This is topic Sueing my old landlord!! in forum General Talk at Northern California Ford Owners .
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Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
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Fuckers held almost $800 of our deposit.
We just today got back some of our deposit has been over 4 weeks. By law they had 21 days.
Also on their "itemized" list there are NO recipts of work completed, which is required by law.
They performed a General Cleaning which again by law they can not charge me for
They painted two rooms and charged me for it - illegal!!
They made claim of a burn hole in the family room carpet by wood burning stove. #1 we never used that stove, #2 that wasn't a family room it was homeboys workshop and #3 there are about 100 burn marks by that stove and always have been.
They made claim I de-flea'd the house because there was a can of flea killer under one of the sinks. This was there when we moved in along with other poisons - charged me $147 for their can of flea shit just being in the house and even if it was mine it wasn't used. it was full.
Charged me for weeds growing in the backyard - we had a gardener supplied to us BY THE OWNER OF THE HOUSE - not my fault he didn't do weeds fuck that
They have 72 hours to cut me a check or they will have $800 in window damages to worry about.
Posted by turbo50 (Member # 6700) on
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Pricks.
Take em for all you can get outta them...douche bags.
Posted by 88DroptopGT (Member # 2535) on
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It's very rare these days to get ALL of your deposit back from landlords.
I take pictures of every wall/floor before I move so that shit won't fly..
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by 88DroptopGT:
It's very rare these days to get ALL of your deposit back from landlords.
I take pictures of every wall/floor before I move so that shit won't fly..
I have many photos. Including those of a spark catcher that flew off the roof and hit the door of my A4. A year before that a 50 lb. tree limb cracked off and fell on the A4. I have paint tests showing lead in the fence in the backyard that took over a year to get replaced, I have doctor statements for my kids talking about mold and how sick they are getting from it. As soon as we moved my daughter is now off her breathing machine and my son no longer needs his inhaler. House was a deathtrap. House was cleaner when we left than when we moved in. Water didn't work when we moved in. There are so many things not up to code it scary. FUCK THESE PEOPLE
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
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Just got an e-mail back from the renters agency. They are the middle man for the owner. It is the owner that did these charges not the home owners agency.
Said they would talk with the owners of my dispute and get back to me. Basically to me that means "FUCKOFF". Looks like small claims!!
Posted by turbo50 (Member # 6700) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by Jdub07:
quote:
Originally posted by 88DroptopGT:
It's very rare these days to get ALL of your deposit back from landlords.
I take pictures of every wall/floor before I move so that shit won't fly..
I have always got back 100% of my deposit.(turbo50)
I have many photos. Including those of a spark catcher that flew off the roof and hit the door of my A4. A year before that a 50 lb. tree limb cracked off and fell on the A4. I have paint tests showing lead in the fence in the backyard that took over a year to get replaced, I have doctor statements for my kids talking about mold and how sick they are getting from it. As soon as we moved my daughter is now off her breathing machine and my son no longer needs his inhaler. House was a deathtrap. House was cleaner when we left than when we moved in. Water didn't work when we moved in. There are so many things not up to code it scary. FUCK THESE PEOPLE
I shit you not that my son is now off of his inhaler after moving from my last shit hole rental in martinez. It was the only house I lived in that I actually saw mold in. The fact that my son is off his inhaler is either the house or the wonderful martinez refinery, either way being a home owner and not having to stress over my families well being is a miracle in itself.
Posted by Yaterstang (Member # 7659) on
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http://www.ezlegalfile.org/go.jsp?act=actShowHome
Use the website to print out the legal forms, find out where the pud works, and have a buddy serve his ass at work.
Posted by Chris C. (Member # 1949) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by Jdub07:
quote:
Originally posted by 88DroptopGT:
It's very rare these days to get ALL of your deposit back from landlords.
I take pictures of every wall/floor before I move so that shit won't fly..
I have many photos. Including those of a spark catcher that flew off the roof and hit the door of my A4. A year before that a 50 lb. tree limb cracked off and fell on the A4. I have paint tests showing lead in the fence in the backyard that took over a year to get replaced, I have doctor statements for my kids talking about mold and how sick they are getting from it. As soon as we moved my daughter is now off her breathing machine and my son no longer needs his inhaler. House was a deathtrap. House was cleaner when we left than when we moved in. Water didn't work when we moved in. There are so many things not up to code it scary. FUCK THESE PEOPLE
Hopefully you have made all of those complaints with the landlords and had everything in writing... In most cases a judge will side with the tennants more so than they will with the landlords....
Also typically the longer you live there the more of your deposit you get back. Not the other way around like most people think. You should have also acrewed a wear and tear allowance during the time you stayed there...
If you had made a stink about the mold in your place you would have alot more to stand on too, as landlords take mold VERY seriously!
