Illegal sublet, small claims issue

[twbos]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA (Boston, Suffolk county)

I have a little complicated scenario here. A good friend of mine from Taiwan has sent a couple of students of his to Boston for 2 months. For their stay he rented a furnished sublet remotely (via craigslist and email). When they arrived it turned out that the place is impossible to live in (basement, no natural light, the only two windows don't open, very very dirty, no closets nothing). He paid $2000 first month rent in advance. The guy who rented to him cannot be reached. We called the management company and they said the students are not allowed to be there and the tenant is not allowed to sublet the place. So they never moved in and found another place that is much better for less money.
We want to go to small claims to get the money for the first month back. Problem is that my friend who paid the money and signed the sublease agreement is not in Boston and would not be able to attend the trial. (Coming to the trial would cost about about $2000). We called the courthouse to find out whether a proxy could be assigned and they said no. What course of action does my friend have now ? I'm willing to help, and I can be available at any time here in Boston.

 

[latigo]

Pardon me, but what is it with this pronoun “we”, in “We want to go to small claims to get the money for the first month back”?

There is nothing in your writing indicating that you were a contracting party in the transaction.

Furthermore, if the guy that supposedly rented the premises and took the $2K “cannot be reached”, how could service of process be effected?

And even so, your friend was obviously preyed upon by an Internet scam and Internet scammers leave few tracks and no money sitting around to be seized under a writ of execution by their victims.

Forget it!

 

[twbos]

sorry, I tried not to use "we". Of course I'm not affected in this, I'm just trying to help at this point being a local guy (I'm also looking out for the people who were supposed to stay at the place).
As far as I can see the sublease agreement was signed electronically, the money was paid via a check, and the key was given to a mutual friend here in Boston. According to the management company the guy who tried to sublet the unit is in fact the official tenant in the apartment although he is apparently behind in rent, so the apartment in question is his official address.
The question is how can my friend get the money back, ideally without travelling to Boston himself.

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA (Boston, Suffolk county)

I have a little complicated scenario here. A good friend of mine from Taiwan has sent a couple of students of his to Boston for 2 months. For their stay he rented a furnished sublet remotely (via craigslist and email). When they arrived it turned out that the place is impossible to live in (basement, no natural light, the only two windows don't open, very very dirty, no closets nothing). He paid $2000 first month rent in advance. The guy who rented to him cannot be reached. We called the management company and they said the students are not allowed to be there and the tenant is not allowed to sublet the place. So they never moved in and found another place that is much better for less money.
We want to go to small claims to get the money for the first month back. Problem is that my friend who paid the money and signed the sublease agreement is not in Boston and would not be able to attend the trial. (Coming to the trial would cost about about $2000). We called the courthouse to find out whether a proxy could be assigned and they said no. What course of action does my friend have now ? I'm willing to help, and I can be available at any time here in Boston.

And herein lies the problem with renting a place without seeing it in person and doing it all over the internet.

Your friend should have had someone (you or someone else) actually go and look at the rental and speak personally with the LL/tenant before putting the money down. Seeing the place and meeting the tenant in person would have made things more clear and the friend would know just what he was getting into by signing a sublease agreement. The fact that no one did that makes the 2 students' dislike of the place a moot - they got what was paid for, and it is unlikely that they will get that money back.

On top of this, if the friend was the contracting party, and he decided to sue, only he can appear in court on his own behalf. The courts do not generally allow a proxy except in cases of minors and sometimes spouses in cases of joint involvement.

The $2000 is a lost cause. It would cost him much more to pursue a small claims case in terms of travel costs to appear in court, which he could NOT get reimbursed for as damages.

 

[twbos]

Okay, I guess its a lost cause then. Actually the mutual friend who got the key saw the place briefly but didn't mind for whatever reason. This is however all moot because the owner/management company took the key because of the illegal sublet on the second day and the 2 students have no access to the unit.

 

[twbos]

Sorry to bother you all again,

the guy who illegally subletted the unit to my friend has contacted him yesterday and is demanding the rent for the next month as well and is threatening to sue. My friend doesn't even have the key to the unit and the management company won't give it back unless someone pays them their rent first. Now if the guy goes to small claims and my friend cannot make it, he will apparently win that by default ? So in addition to the 2000 bucks my friend cannot get back he might loose another 2000 ?

Thanks for your help.

 

[cosine]

Sorry to bother you all again,

the guy who illegally subletted the unit to my friend has contacted him yesterday and is demanding the rent for the next month as well and is threatening to sue. My friend doesn't even have the key to the unit and the management company won't give it back unless someone pays them their rent first. Now if the guy goes to small claims and my friend cannot make it, he will apparently win that by default ? So in addition to the 2000 bucks my friend cannot get back he might loose another 2000 ?

Thanks for your help.

Isn't he in Taiwan?

 

[twbos]

This is getting too complicated, haha. The summary here:

A) A friend of mine from Taiwan found a sublet on craigslist and signed a sublet agreement remotely and paid 2k in advance
B) The friend and students arrived in Boston, found the apartment to be in a unusable shape and called the management company to have it fixed.
C) Management company said they are illegal, can't stay there and took the key
D) The sublessor was not responding to any calls/emails for the first week of the incident
E) Sublessor not only refuses to return money which was paid in advance, but now also demands money for the second month
F) Friend (official sublessee) has returned to Taiwan and cannot sue sublessor for the 2k in small claims because he would need to be present
G) Sublessor wants to sue for the next months rent.....