Tenant broke lease, didnt pay rent, and now wants to sue

[Katie DeLorme]

Im not sure what to do at this point. I have exhausted several thousand dollars in attorney fees and many hours tending to this situation. We have a tenant who moved in the 1st of May and in the third week of May the condo flooded. Within 15 minutes of the tenant calling me I was at the unit cleaning it up with my own towels etc. The water was all cleaned up when I left. The following day I made arrangements with a cleaning company to go by the unit to assess the damage and what it would take to dry out the whole unit as there was still water under the hard wood flooring. That same day I also put my flooring guys on notice that I would need to have all the bamboo flooring replaced in the bedroom, kitchen, and living room. In the mean time I tried to coordinate with the tenant to pick a vendor she was comfotable with to move her belongings out of the unit (we were going to pay) and to put her up in a hotel. She did not respond to me. The next correspondence I had was from her attorney and that if I touched her belongings she would call the police and put a restraining order on me. Mind you while all of this is happening we still had not received the security deposit or rent for May. This goes on for several weeks where I thought we were going to have the flooring replaced and the tenant denied us/technicians access to the unit costing us more money for them to conitue to go to the unit. We finally cut off comcast as we were paying for that too. Im not sure where everything broke down but the long in short of it is that there was damage done to the unit, she lived there all through the month of June and didnt pay rent and now she is requesting her FULL security deposit back or she will sue. I dont know how to proceed at this point because she is claiming the unit was uninhabitable for the whole month of June but we had tried SEVERAL times to get in the unit to make the repairs and couldnt. Additionally, there was mold build up as a result of her not letting us make the repairs. Do we just give her back the deposit and call it a day or let her try to take us to court? Im just not sure if its worth it. My blood pressure rises and I cry everytime I talk to her because she has nothing but hurtful things to say and all I ever wanted was for her to be happy. Everything we tried to do for her is in writing.... Im just not sure it will hold up as DC is one of the most tenant friendly locations.

[Account Closed]

Sorry to hear about your problem tenant. I must be missing something or there is a typo. You say the tenant moved in May 1 and flooding was 3rd week in May AND that you still had not received a security deposit or May rent. Why was the tenant living there without a deposit and first month's rent? Then you say she wants her full security deposit back....but when did she pay it?

Your lease should have language that allows you to enter for necessary repairs in an emergency and with 24 hour notice for other inspections and repairs. It's not a request to enter, it's a notice that you will enter with 24 hour advance posting.

Is the property vacant and did she move out June 30?