pcjmgreene
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Washington
Hi, I appreciate any help that anyone can give me. My husband in active duty in the US Navy. We lived in an apartment with a one year lease and broke the lease early. (We did this due to his deployment of 6 mo. and followed the proper procedures under the SCRA section 305.) When we got the itemized list of deductions from our security deposit ($300), we had an entire list of unbelievable charges adding up to over $4,000.00. We have been sporadically mailing each other back and forth - every time I asked for further evidence to substantiate the ridiculous claims, they backed off for a few months and then out of the blue we would hear from them again making the same demands with no new statements, pictures, etc. After a period of about 8 months with no contact, we have just received the Small Claims summons. I am going to file a counterclaim for the money owed us (a "late fee" and the remainder of my security deposit after subtracting the deductions that we do agree to, which we had previously felt wasn't worth the hassle of going to court over) and I am wondering if there is some type of fine or fee that we can add to that counterclaim. I strongly believe (and feel that I have the documents, etc to support that belief) that these demands for money are a direct retaliation due to our exercising our rights under the SCRA. I have searched everywhere and all the info I can find on landlord retaliation focuses on raising the rent and eviction, which obviously don't apply here. If there is a justified retaliation claim, what is the formula to figure out the monetary amount that we can claim? These people have called us and called us and sent letters and then not accepted certified letters in response, hired an attorney to call us and try to make us pay (who we never heard from again when he found out how much documentation I had to counter their claims), and then called again. The last call was 8 months ago and I told her that there was nothing more to discuss, that she could file in small claims court or leave us alone. (We moved out over a year ago now.) Then we got the summons in the mail, which is interestingly convenient to them, given that the tenat after us would have just had their lease expire (giving them an open condo to do the repairs after getting our money) AND we are due for orders to move in less than 90 days (another fact that they knew, because we were upfront with them when we moved in and then updated them when we broke the lease and moved back to VA. Once we moved back to WA again, I notified them of our new address, not wanting any allegations of trying to "skip out"). I truly feel that this lawsuit is not only frivilous, it is in retaliation to our breaking the lease, and I also really think that they deliberately waited this long to make sure that when we filed, it would be as difficult as possible for us to appear in court. I know that this is long and complicated, but I have reached the limits of my knowledge and research skills. Any info and help would be truly appreciated. Thank you. Claire GreeneWhat is the name of your state?
Hi, I appreciate any help that anyone can give me. My husband in active duty in the US Navy. We lived in an apartment with a one year lease and broke the lease early. (We did this due to his deployment of 6 mo. and followed the proper procedures under the SCRA section 305.) When we got the itemized list of deductions from our security deposit ($300), we had an entire list of unbelievable charges adding up to over $4,000.00. We have been sporadically mailing each other back and forth - every time I asked for further evidence to substantiate the ridiculous claims, they backed off for a few months and then out of the blue we would hear from them again making the same demands with no new statements, pictures, etc. After a period of about 8 months with no contact, we have just received the Small Claims summons. I am going to file a counterclaim for the money owed us (a "late fee" and the remainder of my security deposit after subtracting the deductions that we do agree to, which we had previously felt wasn't worth the hassle of going to court over) and I am wondering if there is some type of fine or fee that we can add to that counterclaim. I strongly believe (and feel that I have the documents, etc to support that belief) that these demands for money are a direct retaliation due to our exercising our rights under the SCRA. I have searched everywhere and all the info I can find on landlord retaliation focuses on raising the rent and eviction, which obviously don't apply here. If there is a justified retaliation claim, what is the formula to figure out the monetary amount that we can claim? These people have called us and called us and sent letters and then not accepted certified letters in response, hired an attorney to call us and try to make us pay (who we never heard from again when he found out how much documentation I had to counter their claims), and then called again. The last call was 8 months ago and I told her that there was nothing more to discuss, that she could file in small claims court or leave us alone. (We moved out over a year ago now.) Then we got the summons in the mail, which is interestingly convenient to them, given that the tenat after us would have just had their lease expire (giving them an open condo to do the repairs after getting our money) AND we are due for orders to move in less than 90 days (another fact that they knew, because we were upfront with them when we moved in and then updated them when we broke the lease and moved back to VA. Once we moved back to WA again, I notified them of our new address, not wanting any allegations of trying to "skip out"). I truly feel that this lawsuit is not only frivilous, it is in retaliation to our breaking the lease, and I also really think that they deliberately waited this long to make sure that when we filed, it would be as difficult as possible for us to appear in court. I know that this is long and complicated, but I have reached the limits of my knowledge and research skills. Any info and help would be truly appreciated. Thank you. Claire GreeneWhat is the name of your state?