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Courtney Weatherburne reporting
At first glance, it might seem like this family is doing last minute Christmas cleaning. But that's not what's happening here. Instead they are being forcibly ejected from this house by their landlord, Kim.

Jia Wei Yao "Kim" - Land Lord
"This house is rented by the Martinez family. She has rented my house from August, but only paid me $400. They owe me $750. Last month she and I went to court. The magistrate told her that December 15th they have to move out of the house. The judge told me that on the 15th they have move out, the 16th I go to court to have them move out for nonpayment. I gave them time because she is a single mother with lots of children and I have a good heart, so after 8 days she didn't come and tell me anything and she didn't pay me anything. And so this morning I went to court and they came with me."

According to Kim, 42 year old Shermaine Smith owes her $750 in rent and has not paid since around October. Kim says it could have been all avoided if Shermaine had simply informed her that she needed more time.

Jia Wei Yao "Kim" - Land Lord
"If she come and tell me because I know that it is two days before Christmas, let me stay until after the New Year, no problem. But if she doesn't come and tell me anything and doesn't call me - that's why I go at court."

While Shermaine respects Kim's right to take such measures, she says she only owes the land lord $350 dollars.

Shermaine Smith
"She has right to enforce her eviction notice because the court gave me until the 15th December to move out of her home. But I don't owe her that much. I owe her $350 and I told her that I will not be paying anymore rent because as you can see right now BEL needs to come and close off their light meter because they are stealing light. When I moved in, you can't even get water into the place and I ask her to go into the utility companies to speak to them so I can get my meter in because the payment on behalf of me some part half of it I pay and the other part is paid for me, was late and she said that she is not going to do that until she gets the payment. She had gotten the payment months ago from October. She has received up to now $700. I have my receipts and it was presented to the court and the other party that pays portions of it has their receipt she has it and her money was deposited to her bank account."

The landlord told us that that there was no payment made to her account and understandably, tensions are high at this Antelope Street residence, so much so that more than words were thrown.

According to Shermaine's neighbors, this has been going on for quite some time.

Voice of Neighbor
"From October, most of us in the neighborhood notice that Kim, the landlord actually took off the lady roof in October when all this rain was happening. The lady actually had to sleep overnight with that off. We had to advise her and let her know to call the police and let them know that she (Kim) couldn't have done that just like that even though she is the landlord. Next thing happen in November, that she started to cut the lady light out because when the lady got in there, the house already had light and water, so they had an agreement on how to finish pay it off. She cut out the lady light and water - that's torment."

And that torment is not over for this family of 6. For now, the kids most find solace in their most precious belongings. While Shermaine must find a place for her family to spend what could be a grim Christmas.

When we spoke to Smith right before news time she told us that she has already found a place to stay close by that area.