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A relative of mine ("Harry") asked me for advice but I'm not sure, so I thought of this great place to ask. It's not a complicated case, but I'm sorry I have to write this long to make it clear...
Background:
Harry rents a room in a private house. LL doesn't live in the house; another tenant ("Ed", who has lived there for longer) is in charge of collecting rent each month to pass to the LL. Apparently LL commits tax evasion and prefers rent paid in cash. Ed was also the one that placed the housing ad when Harry found this place to rent. It's possible that Ed rented all the rooms then sublet it to Harry and others. Ed apparently has keys to all the rooms.
Harry has found hard evidence that Ed had entered his (Harry's) room when he's not home, more than once. There was also an apparent damage to some possession of Harry that could only have been caused by this intruder. This happened about a year ago (I just learned the story now). Harry had the damage repaired soon after he discovered it back then, which cost him some $80. At the time of discovering the damage, he was puzzled but only later associated this with the unauthorized entries. He did tell Ed that he knew he entered his room, which Ed denied only very weakly. But Harry didn't mention the damage. Harry also told the LL about Ed's entries, and LL suggested to him to replace the lock, which he did.
Now a good year later, Harry wants to mention this damage to Ed and ask him to pay for the repair cost. Obviously Ed will deny, especially since after the repair the damage is no longer visible. So Harry is thinking (if Ed refuses to pay for the cost) to deduct the repair cost from the rent he'll give Ed to pass to the LL, forcing Ed to pay those $80. Reason he could do this is, Ed is supposed to give LL everyone's rent the 1st of the month, some tenants will give him the rent a couple days later, in which case Ed will have prepaid the rent for them.
Any advice? Is 1 year too long for Harry to do anything? (On the other hand, the LL must not want anything lawsuit coming out of this, since there's the tax evasion involved.)
He cannot deduct the amount. That is going about it the wrong way. As for the LL, you are only supposing why he wants cash, there may be other reasons. Harry either needs to move out, sue Ed in small claims for the damage, do both, or forget about it.
I'd say forget about it. It's been too long and you do not know what is the real reason for the need to pay in cash. The problem seems to be between your friend and Ed. I agree with Poltracker, move or forget about it.
Thanks for the replies. Is there time limit for filing small claims? I thought about that to tell him but thought maybe 1 year is too long. Both Harry and I did agree that this (deduction from rent) would not be the appropriate way, but Harry thinks if he does it anyway, what could Ed do? The most Ed could do would be to file small claim against Harry (the other way round), but then Harry could produce the evidence of his entry to his room. As for paying cash, actually it was Ed who told Harry, when Harry wanted a receipt for the deposit and rent on the first day, that the LL wanted cash in order not to pay tax on rental income, so he preferred not to give any receipt.
By the way, from what LL said to Harry, it seems as an agreement between LL and Ed, that Ed, instead of paying any rent, only pays for utilities for all the rooms rented. As a consequence, Ed would often turn off the heat during even freezing weather, lower the refrigerator settings to unacceptable level (food got spoiled), etc.
Thanks for the replies. Is there time limit for filing small claims? I thought about that to tell him but thought maybe 1 year is too long. Both Harry and I did agree that this (deduction from rent) would not be the appropriate way, but Harry thinks if he does it anyway, what could Ed do? The most Ed could do would be to file small claim against Harry (the other way round), but then Harry could produce the evidence of his entry to his room. As for paying cash, actually it was Ed who told Harry, when Harry wanted a receipt for the deposit and rent on the first day, that the LL wanted cash in order not to pay tax on rental income, so he preferred not to give any receipt.
By the way, from what LL said to Harry, it seems as an agreement between LL and Ed, that Ed, instead of paying any rent, only pays for utilities for all the rooms rented. As a consequence, Ed would often turn off the heat during even freezing weather, lower the refrigerator settings to unacceptable level (food got spoiled), etc.
I don't know what good it would do to take him to small claims court. You said that Harry confronted Ed about the intrusion and subsequent damage but it sounds like there's not really any solid proof. Is it worth paying the fees to file a small claims suit to get $80 back?
Thanks for the input. Harry says he does plan to move, but not before he gets the repair cost paid back. Suppose he goes ahead to do as said above (deduct the amount), what should he worry about?
Thanks for the input. Harry says he does plan to move, but not before he gets the repair cost paid back. Suppose he goes ahead to do as said above (deduct the amount), what should he worry about?
That he has underpaid the rent. Did he pay a security deposit?
He should worry about being sued by the landlord for failure to pay rent, and/or the landlord reporting the delinquency to the credit bureaus.
Damage caused by other tenants is something renter's insurance should cover. It isn't something the landlord is responsible for. But renter's insurance would have required a police report, and the police would have required some evidence of a crime. It's not something you can claim happened a year later.
Filing a suit in small claims court isn't free. There is a cost. It isn't huge. In my district it is merely $5 for claims of value less than $500. But then there's all the other fees. Another $5 to serve the defendant with papers of the lawsuit. And an additional $42 for every witness you wish to subpoena. If you want a jury to hear the case instead of a judge, that's $75. Any motions you wish to present to the judge are another $10. Issuing the writ (the papers used to enforce the judge's ruling, in simplest terms) are another $10.
And these types of cases aren't heard in just a single day. Harry will have to attend a preliminary hearing. Many jurisdictions require that all small claims cases go through mediation first, which is scheduled for another date. If mediation doesn't work and the case goes to trial, the judge may schedule a continuance or postponement. And I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure that as Harry would be the plaintiff, he wouldn't be able to include court costs in his request for damages.
Assuming Harry has a job, he could be looking at spending a lot of time away from work. Of course, this case would be a bit simpler since there is absolutely no evidence or witnesses, just Harry's word against the other tenant. Still, it seems like a huge waste of time and Harry should just move on. Chalk it up to lesson learned. Next time don't rent in a place where you don't know the other tenant or where you at least don't have a lock on your own door.
Bottom line, Harry has no proof although he may be correct in his assumption.
As the previous poster stated this is why everyone should have renters insurance,
in Harry's situation $100 yearly, can be obtained through auto insurance companies.
Harry can make the deduction, he's setting himself up for small claims court
by the LL. The LL will most likely win, now Harry has to reimburse the LL
plus court and other costs.
I'd let it go, lesson learned.
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