Poll of the Day > What a day......

(+) Yeah! (+)

So, I have a friend who I helped move into a place May 1st. The new landlord/roomate turned out to be a scammer, and posted a 20 day notice to vacate on his door the night he moved in. This was after taking a $500 deposit (which turned out to be two $250 fees in the contract...I didn't get to see it till today).

I spent the whole month trying to find a place for him, and we finally got him one today. Go to move out his stuff and informed the scumlord that he had not served the 20 day notice correctly (I used to work in landlord tenant law). If you post one, you also need to mail a copy (not just put it in the mailbox..which he didn't even do, but mail it through the post office). The landlord proceeded to fill out a new notice and shove it into my friends chest, and when my friend told him not to shove him, said he threatened him, and called the cops.

Luckily I was there, and calm and explained what had happened/what was going on. The cops informed the scumlord that he can't just kick someone out, and has to go through the courts, and waited while we moved my friends stuff out.

Honestly I told him he should just let it go, as the contract actually states the $500 is for two $250 non-refundable fees. While a judge may rule that he should get it back since he was not there for a month and offered to leave that day.....I do not think it's work chancing getting an eviction on his record for $500.

Not sure what he is going to do at this point. I will contact the landlord and tell him that if you returns $250 of it, my friend will vacate by the first. That would allow the scumlord to rent the place again (Although I will certainly put a warning up on craigslist etc), and make another $1000 (it appears like he has done this many times, and basically repeats it every month).

Sad thing is he is obviously getting away with this.....I can't imagine nobody has damaged his home, put fish oil in the rugs, in cracks or the wall etc, something that would stink the place up a ton and be very hard to get rid of. Since there is no security deposit at all, the is no incentive for people to vacate without damaging the property, and most of the people renting a room have no assets to go after even if he could sue them for damages.

Not sure how people like that get away with this stuff, it is a crazy world.
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Hey Wolfy, sorry about your friend. I wish I could help, but I'm only actively barred in DC, and even there, I've only practiced big business law, not any landlord-tenant stuff.

What kind of legal work did you do? Private, government, or charity? A legal secretary, a paralegal, barred or something else?
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My wife was an attorney. When I met her she had a friend that went to law school with her, but couldn't pass the bar (she tried 10 times) that did all the office work etc. I ended up taking over that job eventually. Basically ran her law office for years.

First we did minor criminal law as a solo practitioner, DUIs etc, but eventually we moved back to the bay area and ended up working for Kimble Tyre and Saint John in Landlord Tenant/unlawful detainers for a few years. Finally we moved to Alameda and worked in Family law until my wife got sick in 2009. She was bed bound for 3 years (big wound I had to constantly change dressings on etc), and I went to college during that time and got my masters in Education. Once she got strong enough not to need constant supervision I did my student teaching, got my credentials and started to teach.

I enjoyed working with her, it was always a challenge and every case was different. Was some really funny moments over the years, and I got to know all the judges in the Bay Area (and many of the attorneys as well). Still friends with quite a few on facebook.

My memory is going though, so yeah, not as much help as I would have been in the past. Still know the general basics though, so was able to help a bit in this case (realized he didn't serve him properly etc).
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That's a helluva journey. Some fun times... some way less fun. You know coincidentally, my big brother has an M.S. in Ed., so I know something about that, too.

Hey, if you ever want to shoot the breeze, let's go over to https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/565024-wolf

We won't be bothered on Wolf for PC (1994).
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