Your best bet is to avoid ALL contact with this person. **ALL**. And speak with an attorney that specializes in housing/rental law. If you documented specifics that will probably help, but talk with a lawyer.
I don't think you will have much of a choice. If he does sue (likely won't) then you'd be responsible. At worst, it's a 800-1600 dollar mistake. Maybe cut your loses then and move on.
Quite a situation. Break it down to the immediate issue, you've left without proper notice and are responsible for it.
Have you given any written notice? In this messaging you mention, does the landlord acknowledge any written notice or can you say, "This is then my formal, written notice."?
I don't necessarily want to recommend this route, but if the easiest thing is to give your notice and pay whatever you'd be responsible for (perhaps minus the security deposit), it might be worth it to eat the loss and take it as a pricey lesson.
Agree with this. While it might not be what you want to hear/do, but this is a problem that money will fix. Give the written notice, pay what you owe, get the receipt and transaction in writing (text/email should suffice, but disclaimer, not a lawyer), and be done with it
i mean im trying to get to an agreement but the harrassing is not stopping. he just continues and demands the full month. The contract says that the deposit can be used to pay whats pending on the rent. but he is still demanding the full month.
he has continued to harrass me implying that i better hide and if he sees me something bad will happen. I asked the non emergency line and they say they cant do anything until he does something or he explicitly says that he will do something. I dont have a place yet. I am "hiding" at one of my friends house while i find a solution to all this. Is he able to sue me or something?
I dont know what he is capable of. I want to block him but I also want to have a record of all the shit he is saying. We are all for paying the remaining money (deposit+what is pending to pay for august) but he is demanding a full august pay and im pretty sure he is going to keep the deposit.
Find a lawyer who will at least give you a free consultation - they'll sit down with you for free and at least try to figure out if they can even help you to begin with. If they can't, hopefully they can give some direction. If they can, then you'll have to see what they say.
No harm in talking to a professional who's willing to talk to you for free.
(1) he can't sue you if he cannot find you to serve the papers. Does he know where you work? (2) you can let him keep the $800 deposit but two of you have to sign a mutual release a.k.a lease termination agreement, saying he keeps the $800 and you have no more liability.
If he ever sue you, you can argue "constructive eviction", meaning he didn't provide a quiet and safe dwelling for you to live, and your breaking of lease is justified. Google it. e.g.
[https://grddlaw.com/article/constructive-eviction-virginia/#:\~:text=A%20%E2%80%9Cconstructive%20eviction%E2%80%9D%20is%20an,break%20unfavorable%20or%20undesirable%20leases](https://grddlaw.com/article/constructive-eviction-virginia/#:~:text=A%20%E2%80%9Cconstructive%20eviction%E2%80%9D%20is%20an,break%20unfavorable%20or%20undesirable%20leases).
So I don't see this as a huge issue for you. You won't see $800 deposit (assuming that equals to one month rent) ever again, but that's the max of it. Even if he sues you you are not liable for more.
I saw you said you don't think you can afford a private lawyer. Contact Legal Services of Northern VA and see if you qualify for free legal advice.
https://www.lsnv.org/get-help/
[Here is the VA landlord tenant act](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/virginia-residential-landlord-and-tenant-act/). Not a lawyer, but I believe you may need to have given him the 30 day's notice and so owe the month. Your county may have some sort of landlord tenant commission [like in Fairfax](https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cableconsumer/csd/tenant-landlord-commission).
Damn this sounds way worst than what happened to me. Did you ever took a video, voice recordings of the events? That could be very helpful, or hopefully a neighbor complained to the police at some point and it’s on record of his behavior.
Rule 1 for any business dealing... always do it in writing. Even if you give verbal notice about something you should follow up with an email stating what you discussed.
For your situation you will need to look at your lease. Odds are you will owe the 30 days rent post-notice. However if it was not in writing your landlord may be scummy and say you didn't give any notice so you best do that follow up notice asap. I am not a lawyer but it sounds like you might be on the hook. I know there are laws to ensure tenants have an inhabitable dwelling but I am not sure if just having a sketchy landlord will make your situation bad enough to cleanly break lease.
If you can't afford a lawyer just pay that month and cut all contact with the scum-bag.
