SVreX said:In reply to Javelin :
I think you need to define your priorities...
- Your highest priority is your kids, and their health and well-being. Don’t do anything that jeopardizes that.
FTFY...Generally speaking, I'd be more concerned with the condition of the home they're living in than getting them into a singular specific school/district.
Driven5 said:SVreX said:In reply to Javelin :
I think you need to define your priorities...
- Your highest priority is your kids, and their health and well-being. Don’t do anything that jeopardizes that.
FTFY...Generally speaking, I'd be more concerned with the condition of the home they're living in than getting them into a singular specific school/district.
Joint custody and state law berks that up if I change districts.
Update - I have a written complaint citing RCW's and giving specific dates that they are legally required to have the repairs completed by along with the penalties if they do not comply. I have contacted an attorney and have him on pre-retainer.
In reply to Driven5 :
You are right. I stand corrected.
(Though I was trying to repeat Javelin’s stated priorities)
1. Check with your county government to determine if there's a landlord-tentant commission or licensing authority. When I lived in Maryland I had a landlord who kept my deposit becasue he thought he could strong-arm me. I was required to file a complaint and go through dispute resolution w/the landlord (and an investigator form the county housing commission) before I could file a small claims suit. This worked in my favor because the landlord was required to respond to the county and it saved me from spending money on court fees or attorney fees. Things worked out because the investigator believed me and convinced him to settle. Montgomery County also has tenant-friendly laws on the books.
Assume that deposit is a sunk cost...if you ever see it again it'll be a bonus. I dealt with a terrible rental company while I had to relocate from hurricane damage. Went into the rental agreement assuming they'd screw me...the terms of the lease were not favorable...but it was literally the only affordable option. It worked out in the end because one of the people at the management company was friendly and helpful. The fact my wife established a relationship with her made things OK. If the management company is unresponsive, try to interact with the most amenable person in that group.
I hope the new carpet was called-out specifically in the lease. I'd notify them in writing of the the problems...and keep a log of every conversation/interaction.
Just because it's in a contract doesn't mean it's enforceable. Read up on the landlord-tenant laws in your jurisdiction. Sometimes going through the motions of evicting a tenant can take months...so figure out how much leverage you have. Alternatively, some shady management companies have on-staff legal and make a business out of suing former tenants. You should be able to search court records to see if your management group is active in that arena. Also, considering the amount of money involved, a free consult w/an attorney isn't a bad idea if they're not immediately responsive. Even small investment of a few hundred bucks may be worth the advice. Just make sure you have your paperwork and documentation organized before you talk to an attorney. I'm not a lawyer, this is just my general experience.
Javelin said:Update - I have a written complaint citing RCW's and giving specific dates that they are legally required to have the repairs completed by along with the penalties if they do not comply. I have contacted an attorney and have him on pre-retainer.
Pre-retainer?
What's that...a post dated check?
Courts have gotten wise to the landlords that shaft tenants out of their deposit checks. Laws have cropped up to protect those deposits and in some cases penalize landlords for not returning them fully and promptly. I don’t know Washington law but I doubt you’re unprotected there.
Ovid_and_Flem said:Javelin said:Update - I have a written complaint citing RCW's and giving specific dates that they are legally required to have the repairs completed by along with the penalties if they do not comply. I have contacted an attorney and have him on pre-retainer.
Pre-retainer?
What's that...a post dated check?
The first phone call was free and I was able to drop his name and card as a threat without incurring costs. As soon as he has to make a phone call or write a letter, it's $240/hr.
Update:
I consulted with the attorney and then went to the property management place at 9:30AM on the dot when they opened. Spoke with the GM of the place, "Individual 1", the property coordinator, and the repair coordinator. Gave a copy of the letter to all 3. The GM scanned and emailed the letter to the property owner. I then stood there until I got action on all 4 complaints.
#1 was the water. GM went to the back room and then came back out ~10 minutes later, claimed she called the water district and explained that they had dropped off the check yesterday and that the district must have gotten crossed paths and turned off the water anyway. So she claimed that it is paid in full and the water is back on.
#2 was the carpet, and yes replacement was in the "lease" (I say that because it's not legally a lease, it's an 11-month minimum month-to-month contract which is a bunch of BS). Individual 1 claimed that the home owner owed her over $2000 already and that she could not authorize replacement. I pointed out that I have the legal right to replace it on the 23rd if they have not begun repairs by then and can recoup up to 2 months total rent for each calender year, but not more than 1 month rent per repair. I was happy to do 1 room at a time at the full value of rent, 2 rooms in December, and 2 rooms in January, and have 4 total months rent covered from there. She asked if I was serious and I pointed to the RCW and the attorney's card and said that yes, I was 100% serious. She is supposed to be calling the home owner multiple times and getting me an answer tonight.
