You should be able to get out of the lease, but you might not be getting that first check back (was it the security deposit?).

SC is tenant-friendly. The landlord/property manager should make a reasonable effort to get the place leased out, and even if they don't, you still might be fine. A judge will side with you in this particular situation in this particular economy. But you can probably kiss that security deposit good-bye.

10/4/2011 6:44:06 AM

Yeah if you're lucky they'll be nice and give it back to you, especially if they're able to rent it out right away. But they're under no obligation to.

10/4/2011 7:55:34 AM

So I filed a complaint of monies owed in small claims court and sent via certified mail the summons to court to the defendant.

The address I had I obtained from some undercover work. Well it turns out the landlord was foreclosed on at the address I had in asheville. She is living somewhere else in the area because I can see where she has paid vehicle tax in the county. How can I legally obtain her address so as to properly serve her summons. Century 21 will not disclose her new whereabouts without her permission. Frankly why would she give permission to allow me to commence a lawsuit.

Is there any way to subpoena the information from Century 21. Alternatively I thought of listing them as a co-defendant since they were acting as "agent" for the landlord and were responsible for the move-out report that led to the basis of my complaint.

11/3/2011 8:13:00 PM

Couldn't you pay the sheriff to deliver the summons? I'm sure they can find her address.

11/3/2011 8:15:44 PM

I can check but I thought you had to have the address for the defendant for the sheriff to give to.

11/3/2011 8:20:17 PM

My parents had to have papers served on someone in Johnston County but similar to your case the dude had changed addresses to allude the courts. My parents had a long talk with one of the sheriffs about the situation and he went ahead and looked up the new address for them and served the papers. Not sure if every sheriff's office is like that but turn up the dramatics on your story and maybe they'll feel bad for you and help you out

11/3/2011 8:33:06 PM

time you're wasting > money you get back.

question is: can you make that amount of money in the same amount of time you're comprehensively spending on pursuing the case?

11/3/2011 8:39:54 PM

Sometimes it stops being about the money

11/3/2011 8:45:28 PM

What does it start becoming?
petty?
worthless?
waste of life?
greed?

Are you promoting goodness in the world by suing this woman?


[Edited on November 3, 2011 at 9:08 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2011 8:55:41 PM

$1300 is worth 1.5 work weeks after taxes. As long as I can serve the summons my case seems pretty slam dunk after meeting with an attorney.

[Edited on November 3, 2011 at 9:23 PM. Reason : k]

11/3/2011 9:22:46 PM

Thread created on:

9/23/2011 2:29:05 PM

Last post
11/3/2011 9:22:46 PM

Quote :

"$1300 is worth 1.5 work weeks after taxes. "

Last time I'm posting. GL and Have fun.

11/3/2011 10:09:14 PM

Lol i don't spend all day on this. Just time when i can!

11/3/2011 10:16:48 PM

General note: This isn't a slam on Genius or anything at all... but if you are serious about any of this, you should really go in and speak to a lawyer. Most small-firm lawyers won't charge if you just call them up and want to ask them a couple questions.

Under $5000 is perfectly worth it for filing the case in small claims, but as Genius pointed out, it's not worth your time if you have to split your ruling between you and a lawyer. If you have to pay a lawyer a little bit for his/her time in setting your case up initially, it might be worth it, but don't pay for representation.

---

HUR, you have to ask yourself what waiting around is going to accomplish. As said above, if you're serious about wanting legal advise, go to a lawyer not TWW. As far as who you should go after, I think that there is a way you can look in your lease agreement and determine if there was shared responsibility over the unit and sue the other party. In other words, if someone "owned" the rental property, but Central 21 handled the renting/leasing of the unit, you could go after the local Central 21 office on the basis that the other party responsible "skipped out on you". All you have to do is prove that you made a "reasonable attempt" to serve the owner with papers.

Either way, Genius is right... you need to get the lead out. Back in September it sounded like you knew everything you needed to know to bring this to court. What it's taken you this long is a mystery to me.

11/4/2011 9:02:56 AM

Thanks for the advice.

Yes i was ready at the end of the September to take this matter to court. By early October the lawyer I consulted found an address for this woman. I waited until the end of October to file my paper work since I figured there was no rush since the statue of limitation is for 3 years on these types of matter. Only after i started my claim and sent out my summons to court via registered mail did I find out that the address I had was now vacated.

Unbeknown to even Century 21. What is odd is that in the Buncombe county tax records there never was a listed owner for this address in the 3 years it has been there.

11/4/2011 6:50:30 PM

Quote :

"statue of limitation"

i hope you lose solely because of this.

[Edited on November 7, 2011 at 1:29 PM. Reason : .]

11/7/2011 1:29:46 PM

^^ I would think Century 21 is still getting money from this person and thus would know how to contact her. They don't work for free.

11/7/2011 1:50:57 PM

Quote :

"According to my lease Century 21 is defined as "The Agent" who acts on behalf of the landlord regarding matters with the property. Also in the Security Deposit section, the lease explicitly says that the security deposit stays in the ownership of "The Agent" Century 21. The move-out reconciliation report was also created using a Century 21 maintenance person."

