How the Land Lady Lost the
Deposit…
I
am always amazed how many
property owners get it wrong.
When I moved to Grand Rapids in
2001, I rented an apartment from
a property owner who “trained”
other property owners as a long
time landlord member of the
Rental Property Owners
Association, a very well
regarded institution in the
Grand Rapids area for property
owners.
Things were great for more than
a year, until I found out my new
neighbor across the hall was a
sex offender. As I was in the
process of adopting a then 13
year old child, I was mortified
to know a guy with a conviction
of first degree Criminal Sexual
Conduct was 5 feet across the
hall from my family.
It
was at that time I found out my
landlord, who was a nurse
educator with experience in
prison nursing and psychiatric
nursing did not do the most
basic checks on her tenants, and
did not seem to care this guy
lied when he filled in that box
on the rental application asking
if the applicant had even been
convicted of a crime.
My
landlord decided we should have
a conversation with the sex
offender, whom we found out was
sent to prison for 8 years after
pleading guilty to assaulting
his own daughter. Despite his
guilty plea, he told us he was
innocent. My
nurse educator landlord declared
this man safe and secure for our
neighborhood despite his lying
to her on the rental
application. I was creeped out
by the guy, talk about weird,
this guy made the hair on the
back of my neck stand up. More
research turned up his son, also
on the sex offender list, who
was on parole for the his own 1st
Degree CSC convictions,
something I shared with my
landlady.
The predator decided to move and
my landlady was seriously angry
me. Despite being a good tenant
with the rent paid one month in
advance she wanted some revenge
and got it by
serving me with a 30 day Notice
to Quit.
Within a few days of moving I
got a letter with a check
refunding part of my deposit and
rent as well as a list of things
she was charging against my
deposit. All
of it was bogus, my money was
being taken to clean carpets,
paint walls and clean things we
left clean because of her
mandatory cleaning fee. Many of
you may think this is the end of
the story. The property owner
keeps the cash and thinks that
is that.
My
landlady’s acting out got me
reading the law. Seems if I
object to her keeping my cash,
except for past due rent, she
must return it and she must
return it within 30 days or sue
me to keep it. If she fails to
return my deposit after 45 days
not only does she lose all
rights to my deposit, she now
owes me twice what she kept.
I
sent a letter certified return
receipt requested saying I did
not agree with her keeping any
of the deposit.
Talk about angry I got
this terse sarcastic letter back
basically telling me the way it
is, and I was not getting one
dime back. We exchanged several
more letters in which we parried
verbal barbs until the 45th
Day.
On
the 45th Day I filed
an action in small claims court
asking for double damages plus
costs. She was so angry when I
emailed she was being sued, she
went down to the Court and
picked up the complaint saving
me the cost of service.
This lady is pretty savvy. She
knew she could remove the case
from small claims court forcing
it into the General Civil court
with all its complexities.
Her first
step was answering the complaint
by either admitting or denying
what I was alleging. Her answer
was no answer, it was a rant, my
favorite part was a comment,
“..it makes me wonder how Rob
uses his time” referring to her
time being wasted in Court.
At
our first hearing I was pleased
to find out she did me a huge
favor taking the case out of the
Judge’s decision is final small
claims setting. After looking at
the landlord and saying, “Norma
how long have you been a
landlord, 20 years?”
Judge Kelley was looking
for us to settle the case down
the middle.
She was willing to settle, I
knew I was right and I was not
settling anything.
She wised up and got a lawyer
when I started sending
interrogatories, questions she
had to answer in writing under
oath, and requests to produce
documents. In General Civil
Court you must respond to these
requests and failing
to object in a timely
fashion forfeits the right to
object . Her lawyer responded to
some of the material, and then
he went away; and so did Norma,
to a condo on a golf course in
Florida.
When we came back to Court,
Norma was on the loud speaker
overhead from her phone in
Florida. I sat in at the table
with about 30 people behind me
waiting for their own hearings.
The hearing was a joke, I
presented what I wanted
disclosed and produced and the
judge said she had to disclose
and produce because she hadn’t
responded in time. Norma got the
better of the judge this time
because when she started talking
she could not hear the Court
trying to interrupt
her. I sat in my seat wishing I
could crawl under it.
So
where is this all going? I had
her and the judge knew it and he
let her have it in front of all
those people. In all honesty I
feel bad for her to this day,
the judge was fair about
the law, but he was
unbelievably and unnecessarily
nasty to my opponent. By the
time he was done with Norma she
wanted to settle in the worst
way and she did, for $150 more
than I was demanding.
Here is the moral of the story.
People are more savvy than ever.
Anyone can search Google and
read the law. Your tenants may
find your mistakes and take you
to Court and win when you don’t
take the time to know the law.
Norma learned a lesson and put
things right in her leases with
other tenants. She also sold all
her rental properties just
before the prices crashed so it
all worked out for Norma.
