I used to live with a family for a few years until six months ago I left home b/c they became hard to live with. Since then I haven't contacted them or gave them my address. I now hear that they want me to pay them $300 for supposed cleaning charges,( I apparently left my old room a mess and managed to rack up $300 in cleaning charges!) They mentioned they would take me to court if nessecary, but they don't have actual pictures of my "mess". They also have my old mail and are refusing to send it to me. Does this person have an actual case to sue me with? Also, isn't with holding mail, illegal?
2006-11-25 02:01:47 · 16 answers · asked by msbinky5 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
I cleaned up my space before I left. This family member is trying to get money out of me. I even had to pay a cell phone bill of $600 b/c they decided to stop paying their bill and their phones were under my name. I learnt a lesson there for sure. Plus, I do want to burn bridges with them.
2006-11-25 03:16:28 · update #1
Also I never signed a lease or rent agreement. I just gave them the money for rent. Nothing was documented.
2006-11-25 03:17:17 · update #2
Yes, they can take you to small claims court. Whether or not they win depends on the evidence they can produce. Pictures are good, but they don't necessarily need them. It sounds like you are saying you did leave your old room in a mess. $300 sounds very reasonable for cleaning up any mess you left, so why not do the right thing and pay it?
They are not necessarily responsible for sending the mail to you. You need to do an address change with the post office. It is understandable that they are a bit upset with you if you left things in a mess.
We cannot choose our family, but my advice would be to make peace with your family. In most of our lives the day comes when we need our families.
2006-11-25 02:15:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Small claims court is a lot like the abuse system on y/a, you can sue anyone for anything if you pay the filing fee and on y/a you can report abuse when there isn't any. the lack of pictures could be overcome by providing witnesses who observed the mess and if you did in fact leave it in a mess you should probably pay the cleaning charge.
2006-11-25 11:12:22 · answer #2 · answered by Smoky! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can sue anyone for any reason. The only question is, do they have a chance to win the case? Probably not. 300 is ridiculous to clean one room. If you hired a cleaning service to clean one room, they would charge you 50 dollars maybe depending on how dirty it was. If they did that, they would need to furnish some sort of receipt to proove that they paid for the service.
Tamping with someone elses mail is a federal offense.
2006-11-25 10:10:41 · answer #3 · answered by Louis G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will have to speak with a lawyer. However, I think it will cost less to just pay the $300.00. A lawyer charges about $100 an hour. About your mail, I think they can not keep the mail, but you should have had your mail forwarded by the post office. Besides, why do you want to have animosity between the family? For three hundred dollars it seems like a waste. Good luck.
2006-11-25 10:08:37 · answer #4 · answered by dnelak 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes they have the right to make you pay for cleaning up the mess. As long as they kept the cleaning bills. It's up to them to prove it so if they don't have the bills or pictures their case is going to be pretty weak. As far as your mail,they have no right to keep that. Make sure you go to the post office and get your address changed. If you did do that as soon as you moved out the only mail that they will have is your third class mail(junk mail) and that I would let them keep if they want it so bad.
2006-11-25 10:08:51 · answer #5 · answered by unicornfarie1 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Contact the Postmaster General in your state and tell them that they are illegally holding your mail. Unless you signed any papers claiming that you would pay for cleaning legally you don't have to, unless you intentionally left a mess for them to clean, but I doubt that it cost $300. You can get someone to clean the carpets for less than $100.
2006-11-25 10:10:32 · answer #6 · answered by Ryan's mom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You'll probably be okay...they may try to sue you, but with no evidence it will be unable for the case to hold up in court. Also, withholding mail is a federal offense (What I have been taught, anyway) and once a judge figures out that they've been doing that, you will not be the one in trouble.
2006-11-25 11:23:42 · answer #7 · answered by Kaylin 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course anyone can sue for anything but this does not
sound like one they can win, even in small claims court and
the can NOT keep your mail....
Call the Post Office and file a complaint...
The Post Office is no one to mess with...
2006-11-25 10:10:34 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go there with the police to get your mail, they can take you to small claims court but from what you said they have little case. If they do take you to court go and dispute it also counter sue for the time lost in wages. also Did you sign a lease?
2006-11-25 10:07:29 · answer #9 · answered by regg 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yea, they can take you to small claims court. They cannot withhold your mail legally. Ask to see the bills for the cleaning. Is $300 really that much to get these pains in the *** off your back? How much mail are we talking about here? Can you contact people who were supposed to mail you stuff and ask them to remail it to your new address?
2006-11-25 10:05:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