THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407280426
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Landlords and Tenants
SOURCE: William Mazel and Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
How much time do I have to sue former tenants for damges inflicted on the single-family property I rented to them?
I recently had some tenants in my rental home for two years when they suddenly started falling behind in their rent. After they were three months in arrears, I sued them and obtained possession of my property.
When my tenants moved out, I could no longer get in touch with them, even after calling their references and next of kin.
I had to spend several thousand dollars to repair the property. The bathroom floor, for instance, needed fixing because the tenants apparently let the water run in the tub till it overflowed. The bathtub itself was caked with dirt, as if the tenants had grown plants in it.
In the kitchen, the tenants must have let grease burn and smoke on the stove because the nearby cabinets were blackened and even a little charred.
My friends tell me I forfeited my right to recover for damages because I did not send a notice to the tenants listing the damage within 30 days of their departure. Is this true?
Your friends are wrong. You made every effort to notify the tenants of the damages.
Furthermore, your rental holdings consist of only one single-family residence. As a result, you have three years, for oral leases, and five years, for written leases, to file suit to collect your damages.
You should go to the General District Court in your locality and swear out a civil warrant. If you can show proof of your losses in court, you should be able to win a judgment against your former tenants.
You can then collect on the judgement, provided you can find the tenants and they have assets. Unfair apartment rent
I recently moved into an apartment and found that the $550 monthly rent I agreed to pay is $75 a month more than the rent for other tenants in the complex. I also found that someone who signed a lease a week after I did also pays less in rent.
Is there anything in the law that requires landlords to charge equal rent? All the apartment units are identical, and my location is no better or worse than the others.
It doesn't seem fair that I should pay more. What can I do?
Your situation certainly does not seem fair. Still, in this country, everyone is free to negotiate with each other if they want to buy, sell, rent or lease property.
If renters find themselves in a bad or unfair deal, they reall have no one to blame but themselves. The one exception is if the landlord is discriminating against the tenant or others based on race, religion or creed.
The Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Act was designed to protect tenants in many circumstnces. Still, it does not cover negotiations before a rental contract is drafted. Also, some states have rent controls, but Virginia does not.
You might want to consider complaining to the rental agent, saying you think the situation is unfair. This might not do any good now, but it would let the agent know you are unhappy and are likely to move out at the end of the lease.
Granted, it's hard to move from one apartment to another. But this seems to be your only option if the landlord refuses to reduce your rent to what other tenants are paying. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. and William Mazel are real estate lawyers based in
Norfolk. Send comments and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510.
by CNB