My landlord is my prior employer. He laid me off a year ago. I continued to live in his property and pay rent until a few months ago when the property began to fall apart. The structural integrity was suffering badly and I began to have infestations of ants, roaches, mice and every bug you can imagine. It became a nightmare. I sent him a message letting him know that this required some serious attention and repairs, and he never responded. After paying him rent for 2 more months, I began withholding rent for inhabitability. He continued to ignore my messages and then my power shut off yesterday. I contacted the electric company and they confirmed that someone had tampered with the power meter and that they couldn’t do anything because it belongs to the owner of the property. It’s clear he did that to try and force me out, however I’ve read up that this is totally illegal regardless of the withholding of rent. My food is all spoiled as my fridge stopped working, I have no air conditioning in the immense heat etc. My question is what my next steps might be. I can look to sue myself, or might it be worth it to hire an attorney? He is very wealthy and owns many properties and lots of land. Thank you
Location: Southern Illinois
Comments
Call the police; this is called a “self-help” eviction. That should get your landlord to get the utilities back on.
After that, you need to get a lawyer who specializes in tenant rights.