They owe you for rent and for property damage?
- That's correct. - You took the carpet off?
And I showed 'em a section of the carpet.
We were walking, our socks would be black. Our feet would be black.
Our toilet got stopped up.
I would go with a plunger, it won't even go down.
- And it never got fixed. - Really?
[Announcer] This is Judy Justice.
[theme music playing]
[Announcer] Isaac Yuno is suing his former tenants,
Anvey Kelly and Kevin Jackson,
for unpaid rent and property damage.
[Bailiff] Court come to order. All rise.
Have a seat, please.
- [Bailiff] Hello, Judge. - [Judy] Hello.
Case number 2116. Yuno versus Kelly Jackson.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
Mr. Yuno, you purchased a duplex home, two different apartments?
- That's correct. - In what month and year did you purchase
- the home? - November of 2020.
And when you purchased it, one of the duplexes was occupied
by the defendants?
[Isaac] That's correct.
[Judy] It is your claim that they owe you for rent?
- Yes. - And for property damage?
- That's correct. - They are no longer there?
- No. - Mr. Jackson?
- Yes. - How long were you and your wife living
in the duplex before November of 2020?
We moved in June of 2019.
[Judy] And at the time, do you recall who your landlord was in June of 2019?
- Yes. - Between June of 2019,
when you first moved in, and November of 2020,
when the plaintiff bought the property, was there any work done on that property?
- Not at all. - Any...
- No maintenance? - No maintenance.
Okay. So, from the time you moved in, the prior owner did no maintenance
on that property? Did no painting?
Oh, uh, just the minor stuff before we moved in.
They just painted and just had everything looking nice the floors...
So just a second. So the prior owner painted the premises...
- Mm-hmm. - ...and did the floors?
Yes, it was carpet and... and some flooring in the kitchen.
And Mr. Yuno did not do any other painting
or flooring or any cosmetic work
on the duplex when he purchased it in November of 2020?
- No. - So whatever was there
by the previous owner of the property is still there?
- Yes. - I'm just asking you this
because your counterclaim is for child endangerment,
and the child endangerment is because of lead paint.
- That's what you write here. - Yes.
[Judy] He didn't put in the lead paint, right?
- Yes. Thinking about that. Yes. - He didn't paint it.
You don't know when it was painted? Maybe it was painted by the prior owner.
How do you know? By the way, do you have medical records of the child
that you claim has lead poisoning?
- Yes. - I'd like to see them.
[inaudible whispering]
[Judy] May I see them?
I have no idea what this says.
That's the, the piece of paper that he gave me from the hospital.
- Well, I...I don't understand. - You asked for his blood work.
I'm not a doctor so I can't...
We have something from the health department also stating
that because my son has lead... lead was found in his system,
they got involved.
[Judy] I understand that. He did not paint the apartment?
- No ma'am. - When you, just for my own curiosity,
when you bought this place, do you remember the purchase of it?
And when you purchase a property, usually there's an inspection.
- Yes. - And one of the questions
usually has to do with lead paint.
Do you remember any of that from when you purchased the property?
I didn't receive any notification of lead paint from inspectors.
Well, usually they sign off that there is no lead paint.
I don't remember seeing
'cause they never mentioned anything about it.
[Judy] Nothing about lead paint?
- No. - Okay.
Did you ever have the home tested by the way, for lead?
Only when... when we found out about my son having lead.
Okay. And do you have the test result?
[mumbling]
And there was lead found in two places, not just the bathtub.
Ms. Kelly, the issue was he didn't do any of that painting.
- Right. - He bought the place.
You had been living there for a year and a half before he bought the place.
- Right. - Right?
- Yes. - Okay, and your son was born
within that year and a half?
Well, we moved there he was six months.
[Judy] He was six months old. So you lived there for a year and a half
even before he purchased it?
- Yes ma'am. - Okay.
We did buy the things to fix the bathroom up,
and he told us to take them back . To fix the tub and everything
'cause we asked him to fix it.
