Let me explain the Gas situation first here since it was the first one I mentioned.
When I moved to this apartment, I thought I had an awesome Landlady. Her name was Roseland Fernandez. She appeared kind and understanding. All was well until I started getting Gas bills. A hundred here a hundred there. Doesn't sound too steep. But that was pushing the limits to my income, not to mention the electric bill. It was a struggle to keep up with both.
The gas bill begins to rise as the seasons changed, and the gas company would raise it higher and higher every year, but early on it got too difficult. I had to choose food over gas, or electric over gas, school clothes over gas, school supplies over gas, and it just started to roll out of control. Before I know it, the bill was so high, I couldn't touch it, and the man that was living with me wouldn't help at all. he only concerned himself with the electric bill, because his name was on it.
Time passed and it just kept mounting up. I took it to IHEAP for help, well because it was still on, they would only pay a small amount, which didn't help at all. My income couldn't handle it. Mind you I was on a fixed income most of the time. though I did work, it was remedial and didn't pay nothing.
A year 2 years ago, they came and shut it off. I thought that was great, now IHEAP will help, so I ran to IHEAP, filled out the paperwork, when I got home the people who lived in the basement apartment, and broke off the seal on the meter thinking they were doing me a favor.
Needless to say, I was livid, but I didn't show it, cause the damage was done. The gas company had to tell IHEAP there was gas at my house so I didn't get any help.
So time passed, and Tanja, the woman in the basement called me downstairs to show me something. She showed me how the Landlady had the gaslines rigged so I would be paying for the dryer she had down there that I wasn't even allowed to use, and when they shut off the gas, there was no heat for the dryer. So that tells you I was paying for building functions I didn't have access to.
Because the meter was in the basement, it was difficult for the gas company to get to it, even to read it.
So, one day, they showed up a year later and there was new people renting the basement portion, they let them in and they took the meter. Then guess what happened, no one had hot water to bath in. So, Malkum, the man who now lived on the first floor and rents the basement and Garage, is a building contractor, he then rigged it so the building got hot water on his water tank instead.
Don't ask me why she had 2 hot water tanks but the whole building was using only one. That puzzled me too.
I do know that I was also heating the basement as well.
So in this building there were 2 legal apartments, and one illegal apartment.
But anyway, by the time they took the meters the bill was ridiculasly high. So I took it back to IHEAP/CEDA. The lady who was filling out the paper work insisted I bring in the Electric bill. I expalined to her its not in my name, she said that was fine, but I told her I know it isn't. She demanded I bring it in so they can take care of both bills. Not surpizing when I called to check up on the status, I got someone who was lets say sort of dense, and called me by my boyfriends last name. I told him I wasn't married to him, and he kept asking me if I was Regina Ramirez, and I was like "What?" I just told him who I was, and I never signed that as my name, but he was stuck on that.
So now I am here a year later, sitting without Gas to cook with, or heat my apartment.
My Lawyer was supposed to help me with it. But got caught up with trying to save my Housing Voucher. Well, that's another post. Needless to say, he never took care of it.
I'll explain more later.