Scott Mayo
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Colorado
I recently moved myself, my girlfriend and her two children into a house outside Montrose. I paid for the electricity upfront. The landowner stated that it would be around 75.00/mo. so I handed him $150.00 upfront to cover two months. He agreed to let us live here on a trial basis for two months without paying any rent or deposit on the condition that I work on his house to get it in a condition where he could rent it out. He stated that we could move into the other apartment next door when the house was ready to rent out...and that there was another apartment downstairs that would be available when that first apartment was ready to rent out.
The whole agreement was sealed with a handshake and no contract or writing. The only prof I have of this agreement was the witnesses including my girlfriend and the two people that introduced me to him. The people who introduced me to him are upstanding members of the christian community in Paonia and claim to have known him for over 30yrs.
After I spent 95 hours working on this house; Installing kitchen cabinets, stove/oven, bathroom plumbing for bathtub, toilet, sink, plumbing and cabinet for the kitchen sink, he started telling me that I have to find somewhere else to live. He said he no longer had any money to make improvements on the house and couldn't let us stay in any of the other apartments. I immediately stopped working on his house and began looking for work in the area. I found a job two weeks later and started going to work every day but every time I'd leave for work the landowner would come to the house and begin harrassing my girlfriend. He keeps getting in her face and screaming obscinities at her in front of the kids. He told us to be out of his house by this weekend which is a total of five weeks we've been living here. Two days ago, when he was screaming at my girlfriend to get out and go to a homeless shelter and harrassing her about where we will be going this weekend, she told him to talk to me about it because she stays at home with the kids and I handle our financial obligations. Instead of waiting for me to get home, he called the sheriff to the house and had him threaten us with a three day notice. The sheriff told my girlfriend that if we were still here on monday morning that he would arrest us for burglary and take our children to foster care.
We are moving into a hotel tonight and my question to you is: Isn't there some law that protects people from this kind of fraud? I plan to file a complaint with the building department because I know he hasn't pulled any permits for the new plumbing or electric panels he has installed nor for the change of supports in the basement or the digging of the basement. Can I also file a lien against the work I did when he defaulted on payment? Is it likely that I would win a civil suit for harassment if I have plenty of witnesses? Is there any way to recover any of the money for the electricity we paid in advance for?
I recently moved myself, my girlfriend and her two children into a house outside Montrose. I paid for the electricity upfront. The landowner stated that it would be around 75.00/mo. so I handed him $150.00 upfront to cover two months. He agreed to let us live here on a trial basis for two months without paying any rent or deposit on the condition that I work on his house to get it in a condition where he could rent it out. He stated that we could move into the other apartment next door when the house was ready to rent out...and that there was another apartment downstairs that would be available when that first apartment was ready to rent out.
The whole agreement was sealed with a handshake and no contract or writing. The only prof I have of this agreement was the witnesses including my girlfriend and the two people that introduced me to him. The people who introduced me to him are upstanding members of the christian community in Paonia and claim to have known him for over 30yrs.
After I spent 95 hours working on this house; Installing kitchen cabinets, stove/oven, bathroom plumbing for bathtub, toilet, sink, plumbing and cabinet for the kitchen sink, he started telling me that I have to find somewhere else to live. He said he no longer had any money to make improvements on the house and couldn't let us stay in any of the other apartments. I immediately stopped working on his house and began looking for work in the area. I found a job two weeks later and started going to work every day but every time I'd leave for work the landowner would come to the house and begin harrassing my girlfriend. He keeps getting in her face and screaming obscinities at her in front of the kids. He told us to be out of his house by this weekend which is a total of five weeks we've been living here. Two days ago, when he was screaming at my girlfriend to get out and go to a homeless shelter and harrassing her about where we will be going this weekend, she told him to talk to me about it because she stays at home with the kids and I handle our financial obligations. Instead of waiting for me to get home, he called the sheriff to the house and had him threaten us with a three day notice. The sheriff told my girlfriend that if we were still here on monday morning that he would arrest us for burglary and take our children to foster care.
We are moving into a hotel tonight and my question to you is: Isn't there some law that protects people from this kind of fraud? I plan to file a complaint with the building department because I know he hasn't pulled any permits for the new plumbing or electric panels he has installed nor for the change of supports in the basement or the digging of the basement. Can I also file a lien against the work I did when he defaulted on payment? Is it likely that I would win a civil suit for harassment if I have plenty of witnesses? Is there any way to recover any of the money for the electricity we paid in advance for?