So the things we had like to get the tub fixed, the flooring and everything,
he told us to take back.
How many people were living in the duplex?
- [Anvey] Our...in our apartment? - In your apartment.
- [Anvey] Four. - [Kelvin] Four.
- Four? Including the baby? - Mm-hmm.
- Yes Ma'am. - Including the baby.
- And how old's the other child? - Uh, she's 14.
Okay. Do you have that report?
[Kevin] No, this is just stating where it was at.
- The health department? - Yes. I thought that piece of paper
- that I gave you was that one. - No.
- This is just... - This doesn't say...
...this is just showing where the lead was found in the house.
How old is this duplex?
It was built in 1906. So, almost 115 years or so.
Yeah. And they certainly used lead paint then.
Possibly. Yeah. I'm not sure about it.
- [Judy] Not sure. - I don't understand about it.
Ms. Kelly, Mr. Jackson, that's not his fault.
- Mm-hmm. - [Judy] Not his fault.
So now I would like to know Mr. Yuno is suing you for rent.
And I'd like to know first, how much rent were you paying?
Seven fifty.
[Judy] And that's what you were paying under the old lease?
- Yes. - And were you current on your rent
when Mr. Yuno took over the property?
- Yes. - In November of 2020?
- Yes. - So far, correct?
That's accurate.
When did you stop paying rent?
December of 2021.
- So you paid rent for a year? - Yes ma'am.
Were you working Mr. Jackson?
Uh, yes. When I first moved in, yes, I was working two jobs.
And were you working from November of 2020 to December of 2021?
- Yes, I was. It was... I was. - For whom?
Um, I was working for TGI Friday's.
And Ms. Kelly, were you working?
No Ma'am. I'm disabled.
And how much were you receiving in pay?
I was only getting...
If you have to think about it, you don't remember.
Yeah, I wasn't getting too much 'cause it was during Covid
and I was working at a restaurant and I was only allowed to work three days
out of the week.
Okay. And what happened in December of 2021?
What happened was he already sent us a letter previously saying
that he wanted to go up on the rent to, uh...
Okay. So you had no lease anymore and he wanted to raise the rent?
- [Both] Mm-hmm. - [Judy] Okay.
I believe you.
And that was the reason that you used to try to evict them before?
Yes, that was the first one, but I don't agree with his statement.
Well, what statement don't you agree with?
[theme music playing]
[Announcer] Isaac Yuno claims his former tenants,
Anvey Kelly and Kevin Jackson,
owe for unpaid rent and property damage.
Anvey and Kevin are countersuing for child endangerment,
and a constructive eviction.
In what month was that?
- Uh, he sent it to us. I want to say... - Do you remember Mr. Yuno?
It was 90 days before the 1st of December.
So that would've been, I think, September 31st or October 31st.
That he was raising the rent to what?
To a $1,000 a month.
Effective December?
- Yes, December 1st. - And what happened in December?
We were at that time looking for a new apartment and by that time
it was higher because around that time a lot of the rent was going up
from just being like $800, $900 to $1,200 to $1,400 for rent,
you know, for a month there.
- Um... - [Judy] Don't speak.
- Okay. - And that was, you know what, why,
why we stopped paying rent because we were actually looking
for a house even when he gave me the 90 days.
Okay, so Mr. Jackson, based upon what you just told me,
sir... stop shaking your head, stop, just...
based upon what you told me, your landlord
gave you 90 days notice that if you wished to stay on,
he was raising your rent to $1,000 a month.
- Yes. - And you started to look around
- for a new place? - Yes.
And the new places were very expensive.
- Yes. - And you didn't find a place?
- No. - So you decided to stay in this place?
[Kevin] No, uh...
- So what did you do? - Yeah, well... yeah, we...
[Judy] So if you didn't find a place in December...
It was trying to stay there until we found a place.
I assumed they paid rent in September?
- Yes. - Oh, yes, yes.
- In October? - Yes.
