12/8/14 Monday Oahu
Yesteray evening me and Lisa left maui and flew back in. Sunday 12/7
Before we left we had stopped in at suzies, I came to request a copy of the lease for the two cabins
She got highly upset raised her voice and started yelling, going on about the main st house and the stove
Before coming I had text message her, asking fora copy, and that I'd be there in about 10min. After a good amount of time had passed, way over 10 min, at least 30min, I called. We didn't know if shed be home or not but we stopped by, because we'd also be leaving the island.
She said she didn't have a copier. I asked and said I could just take a piture of it, then she started going off...yelled she'd send us a copy tomorrow.
I had sent her a key, she hadn't checked her mail....the envelope was there in the mail with a time and date of when itd be dropped off.
when I arrived on the property that week of the visit, she immeidely told me the other tenant wanted to kick my ass because by car was in front...
I have pictures of the stove which I showed to suzie, she refuses the pcitures. Says the marks are in the sample place, but they aren't rasied. Says stove conditon was "good" in the inventry list
Lisa was there when I moved in. She was there after Shelby and Julie.
What happened?
A lot of hand written receipts for work done. Nit solidified. What exactly took three to four days to clean? The yard was done in about an hr?
The fan was replaced with something for $15? I saw a lowes box with a fan that was discounted.
New tenants were moved in right after I moved out
I had asked Suize the night prior, if she thought we'd be able to handle everythig by 11am tomorrow, the night before. She was aware that I had to catch a plane back. I bought my ticket only after speaking with here at 12pm past midnight.
We tried to talk regarding moving thing
She remebers one time I had to borrow a ladder from her. I was locked out the unit for one day, slept in a van outside. She came with me and I had to crawl in through the bathroom window the next morning. I had the key she provided, but the keys didn't work on the lock of the secuirty door, which was covering the entrance door.
She never compensated me for the night I was locked out, due to her carpet cleaning guy.
The damage on the door edge was noted and sh
She charges me $5 for glue because the carpet was coming up on the edges
charges me for a fire dector, not working? DOn't know what thats about
charges me for door hinges, because the doors had been taken of and put back on too much, or been used alot...quoted by her...
obviously the material cost was small but shes paying someone $22 or something an hour to fix it
carpet cleaning mandated on the contract....which is ok...but the carpets were vaccumed right before I left, both laborers and workers saw me doing it. He asked me to start in the room first....
she says Kevin spent time pulling out toothapste out of the walls....where were the holes? Suzie said ask Kevin....
how can she just pay these people cash and now know what exactly was done?
It's like my paying someone $1000 and saying, I had to pay him $1000 to do this and that....he had to come back three days....
Suzie had told me when i signed for the cabins that on the next Friday that i came back she would have a shower, toilet, kitchen with fridge, sink, and a power chord or line going out towards th cabin.
Came back on Firday nothing was there, I had called and texted earlier (check text) she said she had copies of the keys that I could pick up. I come in she greets saying one of the tenants wants to kick my ass due to my car blocking...wehere are the keys? I mailed it to you 19.99, it was in your mail box, but you never checked...I have to find it, but there is a tracking number even a note was left in the mail bx with time and date...
She didn't have a copy of the keys nors, was anything changed regarding the cabins....
She said her terminal ill son would move into main st. She didn't care if I wanted to stay or leave. I choose to leave because I thought it would help her with her son, who was not doing well. She said she intended to move him in with a care taker. Next thing I know, I'm told two air line pilots are moving in.
She told me shelby was trying to sue her for $5k for failed classes and stress and turmoil. I have a written statment that she moved on her own accord and choice and that she release me Dennis Sanchez, from any and all libaility. Find the text/email sent showing the image to suize.
She told me she would apply $950 from the main st house to the cabins as deposit. She wrote this down on the lease for the cabins would she refused to give ma copy of or allow to take a picture of. She then said there was 850 that she would working with for the deduction in regards to bringing the main st house back up to par...
She later said when asking about terminating the lease on the cabins, that I had no deposit on the cabins and that she doesn't see me getting back any deposit from the main st house....
