Harry And Melanie Smith - Landlords are Scum Ripoff Saraland Alabama

I moved in a beautiful, newly renovated home in Saraland in March of 2003. For 1 year the house was great. About 16 months after I moved in a hurricane came and I noticed that the roof leaked in the dining room, one of the bedrooms and in the master bedroom. I called the Owner Harry Smith and warned him of this, he said he would come by and look at it. The next time it rained I called him again, and again he said he would come by and look at it. This went on for several months.

One night I was putting my 7 year old son to bed and saw that there was mold on the ceiling of his room. I called Harry Smith again and he asked if he and his wife and children could come by. When they arrived his wife began yelling that I should have contacted them sooner. I explained to her that I had spoken with her husband several times about this. He of course denied it.

A month later, on a Friday in January, I was leaving the house to pick up my children from school and saw a note attached to my mailbox. I got out and was furious with what I saw. It was a second eviction notice!! It stated that I had 10 days from the date of the notice to vacate the premises voluntarily or the Sheriff's department would arrive at the home. The 10th day was the day before. I didn't know what to do. I called the number to the sheriff's department and the lady told me that I had to vacate the premises if I didn't want the sheriff's department to throw my things out. I told her that I wanted a copy of the original 1st and 2nd notices. She said that it could take weeks to get me that information. So I called Melanie Smith, and she said that if I would have notified them of the leaky roof sooner it wouldn't have come to this and that she had no idea why I didn't get my 1st notice of eviction. Again, I explained to her that I had informed her husband several times and she said if I didn't have a receipt of a certified letter mailed to them that I couldn't prove I had told them.

That Friday night and all day Saturday I packed up the entire 4 bedroom house by myself and moved all of my things into a storage room on Sunday. Me and my 2 children had to stay with friends and family for several months. I tried to rent an apartment only to find out that this was also reported on my background report. What a con artist. I paid 800.00 in rent for the month of January and only stayed in the house 11 days that month, and he kept my 1,000.00 deposit.

I called my attorney and he said that because I paid the man in cash there was nothing I could do. I also had no proof that I had informed him of the damage prior to these events.

This man and his wife, who works in the business office for Mobile Infirmary, are the worst landlords I have ever known. If you ever meet these people RUN the other way. They will steal your money just like they have many others in the Saraland area.

Julie
Saraland, Alabama
U.S.A.