Tricky tenant

[landlordinhelp]

My jurisdiction is: My residence WA-- House in NC

I moved last year and rented my house out w an up front payment. I accepted the lease although @ a much lower rate ($1050) then advertised ($1250) as it was cash and paid before they moved in. This was my first time renting and did not put in a clause for breaking lease as it was paid up front and no deposit taken. I made updates to my home--DTV on roof and wholes in the walls as it was contigent on the lease (full year)

6 months later I got a request he wants to move and get his money back as he said he lost his job (moved in with out a job). I worked on getting a renter to mitigate losses and w help of tenant found one and rerented for a higher rent ($1250 original asking). They finished the 6 month term in complete.

It probably took 25 or so hours of my time to find, background check and schedule time for some one to come out and handle the key transfers. I live in WA and had friend make sure it was clean. Friend came back after tenant moved out and said it was pretty clean w minor damages (less than $500).

I went to pay him back and there is a disagreement. I want to pay him back as a rental apartment would. Pay him back but subtract the advertised amount (1250) times the months rented less his up front amount. There is no claim in contract for either way although we agreed it was much lower as it was a full year and cash was paid up front.

Client wants all his money back (12600-(6X 1050)=6,300) when I am offering (12,600-(6X 1250)=$5,100.)

He is now threatening to take me to court for interest, filing fees and transportation fees as he would need to take me to court in Washington.

Does he have law behind him? And could I counter claim for changes to the home, damages to home, my time to find new renter and my transportation I occurred when I came to check out the house after he left?


In the mean time i have lost my job and do not have the money to even pay him that all @ once.


Thank you for your help

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

The rent you and your tenant agreed upon was $1050 a month. Unless your lease specified the amount owed should the tenant break the lease (or that the rent would go back to the original figure if the full term of the lease was not completed), this continues to be the amount of the rent.

Your tenant owes you rent until you found the new tenant to replace him. For example, if it took a month to advertise, find, review, approve and begin the lease with the new tenant, your former tenant would owe you for that month. Your tenant would also owe you for any damages above normal wear and tear.

Take the amount of the remaining money, deduct the above (making sure you have provided him with the specifics of what damages took place) and notify him of writing of this when you send him the check.

He can, of course, sue you if he continues to disagree with this amount. If he wins he will typically get court fees added to this amount. He will not get his transportation costs included.

Gail

 

[landlordinhelp]

Thank you for your response. Is there a time frame he has to take this to court or put something in writing as it has been 6.5 months?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

The Statute of Limitations for a written contract in Washington state is 6 years; 3 years for an oral contract.

Gail

 

[Samuel06]

There are tons of free people search things you can do on the major search engines and loads of people like to do things this way. You can access free phone number search information and many other items that may be of interest to you. These search engines have data bases full of information that could be helpful to you. You enter text in the search box and the engine matches it up. Learning to put in text that results in the most accurate results can be a bit of a skill. Once you have that mastered though free people search on a search engine can be the way to go.

If none of this has worked for you and you are still desperate to find the person or do a background check, then you may have to resort to a paid website. Even though this costs money it does a much deeper people search or search ssn. A search you pay for on a site probably has a better chance of being successful. The information you access is probably more likely to be one hundred percent accurate. It is probable that when you join the paid site you will need to supply some information about yourself in the usual way you do when you become a member of something online. This way of doing a people search, may be particularly suitable for you if you are the sort of person who is likely to need this service more than once.

All of these ways of getting a search you need are viable. It is entirely dependent on your circumstances as to which one suits your needs best. The best thing for you to do is to consult an expert on these things and see what they recommend.