LaToya Fowlkes is standing outside rent court in Baltimore. A judge has just ruled that Fowlkes has to pay her landlord $4,900 in rent and fees despite her complaints that the house has leaky water pipes, chipped paint, rodents and a huge hole in the living room wall.
But Fowlkes didn't notify her landlord of the problems by certified mail — something the judge said she should have done to avoid eviction.
"It's hard for tenants, because tenants don't know the law. And then you have these landlords that just go and buy agents, and agents just sit there and study it," she says.