All Forum Posts by: Lucy Stinson

They could be all talk. Anyone can sue for anything. That doesn't mean they will prevail...but if they do, it can be a real PITA. Make sure you have everything documented. Even if they have "pictures of mold" unless they could prove what type of mold it is and if it is harmful or not, they really have nothing. It sounds like they just want their security deposit back. Make sure you handled it in compliance with your state laws. I have been threatened and then sued, and the former tenant lost in court. If you know you are right, stand firm. Personally, I would never cave in to people like this. It sounds like they are professionals. Unless they have money and are willing to risk it, more than likely they will do nothing. As another poster stated, the only thing I would do is tell them: have your attorney contact me. Anything else, I would probably ignore. As Joel Owens states, : no legal advice given! I only "play" a  lawyer on BP:)

exactly, don;t stress over anything that " might" happen. statistics show that 80% of what we worry about never comes to pass anyway. no, you do not need a lawyer to counter sue. in fact, if it comes to it, all you are trying to do by counter suing them is to stop their suit. people like this usually are all talk and no action anyway. keep us all posted. 

sure sounds like a tenant from hell. but here are a few things to think about. number 1, they are not your tenants any more, so the court will not look favorable upon them. 2nd, read my profile, i am a home inspector here in new york, with mold remediation as a specialty. there are 18 different types of black mold, and ONLY 2 OF THEM ARE TOXIC. so, your chances of having the toxic variety is slim. 3rd, you have to have either very large quanities of black mold and have it be the toxic kind to make it harmful to people, i. e., airborn. 4th, if these tenants are sick from black mold, then why did you have to go thru court to get them out?? if i lived in a house that i believed was making me sick, i wouldn't have to wait for a court to tell me to leave. 5th, they would " settle" for their $1000 back??? really??? when they are going for $7500??? are they not good at math???? if they were " sick from black mold", $1000 is going to make them feel all " warm and fuzzy inside" now???? a judge is going to see that. 6th, get a home inspection. hire an inspector with a mold certification. have him do a complete home inspection WITH testing on anything he feels may be mold. then, take that report back into court with you. thats a professional opinion that will hold more weight in court than anything your former tenant can bring to court. plus, if you are serious about selling the house, you just saved your prospective buyer $400 for their home inspection. lastly, counter sue the people for damages to the house. there is no way that the $1000 will cover all the clean up and damages. you would be surprised how quick they drop their suit when they are hit with one themselves. good luck

I've had this kind of problem with tenants in the past  we always have the housing code inspector cone view the apartment and give us a written report about damages and condition of the unit. Also if there is a complaint after they move out about health issues we have the health department inspect the unit with a written report.  the issue here is if a tenant is threatening  a lawsuit your next step is not to talk with them but to respond such as. I can no longer discuss this with you all correspondence  will be thru my lawyer and your lawyer. Tell them that this is now a legal issue and you have nothing more to say to them. Any thing you say to them about this issue may harm your case so do not discuss this with them any further but ask for the name of their lawyer and phone number to give to your lawyer. This tactic usually stop them from harassing you any further,  Be strong and good luck.

 The boyfriend, I hired him to repair a door, They met and boom, fell in love and he moved in 3 weeks later. Then she started to complain that the carpet was dirty and she shampooed it and then complaining that it was the carpet that was making her sick. So I replaced it with lanoliam floors. She has 3 dogs and 2 cats. they smoked a lot. Then she said it was mole, they kept going in the attic, and they said they took pics of my attic, but I had workers come and they said that there wasn't mold like the way they said and the pics didn't even look like my attic. He does some home repairs too. I couldn't let him continue to work on my house because now he was living there and that made him mad.

When did you discover the prior evictions, before or after you rented to them?

When did you discover the prior evictions, before or after you rented to them?