Constructive eviction?

[Ana33]

Ok, here's my dilemma. My boyfriend and I lived in an apartment for less than a year. We signed no lease, just a rental agreement. We were allowed to have pets. Our landlords were great. We got along very well with them, and we couldn't believe how nice they were. But they always seemed more concerned about the appearance of the exterior of the house rather than the interior. Well, anyway, they were not very good at choosing their tenants, because we had problems with most of them. The entire time we were there, there was always one tenant who would be playing loud music all night long, or some other annoying problem. But we finally got fed up when the tenants upstairs began playing rap music all day and night long, extremely loud rap music. To add to our anger, the person responsible for the music was a relative of the tenant who was living there without permission, while claiming he was not living there. Every night there was rap music, I called the landlord and complained. She said she was sorry, but there was nothing she could do. She suggested I call the police every time. Her justification for this was.."Their lease is up in a couple of months, and we're not renewing it". Fine, but I wasn't about to listen to this awful noise until they were gone. Also, during one of our conversations, I mentioned my boyfriend and I had been looking to move because of the noise. Well, while this was going on, we found an apartment and called the landlords to tell them we were leaving. The entire time, they remained nice to us. We left about 4 or 5 days later. I scrubbed the apartment top to bottom before we left. Well, weeks passed and we tried to contact them for our security deposit ($450). We never heard from them. Finally, we found them and were told we did not give a 30 day notice and we would not get our deposit back. We would like to take them to court, but I know they usually take lawyers to court and we do not want to be liable for their lawyer's fees if we lose. We wrote to them, giving them one last chance, and they wrote back. Now they were claiming they had to clean the carpets and the walls, and all this stuff that I believe to be bogus. I know for a fact they do this between the tenants, as I have witnessed them doing this to another apartment. So, basically, I am wondering if this is even worth going to court over. I want my $450 back, but I can't afford to pay their lawyer's fees. Does small claims court make the loser pay these? Also, I was told this could have something to do with constructive eviction because we were, in a way, forced to leave because of the noise. The way I see it, the landlords did not keep their part of the rental agreement by allowing the noise, so I don't think we broke our agreement by not giving a notice. Plus, they did not give us a notice why they were not returning our deposit within 20 days, so would that be a clean cut case right there? This dilemma is really getting to me, so any help would be most appreciated.
(I live in Rhode Island).

Thank you!!

 

[Tracey]

The RI residential landlord tenant act is in Title 34, Chapter 18. Your library should have the statutes. Sue L in small claims for improperly withholding your deposit & not refunding it within 20 days. [34-18-19] You get 3 times the amount wrongfully withheld (in this case, thrice the deposit). Be prepared to prove that L charged you for normal wear & tear items also (carpets, walls, recleaning places you cleaned). I hope you kept pictures.

You should have made your complaints in writing, together with a demand L fix the problem within 20 days or your lease would terminate in 30 days. Had you made other complaints regarding noise that L actually fixed within the last 6 months? If so, you could claim the rap music was a recurrance, allowing you to vacate on 14 days notice. Then you'd be liable for at most 9 days rent while you weren't there.

You can also argue that L's refusal to do anything about the rap tenants violated your right to quiet enjoyment of your apt & constituted a 'willful diminution in an essential service (quiet)'. [34-18-34] If the court buys this theory, you get triple damages (difference between rent you paid & what the noisy apt was worth) or 3 month's rent, whichever is greater. Don't hold your breath on this -- it's more effective as a defence than as a substantive cause of action. The judge will probably award you damages for the deposit & use the ouster to prevent L from claiming rent from you.

Check the small claims court rules -- are lawyers even allowed to appear? They aren't in Washington!

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.