FORT Koffee Klatch

[MRD]

Thanks all.

Most of our friends say the house doesn't smell. We clean. We use pet deoderizer on the carpet and fabreeze on the furniture and we've had the windows open the last week.

I really think she was just trying to find something to complain about. Or maybe because she doesn't have dogs, she did detect an odor. But as for "reeking"??? Our home doesn't reek. We bathe the animals and we keep our home clean. She's just being a witch right now.
So I'm not too concerned about the "dog smell". Once everything is moved out, we will shampoo the carpets and deoderize them.
My neighbor who doesn't own dogs said that she didn't smell anything and both neighbors said they would be happy to come over and look at the house once it's clean and be willing to say in writing that they saw us leave it clean. We have our bases covered. Now if the landlord would just get back on her broom and fly back to Nevada like she said she was doing.

[prhoshay]

Don't forget that neighbors written statements are 'hearsay', and they may or may not be helpful; some judges will take them, some won't. Judge Greg Mathis will; Judge Joe will; Judge Judy....no way! Hey...I'm a "Judy-ite", too!

[Gutmutter]

My two cents: Do all of the above... clean the carpet, take pictures, take witness statements, and then give her the forwarding address in person and say, "You can send our deposit back to us here." If she says ANYTHING about not getting it (or all of it), tell her right then that you have documentation and witnesses and will take her to court if she doesn't return it. Sounds like she will back down if she knows you're not afraid to challenge her on it. I'm also wondering if she HAS the money or if it's already spent.

[brunette trixie]

My two cents: Do all of the above... clean the carpet, take pictures, take witness statements, and then give her the forwarding address in person and say, "You can send our deposit back to us here." If she says ANYTHING about not getting it (or all of it), tell her right then that you have documentation and witnesses and will take her to court if she doesn't return it. Sounds like she will back down if she knows you're not afraid to challenge her on it. I'm also wondering if she HAS the money or if it's already spent.

I agree with gut and everyone else above. She definitely seems like the type who will back down if confronted with photos and evidence. Good luck, mrd!

[Newfherder]

Don't forget that neighbors written statements are 'hearsay', and they may or may not be helpful; some judges will take them, some won't. Judge Greg Mathis will; Judge Joe will; Judge Judy....no way! Hey...I'm a "Judy-ite", too!

Judge Judy LOVES police reports, so all you have to do, MRD is escalate the situation enough that the police are called Have them write in their report the condition of the house at the time that they repond to the call. That will clinch it for you with JJ.

PS--Don't escalate the situation to the point that you get arrested. That would not help.

[MRD]

Judge Judy LOVES police reports, so all you have to do, MRD is escalate the situation enough that the police are called Have them write in their report the condition of the house at the time that they repond to the call. That will clinch it for you with JJ.

PS--Don't escalate the situation to the point that you get arrested. That would not help.

THanks Newf.

So how do I get the police involved, but avoid getting arrested myself???

Enquiring minds and all that.

You guys have made me feel a lot better about the situation. Thanks for all the good advice. I've never watched Judge Judy. So thanks for that too.

[Newfherder]

So how do I get the police involved, but avoid getting arrested myself???

That's your problem. I come up with the great ideas; how you implement them is up to you.

You have the option of getting a subpoena to bring your neighbor into court (or the neighbor can come without a subpoena, but the subpoena forces an appearance.) Direct testimony of the neighbor removes any hearsay claim.

[onei0091]

THanks Newf.

So how do I get the police involved, but avoid getting arrested myself???

Enquiring minds and all that.

You guys have made me feel a lot better about the situation. Thanks for all the good advice. I've never watched Judge Judy. So thanks for that too.

Tell you landlord there was a...fire situation...but then don't clarify. When she comes over screaming and yelling, call the police. Then you can act like you don't know what she's talking about and that she's crazy. Then if you have to go to small claims later, you have the report. LOL!.

No, I'd not get the police involved. I've only seem Judge Judy a few times, but that's not really how it goes in real life. It's much more boring and less dramatic. If you have all of your stuff ready to go - the pictures, the reciepts from cleaners or stanley steemer, the cancelled rent checks - that is enough.

I forgot to add that your landlord has to give you your deposit back and/or an intemized list of why she kept all of your deposit by a certain time, but that the time clock starts when she gets receipt of your forwarding address. It doesn't start from the time you move out or the time your lease expires unless that happens to be the time you give her your forwarding address. In the past, I like to use email to give that info to landlords, that way I have a copy (and proof) with the date on it and can print it off if they give me any trouble.

Once I had a crazy, CRAZY landlord. She kept my entire depoist, and our employer was paying our rent because we were there for work reasons, and when our lease expired the employer kept sending her rent by mistake. She kept all that rent on top of the deposit and didn't want to give any of it back claiming that our dog ruined her house. She cited a lot of dog-ruined stuff on the second floor. Our dog was terrified of stairs and never set one paw on the second floor of the house the entire time we were there. So she was totally full of bologna. Not to mention that the place was not entirely clean when we moved in, and I cleaned, just like you are going to do, extra to the point where it was spotless because I knew she was difficult and would try and make excuses for not giving us our deposit. She, too, didn't know about having to send us an itemized list of reasons why she kept the deposit.

And, to top things off, she stuck us with the utility bills - ALL AT ONCE! A years worth of utility bills. Just for the month of feb alone, the heating bill was over 1000$...

Some people.

[Rattus]

And, to top things off, she stuck us with the utility bills - ALL AT ONCE! A years worth of utility bills. Just for the month of feb alone, the heating bill was over 1000$.

$1,000 . Did you live on Mars?

[onei0091]

$1,000 . Did you live on Mars?

Kind of. Minnesota. We just moved from southern California and thought for sure it was a typo. Honestly, I think she fibbed it. She was such a nutcase, and her kids were too. It was her summer home, she was elsewhere the rest of the year, so we lived in it fall, winter and spring. Her kids actually asked us if we'd move out for a weekend so they could throw a party in the house. They all seemed to be waiting for her to kick the bucket so that they could get their paws on her stuff. Being the tenants, we got caught in the middle of all of their family craziness and we were soooo happy to leave there.