Hey All, I'm asking this for a friend of the family. She sub-letted two rooms in a home in Virginia. They are on a month to month least and he gave her a 60 day notice to vacate on December 24th. The roommate got more and more crazy until he attacked her last night. From what she has relayed to me, the police declined to attest him, because he was bruised from her defending herself and striking him while he held her down and choked her. All of this happened in front of her two children. She is afraid to prosecute because the police called it a case of mutual combat, and child protective services is already involved because the children were witnesses. She is terrified that she would lose in court or be found equally at fault and run the risk of losing the children and derailing her career, which requires that she maintain a clear criminal record.

She has a safe place to stay and has left the home, but he told the police that she didn't pay him rent for the last two months. He refuses to return the rent for January (prorated for the two days that she was there). He has not issued receipts for the rent in several months, and I suggested that she look for ATM receipts or use her bank statements as proof of cash withdrawals. I still think that she should go forward with trying to have him prosecuted, but I understand her fear of the outcome. What should we do to help? Must he return the rent for the remainder of January? Will the police report hurt her case? Basically, I am at a loss here, and I want to do the best I can to help her.

Im sorry to hear this, but to be completely honest if he's not going to give the rent back, he's not going to give the rent back. Any ******* that's hurting their wife period (to make it 1000 times worse in front of their children) is a stubborn worthless piece of garbage so that's out of question. If the woman makes advances to move back with this man be sure to try to convince her not to as he won't change, the hitting will continue and usually it gets worse.
Idk what country your in but if a guy hits a girl down here and you hit back its self defense not assault. Maybe check into that with a lawyer before you make more assumptions, the cops could have been dirty as well. Once again though, I'm really sorry to hear about this. It's a sad world now adays.

Thank you for trying to help, but please re-read the details of this question. She is not his wife, he is her landlord. These are not his children. She is sub-leasing from him, and there is a month to month lease in place. She removed her self and her children from the situation immediately. It doesn't matter what he wants to do in terms of the rent, she will sue if he is legally obligated to return it. She will have a garnishment order put in place once a judgment is issued to collect what is owed. I very much appreciate your sympathy and, but I do need to know what the law is in this situation.