Filing Small Claims in NJ From Overseas (apartment, lease)

[OTRsaCSG]

I recently moved back to my home country after renting in New Jersey for four years. It has been two months since I moved out and my last landlord still has not returned my security deposit. I have read through other threads here and now have a pretty good idea of my rights as a tenant and the process I have to go through to attempt to get my money back - I will follow the advice (sending certified mail, etc.) but it loos like I will have to file at small claims court. My question: how can I do this if I'm overseas? Can a lawyer represent me? Even if I'm awarded double the amount plus interest, incidental expenses and lawyer's fees, the amount isn't worth the cost, time and hassle of returning to the US for this!

I'm really just hoping to scare the landlord into paying back my deposit (he's just an individual, small-property landlord) but for that to be effective, I need to make sure my facts are straight, that I can actually sue long-distance.

Another question - I paid rent till the end of September, although I physically left September 27. My ex-landlord claims that this means I didn't give him 30 days notice. Is that correct?

[joeymarine]

I would pay an attorney to send a letter, which will hopefully scare your former landlord into just cutting you a check. I would check with said attorney if they can represent you without being there (there's a technical word for it, but I cannot remember right now) although it may not be worth it - unless you really have a lot of $$$ up front.

As long as you gave him 30 days notice (ie told him on or before September 1st) you should be ok, provided the lease doesn't state otherwise. Did you notify the LL via writing? If not - let the lesson be known that you always want to do things like that via Certified, Return Receipt Requested.

If you can't prove that you told him, and a judge sided with him, you could lose 1 months rent out of the security, which would leave only a max of 1/2 month rent.

Best of luck to you!

~Joey

[rscalzo]

Depends on what you hope to gain. Don't assume the court will award anything more than the Security Deposit. By the time you pay the costs of the lawyer and other fees, you may lose money. Scheduling and postponements can drive up the number of billable hours. If the landlord can prove you did not properly notify him of your vacation of the apartment, a counterclaim can be filed.

Even if it's awarded to you, the small Claims courts do not enforce payments and you may be forced to once again go through a process to obtain the funds adding to the process. This would be much easier if you were present to handle many of the tasks with are relatively simple. Paying someone to do them makes it a wash or worse. If the owner/landload knows you have left the country, I'd guess he feels confident that you won't push the matter beyond a letter.

NJ has a decent site regarding the procedures.

Some areas to check if you haven't already done so..

http://www.lsnjlaw.org/english/place...ghts/index.cfm

Good luck....

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/civil/civ-02.htm

[OTRsaCSG]

Thank you!

[manderly6]

There is also a renting forum where maybe someone has some experience in this.