tenant "If you
don't move I am going to shut off your
light h t is th tenant s appropri te
re on ? If you id "Th t's unla ful."
you ere ri t.
ccording to' ichi an La if is
unla ful for I ndlo d to force a tenant
out of an p rtment or home by curtin
olf the tenant's utilitie . at if the
tenant i not p ing rent? Then,
couldn t the landlord cu t off the ligh ts
to force the tenant out? ot accordin
to i hi n La, Th landlord mu t
e . t the ten t through e court sy -
tern. Tenants often ithhold their rent
be u the 1 ndlord h refu d to m
nece repair and it is le al for the
tenant to do this. If the landlord ere
all ed to force e ten t out by
cutting off the utili!' then that ould
defe t the hoI purpo of not paying
hen the 1 dlord refu in to
. S .. 27A.
hold th t a
po n of the apartment or home
by:
of force or threat of force
emovin, eepin or destroying
the ten nt' per nal property
Ch gin alterin or dding to th
loc or other urity devi
ithout ivin the tenant a ey,
- Boarding up the tenant home or
partment hich prevents the
tenant from leaving or enterin
- Rem vin do rs indo or
1
ith th ten nt heat
hot ter ele tri
or or other
nui n es.
If the landlord unlawfully inter­
fere ith the t nant' po 'on the
landlord can be sued f r the tenant's
actual dam e or T 0 Hunderd
200,00 Dollar ruche er is greater
and for each time it h ppen. If the
ten - t i forced out of the ap rtment
or home the ten t mu t e for po -
on ithin ninety (90 day. The
ten t h s on (1 ye r to e for
m y interfere ith the
the tenant' po 'on only if the land-
) lord has otten a Court Order or if
Ci tizen
a
as a temporary interference to make
needed repair or insp ction but only
provided by la . Another exception
is i if the landlord bell ve in 000
faith that the tenant ha left the home
or apartment for good, The landlord
mu make a seriou effort to find out if
the tenant ha no intention of returning
d th current rent mu t not have been
paid.
If you _come home and find your
hou boarded up, what do you do?
Cont ct the landlord and try to rea n
with, him or her and explain that thi is
unla ful, If that doesn It or call the
police and ha the police contact the
landlord. Th tenant could attempt to
remove the boards or locks, but the
tenant ould not cau damage to the
property or tart a fight with the land­
lord.
Finally, if all el fails the tenant
can e to re in po sion and should
contact an ttomey .
If you find yourself ddenly sittin
in the dark b cau the landlord has
cut off the utilities what do you do?
You ould contact the utility company
immediately. Find out if the landlord
caned the company and had the utilit­
ie shut off or whether the landlord
tampered with the utilities. If th land­
lord called the company and had the
utilitie ut off th tenant can h ve
them put b c on in the tenant s name.
The tenant is not responsible for utility
bilI not in hi or her name and the
tenant can deduct the cost of the bills
from the rent a Ion as it was originally
reed when the ten nt mov d in that
the land} rd re p n ibl for th
utilitie. If the landl rd tampered with
the utilitie have the company send
someone out to r pair the problem,
The tenant ould al c nta t the
p lie and then have the P lice contact
the landlord. Finally the tenant can
conta t an attorney to get an Order
fr m the Court to have the utilities
turned b con.
Since inter erin ith the tenant's
po n c n u great emotional
and physic harm to the ten nt it is
hoped that his rti 1 informs landlords
as well a tenants.
This article is not meant to replace
the advice of an attorney. If you have a
legal problem, contact an attorney.
group plan' improvement
bristlan Community In Action
(CCIA) i adina efforts to organize
bloc club, nejpborhood clean-up and
borhood tdle
ednesday, arch 9, and
p another community meeting for
arch 16, the group i concentr ting on
the area bounded by Britain and Empire,
Colfax and Pipestone.
CCIA chairman F� Baird intro­
duced ne city manager Ellis Mitchell
to the group.
itchell app ded the group' effort,
and re the importance of peop
etting in olved.
Jun Blanchard, ho h.a experi-
ence in urity and neighborhood
or , told the group to not be orried
that too fe people ere involved. He
said even a f people can m e impro -
menta
Blanchard ste the importance of
nei&hbors 100' out for neighbors and
Itching each other's home He offered
to help block clubs t up neighborhood
atch program.
Charlene Broo , a CCIA officer,
urged re . ent to beautify the lot on
their bloc s ith gardens, or gr
atti Roddy gave information and
an overvie of hat her block club had
been doing ..
CCIA . open to anyone from any­
here in the city Intere ed in impro .
the city.
The group la year conducted
succesaful cle -up program th t re lted
in 47 tru loads of garb e being h uled
out of the area' alleys and lots.
C. Robin on Jones success s ory
I
start ed ay b c
Caroline Rob' n Jones, 41 daugh-
ter of r. and r. Ernest Robinson
381 iller St. BH wa in the he dlines
last ee for inning national rec ni­
tion as one of 10 outstandin BI
busine and profe ional people.
Her succe story tarted years
as demonstrated by the clippings
mitted by loc I historian arren
chell and reproduced on thi p ge.
s. Jones lives in e Yor and
serves as excutive vice president and
creative director of ingo-lone Adver­
tising Inc., minority owned and operated
full rvice a ency. .
She was honored at the ational
and Profe ional a ards banquet spon­
sored by Blackbook International, Feb.
26 at the Conrad Hilton in Chica o.
. Jones is 1959 gr duate of
BHHS. She graduated from the Univer­
ity of ichigan in 1963 on a 3 000
James . T' ornia Scholarship.
Comments on Blac
De Editor
I ould like to compliment you on
your Black History supplement. I think
it was one of your best ideas.
However it ddened me to e that
few churches and organizations partici­
pated.
Benton Harbor - Benton To nship is
full of Black churche and only five 5
o
2
operate openly on ain Street rent
free in tax reverted properties. The city
ill throw open its rms, cast procedure
to the ind to vote - ithout reference
to any committee - to sell an English
company five city lot
Cornmi loner Juanita Echol was the
only commi . ner maki any
hen the ote came onday . t on a
request for the video liscense. She id
the city needed revenue. The ot r com­
rni loners ere orried out the
predominantly bite church. cro th
treet whose members come in here
p and through the dey tion r nd
u to orship e ch Sund y. Their prop r­
ty i t fr their blind -
bu t they, r ther than the aspiring resident
History
to the time to ubmit rite up.
I congr tul te tho that did d hop
more ill respond ne t time.
I d al like to comm nd y u on
your ne sp per. It is great a t to
our city and surroundin re s.
eep up the ood or.
Debr Collier
busine an are the concern of our com-
mi ion.
Th city of Detroi . in the proce
of holding publi he . s to e blish
minority t id ordinanc to uaran-
tee Black busine a certain percent e
of city busine .
Here, busine aren't for
any thing bu t a chance to get tarted
and they can't et th t ..
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