This is in SAN DIEGO, CA.
My mom's tenant was subletting her condo on VRBO, a vacation rental website very much like AirBnB, against the terms in her lease (it was very clear in writing that this wasn't allowed). Instead of evicting her, we agreed to let her continue her stay after she agreed to stop the unlawful subletting. We have her agreement to cease the subletting in writing as well.
About five months later, there was a refrigerator leak and we discovered upon entering that she was still subletting the unit. There were no signs of anyone living there; no food in the fridge, clothes in the drawers, etc. Just nice furniture and a guestbook.. basically, all signs pointed to "vacation rental." Construction needed to be done because of the leak, and so it was deemed "uninhabitable" by tenant. She told my mom that she didn't need to be put up in a hotel. Please note that the tenant owns a house of her own very close by to the condo, and she was undoubtedly living there the whole time, while unlawfully renting out my parents' property to turn a profit.
My mom told her (over the phone, so unfortunately there is no written evidence) that the construction would be done in a week. The tenant did not move back in until two weeks later, and then when it came to paying the rent, she only paid for half that month. After some arguing and threats of possible eviction, the tenant agreed to pay for one of those weeks, but as a condition, she wanted to renew her lease with us, and wrote up an amendment to the lease that said we would "no longer accuse, bother, or express concern to tenant" about subletting, and then manipulated my mom into signing it. My mom doesn't speak English all that well, btw.
My mom didn't think the tenant would continue to sublet, only that she didn't want us to pester her about it anymore, but we caught her doing it again about three months later, after my boyfriend, who works for a real estate lawyer, informed me of huge fines people have had to pay the HOA for unlawful subletting. I searched VRBO and found the ad was active again. I contacted VRBO to have them take her ad down. This happened around the same time the A/C stopped working. My dad helped her fix it. She called an HVAC and had them repair it when it stopped working again, then deducted $425.00 from her next month's rent. Please note that we did not give her permission to do so, and that according to what I know about CA law, this was not a proper "repair and deduct," since she never notified us of it breaking again. She lied and claimed that my mom told her in person that if it broke again, she could just have it fixed and deduct it from her rent, but obviously, this was untrue.
When she found out that we had her ad removed, and that we would not accept her false pretenses of repair and deduct, she moved all her things out and sent us a letter claiming that we breached the contract. Additionally, she complained that we retaliated against her by taking her ad down after the A/C debacle, even though we never took it up directly with her; we only "complained" through VRBO (the amendment she drafted stated that we wouldn't accuse, bother, or complain to tenant about subletting). When we threatened to sue, she sued us first. Now we are going to counter-sue for the A/C deduction, plus the remaining rent she owed prior to the day we found a new tenant to move in, some carpet damage, and the amount it cost to change the lock that the tenant removed (she left the unit unlocked when she took off and our keys no longer worked for it).
I would really appreciate your thoughts about our chances of winning the case, so we can decide whether or not to try and settle out of court/hire a lawyer. Thank you!
EDIT: I just wanted to add that we have proof of her subletting through printed hard copies of her ad, which includes reviews from at least nine guests. It also states on the ad that she was the "owner" of said property, which was false. We also have numerous email exchanges in which she lied about the subletting, and about other things as well, such as one where she claimed I "harassed" her with a threatening phone call, even though my phone records indicate she called me first, and as I thought a responsible landlord was to do, I called her back within the hour. Point being, she truly is a crazy, manipulative, self-serving person who has no qualms taking advantage of others, and I hope the judge sees this.
Submitted January 14, 2016 at 11:41AM by aneedleofmyown http://ift.tt/1ZlPTBi legaladvice
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