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Property Manager from hell wins trial despite doing everything wrong

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CourtNewbie

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

My Property Manager from hell wins an unlawful detainer trial despite doing everything wrong from the beginning.

Here's the story. We had only rented the apartment from him for about 4 months. And we did owe him one month's rent and that was enough for him to do the following:

1. He started by taking away our padlock from the front door. When we called 911 to get the police to retrieve our property, the manager denied that the padlock was ours but was his. He then went to accuse us of having invaded the property illegally without his knowledge (I'm not kidding).He was able to say this because he never gave us a copy of the contract for the rental of the apartment. Thus we could not prove that there was an agreement. We did have the receipts that showed that we had paid every month except one. However, we had misplace them (we found them later) and we're not able to show them to the police officer during that incident that night. The Property manager took advantage of that situation and said to the police officer that we owe him not one but two months rent. The police officer told us to take him to small claims court to recuperate our property. He also told the manager that he could not evict us without a written notification.

2. While we waited for such a notice, the Property manager continued to bully us to try and get us out. He would enter the apartment without our consent for who knows what reason. One day, we got a call from his lawyer telling us if we needed anything inside our apartment. We responded with "what are you talking about" and he replied that if we didn't take out our belonging that very day, the Property Manager would lock us out of the apartment. We were at work at the time so when we got to the apartment, it was indeed locked. The Property Manager was not there at the time but a friend of his called him to explain the situation. When he arrived, he simply told us that he was locking us out and that he was confiscating our belongings. At that point we called the police. When he arrived and we explained everything, he confronted the property manager. He told him that he could not do what he did. The manager got angry and said that he could do he pleased since it was his property. He asked the manager if he had given us noticed to pay or quit. He answered no. Then the police officer asked him point blank if he was the owner of the property. The manager answered no. I was a witness to him saying that. At that point, the police officer told him that he could not do what he had done. And ordered him to give us a key to the new padlock he had placed in the apartment. The manager also admitted to the police officer that he had taken OUR padlock from the front door because he claimed we never had given him a key for it. That was a lie. The door was never forced open so he had to have the key to remove it. Besides, he was entering the apartment illegally during all that time. Anyway, the police officer told the manager that he needed to give us a written notice if he wanted us to vacate the apartment. That got the manager even more angry at us and he went to his office and talked with his lawyer for 15 minutes. The police officer had to answer an emergency call and went away while we waited for the manager to hand us the notice. He finally came out and instead of giving us the notice, he wanted us to sign several papers that were blank. We refused. He also wanted us to sign copies of a 3 day notice to pay or quit. We again refused. After our refusal to sign his documents, he then said he wasn't going to give us the key to the apartment. So, we called the police again. The same officer arrived and by this time he was a bit upset with the manager. As it turns out, the police officer is actually a landlord. And he told the manager that if he continued to deny us the key, he would be in a heck of trouble. The manager then handed the notice to pay or quit to him and tried to get him to make us sign them. The officer looked them over and said that we didn't have to sign anything. And told them to give us the key. He did. After the police officer was gone, we entered the apartment and again noticed that someone had entered it. We then inspected the written notice and became aware that it didn't have the manager's name written on it nor his phone number. So if we wanted to pay him, we had no way to find him. He was almost never in his office.

3. A week later, he started legal action against us. We found an envelope stuck to the front door. We never touched it. Instead, we went to the courthouse to find out if we had a case against us. We did. It was there that we got copies of an illegal detainer lawsuit filed against us. We took the copies to a legal aid advisor. And we prepared a response. Our defense was that the manager could not sue us, but only the owner of the property could do it. We also wanted to point out the illegal manner that the property manager had proceeded to evict us from the apartment.

