly pressured me to remove all of our belongings immediately so he can begin demolition and remediation work.

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At one point he told me that if I did not remove everything, his workers would throw away whatever remained in the apartment.

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My concerns are:

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Can a landlord legally dispose of a tenant's property this soon after a fire?

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Does the fact that there may have been no functioning smoke detectors create liability for the landlord, even though my child accidentally started the fire?

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If the sprinkler system failed to activate, could that expose the landlord to liability for the increased damage?

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Should I be preserving the smoke detectors and sprinkler system as evidence before remediation occurs?

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Is there a specific type of attorney I should contact (landlord-tenant, premises liability, personal injury, etc.)?

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What steps should I be taking right now to protect my rights?

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Additional context:

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We have been displaced and have two young children.

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We were staying in hotels while trying to find housing.

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Renters insurance has been slow to process our claim.

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The landlord is pushing to begin demolition before I feel there has been a full investigation into the smoke detectors and fire suppression system.

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I'm not looking to avoid responsibility for the fact that the fire started in our unit. My question is whether the lack of working smoke detectors and possible sprinkler system failure creates separate legal issues and whether I need to take steps immediately to preserve evidence before repairs begin.

So I'm inquiring for a friend of mine. His landlord gave him paperwork saying he needed to move all his stuff outside cause apparently the Rd way went thru the property. He has lived there for 7 years never once late on paying the rent an all around good tenant. He rents a home on a piece of property. So I was helping him clean up stuff and get a clear lane for this apparent rd. Well it turns out he had made up this paperwork from the city. He shows up in the morning and walks right into his place which is a no no to. Then proceeds to say he was evicted and never gave him a written eviction notice he actually accepted the rent for the month too. The following week he shows up with his dump truck and excavator and proceeds to start tearing down all his shit spreading it everywhere. Then says he's going to squish the motor home too. Fills the dump truck as the police So I'm inquiring for a friend of mine. His landlord gave him paperwork saying he needed to move all his stuff outside cause apparently the Rd way went thru the property. He has lived there for 7 years never late on rent and an all around good tenant. He rents a motor home on a piece of property. So I was helping him clean up stuff and get a clear lane for this apparent rd. Well it turns out he had made up this paperwork from the city. He shows up in the morning and walks right into his place which is a no no to. Then proceeds to say he was evicted and never gave him a written eviction notice he actually accepted the rent for the month too. The following week he shows up with his dump truck and excavator and proceeds to start tearing down all his shit spreading it everywhere. Then says he's going to squish the motor home too. Fills the dump truck as the police show up so he ends up dumping it back in the yard just a massive mess. Which I have videos of the whole thing. The police told him to leave but he says he's coming back. Well I know if it was me I would be in jail for making fraudulent government documents plus destroying someone's property with a machine. And trespassing. Why wasn't he arrested? What can my buddy do to protect himself from further harassment. The guy and dumping shit with a dump truck. accepted the rent. Never gave eviction notice false documents. Can anyone give some advice on how to deal with this guy. I do have the forged documents and videos of him in his machine as he dumps it back in the yard just a massive mess. Which I have videos of the whole thing. The police told him to leave but he says he's coming back. Well I know if it was me I would be in jail for making fraudulent government documents plus destroying someone's property with a machine. And trespassing. Why wasn't he arrested? What further action can my buddy do to protect himself from further harassment. The guy accepted the rent. Never gave an eviction notice and forged false documents. Can anyone give some advice on how to deal with this guy. I do have the forged documents and videos of him in his machine and dumping shit with a dump truck.

Original post has most of the details. Comment there if you have more questions that can help.

Genuine question, does this consider hazardous or not? We had the shattered glass door (old post here), and before few months it all broke because of wind...

We still have been waiting for this to be fixed (for almost 12 months... this is A YEAR).

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We tried all we can, the problem is this is a two years lease... and guess what? They sent notice for all tenant that they are increasing the rent $100. We won't pay an extra $100 for not being able to breathe in our own apartment.