- [Anvey] Yes. - [Judy] They paid rent in October?
- Yes. - Good.
And November?
Um, November was the last month that they paid.
- So they paid in November? - Yes.
So you stopped paying rent in December of 2021?
Yes.
- [Judy] Do... don't... - Can I say... what? Oh.
- No, you cannot. - Okay.
- If I need you I'll come to you. - Okay. Yes, ma'am.
- Okay? - Okay.
Because so far he's doing fine.
You stopped paying rent in December of 2021.
Tell me why.
We didn't wanna live there ourselves anymore either
but it was just a lot of things going on at...at the...at the house.
Like after my father passed away and he first gave us
the first eviction notice, because he gave us more, more than one.
- Just a second. - Okay. I'm sorry.
- We're, we are skipping over. - Okay.
He didn't give you an eviction notice, I assume, until you stop paying rent.
No, uh, before December, he gave us like, three of them I think.
I want... I wanna say three.
- Really? - Yes.
Why were you trying to evict them before?
They had torn up the carpet upstairs.
It was a moratorium for evictions, but there was a stipulation
that emergency evictions for nuisance tenants
could be granted before then.
Is there any reason why you took up the carpets?
Yes. The, uh, same thing before he took over the...
everything was in the house before that.
And...and we complained to the previous owner that the carpet
was already dirty. They said that they were gonna come
and shampoo it, but, but never did. Like we were walking,
our socks would be black, our feet would be black, you know,
so we wanted to take the carpet up. It was...it was dirty to us.
And, uh, I myself actually told him about it.
I went downstairs to his apartment 'cause he lived downstairs from us,
talked to him about it. He came upstairs and I showed him
a section of the carpet that wasn't even connected to the floor.
You can lift up the whole carpet and across a whole section of the wall.
And then when I did that, he seen that the hardwood looked at kind of decent
and instead of putting new carpet on, he wanted the hardwood to get sanded down
and just get...get stained and you know, and lacquered over.
- So you took the carpet off? - Yes.
I believe you.
Sounds right Mr. Yuno? Okay.
And that was the reason that you used to try to evict them before?
Yes, that was the first one, but I don't agree with his statement.
Well, what statement don't you agree with?
Well, a number of things that he said that I didn't authorize him.
We spoke, I asked him in the first meeting if there was anything that they wanted
to have spruced up or anything as a good gesture.
And they took it upon themselves to take up the carpet without my permission.
Okay. Not a huge deal. Not a huge deal.
You could use it as a huge deal if you want your tenants out
because you know you can re-rent that duplex for substantially more money.
It was more about their conduct that they were being very disturbing
behavior and just being off the wall.
So I wanted them out for a lot of reasons.
I know, but only one of them qualified under the eviction moratorium.
- Yes. For emergency of dismantling... - [laughing]
Only one... and that would've been the carpet.
Okay. Mr. Jackson?
- Yes. - I'm back to you sir.
I haven't figured out yet.
You stopped paying rent in December and you moved out in what month?
- We didn't move out until... - June.
June. June.
June. So January, February, March, April, and May,
let's say five months rent that you didn't pay, correct?
- Yes. - Why?
- [Anvey] Can I speak Your Honor? - Just no, him.
Tell me why you didn't pay the five months rent Mr. Jackson.
We just figured that, you know, well we didn't figure, we didn't wanna pay
him a $1,000 because to us...
Okay. So let's say you didn't wanna pay him a $1000.
- Mm-hmm. - Even though you just told me
finding another place would be more expensive.
- [Kevin] Mm-hmm. - Right?
You said 12, 1,400 but you didn't give him 750,
you gave him zero for those five months.
So I'm gonna come back to you Mr. Jackson.
Does your wife receive disability payments because of her disability?
- Yes. - Yes. How much a month?
- That I don't know. - Um, like, a thousand...
How much a month do you receive Ms. Kelly?
- A thousand dollars. - [Judy] $1,000?
- Mm-hmm. - And did you continue to receive
that $1,000 every month from December until June?