4. The day of the trial came and the property manager came into court with HIS LAWYER with him! It was incredible. This "lawyer" of his begun speaking in behalf of the manager. However, was promptly ordered by the judge to go sit in the audience. The manager then begun to identify himself as co-owner of the property and apartments. He told the judge that we owe him several months rent. The judge then begun to ask us questions regarding if we owe him rent. We answered yes. She asked if he had given us a written notice to pay or quit. We said yes, but we explained to her that he had tried to evict us even had locked us out of the apartment BEFORE giving us the notice. We also pointed out to her that the notice didn't have his name nor phone number. We also told her that we had given up the apartment and mailed the keys to the manager. We did this in order to end the unlawful detainer case against us. Since by leaving the apartment, the case should end. Or so we believed. Now, we had answered all the questions the judge had for us. When she asked if we had anything else to say (she basically had already made up her mind at this point), we said that we wanted to see proof that the manager was actually the co-owner of the property. Because we had proof from witnesses (the police officer that had previously had asked him if he was the owner, with the manager answering no) and also documents from the Registrar Recorder/Country Clerk that show that the property was actually from another person. The judge didn't want to hear any of that and simply said "No, you already accepted that he was the owner" and the trial ended. We were baffled. We couldn't remember any time during the trial were we had accepted the fact that the manager was the owner. Our whole defense was based on trying to prove that he in fact wasn't. And we were also confused how the judge, despite listening to how the manager had taken illegal steps to move us out, had validated them all. Needless to say, the manager had a grin from ear to ear. And when we stepped outside the courthouse, he told us "see? never mess with me again!".

At this point, we have the option to appeal the decision. But we're a bit demoralized over the fact that someone like this manager could bully us, lock us out of the apartment and then give us an half-arsed notice after the fact and still win in court.

So we're hoping that someone out there can advise us what our next step should be. The legal aid advisor couldn't understand how the trial went. We pretty much lost any faith in the justice system. I mean, the whole thing went too fast (the trial). It seemed to us the judge was in a hurry to get things over with and start with the next case. We fear that in an appeal, she'll do the same.

What should we do?
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

My Property Manager from hell wins an unlawful detainer trial despite doing everything wrong from the beginning.

Here's the story. We had only rented the apartment from him for about 4 months. And we did owe him one month's rent and that was enough for him to do the following:

1. He started by taking away our padlock from the front door. When we called 911 to get the police to retrieve our property, the manager denied that the padlock was ours but was his. He then went to accuse us of having invaded the property illegally without his knowledge (I'm not kidding).He was able to say this because he never gave us a copy of the contract for the rental of the apartment. Thus we could not prove that there was an agreement. We did have the receipts that showed that we had paid every month except one. However, we had misplace them (we found them later) and we're not able to show them to the police officer during that incident that night. The Property manager took advantage of that situation and said to the police officer that we owe him not one but two months rent. The police officer told us to take him to small claims court to recuperate our property. He also told the manager that he could not evict us without a written notification.

2. While we waited for such a notice, the Property manager continued to bully us to try and get us out. He would enter the apartment without our consent for who knows what reason. One day, we got a call from his lawyer telling us if we needed anything inside our apartment. We responded with "what are you talking about" and he replied that if we didn't take out our belonging that very day, the Property Manager would lock us out of the apartment. We were at work at the time so when we got to the apartment, it was indeed locked. The Property Manager was not there at the time but a friend of his called him to explain the situation. When he arrived, he simply told us that he was locking us out and that he was confiscating our belongings. At that point we called the police. When he arrived and we explained everything, he confronted the property manager. He told him that he could not do what he did. The manager got angry and said that he could do he pleased since it was his property. He asked the manager if he had given us noticed to pay or quit. He answered no. Then the police officer asked him point blank if he was the owner of the property. The manager answered no. I was a witness to him saying that. At that point, the police officer told him that he could not do what he had done. And ordered him to give us a key to the new padlock he had placed in the apartment. The manager also admitted to the police officer that he had taken OUR padlock from the front door because he claimed we never had given him a key for it. That was a lie. The door was never forced open so he had to have the key to remove it. Besides, he was entering the apartment illegally during all that time. Anyway, the police officer told the manager that he needed to give us a written notice if he wanted us to vacate the apartment. That got the manager even more angry at us and he went to his office and talked with his lawyer for 15 minutes. The police officer had to answer an emergency call and went away while we waited for the manager to hand us the notice. He finally came out and instead of giving us the notice, he wanted us to sign several papers that were blank. We refused. He also wanted us to sign copies of a 3 day notice to pay or quit. We again refused. After our refusal to sign his documents, he then said he wasn't going to give us the key to the apartment. So, we called the police again. The same officer arrived and by this time he was a bit upset with the manager. As it turns out, the police officer is actually a landlord. And he told the manager that if he continued to deny us the key, he would be in a heck of trouble. The manager then handed the notice to pay or quit to him and tried to get him to make us sign them. The officer looked them over and said that we didn't have to sign anything. And told them to give us the key. He did. After the police officer was gone, we entered the apartment and again noticed that someone had entered it. We then inspected the written notice and became aware that it didn't have the manager's name written on it nor his phone number. So if we wanted to pay him, we had no way to find him. He was almost never in his office.