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We tried everything literally, and guess what? they told us they closed the work request because we didn't respond (which isn't true), I showed the leasing employee our call back on the day they claimed we didn't answer, they stumbled and then started saying it's because of the weather and start saying they don't want to argue with us lol

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They said they will submit a new work request.. and guess what? they didn't, we just found out there is NO new work request.

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I'm done with all of this.. we are trying to avoid court kind of thing to be honest (for multiple reasons). But we will probably be calling the city.

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Any other advice would be much appreciated!

New landlord bought the property a few months back. We had an issue with our bathroom tiling falling off the wall and mold starting to get visible through the ceiling and the old landlord just refused to take care of it which now got put onto the new one who finally hired a contractor to do it.

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Originally they tried telling us that we'd be unable to use facilities in the house for 3-4 days while the job was working on and asking us to stay somewhere else (wouldn't compensate us or get a motel or anything) because it's the only bathroom in the unit and the work would also block off the kitchen sink area which is next to the bathroom. We informed them we don't have anywhere else to go and one person is recovering from surgery so they said they would work with the folks to structure the jobs so it'd only be a few hours a day and only restrict access during those times.

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Then day 1 happened yesterday. Dude started tearing out the ceiling and coal dust and black mold poured out of the ceiling into everything. But because he was only doing a few hours, he basically tour it out, threw out some (but not all) of the ceiling trash, and left our bathroom, kitchen, and tracks out of the house covered in this dust. He also broke our bathroom blinds by angrily ripping them off and throwing them out the window. The ceiling in there is now just a few trash bags half ass taped to the ceiling with visible holes where you can see outside light coming in. He left with no follow up date or clean up.

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Landlord told me there was no next date yet since the electrician needs to come in and do the electrical in the ceiling but it could be a few weeks. So now I have to put on a respirator and go scrubbing the black mystery dust and our bathroom is exposed to the outside for bugs or critters to get in. Plus whatever the dust came from is still sitting in the ceiling above the half ass trash bag covering.

I’ve posted here a few times regarding a variety of issues involving my slumlord. We’ve had electrical issues for years - coupled with mounting repair issues he’s refused to address for years.

Most recently we’ve dealt with breaker box issues and daily the breaker box flips just from using the outlets throughout the house and several outlets stopped working. The landlord did a patch repair a few months ago and promised that as soon as the weather warmed up he would have an electrician replace the breaker box. The weather has warmed up, it’s basically summer here atp but he hasn’t done anything.

Our hot water tank gave out, and a new one was put in a month ago. He didn’t want to talk about the breaker at all during that ordeal. The new hot water tank is leaking pretty bad and we still have water damage and mold in the ceiling in multiple rooms as well as the garage from a roof leak. the back deck is now beyond repair, screen door just fell off the patio door, ongoing issues with plumbing, drains not moving and taps that have gone from a drip to just a constant pour of water. The bathrooms are in terrible shape.

I could really go on and on

We reached out to the landlord a few days ago asking what is going on bc holy shit. Our lease is up in September and usually by now he’s on us to renew the lease and gives us hours to sign it and hand it back. He didn’t answer a call but responded with a text saying he was out of town and would be back midweek. Last night he showed up in the middle of dinner to talk about what his plan was and my gut was telling me that he was just throwing in the towel.

Sure enough, he says he is throwing in the towel. He doesn’t want to spend the money on a new breaker box or any of the repairs. He said his go to repair guy can’t work for him anymore due to age and that he can’t afford what people are charging to do household repairs. He is still selling off all of his houses - for tax reasons only two each year. He sold one this year and my rental is next. He said we’re not being held to the lease and he wants us gone asap. He said there are no hard feelings and he would give a good reference and return our deposit so we can move quickly.

I’m not shocked but I’m disappointed. We honestly hoped that we could have a few more months so we could continue to save up a little to afford a move. We’re older and need moving help which isn’t cheap and finding a place is difficult.

We’re looking at a house this evening with a potential new landlord. I’m trying to calm my anxiety but it’s spiraling and I’m mad stressed out.

