• Chozo@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    What’s their plan going to be when the evictions inevitably go to court? Not trying to make a statement or anything, just genuinely curious what they’re going to do if/when the sheriffs’ deputies start rolling up and drilling out their locks and dragging out their furniture.

    • ProdigalFrogOPA
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      2 months ago

      From what I’ve been able to find in my short time researching this, many states allow tenets to withhold rent from their landlord if the landlord fails to make a rental habitable.

      There are a couple options here.

      1. You simply stop paying rent entirely. In some states, a failure to make a home habitable is grounds for a tenet to prematurely terminate their lease. The landlord can still try to evict you, but this is often a drawn out process, and the entire time the property will be burning a hole in their pocket. This is ultimately a gamble that the property owner will choose to repair the property as the most cost-effective solution, and to avoid potentially being sued for uninhabitable conditions (but that assumes the tenants can collectively afford to sue them). Also, the tenets could appeal the eviction, citing the uninhabitable conditions to a judge, and hope that the Judge sides with them and negates the eviction despite the lack of paid rent.

      1. You and your fellow tenets continue to make rent payments to a court, a neutral third party, or an escrow account set up by a local court or housing agency, which withholds payment from the landlord until the repairs are accomplished.. This is legal in many states, which would make the rent strike legally protected, and make an eviction attempt null (as far as I can tell, I’m not a lawyer!)
      • chingadera@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You’re right, that is what the law says.

        But never ever forget, the law is meant to protect people with property first, protect property second, and protect people without property third.

        Lastly, police are not at all required to protect anyone, much less follow the law.

        • ProdigalFrogOPA
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          2 months ago

          You’re absolutely right, and I don’t mean to imply it’s just a matter of the law being there, and the rest will be easy. The deck will forever be stacked against those most vulnerable.

          But it does show it’s not a hopeless inevitability, and I think most people just assume it is. We have the tools to fight back, even though it will be hard fought.

          • chingadera@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Agreed, I didn’t comment to say you’re wrong, just more so “you’re right and” and it looks like you did the same.

            Keep spreading the word.

  • psycho_driver@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    FYI I spent fifteen years as a property manager for one of the bigger development/rental companies in the US and represented them hundreds of times in court in four different states. Judges are generally pretty hostile to tenants unless you bring a really solid case, and even then, if the landlord is making an effort to address your grievances they’re most likely going to side with the landlord (in my experience).

  • uhmbah@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Thanks for posting the vid.

    What would be really convenient is if you included the YouTube link in your post text. That way I can copy and paste it into new pipe on my mobile device.

    • ProdigalFrogOPA
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      2 months ago

      Added! :)

      Though I should mention Freetube is available for Android as well, and libredirect should work with it, eliminating the need to manually copy and paste links.