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Keep paying rent. The oil tank is something totally different.
I've had the pain of an oil tank leak. Theses things are closely monitored and the oil company knows exactly how much oil they hauled out of there and they know how much of a credit was given the seller from your $900. This is simple theft. Rattle cages, get receipts, ask the oil company for their policies regarding leaks with oil in the tank. Contact your local department of environmental quality (a report had to be made with the estimated "oil spill.") and get a copy of the report. Worse case = small claims court.
Our land lord had previously stated that we can deduct the amount from rent. She told this to the Attorney Generals office through the mediator we hired.
After many phone calls, we discovered that there is no record of how much oil we may have used before it was taken away. The guy who facilitated the tank removal said that the tank was 5/8th full at the time of its removal. He said it was taken away for free. I couldn't understand the entire story, but it seemed like some interpersonal sketchy exchange. After doing the math, this mean that (according to this guy) we used 98 gallons of oil in a 28 day period, coming out to about $380. This seems incrediably high for a second floor apartment between mid November to mid December, and in general we cannot trust someones word when it comes to hundreds of dollars.
We are going to estimate that we used $100 of oil in that 28 day period, but the rest of the bill will be taken out of our rent to her.
She isn't going to sue us or take any action. She has no grounds.
And I work in a real estate office and I have consulted many of them in regards to this ordeal. They have said multiple times that I can just deduct the bill from the rent.
And I work in a real estate office and I have consulted many of them in regards to this ordeal. They have said multiple times that I can just deduct the bill from the rent.
You could have a thousand people that tell you this. That won't help you in court if it turns out you can't.
We are going to estimate that we used $100 of oil in that 28 day period, but the rest of the bill will be taken out of our rent to her.
She isn't going to sue us or take any action. She has no grounds.
So the landlord agreed to reimburse you $500, but you decide you want $800 instead. So there is a $300 difference.
She has grounds to evict you for not paying the proper rent amt. Even if she allowed you to deduct $500 from rent (per what was agreed in mediation)...is way different than deducting $800 that you are planning to deduct.
You could get evicted over this because you would be $300 short of the agreed upon deduction. You cannot just decide on your own to deduct $300 more than agreed upon. You would get a 3 notice to "Pay or Quit" within the first week of when rent is to be paid. Please keep us informed if/when the landlord comes after you for the remainder of the rent.
If you don't pay what landlord specifies within the 3 days pay or quit period, the landlord can file eviction proceedings. It's goes into public record. It's a bad mark to have on your record. You could argue about the deduction in eviction court and maybe you win and maybe you don't. Even if you win you still have that on public record for many years into the future. If you lose then you either get evicted(move) or might have the option to pay court costs plus lawyer fee plus the full rent/late payments if you want to stay in the rental and if landlord agrees. And you would still have the eviction proceedings on public record.
Last edited by sware2cod; 01-28-2014 at 11:44 AM..
I think my circumstances are not that formal. I understand that everything listed previously COULD happen. But our landlady is in preforclosure, if not full forclosure. She won't evict us over $300 and try to find a new tennant. She doesn't have the time, money, or energy for it.
Ultimatly our prperty was stollen and until she can prove how much we used before it was taken away (which she can't) then no further action can be made.
I suspect she didn't even have a permit to remove the tank in the first place.
We are sending her all the paperwork through certified mail.
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