Damages not done by me

[indplswoodtiger]

I moved in with my sister when her husband left her in May 2008 and the landlord on a month to month lease took her husbands name off and added mine. After I left in October he filed for damages done from a fire set by my ex- brother in law in late 2007. Besides the fact that the money he is charging is extremely high when the exhaust fan was only stained and there is a 1000.00 damage deposit. Shouldn't he have looked over the property as one lease ended and another one began for any damages done in the 2.5 years they lived there since the names on the lease did change?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Possibly, although it also would have been a good idea for you to present him with a list of damages already present when you moved into the house. That way you would have been "covered" in regards to this fire damage being already present.

If this comes to court (and often these cases do) then you'll have to show that you did not do this damage and the landlord will have to justify the cost that he claims from this fire.

Gail

 

[indplswoodtiger]

that is not what i wanted to hear. I was hoping that some state code directed him to make sure that he knew the state of the property to rightfully hold parties accountable to their actions. Without him stating it i just am not sure i can prove that it was done before I signed the lease.
So do you think I should just pay the debt collector and move on or do i really have a point?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

What state do you live in? I'll look up landlord tenant laws to see if a walk through was required.

You say this moved out in October. When were you notified by the landlord regarding these fees for damages? When did he notify you of the status of your security deposit?

The reason I ask these questions is that most states required a landlord to return the security deposit or notify the tenant of the status of such within a certain time period. In some states, failure to do this negates the landlords ability to charge for damages (and can penalize a landlord into having to repay the tenant several times their security deposit amount).

Gail

 

[indplswoodtiger]

he never said anything to any of us, the insurance company called (State Farm) and asked about the damagesabout two weeks after he got the property. I live In Indiana and like I said they paid him for damages and now are passing it to us. I told them over the phone that it was bogus and they needed to go and look at it befor ethey just tookk his word and I have never been given any proof that they damages were as substantail as the bill states.