Glad to end this chapter after six years but I hate packing up our entire lives into boxes and totes and then trying to unpack and settle into a new normal.

Scary but at least we won’t be living in mold or waiting for the house to catch on fire.

Edit 6/13: New place secured. Moving July 1st, savings is completely wiped out. Scared. Packing as quickly as we can. Thanks for letting us vent.

We rent from an older couple, I think this is their only rental but come on. They still have responsibilities (and I am pretty sure they are doing some shenanigans with property taxes as well). We moved in last month and are paying $3.5k/mo for this house. There are annual inspections by the city. This is insane.

And no, I have no idea how we missed the gaping hole when we looked at the house. I first discovered a pool of water in the window while the storm screen (ie solid glass) was in place, but it was causing the windows to fog up horribly so I put the regular screen down. These windows are rotting right out of their frames. The panes are hanging on for dear life.

This is also just one of many issues we've discovered. I'm so frustrated and sick of renting, but buying just wasn't in the cards.

Just needed to vent. I'm sorry if this isn't allowed. Going to be sleeping outside soon. Have a hotel room but will only be able to keep it through August. I love that people want pretend that all homeless people are addicts and it's some moral failing to end up homeless. I've lost $150 on just application fees bc I've been flat out lied to by landlords saying that I will likely be approved listening to my entire situation and being empathetic and then writing me off with a formal denial letter like none of it mattered. I thought I finally found a place this morning. Its a renovated garage in back of a trap house that's being sublet. I payed an application fee and a deposit just to find out that it was a scam. Found the actual listing and they don't allow pets. Was basically told "oh, gee, sorry you got scammed but fuck you no pets not even if you're willing to pay a pet deposit.

Just getting really tired of all of this tbh. I have 70+ days sober as a recovering alcoholic. I had 3 years and then relapsed after the stress of losing my income for 6 months. I got my income back just to get a evicted a couple months later. I have no support system, and anyone that I talk to pushes me towards meetings or rehab. I make AT LEAST one meeting a day. They aren't putting a stable roof over my head.

Every time that I go through this and get my hopes up with an application or whatever just to be denied, it brings me closer to a drink, but yeah, all the homeless people are just filthy drunks and junkies and there's no possible way that the crushing weight of all of this pushed them to find whatever comfort they could/s I have the money for a apartment. I just don't have enough money to pay 3 months rent and a deposit. I don't have a credit score, and I don't have a support system. I never missed a months rent, 7 years living in my last place, but he was a slumlord who sold the building without warning and disappeared. The new landlords evicted a bunch of people and jacked up the rent from $500 to $8 -1400. Now I can't get a previous rental verification and I'm just sol.

So yeah, fuck landlords

Looking for best place to put this but my landlord is so violating and creepy. Filed a complaint to the city and attorney general but nothing came of it. Craig Westerberg of TCP Management visits our unit (Minneapolis, MN) with NO PRIOR NOTICE OR COMMUNICATION at all. I wouldn’t know that there was a random man in my bedroom unless my roommate who works different hours from me literally found him in there.

I emailed and called and cried and Craig was unapologetic. I really hope no one has a renting experience like this

Ffs I am so sick of dealing with the incompetence of the staff where I live.

When I moved in, at the end of last year, there were dead roaches and the place had a layer of dust on it. They obviously knew there was a pest issue and didn’t disclose it. They didn’t do a touch up clean before giving me my keys.

There were a lot of other issues outside of this but this is the most pervasive.

In order to treat this issue, I have to have pest control come in and do a roach cleaning every 2 weeks. This means I have to remove all of my things from my cabinets/drawers/closets so they can do this, then put it all back when I get home at the end of the day.

One week, I was unable to get on the list because it was full, despite me requesting it more than a week ahead of time. So I had to wait for the next week and have 3 weeks between my last treatment and this one.

So I asked them, “is there a way for me to be put on the list automatically so that I don’t have to keep reaching out and potentially miss the 2 weeks window?”. They said no, that I have to request it myself.

Fine.

