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small claims - landlord/tenant - scra

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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?
 


lizjimbo

Member
Landlord Problems

We are going thru a similar hassle in Virginia with a commercial landlord. It is not over money, however he is unjustly suing us for eviction or trying to bully us out of the retail space we have at a most favorable rate. We are going to persue a malicious prosecution action against them. You could look in to that. The first thing you must do before a malicious prosecution is prevail in the original cause against you. You certainly have the right to counter sue him for any usual claim you feel you have. Malicious prosecution is not limited to the criminal side of the law. Do a search or speak to an attorney about the elements required to secure a judgement under tha malicious prosecution provision. Good luck and tell your husband thanks for his service to our country.

Jim
 

CJane

Senior Member
You need to look up landlord tenant law in your state - specifically relating to the use of security deposits and how it needs to be handled if the landlord does not refund the deposit amount.

I know that here, if the landlord does not either return the deposit or provide you with an itemized list of damages and the cost to repair them, you can sue for 3X the deposit.

HOWEVER, if the 'ridiculous charges' include things like $10 for a lightbulb, $200 to clean the fridge, etc... they're legal if a listing was provided to you when the lease was signed. I know that my current landlord, when I move out, will charge me $800 for 'cleaning' if I don't leave the place ready for the next person to move in. And that's in addition to charges for anything not considered normal wear and tear.
 

pcjmgreene

Junior Member
reply to cjane

Thank you for your info. I have looked up the tenant/landlord statute for WA and can not find anything that specifically defines how the security deposit must be used and by when. Everything discusses the 14 day time limit to send an itemized list (which was done) but not much on how to challenge the list of charges AND nothing on how long they have to hold the deposit but not actually repair the damages. Everything they sent us was for quotes, not actual bills and when we spoke, as of a year later, the work has not been done yet. As to the ridiculous charges, there is nothing specifically mentioned in the lease and we did do a walkthrough (another requirement in WA). During the walkthrough they checked off that the carpet was fine, and that a baseboard heater had a small patch of paint chipped off. When we received the list, they have charged us for the replacement of the heater (40 for the heater and 90 for the labor to install) due to the paint and then the replacement of the carpet in the entire condo for $3,426.84. Plus they altered the walkthough (and didn't try to make it subtle) after I signed it, but even then didn't change the checkmarks indicating the carpet was fine. I can't find anything in WA law that concerns altering the walkthrough. And everything that talks about ridiculous charges states that it can be avoided by having a walkthrough. Nothing about what to do if the walkthrough was done and then are charged anyway. I feel that all of this adds up to obvious harassment, well beyond their standard legal right to pursue payment for damages. One look at the inventory and the amount they are asking for (a total of over $4,000 and we only lived there 9 months with no pets!!) it seems (at least to me) obvious that they just made things up, got some estimates, and tried to extort the money. They haven't actually done any of the repairs yet and there has been another tenant there for a year now. I feel that this has become very personal for them, but it is hard to have perspective in the middle of it. thanks for anymore help that you can give.
 

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