Damage Fee's

[Sarah_Green]

My landlord is imposing on me damage fee's in excess of $400. All damages are not warrented, and cannot be substantiated by him. Examples: my mini blinds broke = $100 (which I have since replaced for $35); water leak (he claims he traced it back to my apartment - he never had a plumber out) = $30; sheetrock damage from the previous tenant (this is noted on my move in inventory) = $75; he claims I broke the front door by kicking it in (which I did not), I do not honestly know what happened, but there was never any thing missing out of my apartment, the door frame has no damage to it = $200; he charged me for the door stoppers (the little things that go into the wall to prevent the door handle from going through the wall) = $30 for 11 of them.
He takes these fee's out of my June rent, which took him 3 times to accept, and then took me to eviction court sueing me for $480. The Landlord lost and the case was dismissed. With knowing the background now, can my landlord take me to small claims court and demand this money, while I am still in my lease, and have already paid a $400 deposit upon move in?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Originally posted by Sarah Green
My landlord is imposing on me damage fee's in excess of $400. All damages are not warrented, and cannot be substantiated by him. Examples: my mini blinds broke = $100 (which I have since replaced for $35); water leak (he claims he traced it back to my apartment - he never had a plumber out) = $30; sheetrock damage from the previous tenant (this is noted on my move in inventory) = $75; he claims I broke the front door by kicking it in (which I did not), I do not honestly know what happened, but there was never any thing missing out of my apartment, the door frame has no damage to it = $200; he charged me for the door stoppers (the little things that go into the wall to prevent the door handle from going through the wall) = $30 for 11 of them.
He takes these fee's out of my June rent, which took him 3 times to accept, and then took me to eviction court sueing me for $480. The Landlord lost and the case was dismissed. With knowing the background now, can my landlord take me to small claims court and demand this money, while I am still in my lease, and have already paid a $400 deposit upon move in?

No -- the landlord already sued for the money on breach of contract. The matter has already been litigated and adjudicated. If he takes you to court again you should mention the outcome of the prior case, it has already been adjudicated in your favor, and the action is a malicious prosecution and abuse of process. I would put in a serious counterclaim and ask the judge for $500 or so. It's quite clear that this is an abuse of process designed to harrass you and force you to needlessly spend hours of time waiting in court when there is no case.

You might want to think about whether you don't care to pay rent for the last month of your lease and let your landlord use the security deposit in its stead. He's already lost one case. The risk may be low and at least you won't have to deal with being out money first and if you would need to pay you'll deal with a one time loser in court...