Homes 4 Lease

Homes 4 Lease - John Terrell Steven Caamano, Owner The Leasing company rented my husband and I a home with toxic mold, later it became infested with m

15th of Mar, 2011 by User956986

TOXIC MOLD WARNING On February 1st, 2008, my husband and I rented a home through Homes 4 Lease at 1309 Pinewood Court, Midwest City, Oklahoma.
The house is owned by Steve Caamano, who is currently in the Military and stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The First night we were in the home, the stool in the bathroom ran over and sewage came up through the drain in the tub. All of this ran into the hallway onto the carpet and soaked it. I contacted them immediately and they sent out a plumber to fix the problem. What they had learned is that tree roots had grown into the pipes and they had to clean them out. I was left to attempt to clean up the sewage in and out of the carpeting with nothing to suck it out with. This is one of a few times they had to come out and repair this problem.
I believe it was the 3rd time I had to call Homes 4 Lease; I spoke with Gail to let her know that the sewage had backed up again. She became a bit angry at me and asking me what we were putting in the stool because they had never had this problem before. She contacted the plumber again and when they showed up I told them what Gail said to me, so this time they gave me the tree roots to show to her. This is when I learned that I had to keep the cover off the sewage outside in case it happened again due to the pressure and the sewage would go into the yard, which of course we were having to clean that up quite regularly since this was right outside our bedroom window and the smell would get overpowering during the summer. The plumbers stated that the lines had to be replaced or this would keep happening.
Within a couple months after moving into the house, I became quite ill. I thought I was fighting the flu. I was extremely fatigued, coughing, sore throat, breathing problems, joint and muscle pain. I was sick like this for a couple of days till finally I made an appointment with my Dr. at the time, Dr. Gary Riggs.
He treated me for Bronchitis. He prescribed antibiotics and even after they were all gone I still wasn’t snapping back like I used to. I finally had to pull out my Nebulizer, something I hadn’t had to use for a very long time, I was extremely tired all the time.
Before I became ill, I was always on the go doing things for my husband, our animals, and everything that consisted of taking care of our household.
I was always very active, taking care of our lawn was something I enjoyed, my home was always clean, I did this daily because I prided myself in taking care of my family since my husband was on the road all the time.
Weekends if you saw my husband you always saw me, we rode our motorcycle, went to the clubs so I could hear our friends sing, or I was working my business. As each week passed I just couldn’t understand why I was still sick, and I found myself making excuses to my husband that I was too tired to go with him. At first we both thought my MS (Muscular Sclerosis) had resurfaced, so would just ride it out.
I had 2 medical assist animals, (cats) in the house. One of them became quite ill. She was coughing, vomiting and couldn’t walk so I called the vet and rushed her in.
By the time they were checking her out she could no longer hold her head up so they hospitalized her for a week. Upper respitory infection and they sent her home about a week later. She seemed like she had gotten better, but I saw she was doing the same thing I was, sleeping a lot.
I began noticing new symptoms cropping up; I started breaking out with acne, and was hit hard with menopause, something that should never have hit again. I had a Hysterectomy at the age of 27 and here I am 50. Plus I noticed my hair was coming out which I thought was strange. I was still fighting flu like symptoms and I was noticing memory loss, which I just figured it was because I was still ill. I finally went back to the Dr., and told him everything I was experiencing; again he treated me for upper repertory problems and nothing more.
With Earl, my husband being a truck driver, he was rarely home, but he took a break for approx... 3 months to stay at home. During this time he too began getting ill, severe flu symptoms. There were days he would state he just wasn’t up to par, and he too was exhausted a lot. Now mind you, this is a man who is never sick. In 20 years he had to see a Dr. once and that was only because I made him. We both believe in natural healings, and after he had converted me totally over to them I became healthier than I had been in years. This is why my illness now was a bit concerning.
As the weeks went by I became more and more lethargic, my energy level had taken a nose dive. I had to hire someone to come and mow our yard. I began making mistakes in my check book and for the first time I received an overdraft notice I freaked out. I had never had one and all I could do was cry. My bills were not getting paid like I used to pay them; I would lay them down and forget where they were so out of sight out of mind. I no longer could set up my children’s clothing at my nonprofit organizations without finding a crew to help.
When my husband went back out on the road, he started getting somewhat better, he said that he wasn’t coughing as much and he felt like he was getting more energy. When he came in from his run, by the second day again he would state he wasn’t up to par and blamed it on his age. But then another symptom flared up. I noticed he started misplacing things and would become angry with me stating I had moved it, and asked that I leave things alone. I noticed that this was happening almost daily. Again, he blamed it on age, but I knew better since I too was having the same problem, and we were still no closer to an answer to what was happening to us.
