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sheri posted:I just want to know if I have any legal leg to stand on...I am in Wisconsin. Have you tried finding what breaker or fuse is connected to neighbors garage and disconnecting it? Unless your townhome is radically different from almost every building code in existence, power goes straight from the meter to your central box. That seems like the simplest method to stop the extra bills, and then it's not your problem anymore. I had to do something similar when a scummy apartment complex tried to use my power to remodel a neighboring apartment that they had disconnected the power to.
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Mar 20, 2012 17:19
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chuchumeister posted:I'm not sure if I should be posting this in the apartment megathread or here. I live in Baton Rouge, and you need to realize that the protections afforded by law to renters here are pretty low. Just about every dispute you have with your landlord requires you to go to court, and the landlords can get away with almost anything by claiming that they were acting in good faith and made a mistake. Even if they did something wrong, you usually won't even get the filing fees back because of the "good faith" shield. I know it doesn't work that way anywhere else, but "Bienvenue en Louisiane!" If you don't have a good lease, you really should walk away. Your lease is your only protection, there is no safety net here provided by statute in case of a bad lease. Some of the places here have absolutely terrible leases, and they know it. One I remember in particular required the tenant to repair any damage caused by storms or leaking pipes. Not damage that wasn't reported, any damage. And they refused to negotiate. Last time I was looking for a place, I started asking for copies of the lease when I requested to view a house or apartment. Any place that refused to let me see the lease I walked away from - they are just trying to trap people. One place wouldn't let me see a lease unless I put down a deposit - huge red flag. If you are looking for a new place, people around here have just discovered craigslist, and you can find some great deals on it especially near campus. Also check the classifieds in the Advocate, a lot of non-internet savvy people rent property here for cheap. Asking for an additional non-refundable pet deposit is just scummy, even in this area. Does your landlord think the pet is going to do even more damage over the next year? What probably happened is that your landlord already spent the portion of your security deposit he was supposed to reserve, and is looking to get some more money to hopefully be able to refund you if he can't trump up enough damages when you move out. Its a big red flag, and he is supposed to to keep those funds separate, but he is not required to tell you where they are kept or allow you to verify that he has not spent them in any way. And you will have to go to court to get him to pay up; and court here is stacked heavily in favor of the landlords. You have to prove that you left the place as you found it, they do no not have to prove damages. They are supposed to have to prove damages, but talk to anyone who has gone to court here - they don't. As for renters insurance, unless you get a rider that covers damage to the unit, renters insurance only covers damage to or theft of your property, and usually a decent amount of liability in case someone visits your house (or walks through your yard here, or on the sidewalk in front of your house, you can be liable for that here) and gets injured. On the plus side, you should be able to get about $10-15k in personal property coverage with a $500 deductible for around $200/year, which is cheaper than the landlord trying to rip you off for over $400, which I bet he does. So, good luck, and even though it is a rough time to move, I would advise moving over signing a bad lease. Or try asking the landlord if you can pay a little more to go month-to-month until the end of the semester, then bail. It will be tougher for him to find a new tenant now anyway. If you do that though, make sure you get a new month-to-month lease in writing, along with notification requirements for when you can end the lease. Also remember, if you have a scummy landlord who is vindictive enough to sue: here, like most states, they are not limited to the amount of the security deposit here. And with the court's tendency not to make them prove damages here (remember you effectively have to prove lack of damage) that can get expensive. Its best to sever a relationship with a bad landlord ASAP.
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Mar 31, 2012 00:32
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chuchumeister posted:I was born in BR, so I'm pretty familiar with the absolute kangaroo court that is Louisiana law, ... Yeah I was born in Zachary, and grew up around southeast LA so the atmosphere of corruption is nothing new to me. But, my first renting experiences were in Florida, where I went to school. Florida is not a great state to rent in, but it has a lot of protections built into law at the state level that Louisiana does not have. When I ended up back here, I expected the law to be broadly similar, and I didn't research it. I ended up with a nice looking apartment but a terrible landlord. I had a lot of issues with bad wiring and pest infestation when I first moved in, that the landlord refused to fix, and I learned through research that I pretty much had to live with them. But what really brought it home to me was having my apartment broken into, via having the door kicked in. It ruined the door and the door frame, and required a lot of time and materials to make it look right again. The landlord's response was to order the carpenter to buy a thinner door, and hang the door in such a way that the deadbolt no longer engaged the frame, but just the molding. So my landlord made it easier for thugs to kick in my door again, and cheaper for him to repair when it happened. I did a lot of research, and talked to a lot of people, and found that there was nothing I could realistically do without spending more in legal fees than I owed in rent for the remainder of the lease. My wife was still living in Florida at the time, and she was incredibly stressed out over the situation. I ended up having to go live with relatives while I payed rent on a lovely apartment that was too dangerous to live in. Ever since then, I go through leases with a fine toothed comb. And I negotiate with the landlord. And if they won't negotiate, I walk. I actually thought the lease I signed was OK, but without the state law mandating reasonable conditions, and without judges who will enforce it, it really wasn't. As far as the town, this town sucks. But LSU football is ok (not as fun and classy as UF, but ok), LSU is at least a tier 1 school in most disciplines, the food is better than anywhere else on earth, and the natural beauty of the area is not far away. Seriously, have you been to Tunica Hills, Port Hudson, or the Bonne Carre spillway hiking trails? Amazing places. But, the pro's don't outweigh the cons, so I will be surprised if I stay here following our graduations (My wife and I are both at LSU, she for her PhD, me for my Masters). Again, good luck. If you post an email, I'll let you know if I hear of any apts or houses coming open before the end of the semester.
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Mar 31, 2012 02:29
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chuchumeister posted:Location: Baton Rouge, LA He can serve you an eviction notice, but if you have not violated your lease, I don't think you have to follow it. He will have to take you to court to enforce it. It is really important to read your lease here, a lot of the bad ones I have seen include clauses to waive the 5-day notice to vacate, and a clause allowing the landlord to recover all costs of eviction proceedings. This can be pretty nasty, you have to decide if you want to take the time and spend the money to fight it if it can bounce back on you. You already know about the courts around here, but they won't usually approve an eviction without some proof. What it sounds like to me (very pessimistic outlook based on local experience)is that your landlord is friends with someone in the condo association, has decided to get rid of you, and the CA is helping him do this by falsifying complaint records. Its very wrong, but if he shows up in court with dated complaints on the CA letterhead with your unit number on them, your objections will be ignored unless you can prove a negative. Especially if his buddy from the CA shows up and says they were posted on your door. If you don't realize that this happens here, you really haven't lived here long enough. What will probably happen is that they will claim they served you will multiple CA complaints then called the police "as a last resort." This also gives them independent documentation. Take a look at this document. http://www.ag.state.la.us/Shared/ViewDoc.aspx?Type=3&Doc=220 It is very simplified, but if you want to take the time to go to the footnotes section and google all the referenced sections of the Louisiana Civil Code and the Louisiana Revised Statutes you can. You can also look them up directly on https://www.legis.state.la.us . I did for my last rental dispute, and it doesn't make things easy for you. I am not a lawyer, but as a practical matter, you will spend more money and time fighting this procedure here than it is probably worth to you. Especially if you hire a lawyer. A better option is to get the landlord to agree IN WRITING (with witnesses, pay for a notary if possible, its like $7-10 most places here) to a compromise with an accelerated move out timetable with a return of your deposit. Also, LA is a one-party state; if this guy is that much of a slimeball start recording your phone conversations with him. From a practical standpoint, he wants you gone, he does not want to have to take you to court. He would like to steal your deposit too. But, if he has done this before, he probably realizes that if he does take you to court, he will have to front all the costs, and he may not be able to recover any of the eviction costs from you. But if he gets awarded a judgement, he will probably screw with your credit rating out of spite(its pretty cheap to do that). So, if you get him to agree to a compromise in writing, he gets you out without court costs, you don't get your credit screwed with and you hopefully get your deposit back. If you have a friend who has experience with contracts, try getting them to read over your lease and point out any red flags. If you don't know any lawyers, try an engineer or a real estate agent or something similar; they have all probably read more of those types of documents than you. Good Luck! (you'll need it)
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Apr 15, 2012 20:11
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chuchumeister posted:Unfortunately, I'm a big dumb stupidface who didn't understand the implications at the time and our lease does have a waiver for the notice to vacate as well as that clause about being able to recover court costs. Either way, he gave the 5 days to us, so I'm sticking to it. I mean, this is so stupid because we're moving out in less than a month! I just don't want to get kicked out before we can actually MOVE out! Don't be too hard on yourself, everyone has to learn somehow. Just don't make the same mistakes twice. There are enough available apartments right now that you should not feel pressured to sign a bad lease due to time constraints. Save yourself some time by requesting copies of leases for when you view apartments/houses. If they decline to bring a copy to the viewing, it's probably because they know it is a lovely lease and are looking to screw you over. The last 2 landlords I have had were thrilled that I requested and read a copy of the lease - to them it showed that I was a responsible tenant. One place even offered us an unadvertised discount, partially because of us requesting and reading the lease. And again, get everything in writing; if you get something added on to a lease, make sure the signature page references all addendum with a title and purpose. Don't sign any leases with attached rules that can be changed at any time - those are just more ways to get screwed over. As a general rule, don't sign anything that gives the landlord the right to change any condition without your consent. Remember to strike through and initial any clauses you disagree with, and make sure the lessor or their agent does the same for both copies of the lease. Make sure you see the actual unit you are going to rent before you sign a lease, preferably before you put down a deposit. If you have to put down a deposit before you sign a lease, make sure that the deposit includes a clause for you get your deposit back if the unit is not in satisfactory condition when you go in to sign the lease. Also, never sign any document you do not get a copy of. Just about all these pieces of advice are all way that either myself or my friends have been screwed over in the past, or things that prevented us being screwed over. One example: Campus view apartments, just south of LSU. We viewed an apartment that was being renovated, put down a deposit. Since the apartment was not ready when we viewed it, we insisted on inserting a condition on the deposit form that the unit had to be in satisfactory condition before we moved in (handwritten, initialed by myself, my wife and the rental agent). When we got there to sign the lease, they wanted us to sign before we saw the apartment. We demanded a walkthrough, but they had no power on. Fortunately we had flashlights, and were able to inspect it. The apartment looked great, except for both bathrooms. One had peeling paint on all 4 walls and the ceiling, the other had damage to the tile tub surround (cracks all the way through the wallboard and places it looked like the tiles had been broken by a hammer, already mildewed). We were able to take pictures and demand our deposit back because even the kangaroo courts here in BR wouldn't call that satisfactory condition. We did offer them the chance to fix it within 48 hours, but management decided it was too much trouble, and just wrote us a check. We did have to make it clear that we had photos of the apartment before they caved though. Oh, one more tip, buy a newspaper so they can't claim the photos are from before they repaired it. Put it in a few photos, and take one close up of the front page and the date. Do this when you move in and out of a place too, to document any damage or lack thereof. Good Luck, post if you have any more questions.
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Apr 16, 2012 00:04
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chemosh6969 posted:Just because something is in a lease doesn't mean it's valid in your state. Lookup a landlord/tenant attorney and get a cheap/free consultation with them to look over your lease and to tell them what's going on. You're going to be much better off having a real lawyer look at everything and advise you on what can/can't be done. Yeah, but google and I can help out here, and save the fee. Since they want to move anyway, why invest the time and money to fight it? Waive the 5 day notice: http://legis.la.gov/lss/lss.asp?doc=112073 Collection of fees: A little more difficult, but basically it's not on the list of prohibited practices, so it is allowed. The relevant law starts here: http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=104025 Here is a larger .pdf with legal precedents cited http://americanlandlords.org/landlord_tenant/Louisiana.pdf It is a really gripping read. Basically, in this state, unless you qualify for free legal care, or you are in a situation where you have paid rent in advance and stand to lose a lot, or if you are getting a really, Really !!!AWESOME!!! deal on your apartment, it is almost always going to be cheaper to move than to fight it, even when you factor in your time packing and moving. Attorney's fees add up really quickly, and unless your landlord does something really bad (and has the gall to brag to you in writing about it, like emailing you that he won't rent to you because you are black), the tenant here is never awarded legal fees. The "acting in good faith" shield goes very far for landlords. You will spend money that you will never get back. You are probably used to legal proceedings in other states, where things are actually meant to be fair. Just realize that Louisiana doesn't work that way. Try contacting some local lawyers if you don't believe me.
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Apr 16, 2012 23:32
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chuchumeister posted:Anyway, I just got home from signing the lease on a new place in Capitol Heights, which is basically my and my boyfriend's ideal neighborhood to live in. It's only $100 more than our current place, an actual detached house (technically a garage apartment rezoned and redone) and is completely renovated and updated on the inside. Congrats, sounds like a sweet deal. Did you get one of your friends to look over the lease for you? Way back when you first posted I mentioned some of the red flags to look for, but if you signed already... well, I don't want to think anything negative for you. Did you sign directly with a landlord, or through a management agency? Depending on the individual a landlord can be more informal, but with any agency you need to excessively document anything. For your new place, if you can, do a video walkthrough of your new place before you move in (even a cell phone camera is ok if you have at least SD resolution), point out everything that is not pristine, burn it to a CD (costs what, $0.25 or less now) and send a copy to your landlord or management agency. If you want to be really specific about documenting, sent it certified mail with signature confirmation. Obviously keep multiple copies for yourself. When I say everything, I mean to be completely anal - wear marks in carpet or other flooring, cracks in walls or along baseboards, stains in the tub or sink, cracks or stains in grout and caulking, any signs of past repaired damage (this especially, it sucks to be charged for a bad repair by a previous tenant that the LL just happens to not notice until after you move out), missing shelves in the fridge/freezer, leaking faucets, electric sockets with scorch marks, anything that could possibly be blamed on you, or anything that they could possibly say you should have told them about. I used to do the photograph method described above. I went to the point of putting the photos in a word document and labeling them ( legacy of when I used to do structural condition inspections for work). I switched to the video method for my last place, it saves so much time. While I'm thinking about it, I would recommend doing this to the place you are leaving. If you do end up in court fighting for your deposit, playing the video (shoot the newspaper at the beginning and end to verify the date) usually shuts up the LL. Especially if they claim the place was left filthy and you can see from the video that they are liars. I learned to do this because I got screwed out of most of my first security deposit; but since then I have gotten every one back unless I actually damaged something (my wife spilled fruit punch on cream carpet once, I had to pay for cleaning, that sort of thing). If they are a deposit grabbing type, this lets them know that you know how to play the game, and hopefully gets you on their "do not gently caress with" list, and saves trouble when you leave. If they are just a nice landlord, this makes them realize that you are extra-responsible, and gives them a list of things they might fix for you (I've had both since moving back to BR). Hopefully they already think well of you for requesting a copy of the lease, and seeing you read it before you accept the apartment, but this helps too. Good luck! Oh, and since everyone is posting this crap: 1) I'm not an attorney 2) I'm not your attorney 3) I have been involved in landlord tenant disputes first hand in both Florida and Louisiana, everything I post related to this is based on practical experience and not actual legal research, other than reading the relevant laws.
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Apr 19, 2012 19:26
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Incredulous Red posted:Kind of like proof of life in a kidnapping? Yes exactly. Otherwise the landlord will try to claim that you took those pictures when you moved in, and are claiming they are from when you moved out. Oh, one other thing I have heard of, but if you take still photos, you should consider buying a disposable camera that uses real film, and keeping the negatives. I heard from a friend in Florida that a landlord was challenging all digital photos, claiming that they could have been photoshopped, and got a judge to agree. Maybe take some establishing shots with the disposable, and the detail shots with the digital? If you have a whole video, I doubt they could claim that you digitally altered the video, unless you work for Weta digital or another special effects house.
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Apr 19, 2012 23:50
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Nask26 posted:I rent a townhouse in Arizona, Found out today after my car was towed that the HOA changed the rules about parking on the street and that a guest pass is now required. My landlord(the person I pay the rent too) did not know of these changes and the HOA told both of us that they sent certified letter to the home owner. Is the home owner legally obligated to notify its tenants of these changes? I had to pay 250$ to get my car out and I feel the owner should cover these costs given he did not notify or give us the parking passes needed to park on the street. Thank you First, you need contact your landlord and see if he will allow you reduce your rent by that amount, and get him to state that in writing. Then, you need to read your lease. If it says you will abide by HOA rules, and includes an attachment of those rules, but not any provision to update the rules, you may have a case to take to small claims, because you followed the rules given to you by the lease. If it says you will abide by HOA rules, and says you are responsible for knowing and following all the rules, then you signed a lovely lease and are probably out of luck, as far as legal responsibility goes. As for the future, never sign a lease that allows the landlord or HOA to unilaterally change the rules on you. The last 2 leases I signed for renting a condo in an HOA, I demanded and got a clause that allowed me to break the lease immediately and with no penalty if any new rules were enacted that negatively impacted me in any manner. It gave the homeowner an incentive to look out for my interests and gave me a way out in case something lovely like that happened. With an HOA, you cannot really demand that no rules be changed because the landlord does not have direct control over the HOA committee. If the unit is controlled by a single individual or business entity, you can. For the last apartment I leased, I struck out the clause allowing them to change the rules at any time. I insisted they attach all applicable rules as an addendum to the lease. I agreed to abide by rules they gave me at the time of signing the lease, but I would not be bound by any additional rules until my lease was up. I knew to do this because a complex I rented at when I was younger changed a TON of stuff for the worse, including getting rid of valet trash (because the valet trash procedures were on the rule sheet), valid visitor parking (they changed a lot of visiting parking spots to "no parking" because they got kickbacks from the towing service), and allowing them to use power from my apartment to improve vacant apartments, via stringing extension cords (I stopped that by disconnecting the breakers to the exterior outlets they were using, after the constant running of air compressors drove up my electric bill by over $100). Remember, a lease is a negotiable document, you can request changes to it. Never sign a lovely lease, there are always other places to rent.
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May 1, 2012 00:02
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NancyPants posted:What happens when your rental lease expires but you continue to rent month to month without a current lease? As a renter are you obligated to follow terms in an expired lease? I'd expect to have to abide by basic common sense and local laws, of course, like continuing to pay the rent and not destroying the premises. I live in Nebraska. This depends on your state laws, but generally, when your lease expires without an auto-renewing option, you go month to month. You pay the same rent (unless otherwise specified), you follow the same rules, etc. That's not in every state though, you need to check on your specific state's laws. NancyPants posted:The rental company managing my apartment requires some ridiculous 60 day notice if I want to move out at the end of my lease. That makes no sense to me, since I've never encountered anywhere in this area that will hold any home for more than 30 days. I'm convinced it's a tactic to make people continue to renew their leases rather than deal with the hassle of trying to leave without having to pay an extra month's rent as a fee. There are month-to-month leases available, but my lease is a fixed term. This sounds like what you have is an auto-renew clause that locks you into a 6-month lease extension if you don't give notice by 60 days prior. This is allowed in most states, if it is spelled out in your lease. It is not uncommon, read your lease carefully. If it is in your lease, you are definitely not on a month-to-month lease. And it is very much a gotcha game by the complex. Usually complexes that have this clause also have an early lease termination clause where you have to give 60 days notice AND an additional 2 months rent in forfeit. This makes it so if you are on a 6-month lease and have to move, they get at least 5 moths of rent out of you. Its usually cheaper to move to your new place and pay rent until the end of your lease. This changes if you sign a 12-month lease of course. NancyPants posted:It's occurred to me that if my lease is expired and there's no current agreement on file, I should be able to leave with 30 days notice just as they could tell me to leave with 30 days notice (provided the reason isn't for non-payment or filth). Am I wrong? Is there a better way? I have had to deal with these clauses a couple of times. Usually, what I do, if and only if the complex is not full, and they are not trying to raise rates on new tenants, is just to give the 60-days notice every 6 months, then re-sign during my last month. One complex I moved into, I gave the notice that I would not be renewing on the day I moved in, because they were adding new buildings, and I knew there would be empty units. Plus I got to tell the smug office staff, "Turning this in now just to make sure I don't forget." The manager looked crestfallen, she knew how this game worked. That only works if the complex has an incentive to keep you though (empty units). Sometime you can actually get a cheaper rent out of it : "You know, I like it here, and I would stay if only the rent were about $75 cheaper a month." Usually, if they have empty units and can maximize revenue by keeping you there instead of trying to re-rent to someone new, they will. Of course, this tactic does not work if it is a very desirable complex and they can rent the apartment out from under you. Also, while most places will not negotiate those terms on your initial lease (although it never hurts to try), they may be willing to drop it to a 30-day notice on your second 6-month lease, or rent to you month-to-month after your lease is up (though they will usually charge more for this convenience).
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May 1, 2012 02:51
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exquisite tea posted:Last year my partner and I signed a lease with another couple who are probably going to be evicted for not paying rent [...] My question is, what legal recourse do we have on this? These roommates have caused other damages beyond not paying rent, but I'm not very legally minded and I just want to be prepared if and when they are evicted. We live in RI. The info from Arcturus is correct. The best thing you can do right now is read your lease, specifically looking to see if it is a "jointly and severally" or an " individual" lease as he mentioned. If they were going to be evicted, but you were not, then you may be on an individual lease, or you and your partner may be on a lease separate from the other couple. It should be pretty easy to figure out. Generally, if all 4 of you signed one lease document, you are usually jointly and severally liable for the rent. Landlord like to do this because they only have to serve one of you to take you to court for back rent. Joint leases are generally a bad idea for tenants because of this. You may also have been individual as far as rent goes, but all jointly and separately liable for damage to common areas. I have seen this a lot in complexes where the management will match 4 people to an apartment with individual bedrooms but common living room and kitchen. And as always, you may be able to negotiate with the landlord/management. If you have a reputation for always paying your rent and being decent tenants, the management may elect not to pursue their case against you if you are willing to continue renting. They know how much of a pain it is to collect on a rent judgement, especially if you don't care much about your credit; an additional lease term of revenue from a good tenant is generally preferable to court costs and an uncollected judgement. Just remember to request everything in writing after you agree on something.
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May 1, 2012 17:29
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M.C. McMic posted:What can we do? I mean, it's not a matter of if the homes need to be treated but when. In the meantime this offer on the home is going to fall through and end up costing us thousands of dollars. I'm not callous to this dude's situation, but his home IS going to need to be fumigated. He shouldn't be screwing others in the meantime. Her HOA requires unanimous consent for necessary maintenance? That is unusual, you should really check her HOA documents to be sure. Usually they just need a majority, sometime 2/3, to pass a special assessment and get work done. If one person won't pay, the HOA collects extra from the homeowners who will, then slaps a lien on the home of the deadbeat. Work gets done, and the cost of the deadbeat is spread around the remaining owners. If the homeowner does not pay up within a specified time, the HOA can then foreclose on the unit and sell it to pay off back fees. When the fees are recovered the HOA can then return the funds, or usually, keeps them in reserve. It sucks that the guy has an illness, but he doesn't get to arbitrarily screw over the rest of the people who live there. If your HOA approves the work, but he refuses to move out to let the work be done, your HOA should be able to request that your local building department temporarily condemn the building due to the risk of permanent structural damage the termites pose, and the local Law Enforcement Agency will remove him by force. This is one case where your HOA should work for you. If they are refusing to allow/perform maintenance such that the lack of it will result in further damages, you need to contact a real estate attorney ASAP to try and force them to do so. Usually one of the duties of an HOA explicitly spelled out in the documents is to perform communal maintenance. And you need to hurry, termites can totally ruin a wood-frame structure, and do it in a comparatively short period of time. You would also need to contact a real estate attorney regarding damages from losing the sale. I don't know enough about that to tell you anything definitive, but my gut says you would be suing the HOA that is failing to use its powers, rather than the one individual who voted "No."
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May 2, 2012 01:17
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M.C. McMic posted:I mean, I could easily see the buyer just saying, "gently caress it. Not worth my time," at this point. Your brother should be able to tell you if you have a case, and if so, against who. Please drop back in and let us know what he says, unless he forbids any internet mention of it. I'm curious to see if my hunch was correct.
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May 2, 2012 02:31
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Pain of Mind posted:... California has a lot of protections available to renters that most other states don' have, and some cities have even more protections than California in general. I think most cities have tenants associations that can give you advice for free that is tailored to your location, I would check there first. In general, most states allow the lessor to show the property in the last 30 days with 24 hours notice. It may also be in your lease if state law doesn't specifically allow if. Read your lease. If he is being a pain about it, you could always make a point of being there when he shows the place, unless you agreed to vacate for showings in your lease. I know I always wanted to be there just because I never trusted my Landlords enough to let them parade people through and make sure the prospective tenants did not mess with my stuff. But anytime I tour a place, I always like to talk to the existing tenants and neighbors, could be your chance to let them know how things are. You might want to make sure you stick to only verifiable facts or your opinions though, in case the LL is the litigious type. As far as him lying about the place to you and to prospective tenants, I would guess that it is fraud, but the odds of getting him in trouble for it or of you getting money out of him is pretty small. If you've got money to burn you could always talk to a lawyer though. For getting you security deposit back, look back a few pages in this thread, I posted methods I have used in the past to get my deposit back. Not having your pictures from when you moved in and not keeping records of your maintenance requests is going to hurt you though. Remember, though, most places are not allowed to charge you for "reasonable wear and tear" so if your move out pictures show decent conditions, you will probably be ok when you go to court. Usually the only way to avoid going to court with a deposit stealing landlord is if they know you are prepared to fight them - so if they see you doing your video walk through (and you tell them what it is) when they come by to do a final inspection with you, or to receive the keys, they may see that you are not going to make it easy for them and pay up. It doesn't always work though.
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May 5, 2012 08:31
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euphronius posted:If he did in fact beat her and cheat on her, then that would give her a stronger claim to spousal support. I didn't think that spousal support was supposed to be punitive - why would that have any bearing on whether she gets support or how much she gets? Obviously if he is dumb enough to sign anything she gives him, she will be entitled to it, but if they end up in court why would that make a difference?
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May 8, 2012 17:35
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Lord Gaga posted:I am in Florida and have a labor law question regarding the law linked below. Florida's labor laws are pretty lovely, if you don't have a timecard where you punch in and out, they are probably going to claim that you are an "exempt" employee, even though you are not. If you have unlimited money, you could sue them, but if it is a state agency they will claim sovereign immunity and refuse to pay without an act of the Florida legislature. If it is a private company, your damages are limited and probably won't cover your legal fees. Realistically, you have 2 options: 1)find another job 2)keep working, but report the company to the federal department of labor (if it is a small company this will probably go nowhere). A temp job I did a couple of years ago got reported to the DOL(not by me), and I just got a decent check for back wages. Florida's state DOL is useless and exists mainly to rubber stamp whatever policies sunkist and dixie sugar want to apply to farm workers this year. Don't expect anything from them.
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May 12, 2012 06:58
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No lawyer will take your case on contingency?
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May 16, 2012 00:08
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cr0y posted:I rent a room in a house that is owned by a guy. Said guy shows up one day with a dog. Dog tears everything apart and makes living here miserable. After failing to address the situation like an adult and talk to him about it he rants and raves about how i don't take care of the canine on facebook. I am under a lease but he drew it up and it's 2 pages long. If it comes down to it might I be able to legally exit the lease? First, read the lease. Is there is anything about breaking the lease in the lease? Is there any mention of pets? If not, start checking your local laws. If there is no mention of pets in the lease you might have a case in small claims court, or landlord tenant court if you have one. But always try negotiating first, and document everything. Its cheaper. Tell the LL that he didn't tell you there would be pets in the house, and you really hate it, and request that he either let you out of your lease or get rid of the pet. Worry about going to court if that fails.
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May 16, 2012 15:21
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cr0y posted:Yea I try to be civil as much as I can. The animal is just getting annoying as gently caress and now it's turning into "keep all your stuff out of reach of the dog or i'm evicting you" nonsense. Is he imposing new conditions not present in your lease? If so, he is not living up to his end of the lease. If he will not let you out of the lease outright, see if he will write a letter detailing what he wants, then use that as leverage to break the lease. Just ask him to "Please write it down, so we don't have any misunderstanding." Its amazing how often that works. Also, if your location has a constructive eviction law, it may apply, letting you move out and recover damages from him. In most cases that only applies if he does things like restricting access to necessities (water, hot water, power, a/c, etc.), but sometime harassment counts, so find and read your ordinances carefully before you go that route. You still have to prove your case, so documentation is essential: lots of photos (damage to your property, damage to common areas), videos of the dog being a nuisance, notes from your roommate, etc. Even if you win on those grounds you still have to collect, which is a huge pain in the rear end. The easiest and cheapest solution for you is still going to be negotiating a voluntary dissolution of your lease. Get everything in writing!
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May 16, 2012 20:09
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Drunken Lullabies posted:Cool, I took my ticket to court today and although I lost, .... well worth the cost of the ticket. I have to ask, since you went through the trouble of showing up, did you even try to arrive early and strike a last minute deal with the prosecutor to save some money and points? Wearing a suit, etc.? Or did you just go in solely with the goal of loving with the court and wasting time?
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May 17, 2012 02:17
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B B posted:Can this roommate even evict me, or does the person who owns the property actually have to evict me? Did you rent from the roommate in a sublease, or from the landlord? In most states, if you do not have a lease, the agreement can be terminated by either party with one term's notice. This would be one week if you paid rent weekly, 15 days if you paid on the first and 15th, 30 days if you pay rent monthly. Some states require that you give notice on or before the date rent is due, so check your statutes on rentals without a lease. After a quick google, this appears to be the case for you: http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/HomelessnesstoHomeownership/PDFs/Landlord_Tenant_Handbook.pdf The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act posted:§ 55-248.37. Periodic tenancy; holdover remedies. I would read that as meaning the notice gives you the right to stay through your last rental payment, though a proper lawyer might tell you I am mistaken. Try to reference that act, and tell them in writing you will be out by the end of next month in accordance with that.
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May 17, 2012 03:04
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Drunken Lullabies posted:Biggest mistake I made, assuming I cared much in the first place, was to not just immediately make a movement to switch judges. As I said earlier she is well known to be the worst judge to be assigned in my district. No, the biggest mistake you made was believing that "evidence" and "fault" have meaning in a traffic court. Traffic court is about revenue generation. You should have negotiated for the $100 off and no points on your license. On a related note, make sure you tell any lawyers about your dash cam footage showing the other car had no headlights, that will probably make your civil case a lot easier to prove. Also, being able to prove the witness lied in her official statements might help.
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May 17, 2012 15:53
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woozle wuzzle posted:I dunno if it will matter that much now that a criminal court has ruled. I can picture the consultation with the PI lawyer, as this guy reveals that he lost the ticket... Without the video it might go that way, but the PI lawyer for my last accident told me that tickets do not always conclusively determine fault. Since he has a video, I think that would trump the ticket, especially since more people are becoming aware that tickets=money generation now. He really needs a lawyer though. I don't know if he could introduce the transcript, but if he can show that the judge blatantly ignored exculpatory evidence in order to uphold a ticket, I would guess that would go a long way toward taking away any legal weight the ticket would have for his civil trial. I don't know how else you could view ignoring dash-cam footage in favor of a witness. Of course, the video could be completely grainy, out of focus, and useless, or it could show that he was clearly in the wrong. We have no way of knowing. About all the advice we can give is "get a lawyer" over and over again until he changes his mind about giving up on the PI side of the case.
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May 17, 2012 20:25
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Dogen posted:Also judges really don't like non-competes, according to my IP survey professor, and generally burdens the company wanting to enforce one that involves using your skills and knowledge (as opposed to customer relationships) by paying your salary to do nothing for the term of the agreement. This is what I was told by a lawyer I hired in Florida to review an uncompensated 2-year no compete that a company I worked for wanted me to sign. Basically, he told me I could get it thrown out, but his estimated budget for legal fees to get that done was $5,000-12,000. In the meantime, the company I had worked for could file relatively cheap injunctions and get me fired from any job I did manage to get. I actually saw them do that to one employee who quit, they just made it too much of a hassle for him to work, and he didn't have enough cash to pay a labor lawyer a retainer. He ended up moving out of state. I ended up refusing to sign and got fired for it. Now whenever I get a question on a job application such as "have you ever been fired for cause?" I get to tell them about it. "I refused to sign a 2-year uncompensated no compete agreement, and was fired for refusing". I always make it clear that I have no issue with a compensated no-compete, but they have to include at a minimum salary and benefits for half the term of the agreement. Meaning, if I quit or I am laid off, I get 1 year's salary and benefits to not work in the area for 2 years.
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May 22, 2012 14:52
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euphronius posted:Your first company is lame. That probably would not even be a valid contract in many states because there was no consideration. But yeah there is a transaction cost to fight it. The company wasn't that bad (up until they asked me to sign that), pay was competitive for the area, and I really liked my boss. But the no-compete: yeah, I thought it was lovely when I read the agreement. That's why I paid a labor lawyer $400/hr to review it and make sure it was as bad as I thought. I sent it to the lawyer for review, along with a breakdown of what I thought it meant, and why it would be bad for me. Then his phone call to explain it to me started out with "I'ts not as bad as you think it is, its actually worse." The agreement included additional specific steps that had to be followed to contest any part of it, which had the effect of raising the cost to fight it. Stuff like mandatory non-binding mediation, then non-binding arbitration, all of which I had to pay for (not the company) before the case could go to court. That is where the huge legal fee estimate came from, and the part that made it worse than I thought. That little poison pill is what really made me decide it wasn't worth it to work for them. I told my company I wouldn't sign it, and why I wouldn't sign it. I gave them a list of changes they could make so I would sign it. Then my boss (the branch manager, the guy I really liked) went on vacation for 2 weeks and had me run the engineering while he was gone, then he was told to fire me the day he got back. I knew it was coming, and I had cleaned out my office and posted my resume, so the actual day wasn't painful. Then the company tried to fight paying me unemployment. They claimed that refusing to sign the agreement was the same as me voluntarily quitting. I sent a copy of the agreement they asked me to sign to the Florida unemployment agency, along with my appeal paperwork and explanation. The agency sent a really strongly worded "gently caress off" letter back to the company, copied to me. Something along the lines of "Refusal to sign punitive agreements is not acceptable grounds to claim termination for cause, any future attempts to claim this will result in penalties against your company." So yeah, the whole situation was pretty lovely. But then I ended up moving out of the state for my next job anyway, along with a 25% raise, so it all worked out in the end. Hell, I still plan to send some whiskey to my old boss as a "thank you" when I pass the PE, just because he really taught me a lot. I didn't like the way I left that company, but I don't take it personally. Also, a lot of the people working for the company signed the agreement without reading it, or understanding it. I talked to some of them after work got around the office that I was the only person who refused to sign, and when I explained what the lawyer pointed out to me, a couple of people got really worried. READ EVERYTHING YOU SIGN. DON"T SIGN ANYTHING YOU DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND. NEVER SIGN ANYTHING YOU DON'T GET A COPY OF. Leases, pre-employment paperwork, everything.
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May 22, 2012 16:53
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euphronius posted:Haha jesus christ. I need to raise my rates. Well, he came highly recommended from a friend who is a lawyer in another area. And to review a 6 page document and discuss it with me for almost 30 minutes, he charged me less than an hour. He also didn't charge me a retainer or anything. And labor lawyers in Florida tend to be more expensive, at least from the other offices I called. I thought it was bargain.
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May 22, 2012 19:06
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The Aphasian posted:Property line confusion question: This is a situation where you should pay for a short consult with a local real estate lawyer. Right of way issues can vary greatly within the same state, and even in the same county. For instance, Lee County, in Florida, has at least 4 different areas where different rules apply in property disputes. Even at $300-400/hr, a 1 hr consult + 1 hour of research will be cheaper than losing a good fence, and much cheaper than losing a chunk of your property because you didn't complain soon enough. If you are already willing to pay for a new survey of your property, you know what you are looking at for that. Also ask about your neighbor's driveway, you may need to serve them with permission to use that land, or they will be able to claim it under adverse possession. Same for the existing fence. You could lose swaths of land on either side by not complaining or documenting things properly. Look up the case in Case in Colorado where a couple stole so much of their neighbor's land through adverse possession that they were no longer allowed to build a house on it. It's scary stuff.
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May 23, 2012 18:33
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IratelyBlank posted:I live in Florida and I was hit by an uninsured driver last Friday. ... I also called my insurance company and they said they won't cover the costs because I don't have collision coverage (which I was unaware of and fixed), so they can't help me out. The number of uninsured drivers in Florida is scary. You really need collision and as much uninsured/underinsured coverage as you can reasonably afford. Given the number of outstanding cases this guy has, if you go to small claims court he will not show up, and you will never get any money out of him. And you will be out the filing fees and the time you spent on it. Just increase your insurance coverage and let them deal with it next time, at least you will only be out your deductible.
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Jun 4, 2012 16:55
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Louisiana is not a great state to rent in. I posted my experience and advice back about 10 pages. You really don't want to try to fight this, especially without a valid lease, because you won't get a fair hearing. Especially since your lease ends, you will get evicted and have a judgment against you, especially in New Orleans. The best you could hope for is to get the landlord to give you an extension in writing until the other place is ready. That may work, but if the landlord thinks he will have to evict you, most will just do it fast to get it over with. The only thing in your favor is the kinkos lease probably doesn't include the waiver of the notice to vacate that most leases here have, which buys you a little time (usually about a week) before they can file for eviction.
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Aug 15, 2012 18:29
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Nern, you don't usually get to break a lease for a reason like that. Most of the time all that is due to you is an abatement of the rent for the portion of the property that you cannot use while it is under repair. Your landlord may agree to let you break the lease, but he is probably not required to. Your location may have awesome renters rights, but even places with great tenants rights require you to allow the landlord and chance to repair it. You may be allowed to withhold rent, or be required to pay it into a registry of the court, but unless you get the place condemned as a health hazard you won't be able to walk away with no penalty. Unless you get the landlord to agree in writing. You two can agree on any course of action, just be sure to document it. I doubt you'll be that lucky, though.
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Aug 20, 2012 21:49
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muscat_gummy posted:Property law related thing for an apartment in TX run by a management company. When I moved in to this place I was handed a packet with some info. One of these things is about maintenance issues and lists a lot of quick fixes with the note that if you call maintenance for anything that can be fixed by doing something on that list, they will charge you $40. My actual lease, which I read every last word of, does not mention anything along these lines. This piece of paper wasn't signed by anyone. I've dealt with lovely companies before and assume that they'll try to spin as much as possible as falling under the fixes that'll get them $. If they try to do so, can I go tell them to screw off and that I never signed anything? If your lease has any sections regarding attached rules and the complex being allowed to change them at any time, they can make it stick. If the lease states that the company is responsible for maintaining the apartment, then they are giving you something in writing that contradicts the lease, and usually the lease trumps it. If not, you can just plan to fight them, if you have more time than money and don't mind going to court, and you don't live in a place with a kangaroo housing court, it can be fun. If you want to get out of your lease, this would be a good way to do it. Send a registered letter to the leasing office, saying you did not consent to this stipulation in your lease, you will not comply, and if they want to amicably end the lease then you are open to negotiations.
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Aug 30, 2012 20:30
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dyehead posted:TLDR: Contractor cheating us, lying about hours worked, materials bought, did not provide promised estimate before secondary work began, gave us huge bill afterwards. Getting lawyers and going to court is going to cost you both a lot of money. If this contractor knows what he is doing, he has filed paperwork for a mechanic's lien (or your state's equivalent) and he can make your life pretty annoying. Trying once to negotiate without a lawyer probably won't cost you any money. I would write up your own amended invoice, with the corrected hours, and throw in $1500 on top of it as an inducement to settle. If he won't take it get ready to hire a lawyer, in most states a mechanic's lien can be used to force sale of the house to pay the debt.
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Sep 10, 2012 03:25
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Morris posted:A friend of mine just experienced some I'm not a lawyer, but as a Louisiana resident I can assure you that as a practical matter this will stick. They won't hunt him or monitor him, but if he is arrested in your town for anything else, he'll be jailed and fined for contempt in addition to whatever else he gets tagged for. Unless he has enough money to hire enough political clout to fight that judge, I would tell him to keep out of trouble if he ever comes back. Louisiana isn't like the rest of the country, the law means nothing if you have political connections. Someone in that casino either donated money to some organization important to the judge (like his reelection fund, or his office football pool) or they comp him a lot at the casino, or (not surprising here) they outright bribe him. Your friend should have played the game: If the management didn't want him to press charges, you say "ok, but this rear end in a top hat rear end in a top hat ruined my night, (or my suit or whatever), what about that?" And you give them the chance to make you happy. New clothes, medical care, free chips,etc. would most likely have been offered instead of a trespassing charge. The manager wouldn't have objected if he didn't have a reason to protect the other guy. He was expecting you to play along and you fought the system. You can't do that in Louisiana unless you have at least some juice. Unless you can get national attention, a simple "good lawyer" won't be able to help. You need a crooked, connected lawyer who will spread money around on his behalf. The legal system here really likes to fleece anyone from out of state. Good luck. One more thing, I'll bet you that within 2 weeks any charges against the guy who assaulted your friend will be dropped. Keep checking his case and see. This can be a crappy place to visit if you don't know the rules.
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Sep 10, 2012 20:36
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Louisiana justice
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Incredulous Red posted:So... how much money would take for a yankee to buy his way into the Louisiana elite? Depends on how elite you want to go. Do you want to fix speeding tickets or rig state contracts, or some level in between? It's not like you can go down to the corruption office, and buy an elite card, you have to buy yourself influence, and that isn't usually a simple transaction. I know you think I'm joking about the way things work down here, but I'm really not. It isn't that Louisiana is more corrupt than other states, it's just that people down here aren't ashamed of it. You kind of learn to live with it.
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Sep 11, 2012 12:59
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Thizzin, you should write up a short document stating that you are terminating the lease through mutual agreement, and that neither party owes the other any further compensation. You don't need to put that it is due to roach infestation, and he probably won't sign it if you do. Identify the apartment and the dates of your original lease. If you want to cover yourself further, list your security deposit paid by personal check no. Xxx on date xx/xx/xx and that it was refunded to you by check no. Xxx on date xx/xx/xx. Put spaces for your signature, his signature, and a witness if you can get a friend to come, and dates for all 3. Print a copy for you and one for him, and keep that and all your other documentation for 1 year more than the statute of limitations for your state. If the guy is reluctant to sign, point out that this will prevent you from suing him for any other damages. It will save him some hassle. Act like you are really doing him a favor since he is not familiar with the process. You are, but it is to your benefit too. bigpolar fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Sep 17, 2012 |
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Sep 17, 2012 23:46
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thizzin forever posted:OK that was my next question. The guy is very opposed to signing anything and keeps insisting I return the statement he did sign all while insisting the contract is terminated. If he flat out refuses to sign anything would there be any benefit to recording our conversation? He has no issue verbalizing that the contract is terminated and that we have no lease agreement going forward, he just gets agitated whenever I mention signing anything. I think at least some of the problem is communication as English is not his first language and so there has been confusion about what I'm wanting him to sign or why. I realize that recording a conversation without someone else's consent is pretty lovely but Missouri is a one party consent state so I wouldn't be breaking the law I'm just not sure if a conversation recorded on a cell phone is legally binding. IANAL, but I don't think recording him would hurt your case. It might not be admissible, but if you end up sued it might be. Try to show him that the document protects him, acts as a receipt, and emphasize that he gets a copy. Maybe it will work.
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Sep 18, 2012 01:38
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corded ware culture posted:Last week my roommates and I went away on vacation while our property management did an 'occupied renovation' on our townhouse... Did you have an option to not consent to the renovation? When and what type of consent was required? What kind of paperwork were you given about the renovation? Did the management company promise to secure all your personal effects, or were they mute on the subject? Does your lease include any sort of phrase like "workmen will not be left unsupervised in your apartment?" If you have the wrong answers to these questions, what this will probably come down to in court is that you claim the management is responsible, and they claim that you consented to the renovations and chose not to be present, so you are responsible for your property. The ruling will depend on how your judge feels that day. In Louisiana you would get laughed at. Did you not have renters insurance? Why not make a claim through them and try to get the property manager to settle for paying your deductible?
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Sep 19, 2012 01:02
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Do you have any paperwork with the correct terms saved? Any letters with options and prices listed? If not, anything you signed off on will trump a text message. Live and learn not to sign anything without reading it.
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Oct 23, 2012 21:29
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wheez the roux posted:There is absolutely no way I could afford to pay for the lease. I'm moving out mostly because I can't afford to live here anymore. Is their dirty loving swap-out of terms on contracts to get me to sign something I didn't want seriously going to bankrupt me? I'm going through to see if I have the paperwork. They don't offer any way to break the lease? Try to find something to back up what you are saying. If you end up in court with nothing to support your story, the judge is going to figure that increasing rent is normal, that you are lying, and your credit will be ruined for a few years. If you have any assets like a bank account that you paid rent out of, they may be able to garnish them. Bottom line, either find something to support your story, get busy negotiating a lease termination with your landlord, or get ready to have your credit tanked over a debt. If you can find anything to support your side, the complex will probably admit that they made a paperwork error rather than chancing court. But if you have nothing in writing you have no chance.
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Oct 23, 2012 21:51
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2deg, the actual lawyers probably feel too bad to tell you, but as some who was involved in a similar situation, but not quite as bad, the prognosis is bad. This guy sounds effectively judgement proof. He has no assets and no income. State minimum coverage won't get you much, and anything you do get you will lose in subrogation to your health insurance since they have paid out. Unless this guy has a actual trust fund, or some hidden assets, he has nothing to recover. You can't go after his rich parents because he is an adult. And realistically, even if you get a judgement against him, with no income his parents will probably just pay for him to file bankruptcy and you will have done all that for nothing. That is the real reason no lawyer will take the case. They don't want to work for free, and even at 50% of the state liability minimum they would probably get an hourly rate of $30. And after all that effort, your significant other will get nothing. If you really want to find a lawyer to sue him on contingency, you'll have to find some sort of assets to go after. You could maybe hire a private investigator, but it is probably not worth it. It is an unbelievable, lovely situation, but there is not really much you can do right now. I sorry, and I really hope things turn around, but I don't have any encouragement to offer.
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Oct 25, 2012 20:58
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