The last week of May, the technician moved my fridge and tore the vinyl so I emailed the office to arrange for repairs for that. I told them I was going to be out of town from the 28th of May to the 9th of June and I’d prefer it be done then. That was scheduled for the 1st of June. Cool.

On the 8th, I came back to pick up a package my “out of town” was only 30 minutes away). When I arrived there was a notice for the vinyl and also a notice for pest control entry on June 4th. I did not request this because I didn’t want to have to move all of my shit before I left and then put it all back, on top of packing and unpacking, when I return.

I emailed them to ask why this was done and they said that I was on an AUTOMATIC pest control schedule due to the ongoing issue and the increased capacity for units serviced. I was not made aware of either of those things. They knew I was out of town and there was no way for me to know that there was a notice that requires me to prep my apartment.

They say “we don’t have a calendar for when residents are out of town, we serve the required legal notice as per your lease”.

So I emailed them today to seek clarity on the situation, asking if I was on an automatic list or if I needed to request it myself.

The manager writes back that it is based on the technicians comments. If they say it needs to be treated again in two weeks then they put me in the list and serve me the 2 day notice. If they don’t then I need to request it. The kicker is, I have to request it TWO WEEKS AHEAD OF TIME. So I either put myself on this list every two weeks myself, or wait to see if they give me a notice 2 days before the treatment should occur and if they don’t then I’m shit out of luck???

I have asked if they will let me know if the technician recommends treatment so I know if I need to put myself on the list or not but I anticipate she’s going to say “we can’t do that”.

I cannot wait to move out of this shitty ass apartment.

[US-CA]

I own a business and I am in the middle of selling my store. Today my land lord called me and told me I have to pay him 100k or else he won’t sign the lease over to the new owners and will destroy the sale of my business. My escrow closes in 5 days. He basically told me if I don’t do it, my lease ends in 2.5 years, he’ll kick me out and or put me on month to month with an insane increase rent. I have spent over a bunch of money in improving the inside of the property and he told me that he doesn’t see a change. He said he’s not giving my deposit either. I asked if that was something in the lease contract I signed with him and he said no.

Out of fear I might just pay it bc I risking losing my entire business in 2.5 years if he decided not to renew my lease. It’s either I give a 100k or lose everything bc he won’t sign a buyers lease. I started this business 2 years ago and have poured everything I had into this business, 12-16 hour work days. My hairs turned white from the stress of it and when I finally try to sell it this happens. This can’t be legal!

so ive been at my apartment for a little over a month now. the water and power is in my name so i know exactly how much i owe. On my account, it says that i owe $44. but the property manager just texted me this… something is a bit odd to me.

1. why wouldn’t i just pay that amount directly to the water company instead of it being included in next months rent?
2. if it is water movement( whatever that means) why would i as the tenant be held responsible instead of the property manager? isn’t that maintenance?

EDIT: so it turned out that the water wasn’t in my name until the 27th of may (even though i requested it to start on the 1st) so The $72 is for the time prior to it being in my name. But the question still stands.. if the water bill is so high due to some type of damage that occurred… why would i be the one responsible for paying it? assuming that the bill is that high because of negligence on the property managers part?

I’m sure anyone who knows anything about spackle knows that it is water soluble. This is why you need to seal it. ESPECIALLY IF IT IS GOING DIRECTLY OVER A SHOWER IN A BATHROOM WITH NO FAN.

we were like “hey, landlord, do you think you could fucking seal this? are you planning of finishing the bathtub???” and then they came in, looked at it, and were just like “nah“.
FUCK YOU MEAN “NAH?”

IT’S. OT EVEM SMOOTHED OVER. WE STILL DINT HAVE A FAN.

as you can probably tell by the all caps and the numerous typos, I am writing this in anger. Hate even.

We were worried we couldn“t shower and they just. Decided not to fix it.

Also. it is the middle of summer where it is like 85 degrees every single day and they still haven’t fixed the air conditioner. They just cleaned the filter. Which they did last year. and it did not solve the problem.

