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I've lived in a owner occupied 3br apt. in NJ for 7 years. The landlord was a nightmare so I finally got out Sept.1 2011
Because I downsized I had to throw some things out. I put my bulky waste items on the curb for bulk day pickup, but that was the week Hurricane Irene struck, so the bulk day got switched by the town from Weds. last day of Aug. '11 , the day I moved out, to that Sat. because the trucks had to go around and clean up after the hurricane, lots of debris everywhere.
My landlord acted in haste and called a pickup service to remove the bulky waste claiming the junk was ruining his already unkempt property and charge me $135 from my security. 3 day laters the bulky pick up truck came, but the delay wasn't my fault.
Do I have a small claims case?
I'm so angry about this, because he did it out of spite, he hated my family from day 1 because we wouldn't babysit his kids for him. He assumed because we were a good family and lived right upstairs we should help him with his kids, but those kids were a nightmare and he just kept to ourselves and the relationship become worse.
The apt. was kept in a good condition and cleaned when we left. Thats all he deducted, just because he could.
I've lived in a owner occupied 3br apt. in NJ for 7 years. The landlord was a nightmare so I finally got out Sept.1 2011
Because I downsized I had to throw some things out. I put my bulky waste items on the curb for bulk day pickup, but that was the week Hurricane Irene struck, so the bulk day got switched by the town from Weds. last day of Aug. '11 , the day I moved out, to that Sat. because the trucks had to go around and clean up after the hurricane, lots of debris everywhere.
My landlord acted in haste and called a pickup service to remove the bulky waste claiming the junk was ruining his already unkempt property and charge me $135 from my security. 3 day laters the bulky pick up truck came, but the delay wasn't my fault.
Do I have a small claims case?
I'm so angry about this, because he did it out of spite, he hated my family from day 1 because we wouldn't babysit his kids for him. He assumed because we were a good family and lived right upstairs we should help him with his kids, but those kids were a nightmare and he just kept to ourselves and the relationship become worse.
The apt. was kept in a good condition and cleaned when we left. Thats all he deducted, just because he could.
I'm not sure if you are right. The LL has the right to keep the curb clean and you should know that Hurricane Irene struck and you should have done your due diligence. The delay might not be your fault but you should have thought of a different solution and/or contacted the LL in writing so you had proof.
Without proof you won't win and the LL is in his right. On top of that do you want to go to court and pay filing fees, do the paperwork, spent hours to go to court, multiple times just for $ 135.- which can turn out in a bigger loss for you. IMO you should only sue if you know for 90% or more that you have the proof and can win. I usually go by 99.9%....the 0.1% is to me the chance the judge is a blind and deaf and doesn't listens and looks at the proof that I for sure will have!
If you want to spend the time and effort to file a small claims, then go ahead. You would have to prove you had set the stuff out for pick up and had notified "buld pick up" to come and get it. Your saying his property is unkempt is an opinion and not fact. Not in a courtroom, unless you have proof that the property has been cited.
Is it worth $135 to fight over this or just move on and mark up to life experience?
If you put the stuff out for bulk pickup according to the published scheule, and there is nothing in the lease addressing bulk pickup, odds are you complied in substance with the lease and trash collection schedule. But if you had any reason to know that bulk pickup was suspended prior to leaving, it may be an argument that you didn;t complie fully. A lot is going to hinge on the communication between you and the LL. If you communicated with the LL that a bulk pickup was scheduled, the LL would have jumped the gun by arranging service when service was already arranged. If you never communicated with the LL, for all they know, you dumped a heap of trash and calling a paid service to pick it up would be justified.
The free town provided bulk pick up comes every other Weds. twice a month. There was nothing I could do, my move date was scheduled 30 days prior and the hurricane struck on that exact day. We had no idea what kind of damage it would do, infact my street was untouched, but the surrounding areas needed help with clean up so the town, change the schedule for the emergency. 1.5 days before the landlord called to ask how we wanted our security cash or check and then mentoned the bulk on the curb, we specifically said we'll call the town to see when the next bulk day was and before we could get back to him, the stuff was picked up and gone. We only found because we had to go to the old apt. to pick up mail, the hurricane messed up our mail being forwarded and so that was delayed too and when we went to the house he had already called. He asked him to wait on the phone when he first mentioned it, but he was hasty because he wanted to get us for something.
The guy is an idiot, we learned our lesson living in an owner occupied.
I won't go to court unless I can win, because $135 is nothing, it's just the principal of the matter.
Also he never sent us a reciept, how do I know it even cost that much, he just said it did and deducted it.
I'm hoping he made a mistake and we can get the money back, because the guy treated us like crap. Sadly I didn't document everything he did, because I was a fool. I never thought it would come to this, the last year it got worse and worse.
