Hello,
I'm glad I found this site. There seems to be a lot of knowledge here so I'm hoping I can get some good advice so here goes my long winded story:
This is regarding the State of WI if it matters. Sorry if it's in the wrong place.
We are renting a residence on 1 acre of land with outbuildings. The lease began Oct. 1, 2005 and is slated to terminate September 30, 2006. The monthly rent is $950 and upon execution of the lease, they took an additional $950 as security. Our lease clearly has a paragraph entitling us to "Quiet Enjoyment" of the entire premises. Well so far this hasn't been the case. The landlords manage several property and are treating this place as theor personal playground. Since virtually day one, they come and go all hours of the day and night. There is a pole barn that is on the back of the property that they use for personal storage. When they come in to work on their cars, vacuum their cars, fix ATV's, etc. they use the lights and electricity in the oubuillding which is run off the box inside out house. (I have photos of them doing these things) Then when they "re-applicnced" some of their other properties, they dumped the old appliances here and left them all winter. (I have photos of these too) They have also used the land to rip around on their 4 wheelers, disturbing both us AND the neighbors (who are also getting thoroughly annoyed) and I've even caught them doing this on film as well. None of this was part of our lease. I've made casual mention that it isn't very considerate but it's fallen on deaf ears.
As if this wasn't bad enough... the plot thickens.
Back in March/April/May, we experienced a few periods of steady rainfall and every week or so when it rained, the basement would flood. As a result, I'd be down there after work with me shop vac sucking up 20+ gallons of water each time, a task that took hours at times. We had personal belongings stored down there but thankfully when we moved in, there were pallets in the basement and we put out things on there. As a result of the last few wooden stairs being underwater, they are turning black which I can only assume is mold. I wrote a letter in April informing the landlord of this issue. I sent it Certified
Mail. Got the receipt a few days later and then a few days after that, a phone call from my landlord. He assured me someone would be out to look at it and it would be fixed ASAP. Well nobody came out, because if they did, I'd imagine they'd need to see the basement and nobody ever asked for permission to enter, and here we are 2 months later and the problem still hasn't been addressed and it's flooded 2 or 3 more times since I wrote the letter.
Also, I had to plow the driveway all winter and cut the grass thus far this spring because nobody from the landlord's crew seemed too eager to come out and address these needs. The lease doesn't state one way or the other whose responsibility these items were but I figured I'd toss it in here.
Well since all this has happened, we began the process of finding our own home to buy. We found one and are closing in a few weeks. On May 31, I mailed another certified letter letting them know that we intended to be fully vacated and have the place cleaned within 60 days, so basically July 31st. This is 2 months early according to our lease.
Based on advice I've received from a friend, my intention was this:
Be vacated and clean the place. When we are finished, take more photos and even perhaps a video of the condition we are leaving the property.
Write them another certified mailing on July 31st, sending them the keys, a forwarding address, and a letter asking for the return of my security deposit which in this state they have 21 days to return after I surrender the premises.
I do not intend to pay for the remaining 2 months (Aug and Sept) based on the things mentioned above. I feel we've been deprived of one or all of the following:
- Implied Warranty of Habitability
- Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment
- Constructive Eviction
I have done some background checking on these folks and it seems that a majority of them and their tenants end up in court. I'm assuming that they are going to come after me for the 2 months rent I don't intend to pay.
So here are my questions:
In general, do you think I have a decent chance of winning if and presumably when this ends up in small claims court?
Is there anything else I should be doing to cover my bases? I think I have taken some decent precautions to defend myself but more minds are better than one.
Am I correctly informed in assuming that if they withhold my security deposit and I do end up winning that I can counter for double damages as a result of them wrongfully withholding it?
Thanks in advance for any advice and/or feedback!
<small>[ June 08, 2006, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: JDA302 ]</small>