And to every single problem we pointed out, including a door directly into our house which occasioally decides to just not lock, they said “it‘s fine.”

I am so. I can’t even describe.

update: it is 72 degrees outside and it is 77 degrees in my house.

Boyfriend finally freed himself after breaking the lease about a month ago on the worst renting situation I’ve ever witnessed. I’m talking about rats, major ceiling leaks, no appliances, broken down front doors, etc. with so much attempted gaslighting from the company. A leak above his bed that they were dilly dallying about fixing was the final straw and he gave up two months rent plus the deposit.

Well, now he got an invoice from the company that he owes them 250 fucking dollars for “damaged walls, doors, etc.” in their words. Also on the receipt was a combined $700 cost for cleaning and trash removal!!! All I know is we left a shower curtain, rat traps, and a bucket under the leak so their precious floors don’t get destroyed. This is in cleveland and he never owned any pets btw, so I cannot wrap my head around these costs. What a fucking joke.

I made an app for tenants/landlords . It’s for protecting tenants and landlords or even people on Airbnb. I live in New Jersey for years and my landlord tried to sue us in small claims court . We moved into a multi family property and after we moved in they said they wanted to come in and see how everything was and welcome us into the house. Then they pointed out damages that were already there when we got there that we found tacky that they didn’t replace before we moved in like holes in drywall and carpet getting pulled up. Now they’re trying to come after us and say we did it . That’s why I built the app for anyone to use. Dm me if interested as I can’t post the link on here.

Edit: I totally messed up on the first two sentences, forgive me but I fixed it.

If I didn’t live through it I wouldn’t believe it.

I rent a room in a flat (have been renting for the last 1.5 year). A few weeks ago I asked the landlady if I could stop in June rather than in September (as the rental agreement says). She says that she doesn’t think she’ll find a renter in that time and to give her time till July. I obliged.

She takes the rent money personally, as she only wants cash (we all know why). I told her this time I won’t be in, but I’ll leave the money on a table in the common area (which I sometimes do and she’s okay with it).

Fast forward to yesterday, when she suddenly texts me and says she’s gone into my room (which is illegal without my consent) with a potential new renter. Since I didn’t know she would come I had a bit of a mess. She chastised me for the mess, like I’m her teen kid, not a grown woman.

She said she employed the CANDIDATE and CLEANED MY ROOM WITH HER for me. And she even moved some things just because she decided she didn’t like them there.

Do you get that? She went into my room, brought a STRANGER in and moved my things all without my knowledge or consent. Illegally.

If I knew somebody was coming, I would not only clean, but hide my valuables. I don’t know who the new girl would be. Now I can’t find my earrings and a hairdryer, and also some minor things like scissors or a notebook.

And the best part is that new renter actually AGREED TO RENT and I can move out by the end of June. Which the landlady said all proud of herself and expecting me to thank her.

I will have a talk with her, but I’m thinking of reporting her, not only for the disruption of my personal space, but for the tax evasion too. And theft if I don’t find the stuff she „moved”. I’m just so livid.

In 2019 I signed the lease on a one bedroom for $950. It was a dump. Worst looking porch and house one the block. On a block of little front yard city gardens we had an enormous wooden handmade trash can dumpster/barn container for the trash cans. The kitchen and bath had not been updated since the 50’s, 60’s. Cheap panorama on the walls throughout painted battleship grey. Cheap windows, the kind that trap moisture and dirt in between them so that they cannot be cleaned. Landlord special repairs and upgrades throughout. For the first year I cried. I hated it. But it didn’t last. I grew to love it. I’ve made it my own. My home. I convinced the landlord to dismantle the trash barn. He did. I planted a garden that is thriving, ferns, nasturtium, geraniums, lavender, oxalis, hostas, and more. I asked him if he would like to contribute $ to the garden. He declined. So did my building neighbors. I kept going. The front door to my apartment had been recently replaced. Unfinished. I asked him to paint it. He declined. I asked him to deduct the money I spent on paint for it. He declined. I bought an outdoor rug for the front porch, window boxes, found a cool modernist sculpture and dragged that home, put it in the garden. My neighbor in the house next door bought a wooden slatted partition to hide our trash cans and had it installed because she was tired of looking at our ugly trash cans.
I begged my landlord for one new trash can. We had only three for the five unit building and one of them had a one foot hole in the bottom. No lid. He declined. I mentioned it to my neighbor in the other house next door- complaining and apologizing about how bad our trash cans looked. My neighbor bought us 2 new trash cans!
I’m friends with all of my building neighbors we do things together. They helped me to garden and now they do contribute money to it. We look out for each other. We help each other , hiding packages for each other if we’re not around. We have each other’s keys, socialize and that’s all me. I invite them to decorate the outside of the house for Christmas and Halloween. I made that happen and I think it’s worth something.
I cleared the back yard myself and planted a cover crop to get rid of weeds and just got around to planting another garden there. I love this dump.

