Northern California.
So, we left this place we were renting over 1 1/2 years ago, almost exactly 1 1/2 years. We had some problems which I will discuss further down.
We figured this was all said and done. We never heard from them again. Our phone numbers and emails are the same, and they never tried to contact us. (though most contact that wasn't face to face was via email prior to moving).
Tonight, we are at a restaurant, with our 10 year old child. Near the end of dinner this larger blond girl approaches our table and ask if we are (name withheld) and (name withheld). We said yes, and she threw a summons on the table and said, and I quote with a filter "You've been served a**holes, you F'ed my parents". Talk about class. Embarressing for us, and in front of our child.
So apparrently there is still a problem. The court date is 6 days from now, so I'm filing for an extension since I'm supposed to have 15.
Here was the situation:
We leased the place for $1600/month, with a $1600/deposit. A list of items was added to the lease including finishing the upstairs bathroom, fixing the back deck, putting a fence in, and several other items I can't remember. None of those things were finished, or done the whole time we were there. In addition, we had one working smoke alarm downstairs, even though I asked for the legal amount to be put in (we had a wood stove for heat). The smoke alarms were finally put in the week we left.
We had some trouble with the electricity company with a past bill when we moved in, so they put it in their name until we could clear it up. Heres where one of the main problems started. Our first bill was about $800 bucks. Now, we average $250 on a larger house and about $120 - $150 on a smaller house. Since the other two houses they owned were on the property, we suspected it was all wired in together. They verified that the other house was on the bill, and lowered us to $600. Our average bill was about $500/month the 6 months we were there. We did eventually get the PG&E In our name, and the bills were still high. We went on serious energy rations, and had only 1 light, 1 computer and 1 tv on at any time, and the bill never changed. The landlord even commented on how dark our house was all time.
We were late on the rent a few times due to this, but not super late, no notices or anything.
Eventually, when none of the agreed upon items were being completed that were supposed to be completed within the first month, We finally told them we were going to withhold rent until the important items were done (including a chimney sweep since we got a dirty wood stove when we moved in and it had caught on fire a couple of times. remember, still no smoke alarms). They retaliated with a 3 day notice. It was a 3 day notice to pay rent, not pay or quit, nothing about just moving, or anything, just a notice saying we needed to pay rent (is this legal?).
After a bunch of back and forth, the property manager said that she and the owner agreed to settle this with us by agreeing to leave within 30 days and forfeiting our deposit. Well, we left. 30 days later, we had most of our stuff out, but didn't have a truck for the few items remaining for about 3 more days. We never fully vacated, or turned in the keys, and we showed up to the doors and garage being padlocked with a big note saying why. We had to get a deputy to go to their house to let us in to get the rest.
That was the last we heard of any of that until today.
Any opinions, ideas, questions?
Dave

