Not in my ex-wife's case. In another attempt to wrest custody away from us my ex decided to set up a move to Sacramento (a two and half hour drive San Jose, where I live) into a tiny place by herself. The hope was that, once promised her own room our daughter would leap at the chance to move in with her. When the subject came up my daughter emphatically said "No." "But you'll get your own room?" my ex reminded her. "What will it be if I have to leave all my friends behind?" my daughter asked. And so ended the custody battle. Now my ex gets to move into a tiny place, two and half hours away all by herself. Visitation is going to be tricky but we'll figure that out over the summer while my daughter stays with her.
Speaking of moving the landlord has forced our hand. We just got word that they are threatening to take anyone to court who doesn't have the rent paid in full by the first of the month. Now to our understanding this is illegal but at my last complex the landlord did exactly that and got away with it so somehow, there is a loophole the owner must have figured out and has decided to exploit. This place isn't worth fighting for so we pretty much have no choice but to get the fuck out ASAP. The ace up my sleeve is the black mold in the wall of the bathroom that went unfixed for so long. If the landlord wants to make an issue of paying rent on time I'll just keep bringing that up until they fix it. According to regulations I can withhold rent pending repairs assuming A: The repairs will cost more than the rent and B: The damage is a direct threat to health/safety. Black mold is a health threat and since they failed to fix it twice before I may be able to keep them at bay until we can find a new place to move to. I can't see this tactic working for more than a month or two (It depends on what they do to fix the damage) but if all goes well that will be all the time we need to secure a VA loan, find a mobile home that we can afford and get the frak outta this rat hole. Keep your fingers crossed.
