How to get back at my ex landlord

Recently, my wife and I decided it was time to stop paying rent and buy a house. The DC housing market moves quickly, so we soon found one we liked. Due to the speed of the transaction, we were only able to give our landlord 30 days notice, rather than the 90 days specified in the lease. We did, however, leave at the expiration of our lease period, rather that the middle (ie we simply elected not to renew.)

Rather than try to find a new tenant, the landlord decided to simply sell the property. We went out of our way to assist him in this, and the house sold within four days, with a closing date of the 18th of the following month. In fact, the house sold for 15 thousand dollars more than he had offered it to us for, so all seemed well. We moved out by the 29th and had our walk-though on the 30th, at which time we returned the keys.

We just got our security deposit back, and our ex-landlord from hell has deducted 18 days of rent for the time between when we left and when the house sold, after the expiration of the lease! Based on my minimal understanding of the law, this is legal given that we agreed to 90 days notice, but it is so contemptuously cheap that he’s quite pissed me off.

So, the question is: is there anything I can to be a pain in his ass? Maryland law requires security deposits to be returned with 4% annual interest, and he simply multipied 4% times 3 years and added 12% to the sum (and had the nerve to complain that he only earned 1% on it) so I am asking for 4% compounded. Are there any other pretexts on which I can get him? He clearly entered the premises between the walk-through and the sale, but never gave us 24 hours notice as required. One of the windows never closed properly and the fridge leaked water for over a year. Heck, he’s a cop, can I hire a lawyer to hunt down everyone he’s ever arrested and file a class action suit for police brutality against him? I’m willing to consider pretty much anything within the law.

All help gratefully appreciated as always!

Piss him off by moving on with your life and taking the high ground. You will be happier by truly pursuing happiness instead of trying to get back at some small-minded, unappreciative asshole.
Good luck with your new house.
:slight_smile:

I expect this to get moved to another forum real soon, but for the meantime I’m having a rea hard time reconciling :

with

IANAL!

I can’t see that you can do much about the 24 notice thing. You would have to show damages of some kind to collect.

As far as the broken window and leaky fridge go, did you put the owner on notice about these things? If not, you don’t have much of a case. How can he fix something of which he wasn’t aware. If so, you can possibly recover a percentage of the rent over the time that the stuff was broken. The question is, how much did the broken things “devalue” the rental?

Haj

jacksen9: Thanks for the advice; I imagine you are right.

Eutychus: I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped the bounds of this forum or this board. I don’t know what’s legal in these circumstances; thats one of the resons I’m asking. It’s my understanding that nuisance lawsuits are an unfortunate fact of life.

Three words (well, two initials and a word):

U.N. Sanctions.

It takes them a while but they can work. When he’s having to let weapons inspectors into his workout room and is unable to buy angel hair pasta when his boss comes to dinner, he’ll think better.

I have a similar problem with a former landlord. I basically had to deal with it by smiling politely and trashing him to everybody who would listen. Luckily, homeless people have a lot of patience for tales of woe when they see that dollar in your hand.

The last time I felt the need to get revenge, I turned it around. I donated to charity the amount of money it would have cost to have the three guys killed. I priced it out. Two local chaps wanted to do one guy for free. A second guy had made some enemies during a divorce, and his offing would not have cost much. The third guy would have cost $100. Hey, there are cheap killers everywhere! So, I discharged my obligation, and I helped out some good causes. Best of all, I spent no time in jail. I feel good.

If your lease expired at that time I see no reason to give any notice - the contract was over.

If I understand you correctly, you left once the lease expired? The 90 days notice, while a courtesy, is usually only necessary if you plan to renew.

Rather than try to find a new tenant, the landlord decided to simply sell the property. We went out of our way to assist him in this, and the house sold within four days, with a closing date of the 18th of the following month. In fact, the house sold for 15 thousand dollars more than he had offered it to us for, so all seemed well. We moved out by the 29th and had our walk-though on the 30th, at which time we returned the keys.

Check the laws of your state but this is generally very illegal. In MA, it is illegal to use a security deposit as rent, however most people generally use this to pay off their last month in order to avoid a potential hastle like yours.
QUOTE]*Originally posted by Emilio Lizardo *
One of the windows never closed properly and the fridge leaked water for over a year.

[/quote]

Did you ask him to fix any of this in writing? If he refused, did you report him to the local housing authorities?