Was this a apartment or a home rental?
Posted by HaulinAss Motorsports (Member # 541) on
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Mold is one of the main if not the reason my son was hospitalized late last year. I as well had a cold that I couldn't shake. When I brought it to my landlords attention, Ill just say he didnt even think twice and within 24 hours gave me back my deposit and 2 months rent plus any and all moving expenses.within a week of moving my cold was gone and my son was 100% better than he was at the previous house.
I went back a month later and the owner had to have the walls,carpets and ceilings/roof torn out and all replaced. He then sold the house a few months later. Landlord was really understanding and actually gave a shit which is VERY RARE to see these days.....And im sure was aware how much he could have been liable for had he not.
Anyhow I took that money and did a lease to own in a brand new house out in Hollister, EXCELLENT MOVE, well I thought. Im getting fukked by that guy as he is UNABLE to sell the house anyhow being it is a 2nd house on the same property(long story). I have been going back and forth with mine and his lawyer but looks like it will be going to small claims...
Moral of either story, and seems like yours is
BUY A HOUSE AND DONT RENT!!!!!!
BTW contact California Rural Legal Assistance, they will have a location in your area. They will try and get it resolved without eitehr parties having to goto court. Although if it does they will help you to make sure all your paperwork is in order so when court hits you are on your A game!
[ June 04, 2008, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: HaulinAss Motorsports ]
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
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Thanks for all the advise. And the roof!!!! fuck me! After the first winter we said told them the roof is shot, on windy days shingles would just fly away. The direct tv guy almost fell off the roof because the shingles were so rotted. We were there for almost 3 years on a month by month lease. The 2nd week we moved out guess what....there is a brand new roof on that motherfucker. MOLD in the bathrooms because they didn't have any ventalation fans so then the master bedroom started to mold on the celings too... Our pg&e was always $250+ because of how terrible the heating was and thin windows and no insulation. We just got our first pg&e bill at the new house and it was less than $175.
Even if we get none of what that fucker kept we are so much happier owning a clean house.
Posted by gercolla1 (Member # 3068) on
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go talk to the owner again but this time bring your buddies smith and wesson by
Posted by N8 (Member # 6048) on
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I wouldn't go balls out on trying to retrieve that money. Sometimes your time and sanity is worth more than that. Try to be civil and do all the verbal and personal stuff and maybe reach a amicable settlement. Not sure I would do Small Claims. Sounds like it is a experience that is better seen from the rear view mirror, Ya Dig.
Good luck.
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by N8:
I wouldn't go balls out on trying to retrieve that money. Sometimes your time and sanity is worth more than that. Try to be civil and do all the verbal and personal stuff and maybe reach a amicable settlement. Not sure I would do Small Claims. Sounds like it is a experience that is better seen from the rear view mirror, Ya Dig.
Good luck.
Wife feels the same way. I'm heated cause we wasted time actually taking care of that dump only to have him rip us off. Plus that is $800 I could use for the new place. We'll see how it rolls.
Posted by Jmir018 (Member # 1414) on
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Put your complaints in writing..
Send them a certified letter stating what you want.
Itemize list of deductions, receipts, etc etc.
Tell them about the 21 day rule, otherwise you'll start collecting interest on the money owed to you.
I went through something similar. Ended up getting my whole deposit back in one day AFTER i started refusing his phone calls and just told him to email me since i wanted a record of our conversations for court. i brought up the fact that 19 days had gone by and if i didn't get my check in the mail postmarked in the next two days he'll not only have to pay me that, but damages(long story, but the house was inhabitable for 20 days after we started paying for rent, and there were several conditions that a small court would claim as unbearable.)
Try to solve this without doing anything silly.
Good luck.
Posted by gercolla1 (Member # 3068) on
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IMO- take this as a $800 lesson it could be worse the stakes could of been higher but best of luck
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
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I'm all for an $800 lesson learned, yet there is nothing to learn here. Other than this is just one more prick out there trying to come up on nothing. I'm not asking for anything from him except to be honest.
$75 for weeds in the backyard he charged me!! WTF is that? So does that mean he's going to pay me for 3 years of gas for my mower? How about paying for the fuckin mower itself?? I offered to mow the back lawn because his gardener kept letting my dog out. Now he's charging me $75 for some weeds that are back there. Fuck that yard,...it was a deathtrap from day one.
Fuck I just sound like a bitch now...but I'm not used to getting shafted. Treat others how you want to be treated has worked for me up until this guy. Did I mention he used to be Fremont's Fire Chief and his house has two add-on's that are not permitted.
After adding my response here I'm writting and letter and sending it certified with return reciept,...no fuck that...sending it Express overnight. They want to nittpick then lets do this.
Posted by 2stangs69-91 (Member # 1951) on
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If you sue go for way more that 800.00 dollars. His house put your family in danger. Fuck landlords who pull this type of shit. I have been throught it before also.
