HOMELESS…..the story

Becci had her stroke Dec 19 2017.

We were living in Meadows Place at the time.

We sold our house to move into Harris County to take advantage of County Health District services because we did not have health insurance.

We bet everything on getting Becci well again.

We rented 5211 Hummingbird st 77035 from an 84 yr old Greek lady, Tasoula Zavitsanos.

From the beginning there were problems with the house.

The most important were the electrics.

This was a 1950s home which had not been brought up to code.

It was imperative we grounded all electrical sockets because we were using machines for therapies which could kill if shorted out.

I had a defibrillator which could go off with an electrical shock.

Becci had a very weak heart with a 20% ejection fraction.

Mrs Z understood and gave me permission to fix.

I found the contractors and paid them with the understanding Mrs Z would reimburse from the rent.

I must mention we found evidence of wires which were black from burning.

The electrics were very bad. Switches didn’t work. One could hear the sound of electrical crackle behind the switch plate indicating potential arcing.

Anyway this worked great for the first two times.

We became very good friends with Mrs Z.

She lived half a mile away.

I used to visit her for an hour at least 3 times a week where she made coffee and food for me to take back to my wife Becci, who is maximum assist, and bed-ridden.

Mrs Z used to visit Becci at least once a week.

Mrs Z is an amazing woman.

I heard her life story.

She was lonely and needed the company.

She survived the Nazis during the second world war and came to America with nothing.

She could not speak the language so we all know how much more difficult her life was when she arrived.

She never had an opportunity to get an education.

She worked 2 and 3 menial jobs to make enough money to survive and give her children an education.

Her son John is now a well known and very wealthy lawyer.

Founder and partner in AZA Law.

Our problems started when Mrs Z forgot the time we fixed the electrics when 20% of the house went off.

It was a major problem that took a few weeks to resolve.

Once again I found the contractors, directed the work and paid them myself.

This time when I reminded Mrs Z and I had the invoice to give her, she got very upset and said she had paid me and had no money.

I was not going to stress her out with an argument.

I wrote her son John and informed him of the issue and asked him to pay.

He was co-owner of the house.

I figured he would be only too happy to relieve his mother of any pressure and financial problems. I thought he might even thank me for taking the time and trouble to do all this for his mum.

I also thought it important to tell him of some of the disturbing things I had heard during the conversations with his mother.

I was told by Mrs Z she was lonely and did not want to live any longer. She complained her son did not even come into her house. Her exact words. Strange, I know. She complained she was not invited on trips with the family.

Mrs Z told me she was always in pain.

We talked about her health issues.

She had crohns and a weak enlarged heart.

I knew all about both these issues.

I too have an enlarged weak heart and suffered from ulcerative colitis.

UC and crohns are the same family.

So when Mrs Z finally told me she wasn’t taking her pills I was perturbed to say the least.

I know drugs for crohns, as with UC, can reduce the pain and put one into remission.

It didn’t for me and I had my colon removed.

I asked her why she wasn’t taking her pills and she said they were too expensive.

I told her this was not funny because her son is such a wealthy man.

Even though Mrs Z knew her son paid 62K a year in property taxes alone I’m not sure if she really understood how wealthy he truly is. I told her John pays more in property taxes than 70% of Americans earn in a year.

Anyway I told all this to John.

I told John that his mum’s house needs to be brought up to code with the electrics.

She did not even have ground fault interrupters near water.

I had watched her hold an electrical machine in one hand whilst using a damp rag to wipe the counter in the other.

I hope everyone reading this understands the importance of a GFCI

The ground-fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, is a fast-acting circuit breaker designed to shut off electric power in the event of a ground-fault within as little as 1/40 of a second. It works by comparing the amount of current going to and returning from equipment along the circuit conductors.

It has been standard building code since the 1960s.

Any shock to an old woman with such a weak heart will kill.

I informed John that his mum was resting on coaches where the springs had gone and were being propped up with coffee cans.