One week while he was out on the road, he called me complaining about itching and became short with me wanting to know if I changed laundry detergent. I told him no and he demanded that I get to the store and buy a certain brand. So I changed as he requested, but the itching didn’t subside. When he got home that weekend, I noticed a rash on his arms and on the back of his legs. We both were breaking out in rashes, both had short tempers and due to this we were becoming more and more distant. Now my marriage was in trouble. He would get angry with me over little things and I kept saying I would try harder and not make the same mistakes I was then making. He soon stopped asking me to go with him to the clubs. Our sex life was less and less because I was too exhausted or ill to be with him, and there would be times I prayed he wouldn’t ask. I believed my marriage was coming to an end. This was a nightmare….one minute we are connected to the hip and a few short months later we rarely spent any time together or talked.
When speaking with my mother, she would ask how I was feeling or how Earl was. It was always the same answer we both feel like we have the flu or we were not up to par. She became very concerned over this and finally one day stated that it was strange that after moving into this house we were sick all the time, so maybe there is something in the house that could be causing this. I asked her what and she stated she didn’t know and it just didn’t make any sense.
My once active life became a life of sleeping sometimes up to 14 hours a day. No matter how much sleep I got I felt I had been up all night. My eyes had black circles under them; they itched all the time and were bloodshot. Earl came home one weekend, the second day he was home he was complaining of his eyes watering and both eyes were extremely bloodshot. He had gone to the store for eye drops which were specifically for allergies. They worked a little but he still was having trouble and rubbed his eyes a lot.
New symptoms arose. Bloody noses (both of us) balancing problems, weight gain, constant sore throats, and choking spells that would wake me up in the middle of the night. I had difficulty swallowing on many occasions but the worst was this nasty metal taste in my mouth, sores were now in my head and all over my back and arms. I was sneezing all the time and my hands would start to shake for now apparent reason and I was having severe lower abdominal pain where I no longer could wear anything tight around my waist.
A friend (Dana) came over one afternoon because she hadn’t seen me in a very long time, we started talking about me being so sick and it seemed to be getting worse. She then told me that there had been reports of “Black Mold” being found in houses and apartments in Midwest City which is where I live. She then asked if that could possibly be my problem. She had been concerned because I now rarely left the house unless it was absolutely necessary. She then said she would help me find out what we needed to do to find out for sure. I called mom and told her what Dana said and she said I needed to go back to the Dr. Riggs. Reluctantly I called and made an appointment with Dr. Riggs. I explained this to him and he just looked at me funny and said there really wasn’t a way to test for it but sent me down for a test for flu. Well I didn’t have the flu, imagine that.
My mother later found some articles about “Black Mold” and houses infected with mice and the hazards they cause. She emailed it to me and I then sent it to Dana and she said she would check it out for me. China and Imo my cats became sick again. Both were coughing, vomiting and Imo couldn’t take but only a couple of steps before she had to lay down gasping for air. Both cats were shedding at a rapid pace so between the 3 of us our home was now covered in hair daily. By the time we got to the vets, Imo again could not hold her head up and again both were hospitalized. I mentioned to the Vet about the possibility of problem with “MOLD” in my house. The vet said that it was very possible that exposure to “Black Mold” could be causing the problems with China and Imo but the testing was more then we could afford.
November 1, 2009, when I paid rent, I complained that we had a mouse problem and I couldn’t get rid of them. The lady at the front desk looked at me and said she was sorry, so I took it as we were supposed to take care of the problem ourselves. We worked for months to get rid of the mice with no success. I had never had a problem with mice or bugs and for the nine months we had been there we never had any problems and we had not changed our living lifestyle with the exception of constantly buying mice bait. As the months came and went and each month I mentioned it and still no one came to take care of the problem. The mice were multiplying at a rate of speed and they started taking over the house. I tried to keep it cleaned up in the garage since our two dogs lived out there but they were just out of control. My breathing became worse than ever I couldn’t do it anymore; I had to wait till Earl came home off the road.
In January, 2010 there were so many mice in the walls that you could smell the ammonia (urine) in all the walls. Our dogs which are dauchounds were killing mice right and left. Cats were killing inside the house. Nothing was working. Hunter, one of the dogs contracted a nasty odor on his skin, and we noticed that he had a skin irritation, but he wasn’t acting sick but I wanted to keep an eye on him anyway.
