problem with landlord/extortion - laws?

[whiteboy1983]

Hi, i am new to this forum but me and my Mexican girlfriend are currently having major problems with my landlady. Apologies for the essay but here goes..

My girlfriend is the shy type and not really the type to speak up for herself, the landlady has been using intimidating / bullying tactics against her since we moved in to try and get extra payments etc, i don't speak any Spanish so i have not been in a position to argue with her.

Last Saturday she came into our property and started screaming at my girlfriend and prodding her in the chest. I watched this happen for a couple of minutes until I felt enough was enough and then removed the screaming woman from our apartment.. firmly closing the door once she was out.
She proceeded to scream louder, and bang, kick and rattle our door until my girlfriend returned outside to confront her. An argument developed which ended with me telling her in broken Spanish that we would be leaving in 4 weeks.

My girlfriend received a phone call from her parents on Saturday (as their name and phone number is on the lease) to say the landlady had been on the phone to them saying that our apartment stunk of marijuana and that i was a junky, and for this reason she was kicking us out. This is simply not true and is nothing but an excuse to try and keep my deposit. It is also causing me serious problems as i previously had a good relationship with the family.
We informed the landlady (and my girlfriends parents) that i would be arranging for a drug test and pursuing legal action, ( i will be taking the drug test to pacify the family, but am not sure where i stand on the legal side of things ) after this the drug use allegations stopped completely.

I came home from work on Monday to find someone had (unsuccessfully) tried to gain entry to our apartment and the lock securing the front door was damaged beyond repair. Our apartment is not the most secure and i am sure that anyone with experience in these matters would have had no trouble gaining access. In fact far from gaining access she had managed to damage the lock in such a way not even i could get in with the keys! (it seems plainly obvious who is responsible). The police were phoned and we made sure we had a record of their attendance, during the time the police were here the landlady looked plainly terrified.

I return home again on wednesday to find my girlfriend in tears telling me that yet again the landlady has phoned her parents to say that she will not return the deposit.. that i am abusive to their daughter, always shouting at her, smashing things etc etc. THIS IS ANOTHER FALSE ALLEGATION.

This woman knows exactly what she is doing with these phone calls, she is interfering with my personal life with malicious lies and is causing both me and my g/f untold aggravation from the family. We have both worked extremely hard to get here and get the blessing of the family and neither of us need this in any way.

The contract states that if we leave before 12months we have to pay the outstanding rent up until the end of the year. These are obvious attempts to try and get us to leave whilst extorting us for a large amount of money which neither of us can afford.
I want to pursue legal action but really don't know where to start, if there is anyone here with legal experience or someone who has been through similar problems please please share.

[Salto_jorge]

I believe that you need a lawyer.
Deformation of character is not taken lightly in Mexico.

Odors in the house can be from anything, did the police say anything when they were there ?

If one must pay for the place to the end of the contract, for spite move out but keep the place. Do not let her take it over unless you did something to break the lease that is in the contract. If she holds you to the contract you have an empty place, check your contract to see if you can sublet it.

[whiteboy1983]

Originally Posted by Salto_jorge

I believe that you need a lawyer.
Deformation of character is not taken lightly in Mexico.

Odors in the house can be from anything, did the police say anything when they were there ?

If one must pay for the place to the end of the contract, for spite move out but keep the place. Do not let her take it over unless you did something to break the lease that is in the contract. If she holds you to the contract you have an empty place, check your contract to see if you can sublet it.

Hi, thanks for your reply. No .. all the police said was that they were certain someone tampered with the lock, and then they helped us gain access. The turnout was impressive to say the least... 8 cars!
I am going to try to record all correspondence with this woman but this will not be easy.

File an averguación with PGJ for attempted burglary, and possibly for battery on your wife. Pay 500 pesos or so to change or beef up the locks to your home (but wait to do this until the police investigator can come and take pictures of the locks after you file a complaint for attempted burglary - the investigator will come a day or two after you file the complaint with PGJ). Change or cut your telephone line. Get a good civil lawyer. Take the drug test and give the results to the lawyer. Assuming the drug test is negative, file a defamation of character civil lawsuit against this woman.

[Detailman]

Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

File an averguación with PGJ for attempted burglary, and possibly for battery on your wife. Pay 500 pesos or so to change or beef up the locks to your home (but wait to do this until the police investigator can come and take pictures of the locks after you file a complaint for attempted burglary - the investigator will come a day or two after you file the complaint with PGJ). Change or cut your telephone line. Get a good civil lawyer. Take the drug test and give the results to the lawyer. Assuming the drug test is negative, file a defamation of character civil lawsuit against this woman.

Totally agree with the above. Many people do not want to go through the hassle of legal proceedings but in actual fact the "best defence is a strong offense."

One of the keys to me was the fact that the OP stated that the landlady looked terrified when the police cars showed up. Thereafter she went on another offense by restating her false accusations to the girlfriend’s family. Whenever she attacks the OP should attack harder but in a legally defensive way. You don’t want to get into similar name calling. Take the high road.

I do not like hassles myself but I have found that if you do not take action you are destined to be a doormat. Always think it through, make plans and then follow through. (I once went so far as to pay to take a lie detecor test by a recognized authority to support my case. Yes - I won.) But do not start any process until you think it through. The person with the best strategy normally wins. That has been my experience, for what it’s worth.

Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

File an averguación with PGJ for attempted burglary, and possibly for battery on your wife. Pay 500 pesos or so to change or beef up the locks to your home (but wait to do this until the police investigator can come and take pictures of the locks after you file a complaint for attempted burglary - the investigator will come a day or two after you file the complaint with PGJ). Change or cut your telephone line. Get a good civil lawyer. Take the drug test and give the results to the lawyer. Assuming the drug test is negative, file a defamation of character civil lawsuit against this woman.