- Yes, ma'am. - You see? Certain things remain constant.
Your disability payments remain constant.
- [Anvey] Right. - If you live in an apartment,
and you have the same sort of income, then you pay rent.
- Right. - And if you didn't pay a $1,000
so I...I hear you... well.
- That's what he said he wanted. - Mm-hmm.
And he's the landlord and he's allowed to do that
if you are going to stay in his premises.
But you paid nothing Mr. Jackson and that's what I don't understand.
- Well, the furnace was busted... - Just a second.
- Yeah. - Ms. Kelly?
- Sorry, ma'am. - What?
[Judy] You paid nothing.
Yeah, yeah, nothing.
Where did you move in June?
Moved in the same area, like kind of, like probably 10 minutes
away from that particular street.
[Judy] Is it a private house or an apartment?
It's a house. It's a duplex as well.
[Judy] Duplex? So the same sort of setup?
- Mm-hmm. - And how much rent are you paying?
Pay, uh, $950.
So almost as much as he wanted in his rent.
But are you more comfortable in that unit?
- Yes. - Okay.
My wife walked down there and asked was he the landlord?
And he just said that he was the...the building manager.
So nobody even got rent for the month of November when we lived there.
Not him or even the previous people because he didn't even come upstairs
to introduce us.
Well, I wouldn't complain about that, sir. if... you're ahead of the game so far.
[theme music playing]
[Announcer] Isaac Yuno claims his tenants, Anvey Kelly and Kevin Jackson,
owe for unpaid rent and property damage.
Anvey and Kevin claim Isaac forced them to leave.
Now you saved over five months, let's say minimally 750.
- Hmm? - 3,750.
Thirty-seven fifty.
Now Mr. Yuno, the only question that I have to ask you is,
Mr. Jackson and Ms. Kelly say that
they filled out some sort of forms
for rent relief during Covid, and you signed it
and they say you received money from the state for any unpaid rent.
Did you receive any money from the state for rent that they didn't pay?
No, I approached them with an application, but the program that funds
the landlord relief for the moratorium
was only open for one month and it came and it went
and I missed it and I never got it. So I did have them fill out something
it was just a hardship thing, but they didn't give me the money for it.
- I never received anything. - So you didn't receive any money?
So, so far, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Jackson,
you owe Mr. Yuno $3,750 for rent
that you didn't pay while you occupied his premises.
You, your furniture, your children, I don't care what it's,
that's what you didn't pay.
And you can't save up your money and not pay your landlord.
That's his business. Just like you work for Friday's
and you get your pay when you're supposed to,
that's his business.
He bought a house, he was counting on the income
from that house to pay some of his expenses.
And you didn't pay it. Well, there's no question
that you have to pay it. Now you have a counter claim.
I've already gotten rid of "child endangerment."
House is 150 years old. "Constructive eviction."
So I'd like you to tell me your allegations of constructive eviction.
Is that like from him not doing anything to the apartment while we lived there?
[Judy] I assume, you say you were "constructively evicted."
- Yes. He, uh... - But you didn't leave?
Yeah. Yes. He has a couple text messages in here where...where he says
that he actually came up to the apartment to check things.
He...he brought a permit like, when he first got there in November,
- we didn't have a working toilet until... - Just a second.
- Yeah, I'm sorry. - So before he bought it...
- Mm-hmm. - Is that what you're telling me?
I mean, uh, not before. I'm sorry.
When he got the apartment in November, the...the previous owners...
we were trying to contact to see who we pay for rent.
Just a second here. He bought the duplex in November of 2020.
- Yes. - Is what you are telling me, Mr. Jackson
that certain things weren't working prior to his purchasing the property?
[Kevin] No, no. I'm sorry, I wanna take that back.
After he purchased it, we didn't even know he purchased it
'cause he was living downstairs.
And my wife walked down there and asked was he the landlord.
He just said that he was the building manager.
So nobody even got rent for the month of November when we lived there.
