During a time where so many are experiencing housing insecurity, Rae Bolton – LSA Lead Attorney in the Birmingham office – has been passionately working to keep people housed.
In one case, a client fell behind in her mortgage payments after being diagnosed with cancer. She signed a mortgage modification with her servicer and began making the new payment each month. Despite the modification agreement, the servicer continued to threaten her with foreclosure. The servicer refused to acknowledge the modification claiming it was late, even though it had been signed by the company. Scared of losing her home, the client then reached out to LSA for help. After months of inquiries and formal complaints, Bolton was able have the modification recognized and honored. The improper late fees were then waived, and the client’s payments applied retroactively – allowing her to stay in her home.
Bolton also helped one client avoid eviction who had her rent prepaid through and assistance agency. The landlord filed a suit even though the client was not behind on her rent. Thanks to Bolton, the eviction was dismissed. In another eviction case, a client’s landlord forced a rent increase after she had been receiving rental assistance for the three previous months. The client qualified for protections under the CDC Eviction Moratorium, but the landlord refused to accept her partial payments in an effort to have her evicted. With the help of Bolton, the eviction lawsuit was thrown out.
In another case, a client was facing eviction from her subsidized housing unit for alleged non-compliance with the recertification process. However, the client turned in all her documentation before the deadline and repeatedly supplied supplemental documentation as requested by the office. The office waited eight months after the recertification process before attempting to evict the client and charge her over $10,000 in back rent. Having done nothing wrong and unable to afford unsubsidized housing, the client refused to back down. Bolton successfully represented the client at trial and the court dismissed the eviction.