Posted by SmokinLX (Member # 1684) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by Jdub07:
I'm all for an $800 lesson learned, yet there is nothing to learn here. Other than this is just one more prick out there trying to come up on nothing. I'm not asking for anything from him except to be honest.
$75 for weeds in the backyard he charged me!! WTF is that? So does that mean he's going to pay me for 3 years of gas for my mower? How about paying for the fuckin mower itself?? I offered to mow the back lawn because his gardener kept letting my dog out. Now he's charging me $75 for some weeds that are back there. Fuck that yard,...it was a deathtrap from day one.
Fuck I just sound like a bitch now...but I'm not used to getting shafted. Treat others how you want to be treated has worked for me up until this guy. Did I mention he used to be Fremont's Fire Chief and his house has two add-on's that are not permitted.
After adding my response here I'm writting and letter and sending it certified with return reciept,...no fuck that...sending it Express overnight. They want to nittpick then lets do this.
Check Your lease there is a spot on the lease "if He used the CAR form's" and there will be a spot where You check to say who is in charge of the yard's and if He had a gardener when You moved in He should have checked that He was responsible for the yard's
Posted by Luke87GT (Member # 21) on
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I have a hard time believing you will come out on top in this situation.
In my experience security deposits are rarely given back if you've lived in a place for a significant amount of time.
Best of luck to you.
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
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Actuall the longer you are there the more of the deposit you should receive back because of 'normal wear and tear'.
Either way I've sent them a letter of dispute and will be going through all the motions. He lives in Angles Camp so I'm hoping that if the threat of small claims suit comes to light he'll cough up some of what he "thinks" he's intitled to. Shit that is $800 of my money that he has claimed to have used to do this and that...so where are my recipts for these things? Where are the invoices?
Posted by Jmir018 (Member # 1414) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by Jdub07:
Actuall the longer you are there the more of the deposit you should receive back because of 'normal wear and tear'.
Either way I've sent them a letter of dispute and will be going through all the motions. He lives in Angles Camp so I'm hoping that if the threat of small claims suit comes to light he'll cough up some of what he "thinks" he's intitled to. Shit that is $800 of my money that he has claimed to have used to do this and that...so where are my recipts for these things? Where are the invoices?
you have the right to see invoices... so don't despair. Like i said before, just keep it cool and keep everything in writing. Even if he presents 500 dollar gardening receipts, they would have to be reasonable for the judge to award him that sum if you went to court.
Most people here are advising against pursuing this and just taking it as a learning experience. so what would you exactly learn from this? that other people can claim BS expenses and unrightfully keep your money?? fuck that.
I would spend more money out of my pocket to ensure the fuckers did not keep a penny of mine if i believed someone was trying to take advantage of me. (that's just me though, everyone is different)
Good luck.
Disclaimer, i don't know the actual condition of the property by the time you vacated the house. I'm assuming it was in the same condition as when you moved in, obviously, minus wear and tear.
[ June 06, 2008, 01:27 PM: Message edited by: Jmir018 ]
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
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Other than half the roof flying off from the wind we left the house in better shape than when we moved in. As you can already tell from my posts above the house was in need of major work. Barley live in condition if you ask me. My kids health alone is testimate to that. Even if I get nothing from this I'm going to be the bug in his ass. He needs to know no everyone will just take it up the wazoo and do nothing about it.
Posted by TrueBlue (Member # 1063) on
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My wife is a Manager of a 336 unit complex I had her take a look at all this. She has been to court with tenants many times.
1. We just today got back some of our deposit has been over 4 weeks. By law they had 21 days.
True. If deposit is not received within 21 days they owe you double the deposit with no charges taken out. All the stuff below makes no difference.
2. Also on their "itemized" list there are NO recipts of work completed, which is required by law.
Not true. Reciepts can come after the itemized list.
3. They performed a General Cleaning which again by law they can not charge me for
Not True, they can charge you for general cleaning.
4. They painted two rooms and charged me for it - illegal!!
Yes and no. If you have been there for longer than 36 months no charges but less than 36 months they can charge you.
5. They made claim of a burn hole in the family room carpet by wood burning stove. #1 we never used that stove, #2 that wasn't a family room it was homeboys workshop and #3 there are about 100 burn marks by that stove and always have been.
If you do not have a move-in inspection form with this listed your pretty much screwed.
6. They made claim I de-flea'd the house because there was a can of flea killer under one of the sinks. This was there when we moved in along with other poisons - charged me $147 for their can of flea shit just being in the house and even if it was mine it wasn't used. it was full.
This pretty much your word against thiers if you go to court.
7. Charged me for weeds growing in the backyard - we had a gardener supplied to us BY THE OWNER OF THE HOUSE - not my fault he didn't do weeds fuck that
If they supplied a gardner...your right.
