Problems with landlord force woman to build her own home

Nov 19, 2015 News

Almost every morning, sometimes as early as eight, the tap tapping sound of hammer on nail could be heard through a narrow street in La Parfaite Harmonie community. Upon checking the source of the sound one

Home being built by Hyacinth and her son

would see on most days, a middle aged woman with her son, sometimes with a contractor, building a house out of secondhand materials.
On approaching the woman, you realize that she is extremely friendly. Within minutes you get the story behind her efforts to build her own home.
A tenant in a Goed Fortuin apartment for four years, 54-year-old Hyacinth Audrey Stoby, on the verge of tears, related the troubles she has had with her landlords and the reasons that forced her to abandon the apartment after she became a victim of verbal abuse and unhealthy living conditions.
She first began living in the home with her eldest son who consequently got married. He urged her to remain in the apartment rather than seek a new place to reside.
Things at first went well; she would often clean the yard, plant flowers and paint in an effort to beautify her surroundings. As such, many neighbors would say to her, “You’re the best tenant these people have ever had.”
Hyacinth admitted that before, if there was any problem with the apartment, the landlords would fix it. One time one of the landlords had neglected to turn off a pipe and it flooded the apartment but it was quickly fixed by them.
However, related Hyacinth, when they began to have problems with the septic tank on the lot, things quickly took a turn for the worse. She related that at first they thought it was just a problem with the toilet as whenever it was flushed, dirty water would often come up and run over into the house.
They sent a plumber to fix it but when it continued to happen, she had her son inspect the toilet and they realized that the septic tank was overflowing and the water and refuse from it was coming back into the house.
After waste from the septic tank kept coming up, they told the landowners again. He called Pooran’s to extract the septic tank but the company had cancelled and neglected to tell them. As such, the family had to endure the filth for a while and when they realized no one was coming to clean it, they did it themselves.
She related that with the filth also came crapaud and worms. “It was disgusting,” she said. At the time, her pregnant daughter had also been residing at the home with her for several months. After the toilet kept overflowing, she said that her daughter voiced her concerns over the state in which they had to live in the presence of the landlady.
“She just ask me, ‘Mommy, is this here we gotta live in all the time.’ The landlady was right there and she hear and that’s when she start off. ‘Ms Audrey, we ain’t rent yuh daughter house, we rent you house.’
They started with the cursing and saying how they would kick the baby out of meh daughter.”
At this point the woman was visibly crying as she recounted the ordeal her pregnant daughter of five months had to go through.
“They came and grab up all my flower plants and wanted to throw them on my daughter. I had to stand up in front of the door to protect her. Neighbours were outside witnessing this but none offered any assistance.”
Hyacinth said that she called the Police. No one ever came.
When they were finished, she said, they brought a paper from their lawyer stating that if the daughter continued to reside in the apartment, she would have to pay an extra $10,000 every three weeks, in addition to the normal $25,000. In confusion she admitted, she signed the document. She now however cannot afford to pay her lawyer to deal with the matter.
“I gotta pay light bill, water bill and I gotta pay to weed the yard plus garbage truck. Where am I getting that money from as a single parent?”
They told her that if she can’t pay the $10,000 she should move out. She has not paid it as she simply cannot afford it.
She stated that in 2002 she had applied to Food for the Poor since 2002 for a single parent home but they had her on “a run around.”
Acknowledging the fact that the environment was no longer good for her and her children, she stated that she decided to finally begin construction on the plot of land she owned in La Parfaite Harmonie. She said that to begin construction, she had to sell her one ounce gold chain.
She said that so far, she has been surviving by the mercy of God, friends and family. Her sister, upon learning of her plans to begin building her home told her to demolish her shop (the sister’s) structure to use the materials from it.
Friends help her by often buying materials and often, her son would take a day job to assist in buying materials for the home.
She often employs a contractor to work alongside her and her son but only does this when she has money. “When I ain’t get money to pay the man I can’t tell him come ‘cause you can’t tell people to come work and not pay them.”
Currently, Hyacinth and her two children still reside in the apartment. She stated the problem has been fixed; the relationship with her landlords has not. Undeterred, she related that she is putting everything into the hands of God and let him take it from there.