I Couldn’t Help But Laugh
One summer, I subleased a room from my friend while he did an internship. His roommates were also out of town for the entire summer, but they still paid rent and their portion of utilities. At the end of my sublease, I cleaned the house, moved my stuff out, and turned in the key. Three months later, to my surprise, I was served with a lawsuit for over $5,000.
I couldn’t believe it. They claimed that I had left behind excessive damage, so I sent them a letter demanding an itemized list of all the fees I was being sued for. When I got the list, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was absolutely fabricated. For example, they charged me a $500 “chandelier cleaning charge,” a $300 “chandelier maintenance fee,” and then a $700 “chandelier replacement charge.”
So, $1,500 to clean, maintain, and then throw away a chandelier? Nope. They so obviously fluffed their expenses, even charging me $25 to replace a lightbulb and $750 for two hours of “lawn maintenance,” which was in the lease as the responsibility of the landlord! It turns out they filed separate lawsuits against each of us.
They were suing us for $25,000, which is crazy because there couldn’t have been more than $1,000 in expenses—and this would have been easily covered by our security deposit. But there was something about me they didn’t know.
I work for my city’s housing department, so I sent them a response on my office letterhead. In my letter, I told them that I refuse to pay for the ridiculously exaggerated damages they claimed.
I said that they could come and get me if they wanted to try. I never got a response, but they did drop the suit. I promptly advised the city to deny them any future contracts.
Story credit: Reddit