Not him or even the previous people because he didn't even come upstairs
- to introduce us. But, I'm... - [Judy] Well, I wouldn't...
Yeah, I wouldn't complain about that, you're ahead of the game so far.
- If you didn't pay rent for November. - Yeah. Yeah.
You didn't pay the prior landlord, and you didn't pay him.
So, so far you're ahead $750. Okay, keep going.
I go back to the, yeah. November, yeah.
So during November our toilet got stopped up like right before Thanksgiving.
So shortly after he purchases it.
- Yeah. - He hadn't been up in the apartment?
- Mm-mmm. - Right?
- No, not at all. - Just you, your wife,
your teenage daughter and the baby.
Yeah, and the kids.
[Judy] Okay. And the toilet got stuffed up. And?
And...and...and he brought in a plumber. And then, the guy found out
that my son put a little toy in there and he...and he actually got the toy out.
- So the toilet was broken by your son? - Mm-hmm.
Okay. So now the plumber said, here's the toy,
kid threw a toy down the toilet, not unusual. And...?
And then the very next month in December, my son didn't put anything down there,
the toilet started acting up again.
It wouldn't flush for like, all the way up until the next year.
And it never got fixed. But it was from...
Well, you had to have, sir, you lived there with three adults.
- [Kevin] Mm-hmm. - So there had to be a functioning toilet
- in the house. - It wasn't functioning.
So where did you go to use a functioning restroom?
Her mom lived up the street from us, you know, so sometimes
we would live up the street, or sometimes we would just use the toilet.
Okay. You owe him $3,750 for rent that you didn't pay.
Counterclaim's dismissed, we're finished. Thank you very much.
[Bailiff] This court is adjourned.
I had to collect money, monetary judgment through the Courts.
You know, him being a landlord, he left us living in crappy conditions.
It was unbearable situation that I was going through with the noise
and the disturbances.
Yeah. He never came up there at all to fix anything.
And the destruction of the property.
He started making up so many rules, you know, to make it uncomfortable
for us to live there.
Well, it was, um, it's pretty quiet. No.
That man is crazy. I'm glad it's over with.
You know what I think is interesting, Sarah, with these cases,
we've had a lot of them.
The forgiveness that the government wanted to show
to people who were having trouble during Covid.
You know, work related trouble, didn't have the same income
and didn't wanna have a whole bunch of dispossessed homeless people.
- It came from a good place. - Mm-hmm.
As did some of the monies that were sent out by the government
to sort of help people over a difficult time
during the height of Covid.
But then there are other people who suffer as a result of that.
Like a landlord who buys a property, a duplex property.
Part of it is in for income so that they can pay off mortgage taxes,
lawn service, whatever you have to pay on a house.
And then the defendants who really had no changed circumstances
that they indicated to me, he was working,
she was getting whatever she gets from disability,
which is not insubstantial.
I don't know if they get any other assistance for any of their other children
but certainly they moved into a place that's more expensive now
That's not far away. They just decided not to pay rent.
And I don't think that that is the spirit of what the...
either the federal government or the states who enacted it
meant to happen because the plaintiff owner of this property has rights too.
- Yeah. - You've taken away a right of his.
I agree to an extent,
but I also think that that's more a problem
on the government's implementation of the moratorium in the first place.
That's what ended up hurting the landlord.
These people were simply taking advantage of a legal loophole
that was created for them.
He was in the restaurant business, which as we know
was one of the toughest hit by Covid.
- [Judy] Right. - She was on a fixed income
that wouldn't be enough to cover... well, barely enough to cover the rent
on its own. And then they have to support themselves,
feed themselves. They have two children.
- Mm-hmm. - So I'm sympathetic towards
the taking advantage of a legal loophole.
So I don't know if I was in your position, I might have decided differently.
- Okay. - But that's okay. Agree to disagree.
- That sometimes happens. - Yeah.
[theme music playing]
[Announcer] Have you been cheated? Go to JudyJustice.tv.