#3 was the door locks on the garage man doors (outside and inside to the house) were still the old keys that the previous tenant has and I do not and that by law they had to be re-keyed. She promised to have an appointment made with the locksmith by the end of today to be fixed within the 10 days.
#4 was the 4 missing doors inside the house, which they have at their repair facility. The repair team is supposed to come out to the property today to install them. They are not here yet.
At that point I left mostly satisfied and then proceeded to the water district. My bill was not due until the 25th but I wanted to double-check on the water shut off situation and settle mine up early just to show good faith after coercing them to turn it back on last night. The clerk informed me that not only did they send out the 15-day termination notice to the property management directly, but also that the person who brought in checks yesterday brought in 2 checks but not one for my home. She was the clerk that took the payments. She then informed me that the property manager who called this morning told her that she forgot to bring my check in yesterday and that she had mailed the check yesterday afternoon. My water is still "technically" off and they have until Monday 12/17 to pay or it gets shut off again regardless of what I do. She kindly took down my info to call if it comes to that and I paid my portion of the bill, leaving the outstanding remaining. She then kindly provided copies of everything, including the shut off notice, that was mailed directly to the property management company at their address.
So, the PM lied to my face about the water bill payment and was given sufficient legal notice that shut-off was imminent. Now I'm really really pissed off. I came home to cool down before going back to the PM and haven't called the attorney back yet.
Clearly I need to seek out a different house to buy when the divorce is settled but what should I do until then? Storage garage for the Cobra/tools/stuff just in case they play lock-out games? Go ahead and start paying the attorney for representation and take them to court for unlawful eviction (the RCW's term)? Bite my tongue and ride it out until I can buy another place?
pinchvalve said:Forcing a landlord to spend money is a difficult fight if there are no safety violations, and calling them to the attention of the city will make the landlord even harder to deal with. GTFO and undo any repairs you made before you leave.
The carpet is a clear safety violation, it's even one of the specific things called out in the RCW.
Javelin said:Joint custody and state law berks that up if I change districts.
Only if there is an objection to it...Which I suppose there often might be in these situations.
What district are you in that there are no other rentals available anywhere within it's boundaries? Your profile shows Kelso, but a quick check on Zillow shows numerous rentals currently available in the vicinity.
Sorry to keep focusing on this side of it, but I feel that even if you get them to give in on some of these things, there is little chance of you being able to force them into being reasonable (let alone responsible) landlords during the remainder of your not-really-month-to-month lease. Property management this bad is probably not 'new', but rather 'newly renamed'.
Speaking of which, I'd also be checking the legality of them keeping your deposit of a month-to-month lease if you leave before a given length of stay. While some type of short-term termination fee would probably be legal, withholding anything from your deposit other than items relating directly to the turning over of the unit is actually illegal in many places.
In reply to Driven5 :
Thank you. Our district is for the school the oldest currently attends, which is Beacon Hill Elementary School, which pretty much restricts me to this neighborhood called Lexington. I am also one of the Lexington Flood Control Zone Supervisors, which is a nice extra bit of cash monthly, and I have to reside within that district's borders to keep that. That's two really good reasons to stay in the neighborhood if I can help it. If I can extend this rental long enough to get into a position to purchase and find the right place to purchase, then that would be ideal. I was originally going to buy this place at the end of the agreement, but there's a fat chance of that happening now. I want nothing to do with these people.
The verbiage says "district", which to me would mean Kelso. As I would read it, Beacon Hill is but one of seven elementary schools in that district...But I'm also no lawyer.
Ignoring for a moment the flood supervisor thing, and assuming (a pretty big assumption) that I'm right on this, could you not technically still freely move (with non-objectionable notice) anywhere else you choose within the entirety of the Kelso school district? Maybe check with the school to see if they might allow you to variance your kid to stay in the same school even if you move elsewhere in the district in the middle of the school year. They wouldn't get bus service, but if you really wanted to keep them from changing schools as well, that might still at least be possible too.
If you are on the hook for 11 months, it is not a month to month lease, no matter what anyone calls it. I would be willing to wager that they made it 11 months, because if it is less than a year, you have less leverage to get your deposit back.