Quote :

"After move-out despite our hard efforts to clean the place. We are informed that Century 21 is taking our entire $1025 deposit and claiming an additional $400. This figure was derived by the maintenance coordinator..."

Quote :

"The $400 will be sent a to a collection agency via Century 21 for my failure to pay."

Quote :

"I have written a dispute, filed a complaint on the maintenance coordinator, and dealt with an internal mediator within Century 21. As the mediator informed me, she can only act as the landlord tells her when all is said and done."

I really don't understand why you can't sue both the owner and Century 21 (ie take the advice from the first reply ITT). I mean I get that the property owner is ultimately the one you would get your money from, but if you haven't had any contact with the owner then how do you know C21 isn't keeping the money? Also, WTF kind of mediation is that? The whole point of "mediation" is that it supposed to be a 3rd party with no bias, or am I reading that last quote wrong?

I feel like if it were me I'd first get an official document from C21 that says that they will not disclose the owner's information and then file the claim against both the owner and C21.

Quote :

"§ 42-55. Remedies. If the landlord or the landlord's successor in interest fails to account for and refund the balance of the tenant's security deposit as required by this Article, the tenant may institute a civil action to require the accounting of and the recovery of the balance of the deposit. The willful failure of a landlord to comply with the deposit, bond, or notice requirements of this Article shall void the landlord's right to retain any portion of the tenant's security deposit as otherwise permitted under G.S. 42-51. In addition to other remedies at law and equity, the tenant may recover damages resulting from noncompliance by the landlord; and upon a finding by the court that the party against whom judgment is rendered was in willful noncompliance with this Article, such willful noncompliance is against the public policy of this State and the court may award attorney's fees to be taxed as part of the costs of court."

Quote :

"§ 42-56. Application of Article. The provisions of this Article shall apply to all persons, firms, or corporations engaged in the business of renting or managing residential dwelling units, excluding single rooms, on a weekly, monthly or annual basis."

Quote :

"(3) "Landlord" means any owner and any rental management company, rental agency, or any other person having the actual or apparent authority of an agent to perform the duties imposed by this Article."

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?Chapter=0042

Quote :

"If you are suing a business, you must find out if it is a corporation or not. If the business is a corporation, you list the correct name of the corporation as the defendant. Your complaint and summons must go to the "registered agent" of the corporation, or to an officer, director, or managing agent of the corporation. If the business is not a corporation, you list the owners of the business as the defendants. "

http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/data/district12r/SmallClaims/smallclaimscourtguide.html

11/8/2011 8:51:00 AM

Quote :

"I waited until the end of October to file my paper work since I figured there was no rush since the statue of limitation is for 3 years on these types of matter."

A 'Statute of Limitations' exists in the event you discover wrong-doing by someone a year or so after the event occured so that you still have legal recourse. That three years isn't there so you can drag your feet and get around to filing whenever you want.

Time to put your big-girl pants on, sweetie. If you want to take someone to court, then get your shit together and take them to court. All of these woes you are expressing about not being able to find the original landlord (which I tend to agree with wolfpackgrrr... there are ways to find this person) make me wonder if you would have had an easier time locating people had you filed the case way-back-when you knew you had been done wronged in September.

11/8/2011 8:59:43 AM

a friend in North Carolina is moving out of an apartment complex, as are all residents, because the complex is being demolished. the tenants are being told that if any damages in the units exceed the amount of the security deposit, they'd be responsible for paying the difference. even though the property is being torn down. is this legal?

4/28/2023 7:17:05 PM

It certainly should be! I say let the (former) residents help with demolition in any way they see fit on the way out the door. Unless maybe the plan is to strip the apartments of valuable parts with some non-trivial resale value.

4/29/2023 7:59:15 AM

Quote :

"a friend in North Carolina is moving out of an apartment complex, as are all residents, because the complex is being demolished. the tenants are being told that if any damages in the units exceed the amount of the security deposit, they'd be responsible for paying the difference. even though the property is being torn down. is this legal?"

That is normal procedure. There should not really be any concern unless they have damaged it in some way. LL is probably just trying to keep everyone from being heathen when they leave and trashing them and stealing the appliances.

4/11/2024 8:38:52 PM

GeniuSxBoY

Quote :

"TheDuke likes to start drama for no reason. He's one of the types of people that would get into a fight without thinking things through. He's one of the types that would pull the trigger because he was butthurt for 5 seconds in his life, without thinking about the fact he'd go to jail for the rest of his life. "

Epilogue:

The pedophile who accused me of lacking the judgment and restraint to avoid going to jail...went to jail.

Get fucked, douchebag.

[Edited on October 27, 2024 at 10:21 PM. Reason : ]

10/27/2024 10:17:40 PM

Got 'em!

10/27/2024 11:20:57 PM

Ha, this was a great thread to read through. Then my ass showed up posting shit I don't remember. My story had a happy ending... they let me out of the lease and refunded the check

10/29/2024 12:17:13 AM

Laff

11/1/2024 8:42:07 AM