The woman who lived in a rented house in the 7400 block of Warner Avenue in Richmond Heights, and whose former landlord took her to court for non-payment of rent, lost her case, she reported on Thursday.
She had said the landlord, Robert Tufts of Columbia, MO, never fixed problems in the house like mushroom-like mold in the basement and water dripping through the ceiling, eventually causing it to fall. She had called him a ‘slumlord.’ She wanted her name withheld for this article.
She stopped paying rent, telling Tufts she’ll pay when the house is up to code — “when things aren’t falling and breaking.”
Contacted Thursday, she said the court appearance went ‘awful,’ and that Tufts is suing her for $5,300. She said he took her to court on an unlawful detainer (because it was about her not paying last month’s rent) so she couldn’t show evidence she had that the house hadn’t been maintained.
She said she plans to get a lawyer and take him to small claims court, and that it has to be done separately because there is no counter suing in an unlawful detainer.
“That’s ok. I’m not letting him get away with this,” she said.