[ June 06, 2008, 11:36 PM: Message edited by: TrueBlue ]
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by TrueBlue:
My wife is a Manager of a 336 unit complex I had her take a look at all this. She has been to court with tenants many times.
1. We just today got back some of our deposit has been over 4 weeks. By law they had 21 days.
True. If deposit is not received within 21 days they owe you double the deposit with no charges taken out. All the stuff below makes no difference.
2. Also on their "itemized" list there are NO recipts of work completed, which is required by law.
Not true. Reciepts can come after the itemized list.
3. They performed a General Cleaning which again by law they can not charge me for
Not True, they can charge you for general cleaning.
4. They painted two rooms and charged me for it - illegal!!
Yes and no. If you have been there for longer than 36 months no charges but less than 36 months they can charge you.
5. They made claim of a burn hole in the family room carpet by wood burning stove. #1 we never used that stove, #2 that wasn't a family room it was homeboys workshop and #3 there are about 100 burn marks by that stove and always have been.
If you do not have a move-in inspection form with this listed your pretty much screwed.
6. They made claim I de-flea'd the house because there was a can of flea killer under one of the sinks. This was there when we moved in along with other poisons - charged me $147 for their can of flea shit just being in the house and even if it was mine it wasn't used. it was full.
This pretty much your word against thiers if you go to court.
7. Charged me for weeds growing in the backyard - we had a gardener supplied to us BY THE OWNER OF THE HOUSE - not my fault he didn't do weeds fuck that
If they supplied a gardner...your right.
on number 1. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! Well they claim it must have been lost in the mail and had sent it in on the 19th which would have been 20 days. The itemized list was backdated to the 19th but the actual check we finally got had a date of 6/2/08 making it like 32 days or some shit. How would that situation hold up in court?
Posted by Jmir018 (Member # 1414) on
:
i hope you didn't cash the check. I don't know if it applies here, but it might show implicit acceptance to the deductions. Specially if it says, "paid in full" somewhere on the check.
good luck.
Posted by BCINGUU (Member # 2397) on
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My suggestion would be to get what you can through negotiation with the landlord or a 3rd party. I sued in small claims and lost, even though my case was airtight. It's my belief that the judge will always side with the defendent, because they want to discourage lawsuits. You can't win.
Posted by TrueBlue (Member # 1063) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by Jdub07:
quote:
Originally posted by TrueBlue:
My wife is a Manager of a 336 unit complex I had her take a look at all this. She has been to court with tenants many times.
1. We just today got back some of our deposit has been over 4 weeks. By law they had 21 days.
on number 1. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! Well they claim it must have been lost in the mail and had sent it in on the 19th which would have been 20 days. The itemized list was backdated to the 19th but the actual check we finally got had a date of 6/2/08 making it like 32 days or some shit. How would that situation hold up in court?
I will ask her what she thinks and get back to you.
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
:
Just received a check for another $400 yesterday from the property management company the owners go through. They asked for the issue to be closed and included "Some" receipts. I cashed it fast and put this behind me. Wife was happy after even though I didn't tell her about it until I blew through $200 of it
Thanks for the advise. I think they got worried when I mentioned the 21 days thing. Not worried enough to give it all back but I feel a whole lot better doing something about it rather than take it in the ass like I almost did.
Thanks again!!
Posted by N8 (Member # 6048) on
:
Good deal, J
I wasn't suggesting just taking the full "L". But don't let it consume your life and take it to Judge Judy and all that. Glad it worked out.
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by N8:
Good deal, J
I wasn't suggesting just taking the full "L". But don't let it consume your life and take it to Judge Judy and all that. Glad it worked out.
Nope I was considering taking a full loss on my own because I tend to let things like the consume me, then it effects shit at home. So I didn't want to go down that road, but in this case I sent a professional letter express mail with facts not emotion. Which is hard because I want to burn that house down...I still might break all the windows (j/k).
oh your box just when out with the mail today L8N8
Posted by N8 (Member # 6048) on
:
thanks man, I forgot to reply to your PM. I owe you one or 2. Oh and btw, I cannot find the lid to my black arm rest. You are welcome to the rest of it if you want it.
Posted by Jdub07 (Member # 2728) on
:
quote:
Originally posted by N8:
thanks man, I forgot to reply to your PM. I owe you one or 2. Oh and btw, I cannot find the lid to my black arm rest. You are welcome to the rest of it if you want it.
No problem...and keep the rest of the armrest, someone may need one. Just lookin for a pad. mine is mint but is also the only thing in my car dyed black. I may just by one now that I"m so rollin in dough
Posted by BlowN67 (Member # 4229) on
:
Jerm, thats hella cool i would of done exactly what u did.. congrats JOHN
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