First of all, the town was not the right place for me. It wasn't the right place for other people - a tattoo shop, a bookstore, and a thrift store - cause we all left within a short time of each other. The square was dead. Like..seriously dead. And I had it on good authority that someone from the tourism industry didn't give a rats ass about us - or that we would lose tons of money with all the events that were being hosted on the square (events that only certain businesses would benefit from - such as those who owned a coffee house or a boot outlet).
The building kept popping and the lights would flicker, Once I had to call the fire department because blue sparks were shooting out of my electrical box. The ceiling was terrible and my clothes were getting ruined... something that came from above several stories up top.
There's more. So much more. Like how one tenant found out he was paying the electric of his building, even though he was only renting a small space on the bottom. This man hired an electrician to disconnect his electric from the rest of the building... and his electric bill DRAMATICALLY went down. Note: He was never compensated. And he also didn't receive his deposit back - even though he left the place clean and in way better condition than from when he left it.
I won't go into the complaints I heard from his apartment tenants - which were many (and some kinda weird).
But when I was moving out, I gave several months notice. I was on a month-to-month and was leaving at the end of October 2010. Once I told them I was leaving, I was given a bill for tons of fees.. like thousands of dollars worth. (Several thousand). No shit! It was crazy! And I didn't owe them!!
So I decided to let them take me to court over the frickin' fees.
When the filed, they said I was locked into a 3 year contract and they wanted 2 more years worth of fees... over $24,000!!! PLUS, they said I left the place in shambles, trash everywhere, unpaid utilities and tons of those damn late fees. They were also charging me for the cost of fixing up the place so they could re-rent it (even though it was full of trash when I rented it). We were also being charged for the cost of them advertising, they claim for a new tenant - even though the same month our case was over... lo and behold.. the landlords WIFE started moving into the place!! And I was told that was the goal all along!!!
I represented myself and filed all my own papers and during discovery I asked for proof to all their lies. I also charged them with UNCLEAN HANDS - which is where a person brings an action in front of a judge that is based on a lie.
When they got my discovery questions, they quickly changed their case... eliminating all the lies about the trash, the 3 year contract, me not telling them I was leaving, the utilities, etc and just sued me for the back rent (2 months) and the late fees. Still thousands and thousands of dollars - the fees were more than what I actually owed.
I won my case and was able to get the fees waived. Why? Because they were bullshit lies! In the end I only had to pay for what I owed. Nothing more.
Wanna see the evidence to what I'm saying? (What I prepared for court) ... Here ya go!
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