By now I am depending on friends if I have to go anywhere that has a distance. I didn’t trust myself because I would get to coughing so bad sometimes I thought I was going to pass out. I rarely spoke to Earl about how sick I was getting and how scared I was to drive because our marriage was pretty rocky. By now I had had, 5 overdraft notices from the bank and had no clue how to fix the problem, or, for that matter, why it was happening. Even the bank was shocked that this was happening.
February 2010, I was fed up, again I complained and how bad it was, no one seemed concerned. I called Dana and told her that they had no intention of responding. She said by rights she had been told I had a choice to not pay rent until they fixed this problem. I didn’t think that was an option because this had happened to me once before. I took that advice, even though I had paid my rent every month for 3 years right on time they took me to court. Even though I had proven my case to the Judge he still ruled in their favor. So I knew I couldn’t do this.
March 2010, I am so ill. Nothing is making any sense. I finally decided to contact someone to come check the house out for mold. I contacted Todd Hoffman from Enviro Sharp. I explained my problem and we discussed what it would cost. He agreed to come out and check without taking any samples till I could figure out a way to pay him. He did a visual and did find mold but stated he couldn’t tell me till he took the tests. I told him I would get back with him.
Hunter’s skin smells worse, and the irritation seems to be worse as well. I started using medicated cream that I had in our home and it seemed to take care of some of the itching.
Earl seems to be more and more distant and it seems as if he is always complaining about something I did or did not do. I feel now I can’t do anything correct for him. I rarely get dressed anymore and driving is almost out of the question. There are times I fear just getting into the shower afraid I might pass out so I wait till Earl does come home. My god I hate living like this.
April 2nd, 2010 I finally became so angry I called Homes 4 Lease and asked to speak with John Terrell, the owner. I told him I had been complaining of this mouse infestation since November and no one seemed to take me serious. He stated he would contact an exterminator immediately. By April 18th, 2010 no one had responded. Here we go again. I called again and asked for John Terrell. He stated that he had put the work order in on the 2nd and didn’t understand what happened. On the 19th, Busy Bee Exterminator called and set up an appointment for the following day. I asked her when she received the work order because John said he contacted them on the 2nd. She stated no they had just received it, and he wasn’t being truthful.
April 14th, 2010 I finally contacted Todd Hoffman with Enviro Sharp to come out to do the test. I paid $250.00 out of pocket to have this done. He did an air test in the house after turning on the heater and then went outside to do another. I told him the hell Homes 4 lease was giving us and he decided to take another test but a physical test of black mold. He stated they should be in by the next Monday.
April 20th, 2010, Rick from Busy Bee showed up and was shocked on the extent of the infestation. I explained that our dogs were killing up to 20 a day and he agreed that that is what my dogs were bred for. At least they were trying to do their job. He told me that he too uses certain dogs to go under houses to catch certain varmints’ which they too are bred for. Rick had to use almost 200 packets of poison in 3 visits to the house and he still found the mice alive and well.
April23rd, 2010, Dana came over and started taking pictures of the mold and the extent of the mice infestation along with all the holes the mice had made. Just by looking at the pictures you could see clearly that the mold had been there for quite some time. By now both China and Imo had been in the hospital once more. China had seizures going into the vet on another occasion and Imo had plummeted health wise. We learned she had 2 places that were causing her illness and I was watching her slowly die right in front of me, and I couldn’t do a thing about it. I was devastated and I knew I couldn’t let her suffer and I was going to have to make a decision soon. We contacted Alex Bednar, my Attorney. He told us to come in with the documents that we had. Once we got there, I had been coughing so hard he sent me immediately to the hospital at (OU Medical). 5 hours later Dana and I went back to his office. He got onto the phone and spoke with Todd Hoffman and Todd explained that the mouse infestation was the worst he had ever seen and that he would get Alex the testing results as soon as they came back from the lab. Alex asked me a few more questions and stated he feared I might have contracted the Haunta Virus, and he kept his distance from me. He then said I was not to pay rent for May. I explained to Alex that Dana had been on the phone to every agency there was and everyone passed the buck and each time it landed into the lap of the Health Dept. We stated that Gil Fairless from Landlord Tenant Fair Housing explained that the only way to get rid of this extreme problem was to condemn the house and burn it to the ground.
Dana and I learned that there was a guy with Del City Ordinance that had dealt with another situation like this and just maybe he might help us contact the correct person in Midwest City. We contacted him and in turn gave us the name of Kevin with Midwest City. Kevin came out and immediately started writing up problems with the house and said that the owner was in violation of Midwest City Codes and gave them 5 days to get it done. We took this to Alex’s office and also faxed a copy to Homes 4 Lease.
