HOUSTON – After nearly four years of Anthony Hudson renting a row house on Alabama in Third Ward, he and Angela Jackson who also stays there, say their living conditions recently started deteriorating because of the landlord failing to maintain the property.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous,” Jackson said.
“She got all my lights cut off and my water cut off and then she changed the locks on the gates when we went to the store yesterday, so we couldn’t get none of our stuff out the house,” Hudson said.
Hudson and Jackson said their pets were also trapped inside the house that had been boarded up.
“The dogs were right here in the window and we ended up breaking the window, all these people came, the constables, I called 911, they said it was a civil matter,” Jackson said.
On Friday, KPRC2 spoke to the landlord who didn’t want to go on camera. She said the city turned off water weeks ago because she couldn’t pay the $11,000 bill that skyrocketed due to plumbing issues caused by last year’s historic freeze. She said she never tampered with the electricity, and while she boarded up the home as part of an agreement the tenant would relocate, she said they always had access. She adds she even paid for Uhaul, storage, and gave Hudson a thousand dollars to move.
“Anything she tells you right now, it’s a lie. She made everything up,” Hudson said.
District D council member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz said even if the landlord had good intentions, there is a necessary legal protocol for removing tenants from dilapidated conditions.
“Under Texas law, you can’t just effectively evict people, you have to go through a process and procedure, which she did not follow,” Evans-Shabazz said.
“She needs to come over here and do what’s fair, do what’s real, do what’s right,” Jackson said.
The Landlord said as far as that property is concerned, rent hasn’t been paid in six months, which if true, could work against the tenants’ favor in legal proceedings.
Both sides said they’ve contacted Lonestar Legal Aid, the free legal service, regarding any potential action.