Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sue? Why? You got what you paid for..a 12 mth lease on a home that you lived in for 12 mths.
How do you know this guy wasn't an agent for the owner? Not all homeowners handle their own rentals..many hire property managers or property management companies...and it's not 'shady' real estate law. I think you need to find places to get your info....
Well, reading the OP's messages regarding the background, she clearly seems under the impression that the person she has been dealing with was her landlord, not a managing agent; any manager would have to had clearly declare themselves as such, and since we only have the OP's version of events to go by, we have to assume she's correct in saying that the person she was writing the checks to was passing themselves off as the legal owner of the property, and not acting as a designated agent for the owner. So, in that case, yes it's very much shady and actually illegal.
If the OP would like to chime in and clarify, however....
... and since we only have the OP's version of events to go by, we have to assume she's correct in saying that the person she was writing the checks to was passing themselves off as the legal owner of the property ...
It may be so but it's a bit of a stretch to make an assumption that what's posted is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! In any event, this little snippet only came quite a way into the thread and wasn't the subject of the initial query. I even question the illegality of a landlord renting property which he doesn't actually own.
In any event, a court will almost never rule in favor of any tenant who's seeking return of all rents paid for any reason as long as they lived there ...
It may be so but it's a bit of a stretch to make an assumption that what's posted is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! In any event, this little snippet only came quite a way into the thread and wasn't the subject of the initial query. I even question the illegality of a landlord renting property which he doesn't actually own.
In any event, a court will almost never rule in favor of any tenant who's seeking return of all rents paid for any reason as long as they lived there ...
Not necessarily true; I know of several cases off-hand where tenants were able to recoup rent that was fraudulently paid to someone who was neither the owner nor a managing agent but that's neither here nor there.
I do agree with you, however, that we only have the OP's version of events and as we all know, there are always two (or more!) sides to every story, so unless the OP can provide further clarification, she should just be satisfied that she's moved out of an unhappy situation
Get what I paid for...****hole property from slumlord: got crappy undisclosed fire and water damaged house, everything broken and in need of repairs (unfulfilled promises for repair), such as severe mold concerns in several rooms- landlord took our positive mold culture, we paid out of our own pocket for mold inspector, he cussed at us and threatened us, brought in his own inspector, insisted our mold culture was inaccurate and his inspector said house was fine, but refused to show results), broken windows, several times with no heat, gas leaks, leaky radiators that caused huge puddles (which caused some of the mold), mushrooms growing in our bathroom, doors that stick or don't close, metal stakes sticking out from cement stairs, loose porch boards, stolen property (upstairs tenants as well as us, landlord told the police he suspected my boyfriend, but police later proved landlord and his employee were the ones with recent access), upper bath flooded into ours with no repairs (more water damage to the already severely water damaged and moldy bathroom, cracked walls in need of patches/repair, loose/broken shower faucets, several unnecessary noise concerns- very large loud family above us making ridiculous noises on a constant basis and who also ran a noisy machine all night long above our bedroom that even vibrated our walls, no basement space as promised, constantly spoke down to, threatened, and cussed at for no apparent reason threatened to sue when I stayed at my moms house-about 70% of nights for a month- claiming I moved out (although it was still my home address, I was there at least every other day, it was a short period of time and rent was ALWAYS paid) and also sue my mother for same 'issue' stating that she was a cosigner, but she was not, she was a reference on the application. Numerous people, reliable enough sources such as alderman, police officer, an tenant resource center, telling us that we can and should take further action to enforce that repairs are made or legally break lease. I considered, but opted to just finish remainder of my lease and get out peacefully.
I'm not just content to move out of unhappy situation. I want the security deposit I paid that was wrongfully withheld from me, especially because it was such a ****hole place and crappy landlord. (That's the answer to the question of why sue: deposit was wrongfully withheld and I want that money back). I believe there are numerous documents I can show to argue why it was wrongfully withheld-not to mention that the property is crap and the landlord as well. At the very least, he's a bad landlord not doing many of the things proper landlords should do (and this includes many topics I haven't covered), but beyond that, he is a shady character. As for arguing why he is shady and arguing towards his character, and looking at it from legal aspect, my boyfriend would be better to argue those things, my concern was more the actual property, tenancy, and facts surrounding those areas, BUT I do know that he is no stranger to small claims court, we have several printed cases from WCCA for lawsuits and liens against him that he has not paid, I believe my boyfriend totaled some $20,000 he owes from various judgements. All of his properties, including our previous property- if you can call it his- has several thousand each in unpaid property taxes and delinquencies (according to 'Official Website of the City of Milwaukee'. The IRS wants him for quite a bit of money and some kind of tax fraud crap I believe.
