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Making My Landlord's Life Hell
Cognisseur
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Well, mildly uncomfortable anyway.
I lived in an off-campus house for the last two years. The landlord is the typical sleazy try-to-rip-you-off kind of guy. We moved out on May 28th (not June as I wrote).
3 weeks later, curious why I haven't gotten a security deposit back yet, I call him to remind him he has a week. No problem he says, I'll mail them out first week in July.
Problem is, according to the Security Deposit Act, I'm supposed to get my deposit back after 30 days tops so first week in July isn't particularly legit. Moving on.
2 weeks after that, annoyed that it's been past the legal limit and even past when he said he'd mail it, I still have no deposit, I call him to inquire about it and he tells me it's coming soon.
1 week after that, now getting pissed, I call him and inform him about the law and he lies to me about how it's 30 business days not regular days (even though he surpassed those too by now), but that some agency he uses will be mailing the checks sometime soon.
So naturally, I'm thinking I'll take the guy to Small Claims Court. I have the potential to win 2x the deposit. However, I talked to a lawyer I know about the situation and she told me not to bother because if he gives us the deposit back anytime in the several weeks before the trial it's overwhelmingly likely that he won't have any punishment so there's no point in my wasting my time and filing fees. Furthermore, Small Claims Court decisions are just left in some back filing cabinet so it's not like it'll affect him ever.
I'm pretty certain he'll give us the deposit sometime in the next couple weeks but I'm also pretty pissed that he openly lied to me and delayed for weeks past the legal limit.
So what should I do to make his life not so pleasant?
1. If the Small Claims Court is as bleak and unpromising as I've been told it doesn't sound worth it, does it?
2. I'm going to send a letter to the college's off-campus housing agency which puts up most of the flyers students use to find housing. I'll explain the situation and ask them to permanently remove any of his listings. That should hurt his business reasonably.
3. Is there a Better Business Beaurau or consumer group or something or other I should write to? Is there anyone else I can warn about this guy to make his life difficult?
4. Anything else I can do to make him unhappy?
I lived in an off-campus house for the last two years. The landlord is the typical sleazy try-to-rip-you-off kind of guy. We moved out on May 28th (not June as I wrote).
3 weeks later, curious why I haven't gotten a security deposit back yet, I call him to remind him he has a week. No problem he says, I'll mail them out first week in July.
Problem is, according to the Security Deposit Act, I'm supposed to get my deposit back after 30 days tops so first week in July isn't particularly legit. Moving on.
2 weeks after that, annoyed that it's been past the legal limit and even past when he said he'd mail it, I still have no deposit, I call him to inquire about it and he tells me it's coming soon.
1 week after that, now getting pissed, I call him and inform him about the law and he lies to me about how it's 30 business days not regular days (even though he surpassed those too by now), but that some agency he uses will be mailing the checks sometime soon.
So naturally, I'm thinking I'll take the guy to Small Claims Court. I have the potential to win 2x the deposit. However, I talked to a lawyer I know about the situation and she told me not to bother because if he gives us the deposit back anytime in the several weeks before the trial it's overwhelmingly likely that he won't have any punishment so there's no point in my wasting my time and filing fees. Furthermore, Small Claims Court decisions are just left in some back filing cabinet so it's not like it'll affect him ever.
I'm pretty certain he'll give us the deposit sometime in the next couple weeks but I'm also pretty pissed that he openly lied to me and delayed for weeks past the legal limit.
So what should I do to make his life not so pleasant?
1. If the Small Claims Court is as bleak and unpromising as I've been told it doesn't sound worth it, does it?
2. I'm going to send a letter to the college's off-campus housing agency which puts up most of the flyers students use to find housing. I'll explain the situation and ask them to permanently remove any of his listings. That should hurt his business reasonably.
3. Is there a Better Business Beaurau or consumer group or something or other I should write to? Is there anyone else I can warn about this guy to make his life difficult?
4. Anything else I can do to make him unhappy?
Cognisseur on
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2+3+4. Post your location - at least a state. Most places will have a tenant organization or housing tribunal that can help you serve up a dish of piping hot justice. Your university's off-campus housing agency probably has a direct hotline to them, for that matter.
5. Keep an eye on your credit score. If this guy is a douche he may try to ding your score and claim you never paid your rent/were late/delinquent/evicted.
YMMV, IANAL, someone in your state/town may have more exact advice.
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Thanks! I'm in New Brunswick, New Jersey (08901), not sure if someone has any experience with those specifics.
heh
I sincerely doubt he has, or has ever, had any intention of returning the security deposit
My suspicion is that the lawyer you contacted said "it's not worth your time" when she actually meant "it's not worth my time." It is worth your time, it's hundreds of dollars we're talking about here. File the claim yourself. Not sure what state you're in so I'm not sure what the procedure is. Yes, you will have to wait a few weeks, but the case will be open and shut when you do get there.
One of three things will happen: 1: You will suddenly receive a check for the value of the security deposit. You do not have to cash it if you do not want to; you can simply hold on to it and go to court anyway and get your damages. 2: You'll both show up in court and the court will likely finish up and award you damages very quickly. 3: He will not show up in court either. This is the point at which you file for contempt and really fuck up his life.
once this is over and you know someone has moved in, send a letter to the address of the apartment you were renting marked "resident" and explain everything you dealt with, leaving contact information for yourself. Most likely your state requires special measures to be taken with the money and receipts of those measures for the tenant. Remind the future tenants to ask for those in advance, so they don't end up having to wait until after they move out to deal with it.
How do you do this? Can't you only look at your credit score for free once a year?
I assumed (correctly) that he was in the USA, and they can do it 3x a year or something like that. Canada it's harder to do unless you're friends with someone in the industry. :P
It's really more a "get records that you paid on time in order now and keep them easy to find" so that if he does try shit like this down the road, you're all set to hammer his ass.
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Does that mean 30 days before you move out, or after
because if its after im really confused here
http://www.rentlaw.com/dep/njreturndeposit.htm
If you file suit, file it for double the deposit. You're entitled to under NJ law.
Also, if you moved on June 28th, how has there been more than 30 days since you moved?
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I agree with Doc, make it very clear that you don't want to take this to court because, well, you don't want to take this to court. It would likely result in a massive waste of your time.
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