Timothy Klotz Tim Failure to make repairs. Didn't return security deposit. Utica New York

My family moved in on June 2014 not knowing that he was the landlord who owned the James St. property that burned down. We gave him 650.00 dollrs in rent and 650.00 dollars security. When he first showed us the apt. there were people still living in it and all seemed on the up and up,but when we actually moved in it was the total opposite of what it looked like the first time. It reeked of cat urine,the rugs were filthy,the refrigerator was in poor condition and he refused to get us a new one forcing us to buy our own. There was mice running in and out from the stove and the walls needed painting in which he only gave us half of a 5 gallon pail of paint. He mowed the grass for the first few months and then he just stopped showing up altogether even when I called to pay him his rent. Then we get a notice from the city stating that he had gone into foreclosure and that we were to pay rent to the city instead of Tim. Winter time came around and we found out the hard way that the furnace was no good and that also forced us to spend the entire winter running space heaters in every room resulting in an inflated electric bill. Adding that he never returned our security deposit resulting in us having to come up with another security deposit for the new owner. The basement is also in horrible shape as well because I tried to go down there,but we couldn't get far due to the fact that there was no light and the floors were weak with the pipes leaking water.