My ex philippine landlord kept half a months rent she owed me after i moved and had paid all the utilities. Can i file a police report? Take her to court and sue her for the money she owes me? Or am i just SOL? anyone else have similar problem in this country?
Maybe other members can advice you with respect to have a police report made up, sue her and go to court, but the most simple way to avoid all that kind of annoyances in the future is to consume your deposit while still renting the place during the last 1 or 2 months depending on the amount. Pay your water & electricity bill on departure and no more hassle.
no deposit i lived there ten months. i did not pay any deposits or advance rent, no contract, thats not my thing, i like to live life free to come and go when i chose. the townhomes were located in tagbilaran and the property became a slum, not kept up, took months to get thing fixed. the landlord would move a dozen missionaries into the only vacant unit which was next to me, and finally some muslim types. all the noise, smells, women in and out late into the night, hacking my wifi, trying to hack my computer and many other things caused me to want to move. the landlord also lied, as i had buy things, frigde, aircon, becuase her stuff was so non functional, and she said when i moved she would buy them from me, which she did not. i wanted to move to dumaguette, but i could not find a real estate broker or shipping line that would move my things. now i have sold the water heater, bed, and aircon, and only the fridge remains. i may try to move to dumaguete again next year, if i dont decide to just leave this country altogether. But i feel some punishment is in store to this lame landlord for all her lieing and ripping me off
Id say learn from it and be cautious next time, if you take it up to court getting an attorney will cost you more money than your deposit and if you go to thr barangay captain i doubt if you can resolve your issue there. The lady across my house owns a couple apartments and did the same thing, took 2 months of their security deposit and refused to return it once you move out and when you insist you want it back she'll say, you broke this and you broke that blah blah blah even if its already there before you moved in so next time, i suggest to tenants to take photos before they moved in if theres any damages and make sure the camera got dates so you dont get stitched up :-). Im sorry to hear how youve been badly treated. Ive had 3 tenants that came to me all had the same problems with their landlords :-(
This problem is common in here, people here are so poor can do any thing for the food or money. law and order are not really good in here so i didn't find any good solution for you.
I think the best way to do it is go to a lawyer and have him write a letter "Intent to File Case" that you bring to the Barangay Captain. It should only cost a couple hundred pesos. The Landlord will be forced to attend a meeting at the Barangay Office. if it is not resolved during the first meeting they will hold a kind of Barangay court (I don't remember what they call this proceeding) but they have some kind of authority for limited financial retribution. Briang copies of any evidence and bring any witnesses. At the very least, the Landlord will end up with a file at the Barangay in case he / she tries to screw somebody else.
I posted about this problem and... If you do a search you will see some replies, mostly of little or no help. I consulted a real estate attorney and then I consulted with some Pinoys that have alot of tatoos (they were more helpful) so that I had a look at solutions from both sides of the coin. The result is that I will have some suprises for any landlord that tries this cr*p with me. But the best solution really is not to rent from any landlord that you have ANY question of as to their attitude, honesty and so forth. Renting is kinda like getting married if you intend to stay long time, best to avoid problems before committing. You will pass up many landlords before finding one that is much good and be wary of those that advertise on the internet.
I have had a really good experience with a landlord found on the Internet. I moved out once to try my luck in Dumaguete. Went horrible with a landlord that didn't advertise online in Dumaguete. A legal loophole allowed me out of her lease early without paying anything, much to the landlords protest. I immediately moved back to Valencia with the old landlord and have been there ever since.
what was the legal loophole Hi, what was the legal loophole that allowed you to leave your lease early without any penalty. thanks
Well. It's not so much a loop hole as common sense concerning contracts. This will not apply to 99 percent of people renting. I was married and working overseas. My X wife signed for the apartment. I, however, did not. When the divorce was finalized my X moved out prior to the need of the lease. The landlord demanded I take over the rent, I told her to show me where my signature was on the lease, she said it didn't matter, I said go screw yourself and moved. Can't be forced to pay for a lease you didn't sign for.
