The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back

I think we’re pretty close to a finale with the VT house drama. Well, at least where the tenants are concerned. Throughout the entire thing, I have not addressed any of the accusations that our tenants have made against us. Not to them anyway. You poor people have had to “listen” to quite a bit of it. ;) After the e-mail I received last night, I could no longer keep my mouth shut. I do believe that I showed herculean restraint up to this point. I drafted a response last night, sat on it all day, and finally (after reading it to the Mister over the phone) hit send just a few minutes ago. I feel amazingly better. Holding that much anger and bitterness inside just isn’t good for one’s mental health. I am so proud of my e-mail, that I decided to share it with you all. You’ll have to take me at my word, but I assure you and promise that I copied and pasted our e-mails word for word. Like I have the imagination to make this crud up anyway.

Jenn and Peter,                                    11/18/08

According to my lawyer, you are not legally able to use your security deposit to pay November's rent. The purpose of the security deposit is to ensure that all rents and utilities are paid and to ensure that there is no damage to the property and to pay to have the house cleaned upon your vacating the property. If you'll refer to your original lease, it states that the $1300 you paid in February 2007 was a security deposit and not last month's rent. I also have a letter from Morningstar Properties that defines that payment as a security deposit that I can scan and e-mail to you if you'd like. Furthermore, you would be responsible for not only paying the $500 that you still owe for November but a prorated amount for the eight days of December that would get you to the end of your 30 days notice which would total $335.00 ($1300/31 = $41.94 x 8 days = $335.52).

By December 8, 2008, which  is the last day of your 30 days notice, you will owe the following:

Sewer/Water:  $704.39

Returned Check Fee for October:  $20.00

Late Payment Fee for October:  $25.00

My Bank’s Returned Item Fee for October's Returned Check:  $5.00

Balance of November's Rent:  $500.00

Late Payment Fee November:  $25.00

December's Prorated Rent:  $335.00

Total Due by December 8, 2008:  $1614.39

This amount does not include any cleaning or repair charges that will be deducted from the $1300.00 security deposit.

Sincerely,

~

Trisha

 

Trisha,                                        12/2/08

Just letting you know that the house is vacant.  There are some things that are in the yard that will be picked up this week.  When we moved in there was hardly any oil in the tank and we had to have an emergency delivery made, therefore you should know that there is very little oil in there now and you should probably arrange for a delivery so that you don't have problems with the pipes.

According to my attorney the $1300.00 security deposit should be in an interest bearing account until such time as the tenant vacates the premises.  The money should be available to you to pay the utilities of $704.39.  When we reported to you the loss of our belongings that were in the "dry" cellar, you never responded back to us.  We didn't pursue it because we thought you had enough on your plate and we could address it at the end of the lease.  The house is in the same condition it was when we moved in so instead of returning the balance of the $1300.00 which equals $595.61, please apply it to the balance of the $910.00 you claim we owe and the $314.39 left doesn't come anywhere near the loss of personal property and the cost of dumpster to clear the damaged property.  I'm really sorry it has come down to this.  I had hoped that we would be able to end this relationship amicably.

Sincerely,

Peter and Jennifer

 

Jenn,                                12/3/08

I suppose after all these months the things you say and do should no longer surprise me but wonders never cease. You continue to pass blame and not take responsibility for your actions to the point where it is laughable. I will never understand how your bouncing four rent checks and paying your rent late consistently and habitually is my fault. If you are honest about this situation, you will admit that out of the 21 months that you bothered to pay your rent at all, we could probably count on one hand how many of those months you paid on time and with good funds.

You would be wrong if you think that I don’t accept responsibility for my role in this soap opera. I allowed you and Peter to weave stories, make excuses, and take advantage. That was my fault. I was too trusting, too kind, and allowed for you to get away with too much. Something else that we should be honest about here is that if you had pulled the stunts that you did on any other landlord, you would have been evicted many months before my husband and I evicted you. However, if you were an honest and forthright person, you would pay the money that you owe me and stop making excuses which you clearly aren’t capable of doing. Instead, you will most likely turn tail and leave my husband and I to clean up after you and sink further into debt without the least bit of regard for what you have done. Maybe it was easier for you to take advantage of us because you don’t have a face to put with the name, but let me assure you, we are real people, with real children, and real problems, a good portion of which you have caused. It would be a small thing if you could acknowledge that.

As for the “damage”, your selective memory continues to amaze me. I repeatedly asked you to send pictures of the supposed “damage” which you never did even though you said you would. I’m not sure how you expected me to take you at your word when you couldn’t manage to pay your rent on time. Even so, you never once implied that the “damage” was hundreds of dollars. Furthermore, as I told you before, repair requests were supposed to be made in writing which is something else  you never did. This is just one more thing that you’ve dragged out of the muck to muddy the situation in your favor. One more thing to pass blame on, one more thing to lessen your guilt. I have to shake my head that you would try and say that I’m responsible for your renting a dumpster. There is nothing in your lease that states that you had to rent a dumpster in order to vacate the premises not that you ever read your lease, apparently. If you had read any of the three leases that were given to you, two of which you signed, you wouldn’t have been able to try and accuse me of slipping things in on you. I specifically remember urging you to read the things before signing them.

This whole ordeal has tired me and I am as done with it as I can be. I expect you to mail all keys to me within a week. If you do not, I will bill you to change the locks which is just one more thing you will run from, I am sure. Your concern for the pipes was touching, by the way, and you can save your insincere apologies for the next poor schmuck you rent from.

~

Trisha

And there you have it. I doubt she’ll have the courage to reply and even if she does, like I said, I’m done. I’m, as I type this (I’m actually on hold with the oil company, heheh), making arrangements to winterize the house until we can get it sold. The last thing I need at this point is frozen, burst pipes. Luckily, I’ve been told that the winter up there has been mild up to this point. Since it’s looking like we won’t be able to get an oil delivery until January, I hope the weather holds out. I sure picked a bad time of the year to put my foot down.

I’m off to nurse my killer headache.