[shmeagol]

I live in an apartment complex and a 2nd notice was left on my door saying I had (14 days) to pay $200 with my December rent (for damages caused to grass and a sprinkler) or I would be evicted.

First of all I never received a 1st notice. Second of all between phone calls and physically being in the office (of the apartment complex) about 5-7 times in the weeks that I supposedly received the 1st notice, nobody notified me of any charges or a notice. I was not shown the damages, spoken to about them or given any estimates for damages. If in fact if there was a 1st notice left for me, why didn’t anyone including the manager who I had spoken to, notify me of anything? I was asking to get my carpet replaced and they had to look in my file to see when I first moved in. If that information was in the file, why didn’t they say, wait a minute there’s a notice in here that we have a claim about you?

When I went in to the office to inquire about the notice, I was told there were pictures and a security report. I asked to see them. The security officer’s report states that at 1:30am he saw a green 80’s firebird or camaro with 3 men in their early twenties at best driving drunk on the grass.

The next report was at 3am where my car, a 1996 teal camaro, parked in it’s designated spot. The guard noted that one person fell down drunk. The guard then noted my license plate number and noted that the men in the car were 30-45.

These are conflicting reports, 1st they say the car is an 80’s green firebird or camaro, which means he didn’t get a good look at the car. An 80’s firebird or camaro is a much different shape than a 1996 camaro. And there is a 10-15 year discrepancy.

His first report stated the men were “in their early 20’s at best”. The next report states they were 30-45 years old. Another 10-15 year discrepancy.

The pictures that were taken, the next day or later, show tire prints in the grass and a picture of my parked car.

The security guard’s report is conflicting. The picture of the "proof" is a picture of my parked car. This doesn’t prove it was my car that did the damage. You can’t take a picture of a parked car and say that car drove on the grass.

I think when the guard saw my car pulling in, he assumed it was the same car as it was similar in color and make. As far as the man falling out of the car, he fell because he got attacked from behind with a bat, had a head wound, and started having seizures shortly after. In fact he had to be admitted to the hospital a couple of days later for these seizures.

The mud they say was on my car, was because my husband drove in from Utah when he heard his friend was attacked, to try and get him to go to the hospital.

Making matters worse is many, many sprinklers on the grounds are broken. They mostly water the sidewalk instead of the grass and some don’t have any heads making them geizers shooting 20 feet up into the air. Kids bikes, a horse that has been roaming around our grounds, the lawn mowers and people who bring their uhauls and cars on the grass to move in and out, could have broken the sprinkler they are trying to get me to pay for. Additionally, the grass is damaged in a ot of areas, not just the one they are accusing me of. Additionally, most of the grass in the spot in question has grown back.

What are my options. Can they evict me for not paying for these damages they say I caused? What agencies can I contact?

Thanks

[ScottGem]

First you answer their notice stating that you did not cause the damages and therefore will not pay.

To evict you, they have to go to court. When they get you into court, you present the arguments just like you have done in your post. You argue that your car was not the one that did the damage, that the reports are contradictory and inconclusive and insufficient to warrant charigng you for the damages.

If what you say is true, they will lose. At the worst, you lose and have to pay the $200 so put it aside. And be ready to pay it if you do lose.