The fact that he doesn't own the property didn't come into play in these posts until later is because we hadn't realized the importance of him not owning the house. 2 things brought to light the severity of his not owning the house. 1) the court commissioner looked up, in two places, to find that he doesn't own the property and she seemed very concerned and also stated that he would have a difficult time suing us if that is the case. 2) Several people informed us that not only will it help us with the case at hand, it additionally brings to light the possibility to look into suing for all rent he collected. We found it he didn't own the property shortly after we rented it. It was a big concern at first for us, but we didn't know the severity of such situation until now. We called the company that does own it. I forget where it is located, but it was a southern state. My boyfriend and my father in law talked to the woman from the company several times (although I'm starting to think I should call her to find things out firsthand for myself). I don't remember quite what the situation is, but I think he was supposed to own the house but never finished in some way, like registering house, is what I'm getting from the explanation (simpler example, for me at least, that i think would be similar): I pay you $1,000 to purchase car from you, you give me title, I never register at the DMV. Who owns the car- like if there are parking tickets, get pulled over, car impounded). Woman from other company was quite upset to find out the situation with whatever it is he is doing, not making repairs as he was supposed to, delinquent property taxes- keep in mind, even if he 'purchased it', house and delinquent taxes etc shows up under her name- and renting it out before other such matters were resolved/completed. Also, after we moved out I know that house was redtagged and had no heat, something from long gas leak discovered, and ONLY the OWNER could get heat back on and house "un-redtagged," after repairs regarding gas leak were made. My father in laws called the company that owns the house again, she offered to sell us the home, upper/lower and unusable back cottage, last assessed at $65,000 for only $10,000- the cost of delinquent taxes on the property. (As they told it to me, she wants to be able to sell the house out from under him after discovering all the issues with him such as no repairs and delinquent taxes. Also my boyfriend and my father in law are believing the landlord's 'scam idea' was to wait until delinquent property taxes reached a point that house would sell for that amount). In addition, if there were any building code violations or other problems, the problems don't appear to affect him as much if he is not the actual owner. Furthermore, with the amount of money he owes to people, IRS, judgements, liens, I do not believe he would be able to purchase a house until he fixes those matters. Again, I don't quite understand the situation or the 'politics' on the matter, but I do know there is something ****ed up going on with it here. I need to look into understanding what THAT is all about better. But, all records show that he does not own the house, and that is what the court finds. If the court finds he does not own the house, at the very least, he cannot sue, but it possibly brings about other things too, such as aiding us in obtaining our withheld security deposit, possibly suing for all rent collected if we chose to(?), or other things.
Now that I've tried to explain the ownership matter the best that I can at the moment, I need to look into it further myself. And don't have the time to finish up this post with other things I had wanted to include, I am off to work now.
And don't have the time to finish up this post with other things I had wanted to include, I am off to work now.
Phew! Why do you not seek proper legal advice which has been suggested to you several times? To keep lengthily repeating points and then adding more as you think of them is maybe a good venting exercise but insofar as accomplishing what you seek to accomplish it's futile. You need to consult with an attorney.
Phew! Why do you not seek proper legal advice which has been suggested to you several times? To keep lengthily repeating points and then adding more as you think of them is maybe a good venting exercise but insofar as accomplishing what you seek to accomplish it's futile. You need to consult with an attorney.
Phew! I'll third this; every time OP posts, story gets more and more convoluted which gets my sketch-o-meter tingling something fierce.
Consult a knowledgeable RE attorney for all your issues, as they seem considerable, but just bear in mind that this sounds like it would be a protracted case and your legal fees would most likely be considerable, and odds of collecting from someone with tons of unpaid liens and debts not very high. Just might be better to cut your losses and be grateful you're out of a crappy situation
I noticed that you never said if they gave you a walk through or not of the unit. I always give my tenents walk throughs and show em the place before they make up there mind. then you could have spotted all the code violatons and told yourself NO
Phew! I'll third this; every time OP posts, story gets more and more convoluted which gets my sketch-o-meter tingling something fierce.
