grr stupid landlord

[itsmetiggy]

k i havent posted here in awhile but i have to...moved in dec to help a friend pay his rent...started working for his boss in feb...friend was havin some problems and took off to oklahoma and stuck me with the $800 in rent...no big deal fiance told boss <who was also our landlord> that he would step up and make sure the rent got paid....all well and good till about a week and a half ago when we found out our "landlord" didnt use the $800 we gave him for rent to pay the owner of the property so we get a 3 day notice to pay or get out....boss/landlord is tellin us "dont worry about it youre paid till the end of the month" well i had fiance call the owner and talk to him...owner says rent hadnt been paid and is never paid on time...then comes the eviction summons...didnt have the extra money to deposit with the court with our response so we found a new place to live <lease was up the end of the month anyway> so we tell boss that since he owes us 800 bucks we no longer work for him...and so started a huge battle with him...now he is holdin our last paychecks that we were couting on usin to help move and told fiance saturday when i had him go check the mail <to get the child support check i was waiting on> that we wont be gettin any mail....so now he is holdin my check...he knows we dont have the money to sue him even in small claims court...we are behind on my car payment and our furniture payments....he has $1200 of ours we were couting on...they are telling me we cant get food stamps because he wont fill out the loss of employment paperwork...he lied to drivetime <where i got my car> and told them i wasnt working for him when i bought the car <which i have a check stub that says otherwise> fiance is still waiting to start truck driving again so we arent gonna catch up anytime soon....ive been sick so havent been able to job hunt as much as i would like...the only good thing is we have a roof over our heads...thanks for listenin yall

[Quaker_Parrots]

He can't hold your pay. Call your local Department of labor. Also, if he is holding your mail, that is a Federal offense, you need to contact your local Post Office.

Never pay cash for rent, you don't have proof it was paid. If you have a checking account write a check, if not, get money orders(probabaly would have to get 2 with rent that high--don't know what the ammount limits are)

Also, was the "boss" holding taxes out of your pay? If yes, you need to check with the IRS at the end of the quarter to make sure he was actually paying it in to them(along with SS(FICA) and Medicaid) If he wasn't, he can get into big trouble over that, especially the SS. My uncle ran a business, and collected SS from his employees, and never paid it in. He was not allowed to draw his SS when the time came.

[itsmetiggy]

this has all happened this weekend so we have to make the calls today...department of labor is already after him for withholding lunch breaks that were never taken...but they said it takes time there are a bunch of cases in front of him...theyve already had 6 other people complaining about him n told us we have to take him to small claims to get our checks....have to call the post office today to turn him in there..he has a bunch of my ex-roomies mail too...puts it in his "employee file" :rolleyes: he has some real issues...i never had a lease with him so he knows he wouldnt get any money for the trailer in court so he figures he'll just keep the checks

[Quaker_Parrots]

Does he know the labor board is on him? You would think if he did, he would release the checks. (also, I edited my original post, check the last paragraph above--you might can get him on some other charges)

[itsmetiggy]

he does know...but thinks since they havent gotten him yet he is in the right...yea he was taken taxes out but we found out from one of the other employess wives that did a background check on him he was wanted for tax evasion so he probably wasnt payin them here either....labor board said he cant hold our checks for anything other than work related stuff but he is sayin his lawyer told him differently...told him to do the right thing and give us our checks and take us to court for anything he thinks we owe him but he wont...says he wants us to start that so he can make us look stupid in court..

[schsa]

The labor board should go after him. Not you. Let them call him and intervene. If you go to court the courts can order him to pay you but then you still have to go after him again to collect and that means taking out a warrant for his arrest.

[mnvdriver]

If he is holding your mail, contact the local postmaster and have them also contact the police if need be.

[iluvmybaby]

Hope this got worked out to your favor!

[itsmetiggy]

we just left the PO...lady says she doesnt think he is dumb enough to hold our mail..i laughed at her...i was like ummm ive seen him hold his other employees mail that came to that house....i know he has no qualms about keepin mine...all she did was give us another change of addy and was gonna see what the carrier can do for us since i cant really prove he has the mail...bleh he will get his...karma will come back to bite him in the butt big time

[Quaker_Parrots]

Call 1800-askusps (think that is the right one.) you need to go over the lady at the PO head, evidentally she doesn't really care.