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First, no future landlord will know if you sued your current landlord, unless there is a judgment or an eviction filed. So, don't worry about that.
Second, just go to court and ask for your full deposit. Tell the judge, you don't know the law and you don't know what to ask for, but you trust him/her to do what's right.
That's all you need to do. Also, ask the court to have the LL reimburse you for your court filing costs, if you win. This is standard.
I advise you to sue. Tenants almost always win. I'm a property manager, and I've helped my daughter get her deposit back through small claims court several times. It's not scary, and as long as you stay calm and respectful with the judge, you will likely win.
First, no future landlord will know if you sued your current landlord, unless there is a judgment or an eviction filed. So, don't worry about that.
Second, just go to court and ask for your full deposit. Tell the judge, you don't know the law and you don't know what to ask for, but you trust him/her to do what's right.
That's all you need to do. Also, ask the court to have the LL reimburse you for your court filing costs, if you win. This is standard.
I advise you to sue. Tenants almost always win. I'm a property manager, and I've helped my daughter get her deposit back through small claims court several times. It's not scary, and as long as you stay calm and respectful with the judge, you will likely win.
They will know if they look. It's all public record and many counties have their court records online to view for free. And many private landlords not only access those records, but look at the social media sites as well.
The OP should go ahead and do what they need to do, but understand that it is public record and if a future landlord finds it and asks about it, make sure you keep your documentation.
First, no future landlord will know if you sued your current landlord, unless there is a judgment or an eviction filed. So, don't worry about that.
Second, just go to court and ask for your full deposit. Tell the judge, you don't know the law and you don't know what to ask for, but you trust him/her to do what's right.
That's all you need to do. Also, ask the court to have the LL reimburse you for your court filing costs, if you win. This is standard.
I advise you to sue. Tenants almost always win. I'm a property manager, and I've helped my daughter get her deposit back through small claims court several times. It's not scary, and as long as you stay calm and respectful with the judge, you will likely win.
Yeah, I agree with Kim. In my state, it does show up. In 2 minutes, I can find out if someone has sued a former landlord (although if the suit was against the person rather than the company, it may not be recognizable as a landlord). We have actually turned an applicant away because we found that they sued their last 2 landlords and lost both times.
As for the tenant winning, that may be state dependent. In my area, tenants almost always lose this sort of suit. The courts usually side with the landlord when it comes to damage charges.
Yeah, I agree with Kim. In my state, it does show up. In 2 minutes, I can find out if someone has sued a former landlord (although if the suit was against the person rather than the company, it may not be recognizable as a landlord). We have actually turned an applicant away because we found that they sued their last 2 landlords and lost both times.
As for the tenant winning, that may be state dependent. In my area, tenants almost always lose this sort of suit. The courts usually side with the landlord when it comes to damage charges.
So, this is fascinating info. I use a credit service which does an eviction check, and runs credit through Trans Union. These only show any unlawful detainers, or any public records of judgments or bankruptcies.
So, how would I go about finding the lawsuit information you are talking about? If you give me an example or a link even to your county, etc., I'll be able to figure it out for doing it here in CA.
Thanks Kim L and Lacerta for this great info. The more info the better.
I always google applicants, and am amazed at what I find. For instance just the other day, I had a student applicant, and I just had a bad feeling about him, but couldn't find anything solid to deny him with. Then I googled him, and found him listed on a police website for having received a citation for being in a public park after hours. I figured cops don't just walk around parks after hours looking to give out tickets, so there was probably more than that going on.
Anyway, I knew he had previous problems with a roommate, which made me wonder if he'd be problematic, so when i found the police record, I felt comfortable denying him. I sent him the link and told him he was too much of a risk :-)
Google has been helpful, but court records would be even better!
Just curious but how would you feel about them if they'd prevailed in their claims?
If they had won either or both of their cases, or even had them dismissed with no prejudice, then I would have assumed they had bad landlords. As it was, both hearings were in favor, completely, with the landlord. Since they had sued two prior landlords and lost both times, as well as suing several other people and losing every case, we assumed they were problem tenants. We later found out that they sued their next landlord as well, so we were correct.
^^^ Thanks, I was just curious. It's nothing I have to worry about as I have a pretty good all-around reputation where I live but I've successfully sued a previous landlord (commercial) in the past 15 years and am in the middle of a suit against another previous residential landlord with every reason to expect a win. I would hope that landlords who do check the records wouldn't automatically turn down a prospective tenant based simply on the fact that they'd sued a landlord at some time.
For instance just the other day, I had a student applicant, and I just had a bad feeling about him, but couldn't find anything solid to deny him with. Then I googled him, and found him listed on a police website for having received a citation for being in a public park after hours. I figured cops don't just walk around parks after hours looking to give out tickets, so there was probably more than that going on.
Anyway, I knew he had previous problems with a roommate, which made me wonder if he'd be problematic, so when i found the police record, I felt comfortable denying him. I sent him the link and told him he was too much of a risk :-)
Often teens hang out in certain parks just as a spot to meet up. Maybe it's a local lake or beach and they just cruise through to see which of their friends is out, discuss plans for the evening, etc.
Likely the cops went through and told some to get out. Maybe more kids showed up a half hour later (including the applicant to your rental) and then got tickets.
My point it, the park is probably one of the hangouts for the teens/young adults. I doubt there was much more going on, else they would have got tickets for alcohol or whatever else bad would have been going on.
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