Subletter ran away with deposit

[krs23]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I agreed to move into a house in Princeton, NJ and rent a room from a person who was living in the house. I later came to know that the individual (let's call him "Keith") did not own the house, but was renting it from a third party in New York. Thus, I became an informal subletter.

I gave him a 1.5 month's rent security deposit of $1275 when I moved in (rent was $850/month) and lived there from September to December. In December we were asked to vacate by the owners (which is when I came to know that Keith was a renter). I moved my belongings and asked for the deposit back. I was given two checks of $875 and $400 in the first two weeks of January 2002 that both bounced. I called both banks (one was a brokerage firm) and they confirmed that both accounts were empty.

I have no idea where Keith has moved to. The phone number that we had with voicemail that he could access has been disconnected. I only have the phone number of his sister (whch I managed to get before we parted) who never seems to be home.

I do not know how to get my money back from Keith.

Please advise.

Sincerely,
krs23

 

[Cvillecpm]

You need to find him to serve him with a lawsuit. Keep information and do web search for him every few weeks. You should also get as much information from the actual property owners on him. Be polite, tell them your situation and ask for information. If they don't give it to you, then you may have to file a lawsuit against "Keith" and subpeona information from rental owners - lots of hassles. You may want to chalk this up to "life lesson".

Good luck.

 

[krs23]

advice on how to serve a lawsuit

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the prompt reply. I will try and find him but he is nowhere on the web (that was my first thought). Do I need an attorney to file a lawsuit? What is the most reliable way to find an attorney that I can aford for this type of a problem. Are there any reliable ways to find people (like "Keith") that you can advise me to try?

-krs23