If you follow my facebook, you'll know by now that we recently defeated our landlords in an eviction that stemmed from nonpayment of rent. I detailed exactly what how this all came about, but the crux of the issue came about when I realized that our security deposit was mingled with the landlord's money rather than put into an interest bearing account as outlined by NJ law. I sent a certified notice detailing that since I had never received notice as required by law, and that they must us our security deposit as rent (which is allowed by law).
Of course, they didn't agree with my position. Immediately after receiving the letter, I was bombarded with calls threatening our impending eviction. Three days later, one of the landlords said, "You f*** with me, I'm gonna f*** with you." He implored me to seek legal consul because my reasoning was wrong. In no uncertain terms can someone use their security deposit as rent. I countered that when a landlord follows the law, sure, you're right. Unfortunately for you, you failed to follow the law, and this is my recourse. Frankly, I already know that I would never see the security deposit back anyway. I knew these disingenuous folks would trump up charges and otherwise find ways not to give the money back. At least this way, I would get to use the security as rent payments.
So, after a cooling off period, the wife of the landlord pair started playing nice all of the sudden. She patched the hole in our kitchen and was cordial in her phone conversations.
The night before our scheduled eviction hearing, she comes over unannounced. She says that we'll get what we want, here's the deposit applied to rent, and that's that.
At this point, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was just a backroom deal that she would not even remotely agree to. This was her way of making us think we had come to a settlement, and that we didn't have a need to go to court. I mean, we came to an agreement (that was still fundamental flawed), but we had an agreement. Going to court would be a moot issue.
However, had we not gone to court, she would have gotten a default judgement against us. She would have filed the certification, and she would have gotten a judgement for possession. Had I been more naive, this would have been our fate. But, I knew her night before epiphany was just a play by her to get us into believing her. In court, she recanted all her previous statements saying this or that. She lied.
All I had to prove was we never got the 30 day notice. Her fate was sealed immediately after. At that point, all that was left was to see how much was owed or not. Let's call it a wash, and rent is paid up until November.
Let's just say that what little respect I had for her is null and void after this. Let's just say that she tries to paint herself as the patron Saint of whatever but the fact is she's a bitter, vindictive, bitch.
I'm sure she's gone to people's houses the day before and did the same thing she did to us. I am absolutely sure of it. In 2010, she had 2 evictions won by default. The day we went, she won another one by default. The perfect tenant for her is one that has no mouth and simply pays rent with no issues. When the house is falling apart, and the rent is overpriced, it's ridiculous to me not to stand and fight. I think most people get their eviction notice and run, thinking that this is the judgement. It's not. 9/10 if a landlord doesn't have an attorney, then I doubt they have a grasp on landlord/tenant law.
It felt good to stand up to her. It really did.
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