May 1st, 2010 no one responded so I didn’t pay rent. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th day came and went and still no one showed up.
May 5th, I was served notice from Homes 4 Lease a notice to quit-5 day notice-Title 41 O.S., Sec 6,7, 1971. I contacted Alex and then Dana and I took the paper to his office.
May 7th , 2010 Ray Callicott and John Terrell came to the house to do an inspection. They wrote a letter to Alex stating that they saw no signs of mold and yes they saw signs of mouse droppings and in turn blamed it on our dogs. But while they were there at the house doing the inspection Earl had handed them over a copy of the ticket from the city and told them about the report from Enviro Sharp. So both John and Ray knew of the ticket from the City again. They also stated in their letter to my Attorney, they would have all the sheet rock in the ceiling and walls replaced due to water damage.
Due to this I was served papers to be in court May 21st to vacate the house for nonpayment of rent. A couple of days before going to court Imo became so ill I finally had to put her down. She was dying a horrible death. We got into court and Alex needed us to get a continuance so that he could be there to represent me. At first the Judge refused till he saw the ticket from the City. He asked them if I had ever been late on rent before and they told him no I was always on time they never had problems. The Judge said in other words it is just this month she refused. They were honest and said yes. The Judge granted the continuance and stated he needed another statement from the city. I contacted Kevin and he again came out and this time wrote one stating they had to appear in court the following month.
In the meantime our neighbor from across the street came over and they told us about the last tenant that lived in the house. They stated that she too after being in the home started getting sick. They would find her on her couch very ill with flu like symptoms, and on several occasions her animals were sick as well. They had asked her why she didn’t get them out there to fix the leaks in the garage. My neighbor said she had contacted them on a few occasions and no one would come out. She had become so ill that these same neighbors who were helping me do my lawn started doing hers because she too had no air or energy. I asked if there was any way that they could write up a statement verifying that fact and get it notarized, they had no problem with this.
When we went back to court and the Judge saw the pictures of our living conditions he told Alex he needed to take this to District Court. He advised us to move and granted us 5 days. I found a house to move into and 2 days into our move Dana contacted me by phone that Homes 4 Lease was sitting outside the house wanting to know why we were not out yet. I contacted Alex on harassment and he immediately got in touch with their attorney. Dana told Homes 4 Lease that they were in violation of a court order by being there. They tried to argue with Dana and she reminded them of the 5 days given to us by the judge and that we were not to be harassed. She also let them know that we still had 3 days left according to the court order. Ray Callicott made a call on his cell phone and then a few minutes later they left.
After moving out I began researching the molds that were found in the house. Both levels were so high and the one that basically killed my cat was, “Toxic Black Mold” and the other was Cladosporium. Both levels were inside the home and dangerously very high. Left untreated it could cause liver damage, infertility, and severe lung infections resulting into Pneumonia. Which I now have. I also found that we would have to get rid of everything we owned that the mold had gotten into. So it means everything we own.
I also contacted P.E.T.A. on my animals. She stated that if I could prove intent then they can be charged $5000.00 and a jail sentence because it is a Felony. Well until recently we were not able to prove this until they rented the home again to a young family with 4 very young children. She was moving into the home when the neighbors came home. Roy went over and told her about the toxic mold and mouse infestation. The girl burst into tears and stated her husband was in the Military and she was heading straight to Tinker Air Force Base to see what they could do. Apparently they stepped in and she had everything removed from the house. There is the intent; the mold had never been fixed. They sent a guy out to patch the garage and when confronted by the neighbors he stated he was doing what he was told to do. So apparently the owner refused to do what the City ordered.
I finally contacted Tinker Air Force myself to find out how to make a complaint about one of their own. They got me in contact with his Steve Caamano) company in New Mexico and after I explained why I was making this complaint they didn’t want to help me out. Approximately one week later the house was put up for sale.
It is January 2011 and my quality of life is gone. I lost one of my companions that I loved with all my heart. I live on Oxygen and I rarely leave the house except to go to the grocery store right up the street or to the bank. I am waiting results on blood tests for my liver and another to find out exactly what type of mold I have in my lungs so that it can be treated. I still am waiting to see a specialist to get a biopsy on my head due to losing my hair at a rapid rate and possibly on my back due to the lesions left from the mold. It seems I have allergies now that I never had before, I can’t go outside due to this unless I have the oxygen tank with me.

