Shady landlords ordeal

[lolcantturn]

During the summer, I split property rent with my good friend on here so that we can have a place to work on our cars. It was a decent sized lot, landlords had no real issues with us working on our cars besides keep it tidy and no spills, no problem there.
The problem is that in the beginning when we first rented the place, neither me or my friend had time to write a formal contract for the rent, and upon submitting our first month's rent we didn't receive receipts for it either (or the following month's rent). Rookie mistake of course. But we thought we were in good hands because our landlords were a retired married couple who both came off extremely trustworthy and nice- we didn't think it was ever going to be a problem.
Summer comes to a close and we give them a 2 weeks notice that we will not be renting out the property after September. Upon this, they put a huge trailer in the way of the lot that we are currently renting which causes a big problem when I wanted to roll my fenders on my E30 - I had no place to do it, and they were coming up with excuses as to why the trailer was there ("My brother needed a place to store his trailer.." etc)
I was pissed but I had no time to deal with it since I was already moving away to school.

The two weeks go by and on September 15th we were supposed to receive our security deposit back, $165. They gave us an EXTREMELY hard time, coming up with multiple excuses as to why they shouldn't have to ggive our money back, even threatening that they will "have their lawyer" speak to us if we don't stop hassling them about it. Now I'm not 14 years old, the lawyer thing was of course just a scare tactic.

Now I'm not sure what to do and we're out $165, which isn't tooooo much money, but I don't like being swindled without some form of justice.

Any tips?

[DEV0 E30]

Simple. You either spend a lot of energy to get back the money, or you think of it as gone forever.

To get it back, have someone who actually has some legal expertise to draft up the request for the money and have you and your friend sign it. This may be a decent enough reverse scare tactic to get it back, but also may be a waste of time. You didn't have anything signed to begin with, so it's your word vs theirs. If there is no proof that really this deal ever happened since your cars aren't there, it's not at all in your favor. You've learned (without too much expense) to always have everything signed, in writing, and preferably notarized. If money leaves your hands, there should be documentation on what that money goes to.

I spend more on my monthly cable bill. I'd just move on.

Any tips?

[BraveUlysses]

Did you and the landlord do a walk through checklist before and after moving out? they can't charge you anything (other than cleaning fees) if they didn't do the checklist. If you didn't do a checklist remind them of what your state's laws are regarding security deposits and that you can and will take them to small claims court if necessary..

Some states allow you to collect money beyond the security deposit for any landlords who try to abuse this.

[MrSlacker]

Should have signed a contract. There is nothing you can do legally

[agent]

I spend more on my monthly cable bill. I'd just move on.

This. You're out $82.50 each.

If neither of you signed anything on the front end and didn't receive (or demand) receipts for your payments, you don't have any legal recourse.

[LJ851]

[Farbin Kaiber]

I could be wrong, and maybe I'm mixing you up for someone else, but didn't we all warn you against renting a garage from a nice old lady?

[fronton]

Gratefully move on. $82.50 is an extremely cheap way to learn this lesson. An attorney would charge $200 just to give you this advice.

[Roysneon]

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I feel like it involves rape or fire, but likely both.

[jhaurimn]

Gratefully move on. $82.50 is an extremely cheap way to learn this lesson. An attorney would charge $200 just to give you this advice.

Thisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

[delatlanta1281]

Small claims court. Trust me, this claim is too small. Walk away, learn a valuable lesson in renting.

[Wh33lhop]

How the fuck is your deposit $165... around here it's ten times that

Do Devo's suggestion, then just move on if it doesn't work. An $80 lesson is NOTHING. To contrast, I just learned a $5k lesson, and I am not exactly swimming in cash. That is 1.5 S54s, down the drain. Be happy you are not out a whole lot more.

[fronton]

That is 1.5 S54s, down the drain. Be happy you are not out a whole lot more.

You know you are an e30 enthusiast when you count money in units of S engines.

[illest318i]

Just let it go man. I don't think you can do much anyways.

I'd say the least you can do is take a humongous shit, don't flush and just move on. Take that as a learning life experience.

[Nick_S]

lolcantrent