Question by sally p: Is this a fair letter to attempt an out of court small claims settlement ?
I’ve had to delete some personal info for this ANSWERS request to protect myself until I decide whether to pass the letter along. I could really use your help
I am required to ask you for a settlement before filing our suit. I will put in a call to Mrs ____ this weekend asking for the settlement of ,000 but she will probably hang up on me so I need to put this in writing and I’m sure as the responsible (?) landlord/manager that you are, you will get word to her. I’ve been advised by legal counsel to expose you to the media so I will call my friend ——- @ —- Channel 3 who handles consumer affairs as well as the ——- Journal in the week coming up if we don’t come to an agreement. I have no other address than ———- Builders to send reporter ——– to, so unfortunately her report will possibly make association with you to this home improvement company. I will of course make no verbal derogatory statements but turn over all the damaging documents I have, including a daily diary dating from June 25th. (personal legal counsel advise note) - With regards to your drug using neighbors, the only thing you can do is talk to your landlord and state that you are willing to stand up in court and testify to the fact that the tenants are meth users. That if any accidents happen in the dwelling as a result of them being meth users the landlord could be held negligently liable for not evicting the tenant when they were on notice through you and the other neighbors of their drug habits. ( I’ve submitted 3 letters with specifics of ——— peering in our windows @ 3 am in the morning) ——–has indicated that he has found syringe drug needs outside their garbage cans as well as porn where children have access. I have also emailed you about being threatened by —– in regards to dodging a bullet and kicking the barrier we put up to keep ——— away.
According to the California Tenants handbook of rights you could have given —- and ——- a 3 day notice after getting these detailed letters as you requested to evict due to Substantially interfering with other tenants (“committed a nuisance”). But you chose not to evict so are in violation of implied warranty of habitability. It also took you over 40 days to respond to mold and mildew of the carpet even though it was inspected 3 times by you and was put in writing the necessity to take immediate action by the plumber ——– ——– and Stanley Steemer Company. Now that the carpet and tack strips have been ripped out it is exposing asbestos tiles with dust. There as not even been an attempt for a quick fix to seal the broken tiles with emulsion for protection. The room has been inhabitable for 2 months. Again, you are in violation of are in violation of implied warranty of habitability. You were aware of ——– compromised immune system and we have sent a doctors letter stating this fact. Another letter is to follow due to the stress of living in a situation of constant harassment and false accusations by neighbor ——– ——-. You have done nothing to address the front carpet room, you have not fixed or replaced the sliding doors to the hallway closet as promised (and maintenance man ——— ——— has promised to do). You have not sealed the holes in the bathroom where the water break came through, so we are infested with pests. You promised to exterminate properly and have not done so. You lied to ——– and —– and told them we had no pest problems because we set off bug bombs. This is not true and if we were to act on such a fix, we would have planned to leave for a full weekend. ——— doctor will testify that you have put him in a dangerous health situation and have not offered to move us while the work was corrected but nothing has been done. We feel we have been discriminated against since I passed along word from —– —- that he was told you have a reputation as a slum lord. Don’t hold it against me… I’m just the messenger. That allegation came from his contact with neighbors in the area. You were to take before and after pictures of the apartment so you could claim any issues with deposit deductions but the pictures were never taken. We are being generous in only claiming ,000 in negligence and damages to make allowances for us to move as soon as possible so I hope you will respond in a timely manner or I will file the claim on Wednesday August 26th and contact the media the very same day. By the way, the —— County Judge signed a restraining order on Friday and was taken aback by you ignoring our pleas. ——– will be served with a restraining order on Monday August 24th. When —— brought the order paper work in Friday with the witness letters, the head of the sheriff’s department happened to be at the station and read the letters. He said we should sue you for much, much more because of your negligence and you are a prime example of why there are so many meth add
Best answer:
Answer by Feisty
It’s a little confusing. You are also threatening him (her?) by going to the media and that may be a problem. You should probably check with your attorney.
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Remember this letter can be admitted into evidence in the small claims court case; so when you threaten to expose the landlord to media unless they hand over 5K, this is not a legal settlement offer, and could be used against you
You need to keep it simple to the facts that support your request of 5K from landlord, damages need proof like pictures, receipts etc, negligence is a whole different animal, small claim judges just do not award those penalties absent an intentional/ egregious act by the landlord
Don’t say, “you will be served”, just serve them. Don’t repeat anything that will aggravate them (“slumlord”, “probably hang up on me”, etc).
Just state the facts and what you want done (“We have been damaged by your neglect and violations of law. You have been advised that you owe us $5,000. Therefore, we expect payment of $5,000 by close of business on September 3, 2009″). Do not include any threats (of legal actions or going to the media) or descriptions of “what will happen” if they don’t pay. It will be obvious to anyone reading a good letter that you have stated the necessary facts, in view of the law, and that they had better pay or something bad could happen (i.e., they get sued).
Note that anything you say in the letter can and will be used against you in court, including any admissions, omissions, and threats.
Say only what needs to be said and followup with further details if necessary. Make reference to specific dates when they agreed to things or were required to do things. List your damages and the total.