Shananagans

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Location
Tucson, AZ
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
As many of you know I just relocated to Arizona.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

In a nutshell I lived in Nj my lease was up the end of May. We knew we were leaving in April and gave our landlord notice we would be leaving June 15th or earlier. We asked if we could only pay for half the month since we wont be there the whole thing. He said as long as he found someone to move in the 15th it would be ok. Was not the answer I wanted but i had no other option.

Well he made no effort to show our place at all until the last day we were there, June 12th. The funny thing is as soon as the guy saw our place he said he wanted to move in asap and sign the papers, our landlord quickly got him out and talked with him privately. Later that day we went to him to collect our security deposit. We stressed to him that since he did not have a new renter the place would be ours until the end of the month. We did so because we left a headboard there we were trying to sell. He said no problem. Needless to say shortly after we arrived here in Arizona I received word from someone else that lives in the house that he rented it out to the very same guy that came in to see it while we were there. I called our landlord and said hey I heard you got someone to move in on the 15th, I would like my money back. He refused and said that since I already took my security deposit back I forfeit the other half of the month.

I have also been trying to prove whether he repainted our place after I left as he charged me $375 to paint over a few walls my wife painted a different color.
Needless to say the guy is a jerk. I could go on and on about how lazy he was, and how little he cares about his tenants.

Additional ammo against this guy is that the house is subdivide up into multiple apartments, but when you google the house it is listed as single family. My wife and I lived on the 3rd floor which was an attic converted into a loft. There is no fire escape which I believe is illegal. The house is old and was also partially flooded during las years hurricane as it is located directly infront of the raritan river. I can guarantee if an inspector came out he would find plenty wrong. Not long ago the basement on the 1st floor was shut down do to mushrooms and fungus growing. Our final days there water from the bathroom from the 2nd floor was leaking into the ceiling on the 1st. Rather than completely fix the problem he caulked it and replaced the sheet rock. 1 day later the water had nowhere to go and was coming out of the light fixture.
 

albano

Saltwater since 1973
Staff member
Rating - 100%
129   0   0
I'm not a lawyer, but I am a landlord and business man, with 'way too much' courtroom/legal experience...
I don't know how much money is involved, but I would bet that hiring an attorney and fighting a 'long distance' legal battle will probably be a waste of time & $!

If you wanted some 'revenge', you might get satisfaction from reporting the 'illegal' apartment to the town/building code enforcer, but other than that, if you accepted and cashed his 'deposit return' check...IMO...you're done!
 
Location
Huntington
Rating - 100%
26   0   0
+2 it would cost far more to recover what he is holding. Your best chance at any kind of satisfaction is to just report him. Don't send him anything saying that's what you're going to do, you just have to do it.
 

tosiek

Senior Member
Rating - 100%
48   0   0
+3 Whatever he did owe you would be a partial payment to your first lawyer fee. Its not worth your time and $$ in the long run. If you want you can call in a report for the illegal apts/violations but its most likely going to get lost in their paper work or whoever they do send over will not be able to get in or be able to check well enough to find anything. It would take multiple calls reporting him to get anything done.
 

masterswimmer

Old School Reefer
Vendor
Location
NY
Rating - 99.6%
448   2   0
I'm not a lawyer, but I am a landlord and business man, with 'way too much' courtroom/legal experience...
I don't know how much money is involved, but I would bet that hiring an attorney and fighting a 'long distance' legal battle will probably be a waste of time & $!

If you wanted some 'revenge', you might get satisfaction from reporting the 'illegal' apartment to the town/building code enforcer, but other than that, if you accepted and cashed his 'deposit return' check...IMO...you're done!


+1

Spot on
 

thirty5

A Little Annoyed!
Rating - 96.6%
84   3   0
I agree also. I would just report the apartment if you want to the building department in the town where you used to live.

The amount of money that you are talking about is small claims court. I would not waste my time nor money on that amount.

Maybe Call Judge Judy and you can get on TV with it :)
 

Shananagans

Advanced Reefer
Location
Tucson, AZ
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
Thanks everyone, that's what I was assuming but hoping not to hear. Inspectors could definitely get in and gain access to the main arts of the house,it's always open, but not tenants rooms.

I am not friends, but acquaintances with 2 ppl that still live there. That's how I have been getting my info.
 

beerfish

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 100%
32   0   0
If you know an attorney, even one that doesn't practice landlord / tenant law, you might want to ask them to send a letter on your behalf. A lot of times the idea that a lawyer is involved will scare people enough that they'll cave. If not, you haven't lost anything by trying.
 
Rating - 100%
97   0   0
even if you went down the legal road... I know that if it were the other way around and the landlord were trying to sue you and it is in fact an illegal apartment, then he wouldn't be awarded anything becausee it is an illegal apartment. I wonder how it would work out in your situation being that you'd be sueing the owner over an illegal apartment.

Beerfish had a damn good idea!

I say call "Help me Howard" =) and see what he can do and in the end if you don't get your money then call the town to make them aware of the illegal rental situation.
 

beerfish

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 100%
32   0   0
Good I des don't think I know any tho.

I was just sent a picture from outside and you can see thru the window he did not paint at all!!! So that's another $375 he stole!

See if you can find a local attorney that's willing to give you a free consult. Explain the situation, and see if they would be willing to send a letter for contingency pay. In other words, they take 15 minutes to write the letter, and if you get paid, you give them x% of what you get.

Paying a percentage of what you're due might suck, but remember that 50% of 0 is still 0. They have a chance to make a fair amount of money for a quick letter.

50% of anything is 50% that you wouldn't otherwise have.
 

TRIGGERMAN

Advanced Reefer
Location
Staten Island
Rating - 100%
172   0   0
I just went through this myself I think you had a thread a while back about something with this landlord with bugs if my memory serves me correct? It's not worth the hassle at all for a few hundred bucks. Def report to buildings dept if you wnt any hope of getting him but if they come the people who live there will most likely be evicted due to "unsafe living conditions"
 

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