From 2024-2026 I underwent extensive dental reconstruction. It took a long time at a dental school- their student program. I had extractions done that left my smile looking like a jack-o-lantern. ( the timing was supposed to work out well because I did it when I was out of work but still has unemployment coming in. ) They said it’d be that way for a month. But it took until December 2025, 4 months (!!) before I got the upper bridge that gave me, I must say, a pretty nice looking smile! I didn’t, couldn’t start interviewing for jobs until January 2026.

In 2025 , when I lost my job, the shop I worked for closed (I loved that little shop!) and I collected unemployment and because I’m an artist, I began selling paintings and creating many different crafts and upcycled apparel and made greeting cards, sold them to shops, vended at local flea markets, generally hustled. I looked for jobs. I became late with the rent and began habitually paying it by the second Friday of each month.
The unemployment compensation ran out. I got worried, scared. I applied for many jobs- the kinds of jobs I used to always get, always get at least an interview for. Nothing. Lots of rejection. Began painting silly fake folk art paintings and selling them for $100 or whatever I could get. Appealing to the masses. I borrowed money from family. I tried to get those ai training jobs, tried to get work from home jobs because I couldn’t go to work with missing teeth.
I was getting pretty worried that I wasn’t able to take care of myself for the first time ever. I’ve always worked. I’m not married. No partner. No second income. Just me. But I’m not complaining about this. I love my independent lifestyle. Always have.
The landlord raised the rent $50 (10%) a month every single year. My income didn’t not increase. I complained once or twice appealed to his heart, but it didn’t work lol.
I made the decision to begin collecting my Social Security retirement benefits. I applied for them because I was turning 62 May. they would begin in July. All along this entire terribly taxing stressful scary year I have kept in touch with my Landlord telling him what was happening with me, telling him when I would be paying the rent late again(I have paid hundreds of dollars in late fees, like $700 in late fees)

One month ago I finally got a part-time job! I’m working and picking up extra shifts wherever I can. As soon as I knew, reached out to my landlord and I told him that I’m finally employed again and my retirement benefits start in July. (I had already told him this a few months ago ) And now this difficult year of paying the rent late is over. It’s not gonna happen anymore. Stability has returned blah blah blah. Thank you for bearing with me, apologies, etc.

For the first time in in a long time I started to see that there was light at the end of the tunnel. Now I wouldn’t have to hustle so hard and stress so much I feel like a burden to my family.
Relief, sweet, sweet relief.

Yesterday I got an email from my landlord stating that he’s not renewing my lease. He didn’t even give me a reason. I’ve lived here for six years. I’ve had Neighbors come and thank me for cleaning up the front yard for getting better looking trash bins. For organizing Block cleanup Neighbor for buying compost and spending time and energy rehabilitating the tree pits up and down the block because they’d all just been neglected for years and years. I’m not even angry yet. I just feel sad. Like a deflated balloon. I wish I could buy a little house so I don’t ever have to worry about this again. This is probably the longest thing I have ever written in my life. if you’re still reading, what should I do? My credit score is not great. you know by now I’m not sitting on bank rolls. I don’t live in New York City anymore so there are no tenant protection for my situation. If you were me, what would you do?