My family needed a place to live temporarily, until we move cross-country. A friend offered to rent us the upper half of his huge old family home for $400/month, no deposit, utilities included, and we'd share the kitchen and bathroom. We agreed and moved in. There is no written lease or rental agreement of any kind. (Yes, I know. We all do stupid things sometimes.)
What he didn't tell us before we moved in is that he has no occupancy permit to live in the house, and is stealing water services because the house isn't up to code and the city won't turn it on. This also means we have no trash service. I've suggested private companies he could contact for waste removal, and he won't do it because of the lack of occupancy permit. Instead, he burns it or illegally dumps it in someone else's dumpster. I won't even begin to get into his idea of "clean."
To make matters worse, he didn't tell us that we wouldn't be able to use half of our electronics (we're freelancers who work from home), and that he shut the heat off in the main part of the house during winter to save on the gas bill. The three tiny heaters that we can run without flipping the circuit breaker don't heat sufficiently.
It's about 40 degrees in the house now. We are DESPERATE to get out of this situation; it's no way to live, much less with a toddler. We're saving money so we can move, but work has been hard to come by and the saving is slow.
Are there any resources in Missouri where we can turn for help?
We don't want to get stuck in year-long lease because we plan to move cross-country, but we're desperate to get out as soon as possible, and we can't yet afford a long-distance move. I'm grateful to have a roof over our heads, but I'm so disgusted by the roof we're stuck with.
What he didn't tell us before we moved in is that he has no occupancy permit to live in the house, and is stealing water services because the house isn't up to code and the city won't turn it on. This also means we have no trash service. I've suggested private companies he could contact for waste removal, and he won't do it because of the lack of occupancy permit. Instead, he burns it or illegally dumps it in someone else's dumpster. I won't even begin to get into his idea of "clean."
To make matters worse, he didn't tell us that we wouldn't be able to use half of our electronics (we're freelancers who work from home), and that he shut the heat off in the main part of the house during winter to save on the gas bill. The three tiny heaters that we can run without flipping the circuit breaker don't heat sufficiently.
It's about 40 degrees in the house now. We are DESPERATE to get out of this situation; it's no way to live, much less with a toddler. We're saving money so we can move, but work has been hard to come by and the saving is slow.
Are there any resources in Missouri where we can turn for help?
We don't want to get stuck in year-long lease because we plan to move cross-country, but we're desperate to get out as soon as possible, and we can't yet afford a long-distance move. I'm grateful to have a roof over our heads, but I'm so disgusted by the roof we're stuck with.