I told him I thought his mum was continuously stressed about not having any money.

She used to moan about the houses which were not rented and how much they cost not just in taxes but also in repairs.

I watched her get angry when contractors do something wrong or fail to show up. Remodelling will sap the strength of the youngest, fittest, sanest person.

I told him to get someone to manage all this. An 84 yr old illiterate woman should not be bothered by these problems. She should be enjoying the final years of her life.

Mrs Z is a true Christian. I told John he should give her $50K and let her put the money to charitable use. This would be the ultimate and fitting way to live her final years.

There was more.

Whenever Mrs Z wanted help I would find it.

I could not lift anything so I hired a day laborer here and there.

I thought John would thank me.

I offered to inform him whenever I thought his mum was unhappy or not feeling well.

I thought John was just too busy to know all of this and would be grateful if I ‘spied’ for him.

He did not thank me.

Instead he told his mum I had written and everything I had said.

He told us to get out. This was Oct 24.

I have all the emails and will write them to this website when I get time.

I hope those reading understand I have very little ‘free’ or ‘spare’ time.

I look after a woman who is maximum assist.

We have many doctors to see. And many therapy sessions to attend.

I knew we were in trouble as soon as I got the email.

We could not afford another move.

The move from Meadows Place to Harris county cost the best part of $10K including deposit monies.

We have no support group. Beccis daughter and pastor husband have done nothing.

Becci has not even seen her daughter and grand kids in 8 months.

Everything had to be paid for. Packing, moving and unpacking.

A 3 bed house full of many years of memories and objects is alot.

I could not even monitor because my heart was so bad and the heat so oppressive.

In fact I ended up in hospital a few times on the occasions I tried to help.

Moving is a real challenge and very expensive.

We have invested everything in machinery and therapies to get Becci walking again.

There was no extra cash for another move.

We sold our newest handicap van for $6000. This was the van we bought to be able to take Becci to North Carolina to see her 90 plus year old parents before they die.

I told all of this to John Zavitsanos.

It made no difference.

He would not pay us back for the work we did.

Since he wasn’t going to pay us back I withheld the rent.

He had told us to get out so why pay any more than I had to.

Eviction proceedings followed.

We appealed to county court.

He further abused his power by having me go to his offices for a 5 hour deposition.

This took me away from caring for my wife for the day.

He didn’t care.

I believe the deposition was set up merely to give his ‘baby’ lawyer (associate) practice in taking such proceedings.

During the appeal this shameless man took the stand and had the temerity to argue he did not believe GFCI were code.

He said he thought all my invoices were fraudulent.

He said I should have put all requests for repairs in writing and had them cleared in writing.

Ludicrous since Mrs Z was the only one on the contract and she cannot read or write.

There was so much more.

I will document everything.

We lost.

How can we compete against a group of experienced lawyers?

Plus, Texas is a property state.

By attempting to defend ourselves we will have a tougher time renting again.

The judge did not award him costs and told him to return our deposit money.

I have asked him for our money so we can find another rental.

He has refused.

We are homeless.

He has bankrupted us.

He does not care.

He should not have a title such as Archon in the Greek Church.

He cares little for other humans let alone any sort of Christian acts.

He has his title because he is wealthy and donates or gives professional services to the church.

If you did not already know from just watching the news.

The wealthy can and do, buy whatever they want.

Becci and I would be so grateful if you could write John and tell him what he is doing is wrong for so many reasons.

No one deserves to be treated like this.

We treat animals better.

Living in our cargo trailer is not good for either of us.

But it is particularly bad for Becci.

She must have a defibrillator implanted on May 6.

I fear being homeless and outside in the heat will kill her.

And in case anyone thinks there must be help out there from an agency or similar, there is nothing.

We have spoken to countless social workers and the best we get is call United Way.

You can help.

Email John

 jzavitsanos@azalaw.com