Elderly disabled woman being evicted; she says for changing shower head, filing complaints to city

OGDEN, Utah — Martha Woodard, 65, was served an eviction notice Thursday. The order states she has to be out in three days— she says she’s being targeted for making maintenance complaints to the city code and heath departments.

Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Woodard moved to Utah six months ago for health reasons.

“I had a lot of allergies and wanted to move to a dry climate, so I choose Utah,” she said.

Woodard also has severe rheumatoid arthritis, and congestive heart failure. She’s been on social security and a fixed income for a decade, she said.

In December, she found a trailer to rent at Lynn Mobile Home Park, at 333 Childs Dr., in Odgen. She pays just under $600 a month to live there, she said.

Since moving in, the needed repairs have piled up, she said, “I had water leaking from the ceiling… the dishwasher and disposal never worked… the light bulbs were getting really hot,” Woodard said.

She made complaints to the landlord, but said they always “took more than a month to fix.”

About four weeks ago, she called the city code enforcement office and health department to come take a look at her trailer, she said they found “several infractions.”

Thursday she was issued an eviction notice.

“It says to vacate in three days! I don’t have no place to go,” Woodard said.

The notice states: “You are in violation of your lease section maintenance agreement and repair rules, The Lease states: Keep all lavatories, sinks, toilets, and all other water and plumbing apparatus in good order and repair and use same only for the purposes for which they were constructed. You are violating this section, because the shower is leaking due to the changes and repairs that you attempted, and the garbage disposal is broken due to changes and/or repairs that you attempted to make.”

Woodard said the garbage disposal never worked properly since moving in, and she merely changed her shower head from a stationary head to a hose so her in-home care nurse could bathe her properly after a recent surgery.

KSL TV reporter Nicole Vowell called the landlord, Susan Bayer, and was told, “This has been handed over to our attorney, you’ll have to talk to him.”

Chase Adams, no law firm noted, simply “an Attorney for Lynn Mobile Home Park,” was listed on the eviction document. By phone, Adam’s told KSL’s Nicole Vowell, “The reasons for the eviction are listed on the notice,” and “call back tomorrow,” and hung up.

Woodard said she has no place to go, and called the reasons for the eviction “ridiculous.” She also said other neighbors have faced similar issues and “doesn’t want to see this happen to anymore elderly people.”

Woodard’s rent has been paid on-time in-full through May 1, the landlord confirmed.

KSL will continue to follow the developments of this story.