landlord trying to bill me for repairs -- Iowa

[Creature]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa

Hi all! I'm hoping you guys could give me advice with the following issue:

I live in an apartment complex on the 1st floor. Recently my patio moskito net screen door was stolen. Also the door handle to the glass sliding door to the patio cracked (probably due to temperature changes or something). I've reported this to my appartment management company I rent from. By the time they sent the technician out the door handle broke off.

Basically what they are saying is this: according to the technitian it is very difficult to take the screen door from the outside, and easier to take it from the inside. As far as the door handle they said, and I quote "It's a steel handle, they don't just break. You have to have applied serious preassure to it for it to break." And now they are billing me for the whole thing ($310).

I wold like to contest this in small claims court.
Do I have a good chance of winning?

Do I pay the fee first (They are saying that anything I pay will be applied against this balance first before it will be applied to my rent) to avoid late charges and then sue them for it? Or will me paying it be basically stating that I do not contest the charges, making it impossible for me to win in court?

Should I pay an independent 3rd party technician or carpenter to take a look at my door frame and maybe my neighbor's screen door and get a statement from him that it could have been taken out from the outside?

Thanks so much!
Anastasia

 

[Baranov]

I own many apartment and one of the things I keep running into is screen doors and storm windows disappearing from my apts. My tenants try to claim that the screens were missing and have no recollection of why the storm windows are either missing or broken. I can understand why your landlord does not buy your story based on my personal experience.

 

[FarmerJ]

Did you report the theft to the police ? If not then you can be very easily billed for the screen panels replacement.

 

[Creature]

No, I have not reported it to the police. Do you think it is too late to do that now? It's been a couple of weeks.

EDIT: By couple, I mean about 2 or so.

 

[ecmst12]

Yeah, you should have called the police as soon as you discovered it.

 

[Creature]

I called the police and they said that since the aptm management ownes the property THEY should call and report it. Could somebody please answer my questions?

Do I pay the fee first (They are saying that anything I pay will be applied against this balance first before it will be applied to my rent) to avoid late charges and then sue them for it? Or will me paying it be basically stating that I do not contest the charges, making it impossible for me to win in court?

Should I pay an independent 3rd party technician or carpenter to take a look at my door frame and maybe my neighbor's screen door and get a statement from him that it could have been taken out from the outside?

I've already filed a lawsuit against them. There is no reason I should pay for their property being stolen. Or the wear and tear on the door handle that cracked and broke off because they didn't send out a repair man to fix it in time.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cvillecpm]

Door handle and screen are under your custody, care and control....Monsters did it won't cut it!! I think you will loose of repair tech testifies.

 

[Creature]

Hmm... following that logic, the landlord is not responsible for any repairs. Foset leaks, furnise breaks, let's just claim the tenant somehow abused it and charge them for it.

Let me ask you this:

In your opinion, what actions could I have taken to prevent this from happening?

 

[dmsdexter]

Creature, If I were you I would read some of Cville's responses to other peoples questions before I would take any of his advice.
I personally think that he bashes anyone he can whenever he gets the chance.
Just a little advice.

 

[Baranov]

Creature, If I were you I would read some of Cville's responses to other peoples questions before I would take any of his advice.
I personally think that he bashes anyone he can whenever he gets the chance.
Just a little advice.

Recently my patio moskito net screen door was stolen. Also the door handle to the glass sliding door to the patio cracked (probably due to temperature changes or something). I've reported this to my appartment management company I rent from. By the time they sent the technician out the door handle broke off.

Patio door screen stolen? who would steal one? Not like you can hock it or something. Crack door knob after reporting the "crime" also highly unlikely.

It is likely OP locked himself out and rather than calling a locksmith broke into his own apartment.

 

[Creature]

OWNage delivered curtesy of Creature

Patio door screen stolen? who would steal one? Not like you can hock it or something.

Umm.. Someone who's screen door broke, and instead of buying a new one they go steal one from an easily accessible place.

Crack door knob after reporting the "crime" also highly unlikely.

It is likely OP locked himself out and rather than calling a locksmith broke into his own apartment.

Likely or unlikely doesn't enter into this. Either they have evidence to prove that the damage was my fault or they don't. They didn't.

All they had was a word of a technitian who said it's "difficult" to take the screen out from the outside (which is bull crap).

So what did I do? I took them to court and OWNed them.

There was a lady from the management (maybe she was their lawyer, I forgot how she introduced herself), the guy who's in charge of the maintenance department, and the tech that came out originally. I waited after they finished saying how it was "impossible" to take out the screen door from the outside and then delivered the OWNage:

See, what the greedy *******s didn't know is that after they tried to bill me, I invited a 3rd party tech to take a look at the door. Since my own screen door was stolen, we asked my neighbors (same appartment building, identical doors) if we could take a look at theirs. They agreed.

Apparently there are several easy ways the door can be taken from the outside. The easiest one is takink a small knife (or a flat tough object), sliding it between the door and the frame and lifting one of the weels. Once one wheel comes out the rest of the door comes out easily.

While the tech was demonstrating it, I had the good idea to film all of this on my cell phone camera. So in court, after the tech w/ apt. management finished saying how it's "impossible" to take the door out from the outside, I pulled out a piece of paper, "Here's a written and signed statement from another, 3rd party technician stating that it is easy to take screen door out from the outside. And here's a video of him demonstrating it on the neighbour's door." It was great. Their look on their faces alone was worth the whole ordeal.

After they realized that they lost they tried one final wiggle out: tried to refuse to pay my court costs. Blatently lied saying that I did not tell them that I was not responsible for the repairs, and had I told them they would have fixed it w/o going to court. Quite pathetic, really, because I had with me both the letter they sent me trying to bill me $310 for the ($40)stolen screen door and a ($25)door handle, AND a copy of the letter I sent them notifying them that I refused the charge because in no way was any of this my fault or responsibility and that if they insisted on billing me I would go to small claims court.

