Landlord fucking around with security deposit - court?

[b_t]

This was the straw that broke the camel's back - this last tenancy has been a total nightmare. I had enough of this shit and finally bought a house, but I still gotta put this one to rest.

tl;dr - our landlord was always a bitch. Now she wants to keep our entire security deposit BUT she has missed the 10 day window for estimates, 30 day window for returning money AND there is no condition reports

We already have an official complaint filed (found acceptable and put on her file) for her putting the place up for sale while we were living in it, so we had to stage the house, always had a fuckin realtor and prospective buyers coming through for the last FOUR MONTHs of a fixed term lease, so we couldn't even leave after she sprung that bullshit on us.

But now she has held our security deposit for way past the 30 days she is supposed to keep it, and she completely missed the 10 day window for getting estimates together so we'd know how much she wanted to deduct.

She is talking about keeping basically the entire thing and keeps finding more things wrong. But she's been living in the place herself since we moved out, so some of this she might have done herself. We never did a proper walkthrough at the end of the lease, and I definitely never signed anything. I never even had a copy of the walkthrough we did at the start of the lease and she mentioned she couldn't find hers either. Even if we did find a copy of the pre-lease walkthrough, we missed all kinds of stuff on it - we identified a stain on the stairs that wasn't documented, there was damage to the projector screen done by the previous tenant, and we didn't notice the fuckin gas had been disconnected so we had no heat or hot water.

So since she has committed three offenses I can see here:

- missed 10 days for estimates
- missed 30 days for returning money
- no condition reports

We are entitled to our entire deposit back. BUT it seems very likely she will lawyer up and take us to court if we fight back here, to try and get $3,000+ back from us to "repair" the house to better condition than it was in when we moved in.

If it goes to court, is it easy? Is it feasible to represent yourself, or do you have to lawyer up? How expensive is a tenant lawyer (both myself & my friend who were signed on the lease make too much money to qualify for the cheap U of C lawyers)? Is it a total pain in the ass? Should we just roll over and continue taking it in the ass like we have been for the past year?

[spike98]

Ask yourself if its worth putting up lawyer fees, dealing with her bullshit, and court for the next 12-18 months.

Seriously for a couple of grand (especially if you aren't hard up) it wouldn't even bother.

Sound like she is a dirt bag but unfortunately you dont have much on your side either (no walk throughs).

[b_t]

I thought, judging from what I was reading on the Alberta tenant site, no condition report worked against her a lot more than it worked against us?

[turbotrip]

Take it to RTDS/court

[spikerS]

even if you had a condition report from when you moved in, it does not mean shit now if there is someone else living there. There is no way to prove who did it, especially if a walk through was not done with you at the time of move out. So in this regard, a condition report is inadmissable.

And I think you have it backwards, I thought it was 10 days to return a damage deposit, and 30 days to have work completed for any repairs.

Offences

A landlord commits an offence in the following circumstances:

where the security deposit is not returned to you within 10 days of your having given up possession of the premises;

http://www.landlordandtenant.org/mov..._offences.aspx

[max_boost]

She's a cunt. I hate people like that.

[bjstare]

Pay her with two wheelbarrows full of nickels and dimes and move on with your life.

[b_t]

Originally posted by cjblair
Pay her with two wheelbarrows full of nickels and dimes and move on with your life.

not happenin, it is 100% clear she owes us our entire deposit due to her breaking the fucking law.

plus while the money isn't a huge deal to me, it would be nice to have. And then two of the people who pitched on the deposit don't make as much money as I do, and it'd make a huge difference to them. I gotta get it back for their sake

and like max_boost said. she's a total cunt. I've never had some actively and intentionally fuck over my actual home life like she did. I need to get even with her somehow

[Asian_defender]

Its not even about the money now its about the principle.
Its people like her that make tenants want to trash places,
I understand if procedure isn't followed to a tee but honestly she has to understand normal wear and tear if someone is living there

Sounds like you have been more than reasonable especially with all the Realtors coming in and out

[BerserkerCatSplat]

http://www.servicealberta.ca/rtdrs/

Give them a call.

[spike98]

Originally posted by Asian_defender
....
Its people like her that make tenants want to trash places....

No, trashy people make tenants want to trash places.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Hallowed_point]

Originally posted by b_t
I thought, judging from what I was reading on the Alberta tenant site, no condition report worked against her a lot more than it worked against us?

In my experience, no inspection report meant we got 100% of our DD back without batting an eye from the property manager. Afaik that is the law.

Stupid fucking kunt. I always hear about deadbeat loser tenants. Plenty of us pay our rent on time, maintain or improve the property and don't party etc. Here's yet another case of a loser income property owner.

It's worth fighting based on principle alone imo.

[SmAcKpOo]

This behavior isn't uncommon and I think landlords go this route because they know they can fill the place instantly afterwards and previous tenants don't want to do the work to file the court papers. It does take some effort.

In your case you can indicate on the court document the time it has taken you to prepare the documents, cost to file, loss of income from missing work, etc and sue the landlord for these costs on top of the damage deposit amount owed.

As long as you present yourself professionally to the judge and have all the documents you need I believe the judge will rule in your favour, just do the work and submit your documents.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Rocket1k78]

Go file a claim at the RTDS, unless you're not telling us the whole story there's no way she can win. I wouldn't give this up either. I dont think ive ever met a land lord thats come out of that place a winner

[blairtruck]

[CanmoreOrLess]

You gotta take this to the end, do the court thing, be polite, wear a suit. The whole nine yards. Hire Sugarphreak (good advice), he's know to give you $500 if you win. LOL

Let's not call her a "cunt", I think we can all agree cunts are rather useful. Landlords, while they reside close to the cunt, they are a little further back and towards the rear. You'll know it when you're there, if not, she'll tell you.

[Maxx Mazda]

I had a case similar to this, but the landlord was actually a company (Royal LePage) and took them to tenancy court, ended up getting my deposit back, PLUS my costs and compensation for my time.

[heavyfuel]

Here's a solution I can offer lol