Ohio renter for 7 years
I've lived at my rental unit for 7 years now. in that time I have been late with rent only twice and I've given heads up to the landlord both times. I paid the late fees and have paid up all owed rent. I've submitted only 4 work orders in those 7 years for minor repairs. In those 7 years I haven't had any complaints from any neighbors or police callings keeping quiet and to myself.
my landlord however...
destroyed my bbq grill while trimming the lawn 3 years ago and I did nothing.
tossed rocks while trimming dinging the paint job on my car.
let the property driveway and parking lot go to hell with deep deep potholes everywhere causing my car to throw a control rod which I had repaired at my own expense.
he has several times burst into my apartment without permission or notice saying he doesn't need it because he owns the property. sometimes without me even present and with no reason.
he demands since he pays the water portion of our utilities that we use very little water or he will charge us for the excess even so much that we can't take a shower but once a week and do laundry once a month.
he has continuously cut back on trash service to save him money to the point that over 100 people living in the 1 location has only 2 bins that hold 48 of the kitchen sized trash bags and we aren't allowed to pile them past the lip of the bin or around it. he's scaled back from 2 pick ups a week down to 1 and lies claiming he never had more than 1 pick up a week.
the property has been overwhelmed with stray cats and a flea problem which he says isn't his problem.
he has removed all work orders so we can't report problems in writing we have to verbally bring anything to the on site manager and she decides if its important enough to write up.
he has made it clear that if anyone complains or tries to do anything that cost him any money at all, he will evict and he has made it clear he doesn't care he has a line of people waiting to get into here and he owns hundreds of properties so he won't even notice an empty unit... yet he complains when he has to spend a dime.
I'm a disabled vet and I'm physically unable to move on my own, when I moved in I had an income from a job that I used to pay for a service, but my job closed and went out of business thanks to covid and now section 8 pays my rent and utilities. they won't pay for a move so if I'm evicted I'm screwed. he knows this. he's holding me hostage in my own situation. what can I do? he has all the rights and even if I could sue him which I don't have the money to do... he won't pay up he is in the upper wealth class and knows how to dodge court rulings as he has done it many times from people suing him. am I just screwed here? the only thing I know to do is to cause him hardship that will cost him money but he can't tie to me, but if I do that he may just raise everyone's rent and screw everyone over feeling no pain.