Search the Community

My boyfriend and I came to Mexico early 2018 on a tourist card (180 days) to the Yucatan. We rented a house and my bf made "friends" with a neighbor who speaks pretty good English. Told him we were going to see about job opportunities down here eventually and come back after that visit. He sweettalked my boyfriend telling him that he had an empty part of his house (his house separated into 3 living areas) and he would give us a great deal to move back down here, only 2500 pesos, all bills included. When we came back, the lease and everything was a huge rush and viewing the place was as well. We are here again only on a 6 month tourist card. Our "friend" the landlord turns out to be full of hot air to put it nicely. Nothing was painted, we had no fridge, no stove (not even a hotplate), no bed, the toilet wasn't fixed, and there is a doorway with bars over it, but no door!! Also, he didn't translate the lease for us, he didn't give us a copy of the lease, and he didn't ask us if it was ok for him to put it at 12 months. We didn't even get time to try to muddle through the Spanish on the lease ourselves because he had to hurry to return it to his lawyer before going to work. Also, he raised the cost of the rent to 3000 pesos a month because he said he was going to get us an air conditioner. Which of course he never did either. We've been living here 1.5 months now and going crazy. Between the heat and the insects, and I've lost my cat 3 times now because we have no a/c and of course he has not put any insect netting over any of the windows. We went to his lawyer to get a copy of the lease and were told that they do not have a copy machine! The landlord also drinks quite heavily a lot, and one night came banging on our door demanding to speak to my boyfriend for 15 mins. It turns out he wants to sell this house that we are in and he told my boyfriend he wants him to buy it. When told we don't have the money to buy a house, he went on to pressure him to tell his family in Canada to buy it for him, or even more unbelievable, to ask this new business connection my boyfriend had made to buy it for him! My boyfriend has made a good connection with a business owner who wants to get my boyfriend a work visa. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago, my boyfriend was lifting something very heavy and I guess he had a hernia (groin area) and it popped out. He's been in so much pain, and the doctor we saw here said it's too large (it keeps growing) and needs to be operated on. We do not have the money to pay for that operation here, but in Canada it would be free. I do apologize for the very long explanation, but I feel like it all may be important? So I have several questions. Did our landlord have the right to corner us into a 12 month lease when he knew that we are only legally allowed to stay here for 180 days? We've arranged with my bf's family to go back and stay with them long enough to for him to be able to get the surgery on his hernia. But we can't afford to pay off the lease and fly back to Canada and survive. The business owner down here reassured us that the business and my bf's work visa would both take a few months to get up and running, and they will stay in contact because we would like to come back to live. It is a great opportunity for my bf, and we could live a modest but comfortable life down here. But I never want to come back here or talk to this landlord "friend" again. He has lied and lied and I'm so angry that I was so naïve to let us be taken advantage of like this. Can our landlord prevent us from leaving the country? And can he sue us if we return to the same city in approx. 3 to 4 months? We are paying him one months rent at the end of this month but plan on leaving by the 12th. Also, we do not expect to get our deposit back. We just don't want any legal hassles, because we really feel that we were taken advantage of badly. We live in a dump compared to what others pay 3000 pesos a month here for....