I need legal advise (civil matter)

[JSD]

Deposit means its your dude. It supplants the opportunity cost of a months rent.

If I were you and you want to mend the friendship I would offer him half back... I would probably just keep it and tell him to screw though.

Right, but he's not willing to give me any money because "he put nothing in writing" so unless I take him to court I get nothing apparently... I'm really baffled and hurt by all of this. I'm amazed at how incredibly selfish people are in this world.

[indeedproceed]

I had a roommate in a 8 person house (this was college) skip out 1 day into the second semester or a year lease. Her rent was 2000, our security deposit was 4000. She owed money for utilities too, and cable.

She said she couldn't do school anymore, her parents didn't have the money. Promised to pay, said she talked to the landlord, and she'd handle it. She didn't do any of those things, but we thought it was fine until just before we moved out. We ended up having her rent check out or our deposit, and each ponying into the utilities. Between damage to the house (it was a big 8 person house, myself and 2 roommates played rugby, piece it together) and her rent, we owed $100 bucks each to teh landlord, or we were $2700 in on what would've been a 4000 sec deposit, we would've gotten 1300 back between 7 people. Not a lot of money (like ur talking, but factor in the utilities, and the $100 we each had to pony up after, we got from each getting back $185 to being out like $350 each)

She came up once that semester after she left, she stayed in her old room with her bf (who was rugby alumni, and used to play rugby), told us everything was fine. then we found out.

Next year she came up with her bf again for alumni weekend, we told her boyfriend he could stay with us (by then I was living in a 2 br condo with my gf), but said she had to go home. She wasn't welcome at any house of anyone I knew (they stuck by me), or any of the parties or the tournament.

Id known her for 3 years as a good friend. If she had come to all of us and fessed up that she was screwing us, and that she was sorry, I have no doubt we would've been mad, and eventually gotten over it. We found out later that she lied to the landlord and told him she had told us, and we said we'd find someone else to live there. Its not about the money, its about how you treat people. Make your own choices with your friend, but I'd forget about the money for a minute and figure out how you think he handled himself, that's more important. In the end, I doubt you see any of the money even if you sue him anyways.

[Champzilla]

Just beat him up and take his money.

[Moranis]

I'm not familiar with the law in your state, but most states leases don't have to be in writing, so you are probably ok there.  As to your damages, you should be able to collect your actual damages, which in this case is likely only lost rent and any bank charges if the check is cancelled (though if you now have two rents/mortgages when you should only have one, you might be able to recoup that as well).  A lot of states limit the total number of months you can collect damages to 2 months or less (some states as long as you make a good faith effort that period is longer), and you do have an obligation to mitigate your damages i.e. find a new tenant.  

Ultimately the real question is it worth suing and forever ending the friendship (which as has been pointed out in this thread is why you should never mix business with pleasure).  This is also why you should get things in writing, because damages are written in to leases and what not.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

IMO if he's a true friend you'd easily let it go with no questions asked. You said you had lots of people showing a ton of interest in the place anyways so it's not like demand it non-existent.

[JSD]

IMO if he's a true friend you'd easily let it go with no questions asked. You said you had lots of people showing a ton of interest in the place anyways so it's not like demand it non-existent.

"Easily" let $1250 go with no questions asked huh? Can you and me start hanging out? You sound like the kind of friend I need 

[indeedproceed]

there is one of those kinds of people born every minute. PT Barnum said that.

I think forgiveness is not out of the question, even if you don't see the money, but that's only if he treated you like a man and like a friend. You don't forgive people that wouldn't ask for it.

[JSD]

there is one of those kinds of people born every minute. PT Barnum said that.

I think forgiveness is not out of the question, even if you don't see the money, but that's only if he treated you like a man and like a friend. You don't forgive people that wouldn't ask for it.

What if I told you he acted like he was doing nothing wrong "I can see how I cost you time not money... I didn't do this on purpose" he even had the audacity to play the victim "you would take $500.. you know I have a baby on the way" 

This isn't the first time he's let me or others down and money aside I would love to teach him a lesson. I honestly think that If I sued him and won I could be friends with him again. I feel like he needs to be taught to have honor and to be a "man of your word"

[indeedproceed]

He may need a lesson, but I will guarantee you all the tommy points in the world that if you sue him, you'll realize it was never worth the effort.

I will double that amount of tommy points on a bet that he won't learn any lesson, even if you win. You say you've had a problem with him before? All suing him will do is cement you as a tyrant of sorts that's oppressing him, probably one of many 'tyrants' he percieves. Let me take a guess about this guy: He complains a lot about messes he probably got himself into in the first place. He may have bad luck or whatever, but I imagine he's always crying about someone screwing him over.

I also bet he talks a lot about beating people up, but rarely if ever does it.

EDIT: And he's gonna bring up his kid on the way? A man wouldn't use his unborn child as leverage.

[Redz]

There are definite limits to the following theory of mine, but I definitely have come around to the notion that there are certain financial discrepancies where it's worth cutting your losses and moving on.  The peace of mind of not having to deal with a confrontation and the inherent stress, is a small price to pay.

