[DirtMcGirk]

Like I said, just be careful. Its easy to get excited, and that's when it will bite you in the ass.

 

[jonKranked]

Like I said, just be careful. Its easy to get excited, and that's when it will bite you in the ass.

having met sandwich in the real world - he's not the kind of guy that is gonna try to cash in on a situation like this, he just wants what he's legally supposed to get.

he needs to tease up his jew-fro though.

 

[DirtMcGirk]

I'm not saying that he is viewing this as a payday. Just go easy when it comes to correspondence, email, and especially in front of the judge. I've seen even the most temperate and stalwart lose their minds from time to time.

If you've got a lawyer, let him work. Trust him to do it right, even if he tells you what you don't want to hear.

 

[Sandwich]

rgr that. I'm not worried about extortion or anything else, we are playing well within the rules of the law. Initially I wanted to offer them only 10 days to respond to my letter; I changed it to thirty as that's what the law allows.

I am terrified, however, of making mistakes in person that I do not have the ability to stop, edit, and delete like I do in email world, which is why I'm bringing this up to y'all here. I'd like to go in there, and simply and concisely say "this is what I think is reasonable, please pay it, and we can forget about filing litigation". If the court decides what they offer is reasonable, that's all I get, so I also want to persuade them into thinking that what IS reasonable, is reasonable. I'll be happy to shed more details after our meeting with them, but I don't want to put everything out there. Suffice to say that we acted in good faith in all of our actions, and we have evidence to suggest that they didn't. I would think such evidence would go some way in convincing a magistrate that maybe these guys aren't just a couple of homeowners whose tenants are ripping them off, but rather a couple of bad dudes who acted in bad faith and also happened to break the law. Ideally, convincing them of that side of the argument will push them to say "You know what, let's just forget about this whole mess"

 

[insanitylevel9]

tl;dr rolf

beat me to it now i have to red it, dam you iab!

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

beat me to it now i have to red it, dam you iab!

You type/spell just like a friend of mine. Sadly he has all his fingers though so there's no excuse.

 

[OGRipper]

Enforcing your rights under law is not extortion. Period.

 

[Da Peach]

Hoooooooooooooooooold on a second here....



...




You have friends?

You're welcome.

 

[insanitylevel9]

You type/spell just like a friend of mine. Sadly he has all his fingers though so there's no excuse.

its way to hard to type with my left hand and my pinky on my right hand

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

its way to hard to type with my left hand and my pinky on my right hand

You should see if your health insurance will cover a stenographer.

"Tell JonKranked he's a douchebag, and his boyfriend has a cute tramp stamp. End..........read that back to me"

 

[insanitylevel9]

You should see if your health insurance will cover a stenographer.

"Tell JonKranked he's a douchebag, and his boyfriend has a cute tramp stamp. End..........read that back to me"

at risk of sounding retarded, whats a stenographer?

 

[insanitylevel9]

You should see if your health insurance will cover a stenographer.

"Tell JonKranked he's a douchebag, and his boyfriend has a cute tramp stamp. End..........read that back to me"

at risk of sounding retarded, whats a stenographer?

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

at risk of sounding retarded, whats a stenographer?

Stenographer - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

 

[insanitylevel9]

stenographer - definition and more from the free merriam-webster dictionary

yes!!!!!!

 

[DirtMcGirk]

Enforcing your rights under law is not extortion. Period.

Not exactly, but believe what you like.

 

[goofy]

Man You got it easy with this one. What I am dealing with:

Illegal eviction (evicted the whole house because we filed a complaint with the city)

Not returning my deposit because my old landlord "doesn't like me'

A roommate has a peace order against her that she consented to and is now appealing (court case #1)

Violated said peace order which I am a witness to (court case #2)

Telling everybody I didn't pay my last months rent (I payed for the days I was there), I left earlier than the day she gave to move out by 17 days but she wanted me to pay the whole month.

Persistent violation of privacy (she shows up whenever she wants to with no notice and when asked to give notice starts screaming at you and telling the cops you are on drugs, law says 24 hour notice is required)

 

[Sandwich]

damn dude. Check the laws related to retaliation in your state. I know that's something that we'll bring up if we have to go to court, as, towards the end of our tenancy, we began to understand the law and refused them entry on saturdays so they could bring a contractor in. My story is pretty drawn out, but I don't want to tell it until this is settled.

Have you consulted with a lawyer? You may be able to get free counsel through work or through school. I utilized my employee assistance program to have a chat with a lawyer twice. He was very knowledgeable and helped us out greatly....I've also studied the law for the last 30 days straight, but talk to one and find out what you need to do. It may be quite simple to resolve it and split.

