Consumer complaint received 2021-03-31
Company: National Credit Systems,Inc.
State: NV
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
We signed a lease with XXXX XXXX to rent XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Arizona, XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ), from XX/XX/XXXX, to XX/XX/XXXX. 

Initially, the building had some disadvantages in that it had started out as a hotel, then become a residence for homeless people, before being refurbished for private studios. The homeless community a community that would later be formally classified as being among the highest risk for spreading the lethal worldwide Coronavirus pandemic locally resented the change of use and had a tendency to invade the premises and cause considerable disruption to the tenants ( and, no doubt, the management ). The elevator also had a glitch whereby it would regularly trap you inside it for several minutes before correcting itself. However, the biggest problem with the building only became apparent after XX/XX/XXXX, when we were urged to shelter in place by the Governor of Arizona because of the lethal worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. 

Several tenants in the building had succumbed to viruses around that time, including both of us. Whether this was the Coronavirus or not that was being passed around the building is not known as no one was tested, there being no test available at the time. However, this made us extremely aware that the building was especially unsuitable for us in a time of a major lethal pandemic because of its inadequate ventilation and lack of sanitation protocols. The hallways began to stink of human body odors ( caused by XXXX ), and where there are XXXX there at also likely to be viruses. 

Our particular risks in a time of a lethal worldwide pandemic is that my wife, XXXX, has had XXXX XXXX for XXXX years ( and therefore has a profoundly compromised XXXX XXXX ), and I have XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX regularly succumbs to viruses which, within a day, turn into XXXX and, most recently pleurisy. Therefore the insanitary state of the building due to its poor ventilation and poor sanitation was putting XXXX life at considerable risk in a time of a lethal worldwide pandemic, rendering it uninhabitable in our specific circumstances and absolutely not an environment where we should have been required to shelter in place. 

We therefore immediately left the apartment in late XX/XX/XXXX, only returning a few days during XX/XX/XXXX to clear it out and clean it up. We gave XXXX XXXX 30 days notice of leaving the building and paid the full rent through the end of XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX deducted {$75.00} from our deposit for additional cleaning. 

On leaving the building, we agreed with XXXX XXXX that we would return to the building to complete the remaining seven months of our contract when the lethal worldwide pandemic was over and we were no longer at heightened risk. XXXX XXXX, the XXXX Rentals agent we were dealing with, guaranteed us that the Coronavirus pandemic would be over by the summer, so we agreed to return to any available apartment in the building on XX/XX/XXXX, on the assumption, and with the pre-condition, that the Coronavirus would have been eradicated by then.

As you will be well aware, the Coronavirus epidemic was far from over by XX/XX/XXXX, and indeed XXXX Arizona saw the most new cases of Coronavirus per capita of any location in the world during the months of XXXX XXXX. Therefore, in recognition of the continuing threat of the Coronavirus, we informed XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX that we could not immediately return to the building, whereupon XXXX XXXX advised us, by email, that there would be a penalty for our failure to return. 

Thereafter, we heard nothing from XXXX XXXX until early XX/XX/XXXX when a legal firm contacted us to inform us that we owed XXXX Rentals {$3900.00} for breaking our leasing agreement. We asked them to send us written details of the claim, but received nothing, so we contacted them ourselves to remind them we needed written details, but again they failed to provide them. 

It was only when the legal firm logged the debt collection with XXXX and other credit agencies that we had access to the details of XXXX XXXX claim against us, which XXXX XXXX had supposedly sent to us at our former apartment in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX the one place they knew we could not possibly be at the end of XXXX, XXXX. 

Our refutation of XXXX XXXX demand for payment is that : 1. The lethal worldwide Coronavirus pandemic constitutes an act of God ; 2. In our specific circumstances, which were known to XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX, the poor ventilation in the building, its lack of sanitation protocols, and the proven transfer of viruses between the tenants recently within the building rendered the building uninhabitable for us during the lethal worldwide Coronavirus epidemic ; 3. XXXX XXXX failure to provide clean air ventilation and regular sanitation protocols within the building during the time of the lethal worldwide Coronavirus pandemic also constituted a fundamental breach of contract on their behalf in our specific circumstances which were known to XXXX XXXX ; 4. XXXX XXXX failure to provide clean air ventilation and regular sanitation protocols within the building rendered it a totally unsuitable environment for us to shelter in place as we were being required to do by the Governor of Arizona and the Mayor of the City of XXXX, and was therefore a violation of public policy relating to the lethal Coronavirus epidemic ; 5. As a matter of due procedure, XXXX XXXX and their agents have failed even to provide us with written details of their demand for payment, a demand we hereby refute the validity of. 

As it happens, during XX/XX/XXXX, I was also diagnosed with a second form of highly aggressive XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) and underwent XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. We have since been forced to move for the foreseeable future to XXXX XXXX where the appropriate expert medical treatments are available to me, including the requirement that I undergo a year of XXXX and impending additional XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation