Monday, May 4, 2020

Landlord Refuses To Give Tenant Deposit, Court Revenge Follows


We love a good landlord revenge story. It just warms the heart to see a tenant come out victorious over a landlord's shady antics. It sounds like this landlord was about as petty and toxic as they come. It's hilarious and satisfying to see where that pettiness ended up taking him in the long run; basically having to pay triple the original amount. 

If this left you wanting some more landlord drama content, we suggest checking out the time a guy's landlord threatened to evict him, so he went full Karen.

1.

Text - r/ProRevenge + JOIN u/cyberchief • 14h 2 1 W1 S 2 When trying to get your deposit back from your landlord is like drawing blood from a stone TL;DR Landlord makes living conditions shitty so he offers me an opportunity to move out. I convince two others to move out as well. He ghosts me when I ask for my deposit so I take him to court. I win $650 so he appeals the court's decision. In the appeal, my award is tripled to $1800. He refuses to pay up so I get the Los Angeles Sheriff's Departme

2.

Text - Holy crap, this was much longer than I expected after typing it out. I've tried to shorten it as much as possible but here it goes: Back in 2018, I had a temporary internship in California at {insert large tech company} so I took a recommendation from a friend about a room for rent. It would be living with 5 other people, but otherwise, it looked fantastic with spacious common areas, multiple huge TVs, full amenities, community rec center w/ pool, short drive times to multiple places of i

3.

Text - When it came time to move in, I discover a few caveats that came with this low rent price. The common areas were all dusty, none of the 3 large TVs worked properly, if we wanted access to the rec center and pool, we'd need to pay the $80/mo membership fee, and all of the 'short drives' time estimates were exaggerated, unless you were speeding at 2x the speed limit. Whatever, it's not the end of the world, especially at the relatively low price. I'll survive.

4.

Text - But then it got worse in the coming months. ShittyLandlord decided to charge us an extra $20/ month for 'paper towels and public cleaning supplies', ShittyLandlord only checked the community mailbox once a week when he was in town and refused to trust anybody with the mailbox key. As it starts to roll into the summer, in June, ShittyLandlord decided that A/C costs too much and we were using too much, so he removed the thermostat from the wall. Um, ok. One day some of us tenants confronted

5.

Text - "It's legal for me to do it and I don't care since I don't have to live here." Well sir, fuck you. I'm tilted as fuck at this guy's obvious money grab from 6 tenants. Well it turns out he's right, he legally doesn't need to provide air conditioning. So, the next day I purchase a high BTU free-standing portable air conditioner that exhausts out the window. Holy shit, this thing was luxury. Of course I pump my room to 65°F, the lowest setting. We have a couple other minor disagreements that

6.

Text - When ShittyLandlord finally gets a whiff of my A/C setup he comes to my room to complain about my A/C unit. I reply curtly: | "It's legal for me to do it and I don't care since I don't have to pay for electricity." He leaves and later sends me a text. Yea ok. Unbeknownst to ShittyLandlord, I'm taking his move- out offer seriously and this whole time, I've been rallying the troops. All the tenants have been upset about everyone's living situation so with some minor encouragement, I manage

7. This is the text from the landlord.

Text - about the AC unit you have in your room.... if you chose to run the AC in your room at 50 degrees because your computer generates so much heat, than that's your choice. But you will need to pay an addi- tional $100 per month for the additional electricity you've been spending. And that's going from the time you installed it in the room without my permission. Thank you much Jul 21, 4:40 PM And what I meant by 50 degrees (is not the actual temperature), because I noticed you like to twist w

8.

Text - Jul 21, 4:54 PM The electric bill more than double since last month. With the temperatures being very close to the same Jul 21, 8:02 PM Power Outages 1 (888) 456-7683 Page 1 of 1 MHESSEAS 234 6 al Amount No Amount Due ge History 3 Period Dates Days 32 kWh/Day $/Day 06/09/18-07/10/18 $6.96 Year Month 05/10/18-06/08/18 30 $3.07 Difference Multiplier Usage Usage Type 1,508 (916) - alls

9. Yikes. Back to the story.

Text - I am willing to cease usage of my portable AC unit on the condition that the temperature of the house be set to 72°F. Regardless, I am under no obligation to pay your completely arbitrary and baseless demand of $100 per month and nor must I remove the unit from my room per your demands. You can request, but not demand that I pay for a portion of any utility bill, regardless of your opinions. I do not appreciate it when you knowingly try to overstep your authority as a landlord and demand

10.

Text - time, barely a week after my previous conversation with ShittyLandlord. He's pissed. He was just trying to get me out of the house but now he has 3 rooms to fill instead of just 1. I ask about my legally mandated pre- moveout inspection. In no uncertain terms he told me to go fuck myself. He said he's too busy to perform an inspection. Hm, well that's illegal but ok. Time comes to move out. I found another room for rent much closer to the office for only $100/mo more. We all move out and

11.

Text - No response. Ok, I see where this is going. I spend days and days reading the law, compiling evidence/screenshots, and listing the laws that were broken. The smoking gun was the statute that requires a pre-move-out inspection and a list of things to fix, and itemized list of deductions within 21 days or else ShittyLandlord loses the right to withhold any of my

12.

Text - deposit. In addition, he would be subject to treble damages if he's found to be acting in bad faith. I text again and again. I give him plenty of leniency and I even cite the laws so I can prove in court that l'm acting 'In Good Faith' and ShittyLandlord intentionally ignored the laws that I made him aware about. ShittyLandlord probably thinks l'm a young push-over college student who won't follow through with legal threats. Well sir, we're going to court because I'm petty as fuck when it

13.

Text - I file in small claims for $650 plus treble damages, plus court costs. ShittyLandlord files a counterclaim of $2000 for 'damages to the property' claiming I caused flooding, and I broke the microwave. Ok buddy. In response, I gather testimonies from 3 of the other tenants and I build my case into a 40-page packet of evidence, complete with page numbers, a table of contents, and descriptions for every screenshot and photo. I make 3 copies of everything and submit it to the court and the de

14.

Text - The court date is set for November and I leave the state just before Christmas so just in time to appear in person. ShittyLandlord thinks if I'm no longer in the state, he'll automatically win since l'm not willing to fly back to CA. Well unbeknownst to ShittyLandlord, California courts offer an option to appear by telephone. Haha. He starts filing to request to postpone the trial a total of 3 times. The third request is finally denied because even the courts are getting tired of his bull

15.

Text - date is January. Court day comes and I get the call. I'm sworn in and then connected to the court. I'm given time to present my case. Unfortunately, I didn't prepare a script so I kinda summarize the events and explain why I deserve money. Then ShittyLandlord gets time to defend himself and explain his counterclaim. He doesn't prepare anything either and he ends up rambling about random shit that doesn't help his case at all. For example, he spends a lot of time explaining how another one

16.

Text - A couple weeks later, I get the judgement saying I'm owed $650, ShittyLandlord gets nothing. Well damn, no treble damages for me. However, it's just my luck the ShittyLandlord is a piece of shit that won't accept defeat. He files an appeal for who-knows-what. It's granted. Re-do trial is scheduled for May. This time l'm 10x more prepared. Once again, I'm sworn in and then they connect me to the courtroom speaker. This time I have a hashed out script that I read, making sure to emphasize h

17.

Text - has none. ShittyLandlord claims I broke the microwave so the judge reads him the 3 witness statements that all state I didn't break the microwave. ShittyLandlord says they're all lying. He still has no evidence whatsoever. At this point, the judge clearly sounds done with his shit and says we'll get his decision in the mail and the call ends. A couple weeks later, I get the judgement. I'm owed $1800 and ShittyLandlord still gets nothing. Well damn, would you look at that. His appeal did n

18.

Text - Outside of court, ShittyLandlord offers a payment plan of $20/month which will take 7.5 years to pay back, or otherwise he refuses to pay up. Ok, I see how collecting my money is going to be. I figure out he banks at BoA by looking up the checks I gave him for rent and seeing where they got cashed. I file for a writ of execution that will allow me to perform a bank levy. It's granted so I prepare a packet for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to go to BoA and take his money. LAC

19.

Text - plus 10% APY interest, plus Sheriff fees. I finally get the glorious check in the mail, 20 months after moving out. I'll probably frame it. Total: $1,893.91 Edit: for everyone telling me to cash the check, I already deposited the money into my bank account via mobile check depositing.

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