I don't see how trash on the curb for 1.5 days is destroying his property, isn't there a specific time length, like had it been left for weeks. The day after the bulk truck came, the regular trash was picked up, he just jumped the gun.
Was this a lesson learned? Should I let it go?
I'm so angry, this guy doesn't deserve a house, he inherited it, rented it out for the money and lived off $$$ and didn't work a job, he never took care of the property and treated his tenants like crap. There is another guy still living there in a 3rd fl. attic apt.
I know the property was unkempt because I lived there for 7 yrs and saw the 100yr old house falling apart around my ears. He's lucky its a well built victorian style house or it would have tumbled down by now, he did nothing to maintain the house, but went up on our rent.
First, leave the emotional stuff at the door because its absoultely means nothing. Landlord tenant issues are based on laws, leases, agreements, contracts and court cases. I really have never seen any of these where the tenants personal feeling about the landlord and vica versa are outlined as conditions. usually its the law and lease. because of so much baggage in your post, I have a hard time understanding what your saying and in what order, so answer this:
You moved and put the items for bulk pickup at the curb- Go through the timeline from when you placed the items at the curb until the LL had them picked up, with emphasis on your communications directly with the LL over this.
You act like a victim, but you are the one who did something wrong....I always dislike to hear people act like victims and blame a LL who had to clean up after you...you say it was only 1.5day and the LL managed to clean it up, that means that you could have cleaned it up too, regardless of the Hurricane...it is just the effort that the LL was willing to take to have his property/curb clean to be in compliance while you didn't care until you were charged $135.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sas0814
The free town provided bulk pick up comes every other Weds. twice a month. There was nothing I could do, my move date was scheduled 30 days prior and the hurricane struck on that exact day. We had no idea what kind of damage it would do, infact my street was untouched, but the surrounding areas needed help with clean up so the town, change the schedule for the emergency. 1.5 days before the landlord called to ask how we wanted our security cash or check and then mentoned the bulk on the curb, we specifically said we'll call the town to see when the next bulk day was and before we could get back to him, the stuff was picked up and gone. We only found because we had to go to the old apt. to pick up mail, the hurricane messed up our mail being forwarded and so that was delayed too and when we went to the house he had already called. He asked him to wait on the phone when he first mentioned it, but he was hasty because he wanted to get us for something.
The guy is an idiot, we learned our lesson living in an owner occupied.
I won't go to court unless I can win, because $135 is nothing, it's just the principal of the matter.
Also he never sent us a reciept, how do I know it even cost that much, he just said it did and deducted it.
I'm hoping he made a mistake and we can get the money back, because the guy treated us like crap. Sadly I didn't document everything he did, because I was a fool. I never thought it would come to this, the last year it got worse and worse.
I don't see how trash on the curb for 1.5 days is destroying his property, isn't there a specific time length, like had it been left for weeks. The day after the bulk truck came, the regular trash was picked up, he just jumped the gun.
Was this a lesson learned? Should I let it go?
I'm so angry, this guy doesn't deserve a house, he inherited it, rented it out for the money and lived off $$$ and didn't work a job, he never took care of the property and treated his tenants like crap. There is another guy still living there in a 3rd fl. attic apt.
I know the property was unkempt because I lived there for 7 yrs and saw the 100yr old house falling apart around my ears. He's lucky its a well built victorian style house or it would have tumbled down by now, he did nothing to maintain the house, but went up on our rent.
If your previous LL gave you the rest of your Security Deposit I would just let it go. It's only $135.00. I'm assuming it's not a whole month's rent or all of the Security Deposit.
If some or most of your Security has been given back let it go it's not worth it.
If you failed to leave a number where you can be located so the LL could inform you of his/her intentions then the LL cannot be responsible for having to pay to remove it from the curb. Especially if the town gave written notice to remove the garbage/junk from the curb.
If you left it on his property, which I think that is what you said, then who are you to assume it's up to the LL to move it to the curb at his/her expense. It's your responsibility to remove your belongings including garbage you dump outside.
If your previous LL gave you the rest of your Security Deposit I would just let it go. It's only $135.00. I'm assuming it's not a whole month's rent or all of the Security Deposit.
If some or most of your Security has been given back let it go it's not worth it.
If you failed to leave a number where you can be located so the LL could inform you of his/her intentions then the LL cannot be responsible for having to pay to remove it from the curb. Especially if the town gave written notice to remove the garbage/junk from the curb.
If you left it on his property, which I think that is what you said, then who are you to assume it's up to the LL to move it to the curb at his/her expense. It's your responsibility to remove your belongings including garbage you dump outside.
The curb is public property, no this property. So the disposal of the trash is between the town and the renter, nothing to do with the renter and the disposal of the trash at his expense is his own decision and the tenant is not liable.
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