 

[goofy]

I have been in touch with 2 Lawyers the city and county landlord/tenant affairs offices (the county can't do much but the city is fully behind me and my roommate) and looking to get a lawyer to represent me since the lawyers I have been dealing with are no longer practicing in the area (they both left in the past few years and the laws haven't changed).

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

This thread reinforces the fact that I'm glad I bought a house. I'm sure Andrew agrees with that sentiment.

 

[the law]

Extortion(also called shakedown, outwresting, and exaction) is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person(s), entity, or institution, through coercion.

You'd be guilty of coercion here. You're saying "give me my money or I am going to take you for 3 times that amount, so its in your best interest to give me what I want otherwise I am going to go after you in court for 3x the amount." It becomes extortion the instant you make money in the deal. Trust me on this, I have had more than a few clients slapped around by the judicial system for just this. It can also be cited by their lawyer as misuse of process. You can't use the threat of litigation in this manner to affect your result. While you might just see it as telling them what you're going to do, I promise you that even a first week civil defense lawyer is going to throw a lot of case law at you stating that what you've done is nothing more than legal strong arming their client.

You're trying to make yourself out to be the good guy here, and as such if you go about using heavy handed tactics, it erodes your case.



I've done this sort of law in a few places now. They are going to be more inclined a lot of the time to believe that there is some damage that is part of living there that you, the tenant, are responsible for.




What's "legal" and what it appears to be are often two very different things. You can tell the landlord whatever you want, but the truth is that just like in a criminal proceeding, "whatever you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." While the burden of proof is much lower in a civil procedure, i.e. the OJ Simpson civil case, if you're trying to push the landlord out of court into an agreement that is not in their best interest, there is always going to be a lawyer willing to take an hourly rate with the intent of making sure you don't see anything.

I'm just offering you some friendly advice. If you choose to take it or not is up to you.

That is not quite accurate. He has a legal claim that he thinks is worth 3x the deposit. He is willing to forego part of what he laims he is entitled to and settle for the amount of the deposit. Thus, he is not making money in the deal. Rather, he is giving up part of what he thinks he is entitled to. This is considered a settlement discussion and happens *legally* all the time.

The reason that you are confused is that you did not recognize that his claim is now for 3x the deposit (which may or may not be granted) and not just the deposit. And that he has a legal right to go to court for that.

 

[DirtMcGirk]

Jeebus, what sort of madness are you guys getting into as tenants?

Worst I have ever had to deal with was my landlord selling some stuff out of my garage. Got them lit with theft charges.

This is why I bought. That and I like to paint my walls strange colors.

 

[goofy]

Jeebus, what sort of madness are you guys getting into as tenants?

Worst I have ever had to deal with was my landlord selling some stuff out of my garage. Got them lit with theft charges.

This is why I bought. That and I like to paint my walls strange colors.

I have learned a lot from this experience like the case search website that I now use with everybody new I deal with to see what I am getting myself into. My old landlord now has 54 cases on there most in the last 10 years.

I wish I can buy but a cheap condo is about 10 times what I make in a year.

 

[Sandwich]

This thread reinforces the fact that I'm glad I bought a house. I'm sure Andrew agrees with that sentiment.

abso friggin lutely. Buying has been the best decision we made in a long time. Outside of finding poison ivy in our yard, and getting it all over my arms because i'm a dumbass, it's been great. I also found some trails in the back acreage that I think can be turned into psuedo shuttleable trails for the early spring. yay!

Jeebus, what sort of madness are you guys getting into as tenants?

Worst I have ever had to deal with was my landlord selling some stuff out of my garage. Got them lit with theft charges.

This is why I bought. That and I like to paint my walls strange colors.

That's what stings. We were good tenants. We never had a single party. We had people over like twice. What happened was that they wanted to sell the house, and started having daily showings including when we had relatives in town, so we started to resist, especially after about six months of dealing with it. We bought our current home, and moved out, and now they're trying to use our security deposit as retaliation for giving them a hard time about privacy.

 

[DirtMcGirk]

Did you document all of the times they came over and pulled that crap?

 

[Sandwich]

Yeah, we have about a hundred showing requests. There were multiple times they moved our **** around, including into wet spots in the basement so buyers wouldn't suspect there was a humidity problem down there (they would also unplug and hide the dehumidifier behind some shelves). They also once allowed themselves into the house without our permission in order to paint and prep for showings. My wife came home and found them inside, and we only gave them permission to be outside on the property. They also stayed for six hours on a Saturday, instead of the two we agreed to. We did most everything by writing, as I knew it would be better for protection if it came to this.

 

[mandown]

try it now.