Consult a knowledgeable RE attorney for all your issues, as they seem considerable, but just bear in mind that this sounds like it would be a protracted case and your legal fees would most likely be considerable, and odds of collecting from someone with tons of unpaid liens and debts not very high. Just might be better to cut your losses and be grateful you're out of a crappy situation
I've tried consulting attorney. I originally did just regarding the security deposit, which is not overall a very large sum of money. Before going to court wanted to, at very least, get some knowledgeable feedback about the situation and case, how court proceedings regarding this would work, probability of winning case, etc, then consider whether attorney costs were worth it. If attorney was based off percent would be more feasible, but at the cost of typical attorneys, not feasible. During phone or email discussions with attorneys, some showed no interest because there wasn't enough money to concern them or to make it worth hiring an attorney, others gave helpful consultations but hinted towards the case being too small for me to want or need an attorney, still others jumped to find out if they could offer their legal aid services. I was thinking attorney was not feasible for case, but after hearing and the possibility of getting sued as well as severity of him not owning house or possibility that more money could be involved, I began to reconsider. It gave me new questions and concerns, but also the the possibility of a larger sum of money being involved to interest attorney more or give me renewed hope that there would be enough money in the situation to want, or be able to pay for, an attorney.
But yes, odds of collecting from LL considering all his previous unpaid judgments and liens are unlikely, still making attorney fees concerning.
I may be able to seek some small amount of legal advice from short email or phone consultations though. Other than that, there are some other organizations that may be able to offer some help, such as the WI tenant resource center (who I'm waiting to hear back from), etc. But ultimately, all I can do is research extensively, be well-prepared, and hope for the best, I guess.
As for walk through, yes, I was provided a hurried walk through at the same time as another family of tenants (who ultimately rented the upper unit). I was possibly being overly optimistic and I am known for being a bit too trusting. The majority of things looked okay from a quick walk-through, especially considering that it is an older house and looks like, well, an older 'city' house, similar to other houses you would see in the area. Large open spaces was an instant positive, considering many of the places for a 3 bedroom in that price range and area were a bit small. I thought I got a good first impression of the landlord and liked him. (I'm also known for drastically misjudging people to be better than they are). Overall, from a quick walk through, things looked pretty decent considering the other units I'd seen. Many concerns began to appear after move-in. But as he showed the property, the things that did look in need of repair, the landlord was more than happy to offer repairs to, before our even asking. He seemed genuine and on his ball with knowing the repairs needed. He told us the property was recently acquired and he hadn't finished (in-fact the upstairs unit was partially gutted, which he rented to the other family on the spot, before even completing some of the most basic things). He assured us all repairs would be made quickly and correctly. He told us that he owned a contracting company (thus I assumed he might be the best landlord suited to handle repairs). I've now learned never to rent a property that a landlord is attempting to lease before finishing repairs. Other factors likely to have affected our decision: few landlords wanted to rent to us because although the other tenants, my boyfriend and father in law, have a long record of rental history with no problems, the only rental history that I had is 1 year previous which was with the both of them (I've lived at a different rental unit with them for longer than that, I was not on the lease at the other place, but that LL did know I was living there) and because that rental history all includes living with family-his father and I also had no credit at the time (I was still in college so my loans had not begun); furthermore, we found few rental units that fit our needs or that we liked (or would rent to us), so the difficulty finding a place left us without a home for 3 weeks in which my boyfriend, myself, and my then 1 year old daughter paid a large sum of our moving savings to rent a weekly motel and my father-in-law living with his other daughter. Being "homeless" for 3 weeks and spending a ton of money on a several week stay at a motel, pushed us to find a place or 'settle' quickly. At first I insisted we not let it cloud our judgment, but eventually it wears on you and you become more likely to rush or settle. Thus, bad circumstances and a seemingly decent looking rental, caused us to come into an even worse circumstance.
My poor rental situations have taught me a lot and also certainly make me err on the more careful and cautious side when it comes to renting. I have since been able to find a good rental (without family beyond my boyfriend and daughter to complicate things or 'crowd' us in a unit), a unit that is larger, nicer, better location, better management, as well as more costly (which I can now afford better). I am happy now with my new rental, but had to experience a horrible rental experience to learn from I guess. Next step will hopefully be to eventually own my own home.
