vision2020
Settling disputes (was Re: Free enterprise)
Tenant/landlord disputes are quite common and we have
a very good system for resolving them. As a tenant, I
read a book on landlord's rights and as a landlord I
read a book on tenant's rights. I once paid only half
my monthly rent because my heating system went out and
my landlord took two weeks to fix it during which time
I stayed at a relative's house. When I moved out six
months later, my landlord refused to return my
security deposit or give me an itemized list of what
needed to be cleaned/repaired. So I threatened him
with a lawsuit for the full amount of my security
deposit plus the full amount of punitive damages
allowed under the law. Shortly thereafter, I received
a check for my full security deposit.
Another time I wound up in small claims court trying
to get my security deposit back from an unscrupulous
management company that was buried under a few
different company names, some of which did not even
have valid addresses in order to serve court papers.
In fact, I had to file for court dates on three
separate occasions for $25 a pop plus time off work
only to have the judge tell me that my filings weren't
accurate and I would need to sue the true owner of the
building. My lucky break came at my thrown out trial
number two when a painter, who my landlord had
stiffed, was also on the docket. He gave me all the
right information to file the right paperwork.
Ultimately I received part of my security deposit back
plus a few dollars a year later when the city hit them
with an extraordinarily large fine for their poor
business practices.
During my landlord years, I had three tenants and
charged none of them security deposits and they all
left my place spotless upon their departures.
I'm confident that if the little old lady and the
prospective tenants are incapable of working through
their differences, then some third party arbiter will
come to a resolution for them. Ideally all parties
involved should be equally satisfied or equally
disatisfied with the final outcome.
-Scott
--- Douglas <dougwils@moscow.com> wrote:
Do you want me to say that a little old lady renting
out her duplex apartment next door should be coerced
in renting to a man and woman living together, as they
used to say, without benefit of clergy? I'm not going
to do it -- because you can only give to the couple
that you have taken from the little old lady. Did I
mention she was in her eighties?
Cordially,
Douglas Wilson
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
Back to TOC