Landlord issue

Submitted by peRFectforme21 t3_11flcmp in jerseycity

Hey guys, I am looking for an advise on what I can do for this landlord issue. My landlord is not returning the security deposit back. I am an international student currently living in heights and rented this place with two other students. Since I did it before arriving here, I didn’t get a chance to check the apartment properly and landed myself in this mess. The rooms here does not have working locks and neither do the washroom. Heaters didn’t work whole winter too. There are cockroaches and rats everywhere in the kitchen. I have mentioned all these issues multiple times to my landlord and all he does is find a way to pin the blame on me and starts shouting on me and my roommates without listening us at all. He has a considerably louder voice compared to us and always intimidates us by bringing in that we need to talk to his lawyer for any issues. And now finally all of found a different place and vacated the apartment on the given date but he won’t return our security deposit. He won’t answer to calls and I received a call today from him shouting on me that why I haven’t returned the keys to his apartment yet. I tried telling him that all 3 of us went to the apartment and tried knocking his doors in morning, afternoon and evening but no one answered. He then told me I should have called which I did and on mentioning that he just started cursing me on which I just hung up the call. He has been behaving badly since past 5 months and it’s causing emotional distress to me. Also it’s a monthly payment system with no lease except for a receipt of rent and deposit so I don’t know what I can do to solve this issue here. I would appreciate any help on this.

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READTHEBOOKJC t1_jal230e wrote

You need to sue him for your security deposit - what you should of done is used it for your last months rent but sounds like this ship has sailed - you gotta sue - read up on the laws too - https://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/codes/publications/pdf_lti/secty_deposit_bulletin.pdf

get a lawyer if you can afford one

how much is the total you are trying to get back ??

Was the security deposit in a bank as legally required ? If not you can use for rent plus seven percent

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peRFectforme21 OP t1_jamj0gm wrote

As a student who just arrived here few months ago and no income currently, I am not in a position to afford a lawyer. Yes we did use a certain portion of deposit as a rent so what’s remaining now is 900 which is not that big of an amount here but for students like us from a country with economy 80 times worse, it does translate into a big amount.

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possums101 t1_jamrvoe wrote

$900 is definitely a lot of money here. Students or not. And it’s your money. I hope you can get it back because this isn’t right. Welcome to America, landlords can be terrible.

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peRFectforme21 OP t1_janhtkz wrote

At this point I am willing to let go money but this is my first experience and the way the landlord has behaved with me all these months has scared me more than anything. Constantly shouting on me, cursing and then pinning all the blame back on either me or my roommates just made me lose faith in humanity. Like how and why would someone behave like this with people who haven’t done anything wrong to them. This is just bad.

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Economy-Cupcake808 t1_jangx64 wrote

You can file a claim in small claims court. $900 dollars is not enough money to make it worthwhile to pursue litigation. Note that if you sue your landlord it will appear on your background check when you apply to rent future apartments and you will be automatically denied.

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peRFectforme21 OP t1_janhg7n wrote

This issue coming up by in my background check is exactly what I am worried about. Yeah I am getting similar opinion about the amount being not worth pursuing anything legal from people around me here. I guess I will have to learn to live with this system for bad landlords till I can earn enough to get my own place to live. This incident has scared me of renting anything here in NJ in near future though.

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Economy-Cupcake808 t1_janhym5 wrote

This is not an issue unique to New Jersey. 900 in my opinion is not worth pursuing. If you really want you can wait until you’ve secured a lease prior to bringing a case against your former landlord.

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peRFectforme21 OP t1_janif7l wrote

Yes I am not going to pursue this and at this point that guy is just not worth my time, energy and mental health.

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whybother5000 t1_jaltstc wrote

Small claims court. You can self file. I sued my then landlord some 20 years ago for dragging his feet on returning my security deposit. Boy did he address the matter quickly.

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peRFectforme21 OP t1_jamicr1 wrote

If you don’t mind can you share bit more about the process and cost involved? I am not in a position to afford lawyer.

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whybother5000 t1_jamkqad wrote

I googled and then drafted my own complaint. Filing fees were nominal. The fact of a filing is usually enough to force compliance.

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_homegrown t1_jal914e wrote

So a couple of things:

  1. I hope you had photos of the apartment when you guys moved in.

  2. Any text messages you have to/from him describing the situation of poor heat, etc may help when going to court.

  3. He is legally obligated to return your security deposit within 3 days with an itemized list of deductions (if any are applicable). Things that fall under normal wear & tear are not able to be deducted. More details are here

This office may be able to help you: https://jerseycitynj.gov/cityhall/HousingAndDevelopment/housingpreservation/landlordtenantrelations

Edit: Councilman Saleh is probably your councilman and may also be able to assist you.

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0730x t1_jam49lz wrote

The timeline for return of security deposit is 30 days. Maybe that was a typo.

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peRFectforme21 OP t1_jamilj0 wrote

Thanks, I’ll look into it. Yes I have pictures. I don’t have text messages though and mainly there is no lease which worries me that point 3 might not be applicable on him here.

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_homegrown t1_jamj6bt wrote

Do you have any proof you paid him a security deposit? Cancelled check, receipt, etc?

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peRFectforme21 OP t1_jamjewt wrote

Yes I have a receipt signed by him. I don’t know if it’s ethical or not but I also have a recording of him telling us that he will return the deposit paid by us at the end of the month we leave.

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READTHEBOOKJC t1_jan87j7 wrote

That recording is not only ethical but could be your golden ticket - USE IT

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