Yes I have a complicated previous landlord situation and, if nothing else, have been able to supply lengthy rants, but I feel there is still purpose. Getting opinions, feedback, answers to questions, and suggestions can help me understand the situation or possible outcomes better. I find responses often tend to be negative, though, but it prepares me more for court, prepares me for any and all arguments that come my way that I may not have expected or prepared for, to know which areas concern people, how people feel or see things differently than I, what areas of the situation are hard to understand or explain- my responses or arguments will give me practice and better prepare me for such arguments in court. Also, original post(s) were just to obtain information or answer questions, but when responses were so negative towards me or the situation, somewhat of an attack, without knowing much detail or really understanding, I wanted to explain and clarify better, to try to defend myself or my desire to sue for security deposit, and possibly get people to understand or see more of where I am coming from. Responses tended to, more often than not, automatically side with landlord, despite anything I said, as if landlord couldn't be a bad landlord or in the wrong here (for what reason I do not know), and that I was automatically the 'issue' behind the whole situation. The attitude I received prompted me to want to delve further into the situation. (And, in writing, I am quite thorough and attempt to overstate the many thoughts that flood into my head as I'm reading responses or thinking through the situation. And I like writing, it helps me work through things and also understand things better when seeing it in writing).
I've tried consulting attorney. And I like writing, it helps me work through things and also understand things better when seeing it in writing).
You're not taking advice from anyone here and it's clear that several attorneys have already opined that your case is probably not worth pursuing. If writing helps clear your head, it might be better for you to write a personal blog rather than cluttering up a forum - a forum is for discussion and at this point there's really nothing for anyone to discuss.
It's not that attorneys don't think that the case was not worth pursuing for me- but it is not worth pursuing for them. $1,400 is a significant amount of money for me to want to obtain, (double damages, although I'd be content with just the originally paid deposit amount), but it is not a significant amount for an attorney because attorney costs would outweigh the gain. The attorney's have not thought that it is not a substantial case, but that it is not a financially relevant case for them.
I asked on a forum because I wanted answers to questions. My original post asked 2 questions I believe. Simple enough. I didn't want to have to go into the long story details-because there are quite a bit of them, but when I got answers to questions or opinions, I got unnecessarily ****ty attitudes and responses, as well as opinions based off what people assumed the situation may have been, so I wanted to try to explain it better. If people just answered questions without attacking with rude ****ty responses to go along with it.... Seems nobody on here have lives but to sit on here constantly [10 to 20 thousand posts for some of you? Really- Is that necessary?] and take out whatever their issues are on anyone they can...because none of the attitude was necessary, from any of you (except maybe one poster in this thread whom I remember not being a ****head). [I've used this site for several days in this thread for an actual purpose, I don't know how many others have been on here every day for who knows how long, trolling for people's questions or opinions that they can attack. I'm on here for a purpose, it is temporary. And you? Because you're not doing anyone any good.] When people ask questions or seek information, I suggest that if you respond, just answer the question and leave out the rudeness and attitude. I don't believe seeking answers to questions is cluttering up a forum- useless responses dripping with bitter belligerence and such negativeness may be, though. If I, or anyone, wants answers to questions or had sought aid, do you think such insulting responses helped anyone? Waste of time. Asking questions or seeking information is not clutter-in fact, I think it is a top purpose of the forum. I went into details about my ****ty landlord experience (in a rental forum) and that's considered clutter? I'm sorry you wanted to give me attitude and make assumptions about the situation, but when I clarify and provide details it shouldn't be considered clutter. I'm sorry my year of hell with a hellish rental situation is 'just clutter.' But wouldn't have been so if responses weren't so negative and presumptuous- as well as far more than what was necessary- a simple answer. So if my bad rental situation- although on a rental forum, just seeking answers- has become just clutter-- stop responding.
So, I'm not happy to say, this forum provided me no help, it is useless, and it is disheartening to know how far too many people jump at the chance to be mean and attack people, and far too few actually try to do right or help people. (Why? I'm not too sure, for the fact that people seemed way too quick to jump to the landlord's defense, despite anything said, I presume such responses come from landlords themselves. Probably ****ty ones as well if they feel such a need to defend a landlord who is clearly a shady character and has not held up to any landlord responsibilities. Or if responses are from landlords who are good landlords- instead of instantly jumping to the defense- consider that not all landlords are. Especially in neighborhoods that aren't the greatest. Either way, seems odd to me to so strongly defend an obviously ****ty landlord).
Please keep in mind: this post is targeted at several individuals who I would hope know who they are...
I'm done now, it's over. I will not be back. Tip to you all (several individuals): get over yourselves, go get a life, and get off the computer.
Buh-bye now
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
