--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My question involves a roommate in the State of: Michigan
I'll try and be as unemotional as possible in describing the situation:
My roommate had a nervous breakdown this year and alienated all her friends, including me. She stopped talking to me and moved out of the apartment without cleaning a thing. We both graduated from school in Michigan but had a lease through Sept. so during the summer we subletted the apartment. The subletter rent only covered the partial cost of our rent, and I did all the work finding the subletters, commuting with them, sending their info to our lanlord, etc. I wrote my roommate and said we will split what the subletters pay for the summer as those are the terms I thought were fair (keeping in mind I did all the leg work finding them and probably didn't need to even include her on any part of the subletting since she didn't even find them).
In terms of our regular rent, my roommate paid more than me because she had a car and paid for a parking space with the landlord. Also, the landlord likes to cover his butt in every way possible so he insisted in our lease it be stipulated that the security deposit be returned to only one tenant- who was- you guessed it, my roommate who had the nervous breakdown. I had tried (both when I signed the lease the first time and when we subletted in the summer) to get the landlord to agree to return the security deposits we each paid to us individually, but he refused to do this both times, so I was stuck with this (I have record of the security deposit I paid to the landlord's management company).
Now, the lease is over and my roommate finally returned my security deposist but decided to charge me for having the apartment cleaned (the landlord insisted on a professional cleaning even though I did already clean), unpaid utilities (she sent no bills to me so I had no idea anything was even owed and would like proof of this), and then she also decided to charge me for half of her parking space during the summer months.
Now I know I am probably on the hook for the cleaning and whatever utilities I did in fact owe (and I will ask her to send me copies of the bills), but I absolutely REFUSE to pay for her parking spot.
Can someone please tell me what grounds I have in small claims court and how I should go about getting my money back? I do not undestand how this person thinks they can just illegally take money out of my security deposit like that.
And letting it go is not an option...I want legal recourse in this matter. From my preliminary research, it sounds like the court will rule in my favor because I absolutely have proof that the parking spot was hers, and she was paying for it for the other 9 months of the lease.
Also- I know it may be hard to get the money from her should I win the suit. However, if I send a collections agency after her- how much would that cost and should she not pay, can it at least hurt her credit rating? Meaning, if she is found guilty I want to make sure there is some punishment that can be enforced.
Please advise when you can. Much appreciated. Thanks!
My question involves a roommate in the State of: Michigan
I'll try and be as unemotional as possible in describing the situation:
My roommate had a nervous breakdown this year and alienated all her friends, including me. She stopped talking to me and moved out of the apartment without cleaning a thing. We both graduated from school in Michigan but had a lease through Sept. so during the summer we subletted the apartment. The subletter rent only covered the partial cost of our rent, and I did all the work finding the subletters, commuting with them, sending their info to our lanlord, etc. I wrote my roommate and said we will split what the subletters pay for the summer as those are the terms I thought were fair (keeping in mind I did all the leg work finding them and probably didn't need to even include her on any part of the subletting since she didn't even find them).
In terms of our regular rent, my roommate paid more than me because she had a car and paid for a parking space with the landlord. Also, the landlord likes to cover his butt in every way possible so he insisted in our lease it be stipulated that the security deposit be returned to only one tenant- who was- you guessed it, my roommate who had the nervous breakdown. I had tried (both when I signed the lease the first time and when we subletted in the summer) to get the landlord to agree to return the security deposits we each paid to us individually, but he refused to do this both times, so I was stuck with this (I have record of the security deposit I paid to the landlord's management company).
Now, the lease is over and my roommate finally returned my security deposist but decided to charge me for having the apartment cleaned (the landlord insisted on a professional cleaning even though I did already clean), unpaid utilities (she sent no bills to me so I had no idea anything was even owed and would like proof of this), and then she also decided to charge me for half of her parking space during the summer months.
Now I know I am probably on the hook for the cleaning and whatever utilities I did in fact owe (and I will ask her to send me copies of the bills), but I absolutely REFUSE to pay for her parking spot.
Can someone please tell me what grounds I have in small claims court and how I should go about getting my money back? I do not undestand how this person thinks they can just illegally take money out of my security deposit like that.
And letting it go is not an option...I want legal recourse in this matter. From my preliminary research, it sounds like the court will rule in my favor because I absolutely have proof that the parking spot was hers, and she was paying for it for the other 9 months of the lease.
Also- I know it may be hard to get the money from her should I win the suit. However, if I send a collections agency after her- how much would that cost and should she not pay, can it at least hurt her credit rating? Meaning, if she is found guilty I want to make sure there is some punishment that can be enforced.
Please advise when you can. Much appreciated. Thanks!
