After my divorce, I stayed in our family home with our 3 children. The home was owned by my ex-husband’s parents (our children’s grandparents). When my husband and I were married, we often could not afford to pay his parents rent because he could not keep a job. After he moved out, my father-in-law charged me $750 per month. After 1 year, he increased the rent to $2000 per month. It was supposed to stay at $2000 until our youngest graduated high school (about 8 years). However, my ex-father-in-law passed away and my ex-husband and his sibling raised the rent to $2300 then gave me an eviction notice at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Once the pandemic hit, I was out of work and unable to pay rent. After notifying them that I could not pay rent, I received 2 eviction notices in the first month (one posted on my door and the other certified mail), then received a “pay or quit in 3 days” the second month.

To avoid the harassment and stress, I found another home for our children and myself. Once we started to move things out of our house, I received a letter demanding that I allow them to enter before we were moved out. Because it was during COVID I was advised that they could not enter unless it was an emergency.

The whole experience was very stressful but I am grateful that I am no longer being harassed.