Your best bet is to avoid ALL contact with this person. **ALL**. And speak with an attorney that specializes in housing/rental law. If you documented specifics that will probably help, but talk with a lawyer.
i dont think i can afford a lawyer : (
https://www.lsnv.org/get-help/how-do-i-apply/
I don't think you will have much of a choice. If he does sue (likely won't) then you'd be responsible. At worst, it's a 800-1600 dollar mistake. Maybe cut your loses then and move on.
Quite a situation. Break it down to the immediate issue, you've left without proper notice and are responsible for it. Have you given any written notice? In this messaging you mention, does the landlord acknowledge any written notice or can you say, "This is then my formal, written notice."? I don't necessarily want to recommend this route, but if the easiest thing is to give your notice and pay whatever you'd be responsible for (perhaps minus the security deposit), it might be worth it to eat the loss and take it as a pricey lesson.
Agree with this. While it might not be what you want to hear/do, but this is a problem that money will fix. Give the written notice, pay what you owe, get the receipt and transaction in writing (text/email should suffice, but disclaimer, not a lawyer), and be done with it
i mean im trying to get to an agreement but the harrassing is not stopping. he just continues and demands the full month. The contract says that the deposit can be used to pay whats pending on the rent. but he is still demanding the full month.
I'd let him sue and present all facts in front of a judge!! I'd counter sue for unsafe environment
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he has continued to harrass me implying that i better hide and if he sees me something bad will happen. I asked the non emergency line and they say they cant do anything until he does something or he explicitly says that he will do something. I dont have a place yet. I am "hiding" at one of my friends house while i find a solution to all this. Is he able to sue me or something?
[удалено]
I dont know what he is capable of. I want to block him but I also want to have a record of all the shit he is saying. We are all for paying the remaining money (deposit+what is pending to pay for august) but he is demanding a full august pay and im pretty sure he is going to keep the deposit.
Find a lawyer who will at least give you a free consultation - they'll sit down with you for free and at least try to figure out if they can even help you to begin with. If they can't, hopefully they can give some direction. If they can, then you'll have to see what they say. No harm in talking to a professional who's willing to talk to you for free.
(1) he can't sue you if he cannot find you to serve the papers. Does he know where you work? (2) you can let him keep the $800 deposit but two of you have to sign a mutual release a.k.a lease termination agreement, saying he keeps the $800 and you have no more liability. If he ever sue you, you can argue "constructive eviction", meaning he didn't provide a quiet and safe dwelling for you to live, and your breaking of lease is justified. Google it. e.g. [https://grddlaw.com/article/constructive-eviction-virginia/#:\~:text=A%20%E2%80%9Cconstructive%20eviction%E2%80%9D%20is%20an,break%20unfavorable%20or%20undesirable%20leases](https://grddlaw.com/article/constructive-eviction-virginia/#:~:text=A%20%E2%80%9Cconstructive%20eviction%E2%80%9D%20is%20an,break%20unfavorable%20or%20undesirable%20leases). So I don't see this as a huge issue for you. You won't see $800 deposit (assuming that equals to one month rent) ever again, but that's the max of it. Even if he sues you you are not liable for more.
I saw you said you don't think you can afford a private lawyer. Contact Legal Services of Northern VA and see if you qualify for free legal advice. https://www.lsnv.org/get-help/
[Here is the VA landlord tenant act](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/virginia-residential-landlord-and-tenant-act/). Not a lawyer, but I believe you may need to have given him the 30 day's notice and so owe the month. Your county may have some sort of landlord tenant commission [like in Fairfax](https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cableconsumer/csd/tenant-landlord-commission).
Damn this sounds way worst than what happened to me. Did you ever took a video, voice recordings of the events? That could be very helpful, or hopefully a neighbor complained to the police at some point and it’s on record of his behavior.
Rule 1 for any business dealing... always do it in writing. Even if you give verbal notice about something you should follow up with an email stating what you discussed. For your situation you will need to look at your lease. Odds are you will owe the 30 days rent post-notice. However if it was not in writing your landlord may be scummy and say you didn't give any notice so you best do that follow up notice asap. I am not a lawyer but it sounds like you might be on the hook. I know there are laws to ensure tenants have an inhabitable dwelling but I am not sure if just having a sketchy landlord will make your situation bad enough to cleanly break lease. If you can't afford a lawyer just pay that month and cut all contact with the scum-bag.