My ex landlord is suing me for damages, 3 monthes after writing me a check?

Question

So ya I sued my exlandlord for keep some of my deposit
he says I damaged this door
http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee204/fiddycentson/

is it just me or is it obvious that this door has been repaired multiple times and has been rotting for god knows how many years. Everyone can see these problems right?

this door isnt even a legal entrance door to be exposed to harsh vermont winters. Who the hell does he think he is?

so ya, hes also suing me for cleaning and whatnot.
im sure the judge will just throw it away, because if it was that bad then I shouldnt of gotten any of my deposit back

sorry I was a little vague
He took 100 out of my deposit for repair of that door. So i sued him to get back what i deserve. now hes counter suing me with all the cleanign charges and whatnot, plus additional money to pay for more of the door, he says my deposit didnt cover all the damage, which is bullshit because I got a check for $300 back. The saddest thing is, no matter what the condition of this door, its not legal because its just an old piece of crap wooden interior door. How can he try to sue me for something that never should of been hung in the first place. Ontop of that, I spent all winter trying to get him to replace it, he kept giving me excuses like "ohh its winter, your cant replace a door during winter, where will you live while we work on it" last i checked it only too a couple hours for professionals to hang a door. What a slum lord!!!

Answer 1

From looking at the pictures I don't see rot. I do see damage to the door. In picture 001 there is a crack in the lower right hand panel that runs the full length of the panel vertically. Since the crack is through the paint, it looks to me like it was forced from the other side. There is also a crack that runs horizontally across the top from the left panel a few inches into the right panel where the other crack starts. At the level it is I would say that it looks like someone kicked the center support between the panels and caused a stress crack. As for the exposed wood, it doesn't look like rot to me. In picture oo4 it looks like the wood was pulled out. The reason I think this is because wood rot has discoloration to it. This wood has the normal fresh wood coloring to it.

As for suing you after writing you a check, that is an odd situation. You say you sued him for keeping some of your deposit. Does that mean he is now suing you for more than he originally kept? The only reason I can think for this is that the cost of repairing/replacing the door was more than he expected.

For the use as an exterior door, I am unsure what, if any, laws Vermont has about exterior doors. Here in Pennsylvania it would be a legal exterior door because it is a solid core door. The exterior doors must be solid core and can be made of metal or wood.

Lastly, you took pictures of the door at move-out. Hopefully you have pictures of it looking like this when you moved in. If you don't and the landlord has pictures of move in showing that the door did not look like that then there is a good chance he will win.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Make sure you let the judge know that the guy wrote you a check and then AFTER that, decided you broke the door.

Do you have any more pictures by any chance? Try to have multiple pictures of the door and make sure you have the worst parts captured so the judge can tell how bad the door was.

EDIT* In reply to the comment above mine, landlords have security deposits and only return it if the home or apartment was left in the same condition it was when the person moved in. If the home or apartment is extremely dirty or damaged, they WILL keep the security deposit and use that money to fix it. That's one of the main reason there is a security deposit anyway. At least that's how it's worked every place I've lived.

Answer 3

Let me get this straight in my head. You vacated the unit 3 months ago. He sent you the deposit. I hope he sent you the "manager's itemized list of damages". A manager, must by law, send that form EVEN if he is returning all your money. If he did that he will be laughed out of court.

WHY would anyone wait to come after you? One has to assume the property was inspected BEFORE you were given a check.

Perhaps he has you confused with someone else? You are certainly in the clear. Just remember what I said about the form you should have been sent along with your check. And the fact that they didn't see the door on unit move out inspection.

Good Luck to you,


EDIT NOTE: I see your note about he wants cleaning, etc. taken out of the check too? How funny. You can't give a check to someone & then take them to court 3 months later for all these items that should have been taken care of the first go round.

Answer 4

Hi. I had some trouble with a landlord in the past, and became very aware of the tenant rights for my state (IL) during that time.

The only leg he really has to stand on with the door, is that a tenant is responsible for keeping the premises in good condition, or report issues promptly when noticed.

Did you take pictures of the place before or as you moved in? This might sound crazy, but I've known of several accounts where this helped the tenant in court.

If not, you might make it a new goal to do so with every place you rent, just to protect yourself.

I hope all comes out well for you, since it sounds like such a ridiculous case after he already refunded some of the deposit.

Check out my blog at www.garyfarnam.org

Answer 5

I wrote you a nice long answer, and Yahoo timed me out again. Grrrr!

At any rate, I'm confused about what is happening. Do you have a current suit against your landlord?

And if so, is what he/she is doing, a counter-suit to your suit?

Was the check he/she wrote out for the entire deposit?

What state are you in? Some laws are different.

What I'd do if I was you, and you haven't gone to court yet, is to get a book on landlord/tenant law from nolo.com on your state's laws. Everything you'll need to know should be in there.

It's normal for people to try to bluff when it comes to court. Landlords, at least in California, can't charge you for "normal wear and tear." It's not your job to be sure the winter doesn't get your doors wet or damaged from rain/storms, etc. That's part of what they have to deal with as landlords.

At any rate, good luck. Spring for a book on landlord/tenant law from nolo.com (best self-help law books out there, in my opinion, for non-lawyers). It will have much more info in it than your fair housing office will have, or most websites. More technicalities that can get your deposit back for you.

I'm a property manager, and I've helped my daughter get back deposits she shouldn't have had withheld.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Read thru this: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/statutes/fullsection.cfm?Title=09&Chapter=137&Section=04461

Did your landlord return the security deposit within 14 days? Did he include a list of damages?

I think your landlord is out of luck, especially if he was more than 14 days in returning the deposit.

That door definitely looks like normal wear and tear. Make sure you have nice big print outs of the door.

Answer 7

he sounds money hungry just make sure you let the judge knows he didn't sue you till after he wrote you a check.

Answer 8

Most deposits are security deposits not damage deposits