I forgot to add: Once you start this process, say nothing about the matter to anyone, except your wife. Loose lips sink ships, and could open you up to a counterattack by this woman. Just shut up, be patient and let the PGJ procurador and your civil law abogado do their thing.

[mickisue1]

Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

I forgot to add: Once you start this process, say nothing about the matter to anyone, except your wife. Loose lips sink ships, and could open you up to a counterattack by this woman. Just shut up, be patient and let the PGJ procurador and your civil law abogado do their thing.

+1

Forewarned is forearmed, and she's already shown that she is willing to do or say anything.

You don't have to answer this, but do you have any idea why she's so antipathetic to you?

[Detailman]

Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

I forgot to add: Once you start this process, say nothing about the matter to anyone, except your wife. Loose lips sink ships, and could open you up to a counterattack by this woman. Just shut up, be patient and let the PGJ procurador and your civil law abogado do their thing.

I would simply like to add a personal story to back up what GringoCArlos says.

Many years ago I was working with a person who had spent many years in law enforcement but was now in land development. A situation arose where someone in a similar field was saying and doing things that were detrimental to him. I asked him why he didn’t confront the person about it. Here is the explanation he gave. It might sound a little bit Machiavellian but I have never forgotten the underlying lesson.

His rationale was that if he confronted the person his attitude would not change. He would simply go "underground" and thereafter it would be much more difficult to determine what actions his opposer was taking.

He felt that it was better to say nothing and simply take steps in defence and plan a counter attack. That way the person wouldn’t know what you were doing to protect yourself until it was too late for them to take countermeasures.

He illustrated it by simply drawing it out on a piece of paper. Imagine yourself as the center (and he drew an X). The other person is trying to draw a circle around you. (And he drew a smaller circle around the X.) If you let them know that you are aware of the circle they are drawing around you they will simply do things in a more subtle way. (Much like this landlady is trying to do.) Instead you begin to draw a circle around them. (Which he illustrated by drawing a larger circle around the smaller circle.) When they think they have "you" trapped you spring the trap on them and they then find out that the larger circle has been drawn around them. Yes, Machiavellian, but what a lesson and it works.

A true story to back up what GringoCArlos says. What he ended up doing to that other party is another story and what a story!!!

[tepetapan]

[
My girlfriend is the shy type and not really the type to speak up for herself, the landlady has been using intimidating / bullying tactics against her since we moved in to try and get extra payments etc, i don't speak any Spanish so i have not been in a position to argue with her.

Last Saturday she came into our property and started screaming at my girlfriend and prodding her in the chest. I watched this happen for a couple of minutes until I felt enough was enough and then removed the screaming woman from our apartment.. firmly closing the door once she was out.
She proceeded to scream louder, and bang, kick and rattle our door until my girlfriend returned outside to confront her. An argument developed which ended with me telling her in broken Spanish that we would be leaving in 4 weeks.

My girlfriend received a phone call from her parents on Saturday (as their name and phone number is on the lease) to say the landlady had been on the phone to them saying that our apartment stunk of marijuana and that i was a junky, and for this reason she was kicking us out. This is simply not true and is nothing but an excuse to try and keep my deposit. It is also causing me serious problems as i previously had a good relationship with the family.
We informed the landlady (and my girlfriends parents) that i would be arranging for a drug test and pursuing legal action, ( i will be taking the drug test to pacify the family, but am not sure where i stand on the legal side of things ) after this the drug use allegations stopped completely.


This woman knows exactly what she is doing with these phone calls, she is interfering with my personal life with malicious lies and ......The contract states that if we leave before 12months we have to pay the outstanding rent up until the end of the year. These are obvious attempts to try and get us to leave whilst extorting us for a large amount of money which neither of us can afford.
I want to pursue legal action but really don't know where to start, if there is anyone here with legal experience or someone who has been through similar problems please please share.[/QUOTE]

A couple things come to mind. First is , WHY is your girlfriends parents on the rental lease? Why did not you and her sign your own lease agreement? This may seem unimportant unless you have ever been a landlord.
Second thought is, How well connected is the landlady? How connected is your girlfriend´s parents? Influence with local office holders can be everything, you better know who you are picking a fight (demanda) against.
Third, You state your spanish is poor which likely means your understanding of the culture is also poor. I hope by " then removed the screaming woman from our apartment.. firmly closing the door once she was out. " you did not touch her.
You need to let the lease holders, namely the parents who signed the lease, and your girlfriend take care of this problem and you need to calm down and shut up. The parents will decide what they think is right, you not having any legal rights on the lease, need to accept their decision if you ever want a chance at living with the girlfriend in Mexico.
It seems you have gotten off on the wrong foot and may never recover. Your girlfriend may have to decide between you and her family if you keep pressing. This would not bode well for you since family is always #1 in Mexico.

[AlanMexicali]

I feel the same way. Sometimes you have to know who you are dealing with. Even the most unsuspecting person, for example, might have a sister married into a family that locally has much influence. We always tread lightly in matters of this sort, just to be on the winning side. If leaving costs a few extra pesos, then maybe it will be worth it. I notice many Mexicans do not like to cause a problem for themselves and thinking lawyers and courts are the answer here is usually a huge mistake. They operated under a very different scenario than NOB and best be avoided in any civil matters, at all costs. IMO Even as a last resort getting involved with the court system is not recommended, especially in a situation like this. It will cost you more money and time that will be stressful probably. I would just move.