namelesstavern.net

some of you know I recently moved. When I left, the place was spic-and-span. I have two witnesses who can attest to that. when we did the walk-through, she said she was going to have to get a cleaning service to come in, and it was at this point I knew she was going to try to fuck me over.

I'm not lying to you people-this place was immaculate when I left.

she says "it won't take the entire thirty days to get your deposit back." okay.

Thirty days go by, no deposit. I call her. I leave a message, she does not call back. I call again, twice after that. Nothing.

Scott comes back from France on the 7th of July. (he is the person who lived there with me for those of you who do not know.) He starts calling her on Sunday. Finally on the 10th we hear from her.

"I apologize for not sending your deposits by now, they got mixed in with some other mail. If you do not get them within the next couple of days, let me know."

I told the Doctor I work for about it. He let me know that if the landlord does not return your deposit with a list of itemized deductions (if any) within 30 days, your deposit is then tripled. If she does not send the deposit within 30 days, she must send a letter of explanation.
She has done none of these things.

I call her and give her an option. I tell her that legally she is required to send my deposit to me, tripled, but that I am willing to let that go if she gives me a certified check in my hand within 24 hours. She said "No."

I called an attorney friend of mine, explained everything and asked him, "If you were me, what would you do?" He said, "Don't listen to a damn word she says. File it. Those laws are there to protect you, not keep bitches like her in the business of stealing money."

I filed a claim this morning. The deposit is 9 days overdue. Wish me luck.

if you have advice, give it. if you have questions, ask them. I need all the help I can get, even though I am certain the law is on my side. of course, this is the short and sweet story, with little things here/there...but I wanted you all to get the gist.

You might need pictures to prove the place was clean when you left.

oh-jeez. I left out an important part of the story.

When I gave her the offer and she refused, she called back. She said, "You are right. I am looking at the renter's act and it does state that I owe you triple the amount of the deposit."

I said, "What is the amount, to the penny?"

she said, "I don't know, I'm figuring it up right now."

I said, "I'll hold."

she said, "I'm not going to figure it out with you on the phone, I'll call you back."

She called back a few hours later and told me she would send the list of itemized deductions and the deposits the next day. I asked, "What is the dollar amount you are returning?"

She said, "You and Scott each receive $20.50."

Out of $900...this woman is trying to say that I left $859.00 worth of damage. Not only is this a HUGE insult, it's an outright lie. I am so outraged that I had to take an anti-anxiety pill wednesday night, and I don't even take pills!!

Tossica wrote:You might need pictures to prove the place was clean when you left.

the attorney told me I don't need that. I have two witnesses and he said that was good enough. this is small claims court.

Sounds like she is pretty well fucked. Good luck actually getting the money out of her though even if she loses in court.

Actually, if she agreed that you deserve triple the deposit back, and then said you and Scott each only get $20.50, that means she's claiming you actually had about $887 in damages, and she's only returning about $13-$14 to you. Divided between you and Scott, and tripled is about $20 each.

So yeah, I would start taking legal action.

you're right maeya...I didn't go through all that explaining but that is how she explained it to me. I know many of you don't want to read all the fine-line stuff.

and if she doesn't give us the money, I can get a lein on her house.

Maeya wrote:Actually, if she agreed that you deserve triple the deposit back, and then said you and Scott each only get $20.50, that means she's claiming you actually had about $887 in damages, and she's only returning about $13-$14 to you. Divided between you and Scott, and tripled is about $20 each.

So yeah, I would start taking legal action.

she will get served papers monday.

Yeah... except you still don't get paid until she sells the house. It's tough to get money out of people that don't want to pay.

Tossica wrote:Yeah... except you still don't get paid until she sells the house. It's tough to get money out of people that don't want to pay.

I wasn't getting the money either way! the way I see it, I did the right thing and she did not. that's enough for me.

Absolutely. Fuck her!

Actually, if the lien is big enough you can force a sheriff's auction.

Martrae wrote:Actually, if the lien is big enough you can force a sheriff's auction.

what does that mean?

it means right wing martrae style you force her to sell the place in order to pay the debt to you

So "Left Wing" tactics would be to cry about it?

Harrison wrote:So "Left Wing" tactics would be to cry about it?

the lien will fuck with her if she tries to get a loan or purchase more property. it also goes on the credit report for 7 yrs.

Good move Ash. Let us know how it turns out (i'm sure it will be awarded in your favor) I would also triple up the deposit as per the law on the assumption that she will force you to file a lien on the house. If that's the case, you will need to refile that lien (not sure about your state laws but here in FL it's every 5 yrs or so) to keep it alive. If she doesn't sell or die for 10 years, that money would have earned interest and/or depreciated so it's not the same amount relatively. Also, you serve another purpose in education so she never tries to pull that shit on future tenants.

Take a dump in her mailbox.

she was served papers a few weeks ago and has 30 days to respond. right now our tentative court date is sept 4th...that will probably change once she files a response. I haven't received anything yet and there are two weeks left for her to file. I'll keep you guys posted. scott and I were just discussing this last night actually.

she is a very high-strung woman and I can see her going in front of the judge complaining about us smoking in the house (which only happened once and we told her we wouldn't do it again and she gave us no consequences) so that argument is a moot point in this case. I can see her trying to say "you were late making your rent payments" which we weren't-but for some reason she tried to tell *me* that on the phone. again, it's a moot point. none of this matters with this particular situation.

smoking or not-late or not-it doesn't matter. the fact that she asked me to leave doesn't matter. she didn't return the deposit within 30 days. she didn't give me an itemized list of deductions. she didn't send a letter of explanation as to why the deposit was being turned in late. any deductions (over $700 worth in fact WTF!!!!) do not matter at this point, it's too late for that. she owes me 3x the amount of the original deposit.

scott and I are hoping she'll make an ass of herself trying to complain to the judge about these things, while, we intend to keep our mouths shut. we have our proof of the condition of the home when we left it. that's all I need. anything else is ridiculous to even discuss and has nothing to do with the reason we're suing her.

It would be sweet if you were on Judge Judy.

Zanchief wrote:It would be sweet if you were on Judge Judy.

you are probably the 5th person to say this since this happened, haha.

My sister is an associate producer for Judge Hatchet and Lopez...

Good luck Ash- just remember that the judge usually leans towards the person who is calmer and has more confidence and evidence. Let her make an ass of herself and you should be fine hehe.

Did you save your carbon copies of your checkbook to show you paid rent? Also if you left it super clean she may have only had to steam the carpets or change them.. try finding out who she uses for these services and ask for their rates or if possible, the exact invoices they had for YOUR old apt.

the carbon copies might still be there...that's a good idea I'll find out tonight.

no carpet, it was all hard wood.