Live-in Landlord refuses to return deposit, inspiring tenant to win it back in court: 'I just wanted my deposit back'

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 15, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

It's always best not to let money come between friends, and it's even better not to let money come between distant acquaintances because, in those situations, you don't even have that tight of bond to keep things even-keeled when the going gets tough. Making matters worse is the fact that you're not complete strangers who can handle business without letting it get personal. You're better off not knowing them at all so that all parties can remain objective because you're never going to look at family or friends the same way again when they reveal the things they'll do for a few dollars.

The worst thing possible is that your live-in "landlord" is a friend or acquaintance who reveals the worst parts of their personality over the course of your time together, choosing the most woefully entitled course possible with the absence of any real rationality when it comes to the return of your deposit. That's what this tenant was facing in this classic internet story when things went off the rails with the family friend whose basement they were renting.

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  • 01
    "I countersued."
    via Valentina Locatelli
  • 02
    I just wanted my deposit back. So about 10 years ago, my wife (then girlfriend) and I decided to move in together. She was sick of living in a dorm and my lease was up, and we had a family friend that was looking for someone to move into a little granny flat under their house. I say under because they lived on a steep hill where the flat
    via cloudubious
  • 03
    was below the house with an entrance on the back side, so we had this incredible view out back, a pool (we'll get to that insane thing), fire pit, etc., and the rent was in our price range, and the LL (let's call her Mary) even dropped it $100 if we did some yard work, skimmed the pool, etc..
    via cloudubious
  • 04
    Oh, my parents own a couple rentals and have my whole life, I've done maintenance for them and even attended a couple court cases as well with them, this'll come into play later. Everything was great for a couple months. Then Mary and her wife started fighting. Screaming matches, stomping above us, throwing things, I didn't understand how people could be that mad at each other that often and still be together.
    via cloudubious
  • 05
    I eventually sent them an email saying we were not comfortable with the fighting and we wanted to make sure they were ok, etc. They replied to that with, "you're lucky you have a place this nice." Mary began to scrutinize the yard and poolwork I was doing, to the point she would insist I vacuum and skim the saltwater pool with no chemicals (salt water pools need far less chlorine than regular ones,
    via cloudubious
  • 06
    but they still need some!), wanted me to stop mowing and use a weedwacker only because the mower was getting old and tired, really petty things. The last straw was when a driver was shot in a gang shooting across the street. We decided to cut our losses and get out of there. Found a new apt and a roommate (one of my wife's college friends) that was open a month later (perfect for us, we were on month to month on this place), emailed Mary that we were moving out in 30 days, etc.
    via cloudubious
  • 07
    At that point, she went insane. Tried to do daily inspections of the granny flat, would call and email daily with chores around the property she'd insist we do, and would pound on her floor (our ceiling) every time she heard so much as a whisper. Daily inspections would require 24 hours notice (she never gave that).
    via cloudubious
  • 08
    Then she tried to bring potential renters over to see the flat (we flat out told her to go away when that happened) with no notice. Finally, 2 weeks before move out, she had a pest control guy stop by when I was at work and my wife was in class. Our cat was home alone, and we got the notice about spraying pesticide from her in a text about the same time the guy started.
    via cloudubious
  • 09
    So I rush home after work, stop by upstairs and ask for a copy of the pest control receipt. I have massive allrrgirs to most pesticides, so I need to know what was used. She goes into her office and bring back a copy with every single chemical on the list checked off, every single one. I immediately take the copy, run down, grab the cat and a handful of clothes, and drive to my parents' house. We stayed there 4 days, hoping everything would clear out in time for us to finish packing and cleaning
    via cloudubious
  • 10
    The last couple days before moveout, Mary was out of town, and we were able to get it completely finished a day early. We'd even patched nail holes, painted, cleaned the carpet, my mom came and helped us get it ready for the next tenants. It was immaculate, and we took photos and video of everything.
    via cloudubious
  • 11
    When Mary did the checkout with us, we said we weren't confortable being there without filming (legal to do), and she did a short walkthrough efire stating it was fine but that her copier was broken and she'd have to email us the final copy. Two days later, we got that copy, with $1400 in damages claimed above our deposit, including a number of charges like, "my wife had to replace a screw in a cabinet, $1 for screw, $15 labor."
    via cloudubious
  • 12
    I was livid. The place was spotless, my mother (a landlord who does all her own prep work in rentals) helped us, and we'd been very nonconfrontational except for filming the walkthrough. I had kept every email, text and letter from them, and started to put together a small claims case. I figured she would already be doing the same. Luckily, I knew my tenant rights and that she'd violated them a lot, including email chains where I'd point out 24 hour notice laws, etc., in emails and she'd reply t
    via cloudubious
  • 13
    Finally, I called the exterminator. The conversation went like this: "Hi, you sprayed in my flat without my permission because my landlord ordered it with no notice to me, with my cat inside, and used every chemical on your receipt." "We most certainly did not. Here's a copy of the work order, we only put out ant traps on the outside."
    via cloudubious
  • 14
    "Oh, I'm sorry, thank you for your clarification." Armed with that last little piece, I countersued, asking for a Bad Faith penalty as well as our deposit. Bad Faith was 3x deposit, so I was asking for a total of 4x what we'd given Mary on move in. The big day came in court, I showed up early, had everything in order and ready, and she
    via cloudubious
  • 15
    swaggers in huffed up and clearly ready to put me in my place. We sit outside the courtroom for about 20 min, until a courtroom worker asks the waiting room if anyone would be willing to go to mediation instead since they were booked solid. We both say yes, and go into a mediation room with an arbitrator whose job was just to keep us civil and answer any legal queations they could while staying neutral.
    via cloudubious
  • 16
    Mary lays out her case, it takes about 4 min. The arbitrator looked very neutral still. Then I present my case, bringing up each violation, each lie, and end it with the work order from the exterminator, both copies. At this point the arbitrator looks visibly upset and I can tell they're just trying to stay neutral. Mary then asks them, "why is he asking for 4x the deposit?" The arbitrator then explains the bad faith penalty, then looks at me, "would you be ok dropping the penalty for your depos
    via cloudubious
  • 17
    "Sure." They looked over at Mary, "I can't tell you what to do. But what I can say is, if you decide to go back into that courtroom in front of a judge, it's not likely to go in your favor." (I swear they really said this, I know they're not supposed to but they did!) I got my deposit back.
    via cloudubious
  • 18
    hamburger666666 Wish I had had this kinda knowledge when I was in college, I got screwed out of so many deposits. Why'd you drop the penalty though? Take her to the cleaners.
    via cloudubious
  • 19
    [deleted] By not enforcing the bad faith penalty, you're giving them less punishment for their horrible behavior and therefore making it more likely that they will try this again in the future. I really wish you had gone forward with it.
    via cloudubious
  • 20
    ljtfire ...still waiting to hear what the revenge is. Great, you had a bad landlord and mediated getting your deposit back, where did you get any revenge, let alone pro- revenge?
    via cloudubious
  • 21
    LockDown2341 The end of this was disappointing. You should have gone for the full amount.
    via cloudubious
  • 22
    ohmegatron Still sounds like she got the better of you. You had to do all the footwork, went to court, did all that, and all you got out of it was what she would have owed you if she'd never screwed you over? I think you lost out there bud.
    via cloudubious
  • 23
    [deleted] This isn't pro, this is just business. You folded for your deposit when you could have collected much more. There is no real revenge here.
    via cloudubious

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pro revenge family drama landlord student university students tenants bad roommates tenant friends landlords neighborhood-drama renting roommates
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