Security Deposit Case Won, some extra questions legaladvice

I recently found a lawyer and I filed with his help a case against my landlord (MA, USA) to get my security deposit back. The reason I wanted a lawyer was because

1. The landlord is a pain to deal with and super old and I didnt want to mess this up. I also thought (incorrectly) that the landlord would have to have a lawyer because the house is owned by an LLC
2. I was charged a 'guest fee' every month that was bogus for having friends over and for not wanting to have housemates. The house was in a great area, cheap rent and had more than 1 bedroom and I wanted to live alone. It was cheaper to stay there then to find a 1 bedroom. Total bogus fee paid: $300
3. The house was run down and the landlord wanted me to pay for the roof leaking when Boston was hit with a bunch of snow/ice in Feb and caused everyones roofs to get heavy. I could have and should have gotten an inspection done on the place.
4. I moved out on Feb 15 and agreed with the people taking over the lease that they would pay for 1/2 of Feb. They were going to reimburse me for 1/2 of Feb and instead the landlord decided to get involved and took 10 days to approve the new tenants (he did no official testing during this time) and the landlord returned 4 days of rent to me instead. Money lost: $733
5. My lease had white out in the important areas and was whited-out by the landlord post my signature. The end date was wrong by 1 year and ended before it even began.
6. On a paper, separate from the lease, with no references to it from the lease or signature, there is an addendum to the lease that states that all the appliances are the tenant's responsibility. While I was there, the refrigerator, the dishwasher and washing machine and dryer, that were all there in place before I moved in died. They were all super old. I replaced them all with great modern machines. I was an idiot for not realizing that I could have made the landlord at least replace the fridge. I got the new tenants to pay a small fraction of what it cost me.
   
7. I never got the security deposit back from the landlord at all: $2200

Due to the weird non-legit lease I was on, the guest fee and all the other factors, I hired a local lawyer. The lawyer saw my case as open and shut and delayed filing for 3 months. He finally replied and said he was so embarrassed by his tardiness that he didnt want to respond. He decided to keep the case simple and just go after the security deposit, not the guest fee or the 10 days of rent or the appliances or the run-downess of the place. Of course, once we filed, after waiting another 6 weeks, we had our day in small claims court and we won. Landlord claimed he returned the deposit 32 days after I moved out but that is already late and actually he never sent a check.

I just got the check for the security deposit (x3 for treble damages), most of the lawyers fees and the filing fee. The court made a mistake on the interest and i lost about $100 in that mistake. I end up paying out of pocket, about $400 to the lawyer that were not covered in the settlement.

In total I paid,

• $733 for 10 days of rent that i shouldnt have
• $300 bogus guest fee
• $400 to the lawyer
• $100 in interest due to the court mistake

TOTAL $1533 + appliances

I won $4400 from the case but after you subtract what I lost, how much did I really gain? Part of the reason I went with a lawyer was for them to take all this on and I feel a bit silly now having used a lawyer for the little we did take on.

Lesson learned for the future for sure. Is there any part of what I lost that I can recover? What if I passed a motion for mistake the court made? If I tell the lawyer to do it, i will not make any money. Any other mistakes that you can see as what I should have or have not done?

Submitted October 21, 2015 at 07:39AM by jenni5 http://ift.tt/1LmW5oo legaladvice