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Comments

4838 days ago by Steven Caamano

I'm Captain Steven J. Caamaño, United States Air force, and the owner of the property located in 1309 Pinewood Court, Midwest City, Oklahoma. I'm writing this email to inform you that the " scam report", submitted to by User956986 (AKA Mrs. Debra Phillips), is false and fraudulent in nature. Mrs. Phillips intends to slander my character and spread false information, on the Internet, in order to create a false sense of legitimacy for her cause and get money from my insurance company, State Farm. In my personal opinion, Mrs. Phillips' deplorable lifestyle, not only cost me over a thousand dollars in repairs, but also are the source and cause of her health issues. I haven't sue her for spreading slander, damaging of my property and obstructing the sale of my house out of compassion and because her medical expenses surpass her income due to her preexisting conditions. That is one of the reasons why, in my personal opinion, she is trying to get money from my insurance: to pay for her mounting medical bills. To this day, Mrs. Phillips and her attorneys have not been able to present concrete evidence to State Farm's Claims Representative, Ms. Amy Lanier, to support her case under claim 36-F653-695. For more information regarding this fraudulent claim, you can contact me at 530-301-9865 or [email protected] or State Farm's Claim representative at 405-752-6721.

Respectfully;

STEVEN J. CAAMAÑO, Capt, USAF

4838 days ago by Steven Caamano