Landlord damaged our property while evicting, can we sue in small claims court to get it count against our back rent we owe? (Wisco) legaladvice

My girlfriend and I rented an apartment from an older woman (not like a corporate owned building). She used to work with us on back rent but eventually we were three months behind and she said we would have to move out Dec 1. We agreed but couldn't find a place and she agreed to extend it Dec 15.

We found a place but we have jobs and couldn't move out so she said we had until Dec 19 to move out and that the extra days would all be added to our unpaid rent pro-rated (so three months and 19 days, about $2180).

We moved out all the furniture and stuff but still had a few things, some work clothes and some food/drink in the refrigerator and glasses/silverware in the cupboards. I should say we spent the night of Dec 19 at our new place and though for was OK we left a few things in the old place. In Wisconsin it was below zero temps and a blizzard which made moving harder. We mostly cared about the work clothes because my girlfriend needs to meet a dress code for her job. Well we weren't totally out by Dec 19. We came back and her adult son was there changing the locks. He said we were out of time and he was throwing away whatever was left. We threatened to call the cops and he said go ahead and left.

The cop came and listened to our story and said legally our tenancy was terminated Dec 19 since her and us agreed to that and even we moved out bc we weren't there. I should say we didn't have a lease and were just month to month. Ok. He said we could arrange a time with her to get our stuff back or handle it civilly in small claims court.

So we called her a bunch of times and finally got her. She said we could come back Dec 20 and get our stuff. My gf went over there and nobody was there, door still locked, but our shit was just outside the front door of the building in boxes. Our food and stuff froze and burst in the cold weather and some glasses and plates broken. We think this is pretty outrageous she let some of our food and stuff get ruined when she knows we're hard up for money. Also my girlfriend had to call in sick for work because she didn't have the right clothes to go to work on Dec 20.

We estimate $130 in damages ($80 in missed work and $50 in damaged possession) and would like it to count against the $2180 we owe her. We called and told her this and got all pissy, basically turned into a screaming match on the phone, and she said she cut us all these breaks and now we're fucking her around and we're pieces of shit and to pay we we owe her or she'll sue us and report us to credit reporting agencies. She also said there was damage beyond the $600 deposit and that she could add additional charges to our bill if she wanted.

Can we take her to small claims court to get the cost of the damages taken off our rent bill?

Submitted December 21, 2016 at 07:59PM by SeriousQ1988 http://ift.tt/2i0FsWg legaladvice