Nancy lives with her husband and disabled child in a low-income housing complex. Three months after she signed a one-year lease, her landlord raised the rent. Nancy pointed out a clause in the lease that stated rent could not be raised for the duration of the lease. Her landlord claimed that she could do anything she wanted, so Nancy felt she had to pay or risk being evicted. She later reached out to the local legal aid office for help. Her lawyer contacted the landlord, who eventually relented and refunded not only Nancy’s overpayment, but the additional rent she had wrongly charged other residents who lived in the complex. With the overpayment refunded, Nancy could afford to pay other bills she was struggling with. She stated, “I don’t think I could have done it without my legal aid lawyer.”