3. A week later, he started legal action against us. We found an envelope stuck to the front door. We never touched it. Instead, we went to the courthouse to find out if we had a case against us. We did. It was there that we got copies of an illegal detainer lawsuit filed against us. We took the copies to a legal aid advisor. And we prepared a response. Our defense was that the manager could not sue us, but only the owner of the property could do it. We also wanted to point out the illegal manner that the property manager had proceeded to evict us from the apartment.

4. The day of the trial came and the property manager came into court with HIS LAWYER with him! It was incredible. This "lawyer" of his begun speaking in behalf of the manager. However, was promptly ordered by the judge to go sit in the audience. The manager then begun to identify himself as co-owner of the property and apartments. He told the judge that we owe him several months rent. The judge then begun to ask us questions regarding if we owe him rent. We answered yes. She asked if he had given us a written notice to pay or quit. We said yes, but we explained to her that he had tried to evict us even had locked us out of the apartment BEFORE giving us the notice. We also pointed out to her that the notice didn't have his name nor phone number. We also told her that we had given up the apartment and mailed the keys to the manager. We did this in order to end the unlawful detainer case against us. Since by leaving the apartment, the case should end. Or so we believed. Now, we had answered all the questions the judge had for us. When she asked if we had anything else to say (she basically had already made up her mind at this point), we said that we wanted to see proof that the manager was actually the co-owner of the property. Because we had proof from witnesses (the police officer that had previously had asked him if he was the owner, with the manager answering no) and also documents from the Registrar Recorder/Country Clerk that show that the property was actually from another person. The judge didn't want to hear any of that and simply said "No, you already accepted that he was the owner" and the trial ended. We were baffled. We couldn't remember any time during the trial were we had accepted the fact that the manager was the owner. Our whole defense was based on trying to prove that he in fact wasn't. And we were also confused how the judge, despite listening to how the manager had taken illegal steps to move us out, had validated them all. Needless to say, the manager had a grin from ear to ear. And when we stepped outside the courthouse, he told us "see? never mess with me again!".

At this point, we have the option to appeal the decision. But we're a bit demoralized over the fact that someone like this manager could bully us, lock us out of the apartment and then give us an half-arsed notice after the fact and still win in court.

So we're hoping that someone out there can advise us what our next step should be. The legal aid advisor couldn't understand how the trial went. We pretty much lost any faith in the justice system. I mean, the whole thing went too fast (the trial). It seemed to us the judge was in a hurry to get things over with and start with the next case. We fear that in an appeal, she'll do the same.

What should we do?
Move......
 

CourtNewbie

Junior Member
Move......
If you don't wanna read my post, specially this part:

"We also told her that we had given up the apartment and mailed the keys to the manager. We did this in order to end the unlawful detainer case against us"

Then please... please, don't bother to answer. Go fluff some pillows or something.

Hey newbie, where was your lawyer?
No lawyers were allowed in court. In fact the property manager tried to sneek in his lawyer to represent him in court and the judge kicked him out.

Thing is, the judge took this case as the typical case where the tenant doesn't pay rent and didn't even bother to check if the property manager was really the co-owner of the property or what illegal actions he had done to evict us. We had witnesses and documents that proved he is not the owner. She wouldn't even bother to see them. We had witnesses, two police officers that saw that the manager tried to evict us illegally without a written 3 day notice. The judge didn't care for it. She just took the manager's word as fact. And she wanted to move on to the next case (there were many that day).
 

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