Again, I'm not saying this applies to your situation and your position, I just know that I've been in similar ordeals, and had to take a deep breath, cut a check, and be done with it. Being right has nothing to do with it (and I know that sucks).

The amount of money you are talking about is definitely more than you would leave lying on the sidewalk, but it's not enough that it's going to mean the difference between a happy retirement or a not-so happy retirement.

Tough call.

Sorry you have to deal with it.  I hate crap like that.

[beantownboy171]

I don't see how you could let it slide. And if you feel like you couldn't get past it and still be friends with him. I'd take him to court.

[GroverTheClover]

First off, I'm not a lawyer, I'm merely in law school with a year of Property under my belt so take this for what it's worth. This in no way shape or form constitutes personalized legal advice. Rather, it's just what I remember from first year.

If the apartment is located within Massachusetts, then it sounds like you have a created a tenancy-at-will (i.e. month to month/oral non-written lease without a definite length). Per the Statute of Frauds, if your oral lease  wasn't for a definite term of 1 or more years, your lease is still enforceable as if it were a written lease. From what you've stated, the lease was going on a month to month basis, which closely resembles a tenancy-at-will, meaning that although it's not in writing, it may still be enforceable.

However, if one party backs out (i.e. breaches the oral agreement), the non-breaching party (i.e. you) has a duty to mitigate, which basically means you can't sit back and wait for the rent to total up all the while knowing that your friend can't make it up to you and sue him for the entire balance.

Ultimately, it seems like taking the $500 from him seems fair, in my (non-legal) opinion. However, if he does in fact cancel the check, if I were you I'd try to recover the money in small claims court.

[BigDanz2000]

Jsaad my advice to you would be to walk away from it all.  I know that is a tough thing to do but I think in the long run it is probably the better move and the smart move.  I understand the amount of stress this situation is causing you, monetarily and with it being a friend.  But if you take all things into consideration then I believe you will start to lean towards not trying to recover any of the money you probably should be awarded. 

If what you say is true and that he has done things in the past to screw over friends, than you taking him to court and trying to win a civil case against him wont really teach him any lesson.  I believe he will just continue to do what he has done all along and that is to take advantage of his friends.  Its a shame that a supposed friend would do that to you and think he should be let off the hook for that very reason, but there might be a time when he finally realizes the error of his ways, and offer up a sincere apology, yet then again, he may never. 

I believe you taking him to court will do two things, stress out yourself and your very good looking fiance (Yeah I saw the video) and make things very uncomfortable for yourself and your soon to be former friend whenever you are at a location with mutual friends.  I know you would be the bigger man and just let it slide with him around, but he might not and could try and call you out at any opportunity he can get.  He would rather win judgment and the favor against you in this situation when amongst friends. 

Lastly money isnt everything and $1250 is no pittance but I believe when it comes to peace of mind and who is the bigger man, there is no doubt who that is.  Step away from the anger you have now and just think about if your time and patience is really worth the amount of stress you are going to have to deal with during and after the case is closed. 

Good luck brother with whatever decision you decide on. 

[bdm860]

Hey Jsaad let me ask you this, was this dude in your wedding?  If so what # groomsman was he?  (Just kind of a simple, unscientific way to judge how much you viewed this guy as a friend before all this).

I know some people said to just take the loss, but you comment that it's $1,250 and that's a hard loss to take, but here's another way to look at it - if you didn't take your Craigslist ad down, if you didn't stop showing the condo, are you 100% sure you would have rented it?  Just because you have alot of people looking doesn't guarantee someone will rent, right?  Maybe the people who looked would have wanted it for 7/15 or 8/1, or they'd take the lease home to look over it and never come back.  Mabe someone would have said they liked it and wanted to rent it so you stopped showing the place but then they tried to haggle you down to like $900  for rent and get you to make repairs first and you would have wasted your time with that.  Maybe you would have ended up renting it to the tenants from hell, and they would give you months and months and months of trouble and headaches.

If you take the loss (which would be the easiest, most hassle free way to handle this, even if it sucks) it might help ease the pain somewhat to say there's no guarantee you would have rented it had you kept showing it, so you may not have actually lost anything.  Softens the blow a little I think to look at it this way.

[Roy Hobbs]

A couple questions:

Did the girlfriend ever have any discussions about renting the place with you?  Were there any annotations on her check?  Was it made out to you, to her boyfriend (signed over to you), or to cash?

It's probably irrelevant, but I'm wondering if he'd try a "it wasn't really my money to give" defense at any small claims case.  It shouldn't really matter -- the verbal agreement plus the check (i.e., attempted payment) should be enough -- but you never know what a judge will say.

If he was clever (rather than just sleazy) he'd say that the lease was to be for a year, but you guys couldn't agree on terms.  No, that's not true, but if he claimed it (with no way for you to dispute it) it puts the judge in a tough situation, as generally leases for a year or more have to be in writing.  State law can vary, but it's a pretty strong defense.