In reply to Driven5 :
When I checked with the school district they are the ones that said that I had to remain within boundaries for her current school or else she transfers. I have the kids every morning and get them to school (her on the bus, drop him off at preschool) per the parenting and custody plan, so her school is based on my address. She currently goes to the best school in the district and I don't want to change that.
Further consideration, they are actively building a new school right in Lexington to open fall of 2020 that both kids would be attending at that time, which is also when I graduate grad school and would transition back to FT work.
Update:
Maintenance just left. I now I have new door locks in the garage doors and four new doors inside of the house.
In reply to Javelin :
Thats a step in the right direction.
I dont know a ton of rental law, but I do know eviction in WA is a long process (from a friend who is a former rental manager). Hope it does not need to come to that.
dculberson said:Courts have gotten wise to the landlords that shaft tenants out of their deposit checks. Laws have cropped up to protect those deposits and in some cases penalize landlords for not returning them fully and promptly. I don’t know Washington law but I doubt you’re unprotected there.
Years ago my wife and I were in between houses, could not find anything to buy, so decided to rent in the meantime. The deposit was $900. We stayed there for a year and made several improvements on our own dime and left nothing worse than when we moved in. We finally bought a house and gave notice, then the landlord came up with a bs list and what the repairs would cost that magically added up to $900. He wanted to keep the deposit.
I was pissed. Luckily we had taken pictures when we moved in and when we moved out. I replied to his ‘list’, sent pictures etc, and he wouldn’t budge. I’m sure this guy did the same thing to all his tenants. My wife wanted to let it go and move on, but it aggravated me to no end, so I decided to file in small claims court.
We went to court, he didn’t show, but his lawyer did and got an extension to review our documentation or whatever. The next court date neither him or his lawyer showed and the judgement was in our favor thanks to the no show.
Okay victory, then we have to get him to pay, which he refused to do. However, we were able to take the judgement and go to the bank (we had account info where he had cashed our checks) and have his account frozen until he paid.
We got our money and that was all very satisfying, but I can absolutely see why people say just berkeley it and move on. We each took two vacation days just for court, lots of time to prep, the mess to freeze the accounts, and the whole ordeal was just a massive pain from start to finish.
This was in TN. I hope it’s easier in other states.
Im glad you have some progress at least, sounds like you scared them into acting
The only other thing i have to add is this : Anger is a powerful tool at times, the idea is to use it to warm you and not let its fire consume you
In reply to Cotton :
That sucks. I recall going through similar struggles to get security back on a place I rented in college. LL was a real dick.
The flip side of that is, as a LL myself now, while the worst that can happen to you as a tenant is to lose your security, the worst that can happen to a LL is limited only by the value of the house. Before my current tenants, the last people left owing me 2 months' rent and several thousand dollars worth of damage. One ceiling fan had only one blade and one of 3 light bulbs left on it. How the berkeley does that even happen?
I chased the people down but they'd scattered and you know the saying, "blood from a stone" and all.
So I can definitely see where LLs get the mentality of "berkeley 'em all, I'm keeping the security".
Update:
We are now 1.5 hours past the 24-hour legal period to have the water bill paid and the water district has not received payment. I just emailed the PM detailing what the water district told me and provided to me as well as asking when and how she planned on remedying the situation now that the legal clock has struck 0.
I get the feeling that I'm going to need the attorney on this one to recover deposit after the whole thing in over, but it may get worse than that. If they haven't paid by Monday when the district intends to end my courtesy turn-back-on I will have very few options. I could pay the outstanding balance and deduct from the rent next month if needed and should be legally protected.
Update:
The PM has emailed back that "the check's in the mail, the problem is resolved". I responded with no, it is not. You incurred additional fees by having the account go into termination so the check won't get it back into good standing anyway and you had the legal obligation to restore service within 24 hours.
I am partially posting here as another form of date/time stamp to this whole ordeal of ridiculousness. Thank you for understanding and assisting.
Check into seeing what an escrow account for rent would cost perhaps?
Don't know the laws in your state but had a friend in VA set one up and would deposit rent into there instead of to the landlord.
In the event things weren't fixed, he had immediate funding paid in full, but was allowed to withhold them from the landlord pending having things fixed.
In reply to Javelin :
You seem to be reasonably competent at this. Fortunately, you have not listened to what most of us suggested, and are making good headway!! 
As far as "the check is in the mail" for the water payment, the utility I work for will not credit the açcount with that payment for 5 days while they wait for the check to clear. We will disconnect for non pay in that time.
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