Tenant Dispute Advice

[Damian Callaghan]

Hey there - I am hoping this community can offer some solid advice to take the emotion, stress and potential cost out of tenancy disputes. I am new to renting - in this case it is a commercial property. I am in the last month of lease before the tenant moves out and they have withheld $500 for a rug that was damaged. As it turns out the HOA accessed the premises to do work without anyone's permission and damaged the rug. I didn't think tenants could just refuse to pay rental first of all. But they are now in control. I enquired about a litigation attorney and its $1K to even speak to someone.

I would welcome any advice on the above but more importantly I am OK with accepting a $500 hit if I learn from the problem. 

When I get in to these situations I need to have the backing of a legal professionals without it costing an arm and a leg. If every tenant I had just decided not to pay and I had to pay $1K to potentially get $500 back I would soon go out of business. How do the rest of you guys deal with disputes of this matter? Where do you get legal advice from so you know your rights?