I'm currently refusing to give any more money because I had deposited a check for rent for december on the cabins. And she had verbaly and wrote out that $950 would be transfered from the main st house to the cabins. So that is why she said just deposit the $950. not the amount x 2.
Questions
Location: Maui, HI
-I rented out a room against the no sublet term in my 6 month lease. The person stayed for about a month. There came an incident where a prospective additional tenant moved in, prior to actual terms being finalized. The person moved out in about 24hrs, but the first tenant also moved out. I told her I didn't want her to move, I preferred her to stay, but that if she wanted to leave she could.
Before she left, I had her sign a brief statement:
"I (tenant name) am choosing on my own accord to vacate (property address) and realse (my name) from any and all verbal and written agreements made. I have vacated and removed all my itmes from the premises.
I was the one who let (2nd early move in person) in the house.
I have recieved back my deposit of (deposit amount)
(Signature of tenent)"
Time passes and the landlord tells me that (my tenant, who moved out) has a small claims against her for $5000. She is claiming that because of the stress of moving she failed her classes, loss of income from not going to work all the time, and having to move place to place, etc.
The landlord also tells me she doesn't mind if I move out or stay in the house. She asked me if I really needed the house because it seems to just be used for storage. She then mentions she has son who is terminally ill, long story short it would be win-win if she moved her son in the house and had a caretaker move in. She was willing to let me move out early before the completion of the lease, and I would move into her two back cabins behind her house.
I literally moved out in about one day, in terms of all my possessions being out of the first house and moved into her cabins. At the end of the day when I moved everything in, late in the evening we were on her front porch reviewing and signing the lease for the two cabins. She verbally told me and wrote out on the copy of the lease, that $950 from the first house deposit would be applied towards the cabins deposit. She owed me a remainder of $850, and said she'd give me the remainder after she paid for things to be cleaned, etc for the first house. I then deposited $950 by check into her account for 1st month's rent for the cabins.
Some time passes it comes to my awareness that the landlord will be making major and minor deductions. I ask for a list with the deductions and explanations. She doesn't yet have it ready, but shows me some receipts for materials, then handwritten cash receipts on paper, some on the official receipt books from Wal-Mart, others written on scrap paper. I started noticing some eccentircies when being told, I would be charged $5 for the glue to resecure carpet coming up on the edges. $5 for the fire detector. $5 for the hinges holding up the door, because it had been reused to put the door on and off too much. (She had to removed doors and have them trimmed when carpet was installed.) Money for the fan in the master bedroom because the light worked but the fan portion didn't work. Granted she tried to keep cost down by buying it from Habitat for humanity, I'm sure I'm being charged labor for installation. Boyfriend of the tenant suing was hired. I asked him how much he thought it would cost, he said $180. It wasn't really bad like the other houses of the landlord. Now the handwritten recorded paper says 3 days work with specific hours for a total of $475. Not including the other labor worker whose fee's will be $22/hr for probably amounting to the same if not more. These are cash deals.
One of my concerns is not having a professional invoice or a itemized paper showing what time was spent doing what. The claim is, I gave him $180 up front cash for 1 day work. He had to make couple dump runs, paint, etc. He hasn't given me the hours yet. I know they were installing new fans for the whole house. I seen the boxes and seen them working on it on my last day there. Am I paying for the hours that they spent installing new fans? I would like to see an itemized list of the hours they spent at the house and for what purpose. I'm not sure if the people working are licensed contractor or just general who do jobs for less than a certain dollar amount. I've met the other laborer, and am almost certain he's just a handyman. He drives a beater car and doesn't seem professional. More like an odd jobs kind of person. $175 for window cleaning. $100-something for pest person. She also said the boyfriend found holes in the wall with toothpaste filled in, when we went together she said she didn't know where they were and to ask the boyfriend who did it. If you hire people to work on the house, don't you need to know what exactly is being done and what exactly you're being billed for?