So now poetic justice has been served. Not only do they have to fulfill their responsibility as landlords and install a new door and door handle, but they also have to pay additional court fees that they wouldn't have had to worry about if they didn't try to screw me over.

Of course now I think they are pouting and trying to put off doing the repairs (it's been about 2 weeks since the court decision). But that's ok. If they delay too long, I'll just file a claim with the city department of building and zoning. Hopefully it won't come to that. I would hate to see the darlings get hit with fines or something in addition to the court costs. >_>

So yeah. My advice to any tenant facing a similar situation: go to court. And before you do, document EVERYTHING. Keep all the letters they send you and make copies of any letters you send them. Make copies of all the documents for yourself too.

If you don't stand up for yourself and let them screw yoyu over once, you can be sure they'll try it again. A co-worker of mine lived in Iowa City a couple of years ago when a tornado went through downtown. The building he lived in was damaged. After the apt. management got done w/ repairs, they didn't put closet doors back on any of the closets in the entire building. After he moved out they billed him $500 denying that they didn't put the closet doors back and saying he's responsible for the missing closet doors. He should have fought this in court. I would have. Would have went around and gathered up signatures from all the other tenants in the bulding, maybe invited a few as witnesses. He could have SO easily won.

 

[rkhan147]

lanlord trying to bill me for repairs

Umm.. Someone who's screen door broke, and instead of buying a new one they go steal one from an easily accessible place.



Likely or unlikely doesn't enter into this. Either they have evidence to prove that the damage was my fault or they don't. They didn't.

All they had was a word of a technitian who said it's "difficult" to take the screen out from the outside (which is bull crap).

So what did I do? I took them to court and OWNed them.

There was a lady from the management (maybe she was their lawyer, I forgot how she introduced herself), the guy who's in charge of the maintenance department, and the tech that came out originally. I waited after they finished saying how it was "impossible" to take out the screen door from the outside and then delivered the OWNage:

See, what the greedy *******s didn't know is that after they tried to bill me, I invited a 3rd party tech to take a look at the door. Since my own screen door was stolen, we asked my neighbors (same appartment building, identical doors) if we could take a look at theirs. They agreed.

Apparently there are several easy ways the door can be taken from the outside. The easiest one is takink a small knife (or a flat tough object), sliding it between the door and the frame and lifting one of the weels. Once one wheel comes out the rest of the door comes out easily.

While the tech was demonstrating it, I had the good idea to film all of this on my cell phone camera. So in court, after the tech w/ apt. management finished saying how it's "impossible" to take the door out from the outside, I pulled out a piece of paper, "Here's a written and signed statement from another, 3rd party technician stating that it is easy to take screen door out from the outside. And here's a video of him demonstrating it on the neighbour's door." It was great. Their look on their faces alone was worth the whole ordeal.

After they realized that they lost they tried one final wiggle out: tried to refuse to pay my court costs. Blatently lied saying that I did not tell them that I was not responsible for the repairs, and had I told them they would have fixed it w/o going to court. Quite pathetic, really, because I had with me both the letter they sent me trying to bill me $310 for the ($40)stolen screen door and a ($25)door handle, AND a copy of the letter I sent them notifying them that I refused the charge because in no way was any of this my fault or responsibility and that if they insisted on billing me I would go to small claims court.

So now poetic justice has been served. Not only do they have to fulfill their responsibility as landlords and install a new door and door handle, but they also have to pay additional court fees that they wouldn't have had to worry about if they didn't try to screw me over.

Of course now I think they are pouting and trying to put off doing the repairs (it's been about 2 weeks since the court decision). But that's ok. If they delay too long, I'll just file a claim with the city department of building and zoning. Hopefully it won't come to that. I would hate to see the darlings get hit with fines or something in addition to the court costs. >_>

So yeah. My advice to any tenant facing a similar situation: go to court. And before you do, document EVERYTHING. Keep all the letters they send you and make copies of any letters you send them. Make copies of all the documents for yourself too.

If you don't stand up for yourself and let them screw yoyu over once, you can be sure they'll try it again. A co-worker of mine lived in Iowa City a couple of years ago when a tornado went through downtown. The building he lived in was damaged. After the apt. management got done w/ repairs, they didn't put closet doors back on any of the closets in the entire building. After he moved out they billed him $500 denying that they didn't put the closet doors back and saying he's responsible for the missing closet doors. He should have fought this in court. I would have. Would have went around and gathered up signatures from all the other tenants in the bulding, maybe invited a few as witnesses. He could have SO easily won.

Im so happy that you won , A giant slap in the face of the landlord....They try to rip you one way or the other ..and that's how they become landlords ..pathetic blood sucking monsters...

 

[Who's Liable?]

Congrats!

There are many LLs on this forum who like to push tenants around without fully knowing how to be a LL and what their legal responsibility are.

I see some of them have posted on this thread.

 

[TigerD]

Im so happy that you won , A giant slap in the face of the landlord....They try to rip you one way or the other ..and that's how they become landlords ..pathetic blood sucking monsters...

And without them, you would be living in a cardboard box down by the river.

DC

 

[Creature]

Thanks for the congratulations, guys!

The apt. management idiots are trying to get back at me by not fixing the problem at all. Called them the other day and they said they are not going to fix anything untill I move out. They are trying to say that the repairs are not necessary for the livable conditions of the unit. Can they do that? Don't they have to maintain a rented unit in the condition it was when I rented it (unless I'm responsible for the damage, which I'm not)? Oh, and they keep sending me the bill for $310 again.

Going to be filing a complaint with the city's building and zoning devision.