Elderly couple facing eviction days before holiday in battle with new landlord over 100% rent increase
An elderly couple who have been injured in horrible falls and have cancer is frantically looking for a new apartment before they are forced to leave.
After 17 years in their Vermont apartment, Bob Stange, 85, and his wife, Cindy Anne Packard-Stange, 65, had their rent increased by a new landlord.
They were already searching for a new location without steps, but they were unable to locate any affordable one-story apartments.
They still have only worried fears after more than 200 viewings in the White River Junction area, which is around an hour northwest of Concord, New Hampshire.
Cindy Anne told VT Digger, “Nobody would touch us with a 10-foot pole.”
The Stanges have been paying a fair $800 in rent for the last ten years and haven’t signed a new lease.
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However, Amy Voorhees purchased their building in March, and on March 15th, she raised the rent to $1,7000.
Voorhees had the authority to evict them without reason because they were not bound by a lease.
She asked them to vacate the house within two weeks after they were unable to sign the contract.
After hiring a lawyer, the couple is battling in court to be together until they find someone more suitable. As long as the lawsuit is pending, they cannot be evicted.
In October, Bob suffered a severe fall on the stairs of their apartment while working as a janitor.
As he battles bladder, blood, and skin cancer, he remains in the hospital with pneumonia and internal bleeding.
We were threatened with eviction while on vacation, belongings were turfed out even though we paid rent on time
The couple’s pro bono attorney, Rachel Batterson, worries that their health issues and landlord conflict have made it hard for them to find a new residence.
“When you have ongoing litigation, it’s very hard to get in the door in this market,” stated Batterson, who is employed by Vermont Legal Aid.
“It’s not unusual for landlords to refuse to rent to a tenant even if there’s an eviction and they won.”
According to Batterson, the Stanges have experienced discrimination due to their age and health.
How can your home be sold without your consent?
There are other reasons why your house can be sold without you, but here are three important ones to watch out for:
Tax Sale
- A tax sale is the sale of property by a governmental entity to recover unpaid taxes by the owner who has reached a certain point of delinquency in their owed payments.
- Before a tax sale takes place, there is a right-of-redemption period where the owner can pay off their debt and reclaim their home.
- Each state has different laws surrounding tax sales but in most areas, the basic requirement is that adequate notice is given to the owner to pay the outstanding money, and any sale must be open to the public.
The foreclosure process
- Foreclosures can take place when lenders take control of a property after borrowers have failed to make their repayments.
- Borrowers will receive a Notice of Default, triggering the foreclosure process.
- Homeowners in HOA communities can also see their homes foreclosed by their HOA for falling behind on fees.
- This means that even if you keep up with mortgage repayments, you could still lose your home if your HOA has a lien on your property.
- When such a foreclosure takes place, the sale price only needs to be enough to cover the HOA debt meaning that properties can be sold for much less than they are worth.
Fraud involving Property
- Criminals can use a fake or stolen ID to impersonate a homeowner in order to sell or mortgage homes.
- Typical targets for property fraud include absent owners like landlords, owners who live abroad, and sole owners of unmortgaged homes.
- The U.S. Sun previously reported on a man whose vacation home worth $300,000 was sold by criminals for just $9,000 – they even had the deed to the property.
Cindy Anne is afraid that landlords see them as a liability because she also had a horrific fall in the apartment.
Todd Steadman, a family lawyer, is Voorhees’s attorney. He has not yet spoken publicly on the situation.
Steadman has been contacted by the U.S. Sun for any developments regarding the legal dispute.
If Voorhees is able to prove her case, the judge may order the Stanges to vacate the property in one to two weeks.
For now, the couple is working with a homeless shelter to have beds ready in case they still don’t have a new home.
Though the future looks grim, Cindy Anne hopes her story can be a reminder that elderly tenants still deserve respect.
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“Me and Bob feel so bad about being old,” she stated.
“That is one of the reasons why I’m going through with this, because I want people to know how hurtful this is, that you can be treated in a way that makes you feel like nobody wants you.”
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