The other major item being argued is regarding the stove top. The stove top has circular rings around the burners due to things being cooked and over spilled burning onto the stove. One of the burners didn't work, which I had not reported till this stove issue came up. On the inventory list, the stove is described in one word "good." To my defense I have a picture of the stove prior to the inventory list, and it can been seen that the circular marks are in the same place. Landlord says that you can see the circular marks, but that the marks are not raised. Meaning over spill fell into the same area and burned on. She is saying it's thicker or higher. My perspective is that they were there already. So they're in the same place, according to the pictures, but today, it's higher on the circular marks.
The landlord told me to avoid litigation from my tenant, she gave her a "couple months" free rent for a unit connected to her house. She said the lawyer she'd have to hire would cost a lot to defend her, and if she failed, she'd pay the tenants claims plus her own attorney fees. Isn't this small claims, so no lawyers involved at the hearings?
So I took her deal on the two cabins. The two cabins are built within a certain size where they don't have to have building permits. She had all the wiring and fixture put up, but when the lights when on, a neighbor called the building inspector, and he had to remove the fixtures. When I viewed the place the unit didn't have it's on toilet, kitchen place to store food or cook, as well as a shower. The day I moved in she said she would have a porto potty, on one side, an outdoor shower made with running hot water, and a sink/kitchen and fridge, and little stove top in the current washer area. She would have everything put in the same area where the washer and dryer were. She said it would be done by Friday the next time I come back. I specifically even asked are you sure sure? it seems like a lot of work. She said it'd be fast and done.
I come back the following Friday nothing is done. She texted me that she'd had made a copy of the keys and to pick them, I came to the front door she doesn't even have copies, she gives me the orginals and tells me to make copies.
Because of the situation I move all my items into a storage unit. I'm really on Maui one to two days a week strictly for work.
I ask if we could terminate the lease for the two cabins. We went to the back viewed everything and said it was fine. Nothing was damaged. We went to the front of her house and I asked about the deposit and first month rent for December. She hadn't had the toilet, shower, or kitchen installed like she had said. She refused to return either or. The deposit she said, there'd be no remainder from the first house, therefore there is no deposit on the cabins. As far as rent for December, she is not forcing me to leave and there is a 45 day notice on the lease. I view this as being wrong as she did not have the two cabins up to as promised, in terms of a kitchen, toilet, and shower. She told me before I left the other weekend, that if they weren't ready it was free rent, for the time period it was not done.
Because of her response, I said cancel writing out a termination of lease, instead she wrote out that the lease would end 45 days from day of writing, December 6th. (Really the day she wrote it was December 7th, Sunday), she also wrote that the shower, toilet and kitchen would be available the following Friday, the 12th. I might as well keep the place and force her to put in the shower, toilet, and kitchen, and seek recourse for the time period it was not ready. Also pressure her to do as she had told me. Her excuse for not having it ready by the original Friday, was because she was busy trying to get the first house in order. This to me is not a valid excuse.
If you have two cars. Both have a debt service payment. One lender will not take the excuse that you cannot pay them because you were paying the first car off.
On the last Sunday, 12/7, I was leaving me and my girl friend went back to the front of her door and asked her for a copy of the lease. She started going off screaming and yelling, "you can't come unannounced, you know damn well that the stove was damaged." She said how can I make a copy of the lease, I don't have a copier. I said can, I take photo's with my phone. She refused and said she'd send me a copy tomorrow in the mail. Today is 12/10/14, I have not received it in the mail. Before we went back to her house, I texted her, I'd be coming back in 10min, could she please make a copy of the lease for the two cabins. She didn't respond an hour later, I called her. Since were we're literally like 3min away at a McDonalds we decided to stop by her house.
Landlord is now claiming that the rent I collected from the first tenant is to be returned to the landlord. And an "additional 700 for the free rent she is getting to avoid litigation." She claims that "you are aware you cannot keep the illegal funds. Those funds are due and owing." The tenant stayed in the house for the period she is claiming and I did return the deposit in whole. Also I have the signed statement from the first tenant. She also texted "Legal terms of the poisonous tree. You do not profit from illegal activity. Those funds are returned to the rightful party and its not you." I looked up the term, and I don't think the legal term is in regards to our situation at all.