My landlord has charged us over our security deposit

[Account Closed]

My landlord has a history with withholding security deposits, and even charging over the deposit amount. I have talked to two of his most recent tenants, who have had their deposits withheld, one pursued him in court and one did not. He is currently also in court for foreclosure on the property. For the foreclosure case and the case with the previous tenant, he has complained that there "was not proper notification" which is actually because he does not give his address, just a PO Box so the constable and the bank suing him could not find him to serve him (he had to be publicly summoned in the town newspaper three consecutive weeks in a row ordered by the court and they also "defunct" the company we have been paying rent to). The police think he is a nuisance, and he is truly proven to be the worst landlord.

He has, during our tenancy:

-showed the apartment over 20 times in 2 weeks, threatening via text message that it would "be in our best interest to let him show the apartment", coming at inconvenient times such as dinner time and sometimes trying to come with half hour notice, and when we said no once, this is when he told us it would be in our best interest to let him show the apartment and to "presume he would be showing the apartment daily"

-had a repairman come over to install a new door and repair a porch inside the actual residence with NO PRIOR NOTICE (we came home to our poor dog scared out of her mind and tons of loud drilling and noise  (this was AFTER we gave 30 days notice, AFTER we had lived there 3 months already,  and AFTER told us it would be 50$ off our rent each month if the porch was deemed unfixable, which didnt happen instead he just never got around to making these repairs and installations because we never got it in writing)

-Refused to communicate in writing, calling our request to communicate via text or email only "unacceptable.", also calling the 2 days LEGALLY required notice of entry "excessive" (I have all the texts printed out with phone records to correlate the time and phone number)

-DIDNT fix the sink he withheld money from the previous tenant for damaging (we had a broken sink, my boyfriends brother had to fix it, which he approved of and knew about, but never said thank you or paid us)

I was prepared for him taking our security deposit, but he is actually charging us $2500 over our deposit....He was served by the constable during our scheduled walk through, and actually walked out before we even finished the walk through, left his car on the property, and disappeared. 

Damages included:

- $800 for toilet install due to a hairline crack in tank, the previous tenant confirmed that this existed while she lived there though before she moved out, so this damage was not caused by us, maybe we would just need her as a witness? The toilet also worked perfectly, this crack did not even affect the functionality or need to buy new parts for the entire toilet ($400) and then the installation ($400)

-$2700 because he claimed oil leaks on driveway were from us, but in the letter of itemized damages withheld from our deposit, he told us he "verbally instructed" us to park our cars off the driveway (which i don't remember him doing) BUT in the lease he says "“Tenant parking may be reassigned another on site/on premises area of the property at the discretion of the landlord, and any such assignment shall be issued in writing and & shall become effective immediately upon receipt of written notice to Tenants from Landlord.” which he never told us in writing, and he probably does not have proof indicating it was us.

-$100 per hole and $50 for paint to repair two quarter sized holes on the stairway for removing a gate we have never even seen on the property or knew existed (he is telling us we caused the holes by removing this gate) if anything, we wanted a gate for the dog and would have never removed it. but we seriously never knew of this gate ever existing, never mind removed it.

-$350 for removal and disposal of broken toilet, remove and disposal of oil and clean up materials, and storage of items (trash left out for trash pick up day on the CURBSIDE that "interfered with his storage at the property")

Basically, we have done nothing since receiving the letter on August 12. I am shocked he thinks he can get away with withholding all of this money from every tenant of his that I have talked to, especially considering HE DOES NOT EVEN MAKE THE REPAIRS and it seems to me that the itemized list of damages costs are way overpriced, considering he made us unclog the shower ourselves by "getting a snake less than $5 from Walmart" fixed the porch that "would not pass inspection" for $20, and has to hide house damages from the insurance inspector because the house is SO OLD and falling apart and he doesn't do anything to fix it, and I guarantee he will not use this money withheld from us to repair anything, and blame it on the next tenant! He has not even paid the mortgage in 3 years, thats why the bank is suing him! He has lost other properties recently too. Hopefully he will get what he deserves and all will catch up with him.

******************************************I live in RI, any advice on what to do/what I can do?

[Bettina F.]

I take time/dated photos of my units and complete a move in checklist that the tenant signs at move in.  That way I have proof for the judge.  My tenants are also free to to take their own photos.    I don't understand why someone would move into a unit in such a poor condition, but since you did, did you take photos of the pre-existing damage?