Large owner seeking revenge against me

On June 17th i purchased a house from my uncle onb a verble agreement until my credit is improved ( about 2 years). I gave my apartment a 60 day notice even though i was on a month to month lease and that isnt even on paper( they havent asked me for a lease in the last two years.) the notice i feel made me liable for July and August. I paid my rent on 1st of july and proceeded to move out cause i had a new house. i slowly moved stuff and slowly cleaned the apartment cause i had until august 30th to finish. i paid my rent on 1st of august and on august 5th i got it back saying they no longer take personal checks from me they already knew i wasnt living there and i confronted them on it and they ignored me. then i got an unlawful detainer and i planned on going to court with my rent and let the judge decide. I continued to clean and remove my stuff untill aug 10th when the locks were changed to my apartment. i still had personal stuff in there as well as stuff of value. i just didnt care cause i was glad to get out of there but now they have a collection agency going after me for 1000 dollars and they havent even turned over my damage deposit. The apartment had wear and tear but no damages that are not from wear and tear what do i do and can the minnesota law help me this is not fair.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jhn618:
On June 17th i purchased a house from my uncle onb a verble agreement until my credit is improved ( about 2 years). I gave my apartment a 60 day notice even though i was on a month to month lease and that isnt even on paper( they havent asked me for a lease in the last two years.) the notice i feel made me liable for July and August. I paid my rent on 1st of july and proceeded to move out cause i had a new house. i slowly moved stuff and slowly cleaned the apartment cause i had until august 30th to finish. i paid my rent on 1st of august and on august 5th i got it back saying they no longer take personal checks from me they already knew i wasnt living there and i confronted them on it and they ignored me. then i got an unlawful detainer and i planned on going to court with my rent and let the judge decide. I continued to clean and remove my stuff untill aug 10th when the locks were changed to my apartment. i still had personal stuff in there as well as stuff of value. i just didnt care cause i was glad to get out of there but now they have a collection agency going after me for 1000 dollars and they havent even turned over my damage deposit. The apartment had wear and tear but no damages that are not from wear and tear what do i do and can the minnesota law help me this is not fair.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How large is the owner?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by HomeGuru:
How large is the owner?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I not sure how big but i do know he owns at least 23 different complexes and im sure there are more were talking about one of the larger landlords in minnesota

I'm not an attorney so please consider this fact when considering the following:

Obviously the L is playing games with you but I'm unclear why he's playing hard-ball with a paying renter other than he's angry that you decided to excercise your right to terminate the lease. There are a few things I am going to suggest here that I am not 100% knowledgable about. For example, I am not clear if the law defines this as abandonement since you attempted to pay the rent and still had some belongings in the unit. To me this is not abandonement but I could not find a clear definition in the MN statutes. Hopefully Homeguru or Tracey will define it.

Basically it sounds like the L did not accept your personal check so that he could claim abandonement since you had moved out hoping you would not immediatley pay by certified check, which you did not. It sounds to me based on MN statue that if you had immediately attempted to pay by certified check, cashier check, money order or cash, he could not have considered the unit abandoned and changed the locks since he had not given you proper notice of termination (30 days).

Another item I am unclear about is the L's right to decide suddenly not to accept your personal check since presumeably he had accepted a personal check before without any problems i.e. returned NSF. It sounds very retaliatory. I am fairly certain that if you wanted to pay your rent in pennies, the L could not refuse it because it's legal tender but a personal check is not until it clears the bank unless it's stamped certitied by the bank. Homeguru? Tracey?

Assuming that this situation is not legally considered abandonement then the only argument the L has is non-payment of rent, if that, since you tried to pay it. Under MN statute, L must provide 14 days notice to quit in writing, which it sounds like he did not do since he changed the locks on the 10th.

It seems like the actions of the L fall under MN statue 504B.231 Damages for Ouster. This is predicated on the idea that some or all of the preceding is true. If the L were found guilty under this statute he'd be liable to you for the greater of treble (triple) damages or $500.00 plus attorney fees.

Also, you were not clear what the $1,000 collection was for. Was it for unpaid rent and damages to the unit? Perhaps you could provide a specific accounting so Homeguru and/or Tracey can properly respond.

I know since a lot of this is speculation on my part it does not help you much. My intent is to open up the conversation and allow Homeguru and Tracey to respond to some specific ideas/possibilities. Make sure you check back for more responses from Homeguru or Tracey, although I have not seen Tracey here in a couple of days. She's probably on a road trip to Michigan for blue ice cream.

[This message has been edited by David J. Miller (edited October 30, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by David J. Miller (edited October 30, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by David J. Miller (edited October 30, 2000).]