i rented a condo with previous landlord and moved out in Nov 2016. during move out inspection, landlord claimed everywhere is dirty, even we hired a professional lady for a move out cleaning and carpet cleaning.
the landlord withhold $300 of my security deposit without given anything, no receipt or explanation. He knew i flew out of the country after moved out.
I contacted Maryland attorney general for help and landlord replied AG that he even want to send me bills for the repainting of the walls. that's ridiculous.
Now i'm back and last year , Oct 2019, just before the three years after i moved out, i filed a case against my previous landlord for the deposit withhold, i filed it a bit late because I was trying to find out where landlord now lives now to send the court notice to. and eventually decided to put property management address when initially filed the case. I had a hearing date in Dec 2019 for sometime in Feb .
later i received a letter from court saying the hearing date was cancelled due to unable to serve the notice. then I decide to use the address on the public search. this time i used a sheriff to service the notice. and this time it was properly served.
yesterday i received a letter saying landlord file a motion to dismiss the case due to the fact that it's beyond 3 years. but I filed the case in Oct 2019, within 3 year period. and if he want to send the bill of wall repainting, why he want to dismiss it.
my question is, the website shows landlord already filed a motion to dismiss. must I do anything to stop it from being dismissed? we already have a hearing date in March. what form shall i use to prevent it from being dismissed at this stage.
thanks