QUOTE]*Originally posted by Emilio Lizardo *
Heck, he’s a cop, can I hire a lawyer to hunt down everyone he’s ever arrested and file a class action suit for police brutality against him? I’m willing to consider pretty much anything within the law.
**
[/QUOTE]

Umm…instead of this fantasy bullshit, why don’t you hire a lawyer to get your 18 days of rent and interest back?

Not always, if the lease specifies this, than you have to give notice regardless of the lease ending. Look at it this way, he has to give notice to give the property owner time to find a new tenant.

Emilio Lazardo, how much more money do you really want to spend on this? Fact of the matter is, you’ll only be able to supoena relevant information. Aside from the fact that I don’t think this lawyer is going to go after someone in bad faith, the lawyer would certainly charge quite a bit of money. It would be a much better idea to leave it alone and consider yourself lucky that he didn’t try to screw you out of the full 90 days.

Did you buy a house in D.C. proper? How did that work out for you? I’ve heard that the market is really tight. I looked on realtor.com and everything looks really expensive.

Find a book,. THE TENANTS HANDBOOK for your state (nolo.com, you library or bookstore) it explains things like this & what the law says.

This idea is about as clever as Pickett’s Charge.

The terms “cop” and “get even with” are not compatible.

Because when somebody tries to “get even with” the “cop” in his private dealings, he is stunned to discover that the cop doesn’t play by the rules. He cheats.

In addition, many other cops will help your cop/landlord make your life a living hell.

Riddle Me This: How can a cop afford Washinton DC real estate on a cop’s salary?

Answer: He is a crooked cop. And thus, will fix your @ss outside the rules.

Abandon this plan right now!

Or what? They won’t let me live there more than I’m not living there now?

Generally most landlords ask you if you intend to renew the lease well before it ends.

Forget “getting even”. Even if this cop is legit, he is still a cop so trying to get back at him outside the law is likely to get you arrested.

In the future, don’t pay the last months rent and have hime keep the security deposit. You don’t want to make it easy for a landlord to simply declare a bunch of damages and keep your money. If he wants it, make him go after it.

This is the most asinine thing I’ve ever read in GQ. Well, ok, not the most asinine, but it’s right up there.

Have you considered that maybe he inherited the house, draws another salary in addition to his salary or is independently wealthy and is a police officer because he chooses to be?

Good lord, man. That was just one silly statement.

IANAL, but I agree with k2dave, if it was beyond the end date of the lease then I can’t see how he can charge you for the 18 days. The 90 day notice should apply to leaving before the end of the contract. You simply left at the end of the contract. Do you have small claims court? I would take it there. The way to “get even” is to get your money back.

Thank you all for your advice and assistance. I’ve contacted legal aid to find out if his claim for the rent is legit or not. If it is, more power too him; if not, then I would like to get my money back. 24 hours later I’m a lot calmer and no longer ready to kick ass.

Brujo I do not live in the district proper, but rather one of the inner beltway communities in PG County. Houses go fast here too, and generaly for about 10% over asking price, but we got lucky. We found a house that we liked, and I guess we were the only ones who liked it. It took us almost a week to make an offer, and we got the place with minimal haggling for almost 10% under list. What that means when we sell a few years down the road, I don’t know.

Bosda, I appreciate your concern, and messing with a cop is not something I would normaly consider had I not been so damned pissed. I’ve known plenty of crooked cops in my day, some of whom I have counted as friends, and some of whom have robbed me blind. This guy is as straight as an arrow. His wife makes a decent buck, and he’s deeply in debt is all. I actually like him personally, I just feel that he’s being excessively miserly, and well, I need the money too!

Depending on where you are and the inclination of the landlord, they may take you to small claims court in order to collect the damages specified in the contract.

Also Bosda, I think many police departments encourage, if not require, their officers to live within the municipality they serve. I can’t believe there are no police officers living in the district. The current hyper-inflation in DC real estate is relatively new. I know people whose home values have doubled in the last two years. As recently as 5 years ago, you could still find a reasonably-priced house in a halfway decent neighborhood; now it’s just insane.

Which leads me to a hijack of my own thread: who are all of these people who live in the 750K+ houses? Are they all lawyers and lobbyists? There seem to be an awful lot of them.

Don’t forget, that when you have to give a reference for where you were before when you get a place & they call the guy, you might want them to say nice things :slight_smile: