Our heavenly father sent me out today and when I returned home there was a page of type-written text on letter head from the corporation which bought the property i live on back in August.
It was an unsigned, impersonal letter for "rent due" from one of the principals of the corporation. I believe I met him in September but I'm not sure if the name printed on the paper
is his.
Anyway, the text of the letter starts out with:
"we were here to collect rent (the fifth of January) but you werent home."
It continues with complaining about
"we have bills"
"we cant be chasing you around to collect" (more on this in a moment
"if you dont pay us we will file a complaint with the district justice"
"late fees will be assessed" atm it an extra $75
In September, when I first met one of their agents, she refused to identify herself to me; and gave me a street address to send rent to. I dont mail rent.
Her office then posted a ``pay rent or quit'' notice on my apartment door which was completely filled with errors
so I mailed an abatement to them with correct information
and I included the text of relevent Acts of Pennsylvania Legislature and common law which is four centuries old and still in force here in Penn. Then I explained what the law meant and how they were liable for obedience to it.
The abatement worked against the agent and They didn't respond.
After that, I asked someone on the property who was associated with the principal corp to say to them that "I invite you to my apartment for a proper introduction and meeting" and I asked my neighbor to introduce whomever arrives to introduce them to me. I explained that it was a trust and security thing since I wasnt aware of who any of the players were except for the family who sold the land whom I knew. She agreed to what I asked for.
So, finally, in October, the man I know from when he and his crew worked on the buildings on the land arrived on the property and he told me he would introduce me to a principal shortly.
So the three of us sat down in my kitchen and I told them about all the things I was aware of that *needed* to be repaired, replaced, fixed and attended to. (btw, it's January now and nothing on that list has been attended to)
My neighbor told me a week or two ago that she and her husband are no longer associated with the company - not their agents or employees anymore - because they dont like how the corp. is handling certain things, especially concerning me! I was alittle surprised by her statement but I have earned their trust for being honorable.
Oh, speaking of which, the previous landlord and her family are dear friends, I was a tenent of hers for about five years in two locations before she sold this current location to the new corp.
I think it was in September when she told me that she had a conversation with one of the principals in which she told him that I was worthy to be trusted and an honorable man.
I thanked her profusely!
Altho she has a slight problem with wanting to be my agent, I continually have to remind her to stop doing that, heh, I think the last time I mentioned it to her, it stuck. I think she's finished speaking for me.
So, yesterday, the letter (or as Randy Lee would call it, the abandoned paper) was left on my door, demanding rent, late fees and threatening legal action if I dont mail it or visit their office.
Now, here's the good part. There is a section of the Landlord-Tenant Act which includes (by the mentioning of one word) the common law of England which is four centuries old.
The word is ``demand'' and refers to a *whole* procedure that is still in force "unless specifically abrogated by the legislature" (my words of court opinion)
regarding the payment of rent: the common law of England says:
(my summary paraphrase)
the landlord or their agent:
must appear on their land
during the daytime (sunlit hours only)
on the exact day the rent is due
and announce at the door the exact amount of rent due to the penny
Now, the act of legislature states that "after demand is made" a `notice to quit' must be sent to the tenant and then after no response is made by the tenant, *THEN* the landlord can file a complaint!
BUT i dont know of any landlord who complies with the required first step of DEMAND procedure! No "liar" enforces the law regarding it and it's my opinion that no landlord knows about it, and the "court" refuses to require or enforce the demand procedure because they're all in commerce.
Oh, I told the principal that I had written a letter to their former agent and I suggested that they get it from them.
So, now I need to write another abatement to the principal explaining again the law, its application and relevance.
And I need to deny corporation, refuse to agree to the late fee (contract of adhesion) and condemn that fee as not being part of our parol-agreement; it was never discussed!
Finally, I have the FRNs to pay the rent IN full, so the only problem they have is that they dont want to comply with the law that is written to them and required to be obeyed BY them.
Thanks for reading my tirade
I'm better now.
Comments, Criticisms pls?
flames will be politely and silently redirected to /dev/null
