My husband and I are both disabled. We were victims of "worse case" contractor fraud by a "not so honest" contractor. Believe it or not, what he did to us isn't even illegal.
My husband and I are both disabled. (Not wheelchair bound yet) After leaving an increasingely abusive marriage of almost 25 years, I was finally able to escape the marriage and was hopeful to begin my new life.
I am still permanently disabled due to a medical treatment, but was not able to get any financial support from either my ex husband or adult son. I was awarded a dilapitated home in my divorce settlement, but no monthly income and no medical insurance. In other works, i had no money to fix it up. My boyfriend at the time (My husband now) helped me to borrow money to do the necessary repairs. The only loan we could get was from a Predatory lender, since we are both disabled and had very little income and are currently living off one disability pension. My husband is a disabled veteran. Mount Vernon, Wa. When I contacted our local HUD office, I was told that we made just over the income limit to be eligible for a grant or a low income home repair loan. Unfortunely all the money we have goes to pay the mortgage and buy food and attempt to pay the bills.
We got $70,000. from the predatory lender. We hired a licensed and bonded contractor and were hoping to get this home up to current standards and codes. Unfortunately that did not happen! The contractor left our home almost completely "demolished". I will attach a few pictures. so you can see the condition of the home the way the contractor left it. The contractor did not even tell us he was leaving. When he realized that he had gotten all the money we had, he picked up his tools and we never saw him again. The contractor did not permit the job and none of the work he and his employees did was up to code standards.He left us with no kitchen,no bath and no running water. There were live wires hanging everywhere and plumbing pipes just cut and not hooked up to anything.
Due to the contractor's negligence, there is mold forming both inside and outside the house and my husband is getting sicker and sicker every day he lives in this house.
When I contacted our local HUD office, I was told that we made just over the income limit to be eligible for a grant or a low income home repair loan. Unfortunely all the money we have goes to pay the mortgage and buy food. We cannot get a rehab loan from any lenders (even the predatory lenders).
We don't have any more funds to finish our house and we are living in a tent inside the main living area because the contractor took out the electric wall heaters. We are using the oven and space heaters to try to heat the home and now we can't afford to pay the electrical bill.
Now we have a repair bill on our truck which we desperately need. We can't get the truck back untill we pay the $3,500. bill.
We are both very depressed and feel like we are spiraling down. It seems like our lives are one catastrophy after another. We need to get our home liveable and safe.
PLEASE HELP US!!!!!!!!!!!
