Posted on 12/17/2013 8:04:19 AM PST by Siouxz
My family is in urgent need of prayers. Our landlord unexpectly sold the farm we had been renting with an eye toward rent-to-own. New owner will not even speak to us. Wants us out of his new weekend retreat before January 3. No compromise. He is completely within his legal rights to do this, btw. I am talking about 7 people, including 2 preschoolers, becoming homeless on a Kentucky Appalachian mountaintop in January. We have a cow ready to calve any day now, 3 horses, and farming hand tools we have been gathering for several years. If we and our possessions are not out of the house by the 3rd, we will lose everything we have been working for and have to squat in the woods somewhere in our camper, car, and with only the clothes on our backs. We thought we had caught a break yesterday when an old man told us we could stay in this unfinished farmhouse (Just a shell-no water, electricity, or heat. Uninhabitable by today's standards, but we could have made it work). My sons went to meet him last night and he never showed. Now we cannot contact him by phone. We are not ones to rely on assistance from the government. It kills the soul. But this situation is too much to bear. Until we went through 6 cars in a year and could no longer afford reliable transportation for my 126 mile round trip every day, I was a cardio-thoracic operating room nurse. Don't ever think this cannot happen to you. We have personally seen God make a way where there was no way. But I would be lying if I said our faith is not being severely tested right now. Please pray that God would see us safely through this trial. Our only desires are to remain together, be warm, keep our cow for food, and be able to grow a large garden. The extra stuff doesn't matter. Please pray for us. God bless and Merry Christmas.
OOPS! Forgot- Prayers Up!
“I am beside myself with stress”
Know what you mean. Something similar happened to us last year. We didn’t have animals or tools, though.
We prayed, and God provided. I pray He will do the same for you.
“But you’ve paid for the government’s upkeep all your working lives, so collect some of what you’ve been paying for- temporarily. There’s no shame in taking charity, but even less in taking some of what is owed to you.”
With you on that.
Prayers for peace of mind and the wisdom to take heed of some great responses by many caring FReepers.
I expect you are overwhelmed by the attitude of the ‘new’ owner - praying that they will see reason and behave like human beings in your time of trouble. Otherwise - I agree with many of the comments: check with local landowners who might barter for rent/labor exchange, local county housing/welfare help, farming associations, legal advice and realtors.
That same thing happened to me. The circumstances were a little different, but essentially ended the same way. Trying to find a place to move with three days left to go and no vehicle. A miracle did happen so I am praying very hard for you and your family that G-d helps you find a way.
5.56mm
I don’t know how we’ve handled pleas such as this in the past, but considering the poster has been on fr since 98... I think many of us would be happy to help them get on their feet.
Perhaps Siouxz has a paypal acct where a donation could be sent?
I have been in a similar situation. Please make sure your take on your legal rights is correct. I am very, very sorry you have been given this burden. I am praying for you and will continue to do so.
Prayers for a Christmas miracle for you and yours.
Not sure where in Kentucky you are, but you may find some assistance (legal, housing, etc.) from “Christian Appalachian Project”.
The Christian Appalachian Project operates ALL over that region I think, but concentrated in eastern Kentucky. Contact below:
PO Box 55911
Lexington, KY 40555-5911
Fax: (859) 269-0617
Toll Free: 1-866-270-4CAP (4227)
http://www.christianapp.org/contact/
The other thing I would say, based on old news accounts and FR posts:
DON'T LEAVE YOUR CURRENT HOME EMPTY. HAVE SOMEONE THERE ALWAYS.
Other posts have talked about buying time by not leaving which is probably a reasonable idea. But the new owner could do something similar. It would be terrible if the new owner came by tomorrow, or waited while the one person left at home left to run a “quick” errand, and put a chain on the gate and a padlock on the door and said “No more renters!”
Their actions might be illegal, but you would have to fight it out on the curb.
“Perhaps Siouxz has a paypal acct where a donation could be sent?”
Umm, how do we know this isn’t a scam? Personally. My poopie detector has been pinging on this. Just saying......
Prayers up, at the very least for you to be able to view, and use all of the great advice here!!
Dear Lord, please keep watch over this family, and help the new owners to see reason.
Tatt
If you have a lease I believe the new owner must honor it.
What you suggest the landlord may do is illegal. Lockouts are not legal.
From my post:
“Their actions might be illegal, but you would have to fight it out on the curb.”
I’m just thinking of that jerk that found homes where the people were gone on vacations, looked at some loophole, moved in while they are gone - and now has 10 homes that way!
I had a friend that had a property line dispute, and when he came home from work the neighbor had put in a chain-link fence across his driveway and down half his yard! He had to park on the street for a few months while he fought it in court (and won). Crazy!
Prayers!
I certainly hope a miracle happens for you and your family
There is no such thing as “rent-to-own”. If you are a nurse, you should be making enough money to rent something.
Meanwhile, wait until he starts eviction. He has to give you time.
Why do you feel if someone else takes physical action that you must only take legal action?
Depends on what the action against me is. If I rented a house from a guy, the guy sells the house and the new owner evicts me I would take action and make sure someone stays in the house until I get things sorted out. Maybe even add a few padlocks on the inside of my own.
But if I left the house (which isn’t mine) and have been evicted (but haven’t moved out yet) and come home and the locks are changed, it would only make it worse to start breaking down the door to get back into “my” place.
(An aside - I’ve always wondered about those guys on TV that repossess cars, if it was me I would be shooting. Of course I don’t owe any money on my truck, so would assume it was being stolen.)
I know my mom had to evict some people years ago from a rental property and it was REALLY hard for her to do with all of the legal protections for the renters. (Even though they were trashing the place, behind on rent, etc.) So I hope that it is the same case here. Even a quick study of the laws on the net or the local library would give an idea of renter’s rights, and then a call or meeting with the Sheriff might buy some time.
From the initial discussion it sounds like the living arrangements might have been pretty loose. Perhaps no rental agreement, etc. So not sure how that plays into the law.
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