Papers served for rental home repairs...
A year and a half ago me and some others were sharing a rental home. When we moved out we did all obvious repairs to the home and after we moved out an itemized estimate for ridiculous repairs with insane prices was received to one of our forwarding addresses. One of these people mistakenly and idiotically gave their address to the management office (yeah it was a woman). a year and a half later, on a Sunday- in a snowstorm, papers were delivered to the idiot who accepted them. This person lives by themselves with no other of the ex residents on the old lease, but papers for all five lease signers were served to this woman.
Are these papers for all residents considered served? we have an excellent lawyer who is looking over the papers as we speak but can this be legal? how can someone who lives by themselves with hardly any contact be responsible for accepting court papers for another person.
can someone please explain if this is legal or if she should send the other people's papers back to the rental office. we are trying to keep any judgement as low as possible.
I will be awaiting the bad news...
thanks for and help/advice. I can share specifics on anything about the previous home if necessary.
eta: I realize some here may own rental properties, please understand we were not the scum who build meth labs in the home, left piss and soda stained on the floor, holes in the walls, etc..The home was kept in excellent condition. We only lived there a year. It was brand new and we were the first tenants.
If all of you are named in the lease you likely are jointly and severally liable for the costs.
They can go after any one of you, or all of you.
It sounds like they may have served one person, and while the service for the others may then not be correct, they can just go after her for all the damages.
She could then go after all the rest of you for your shares.
Or you can man up and pay what you owe.
Doing small repairs can be stupidly expensive.
The landlord has to hire someone to perform the work, and they do not come cheap.
The landlord is not trying to save you money, they just want the repairs done NOW.
a year and a half later?
Did you get your deposit back? was a complete list of deductions listed? most states you have 30-45 days to get either.
They served one and she signed for everyone else, sounds like a good service to me. She is on the hook, one way or another, everyone should show up or send representation in some fashion, otherwise its a default judgment for the landlord. Suggest that you find out what it would take to settle.
1.5 years, depends on the statute of limitations, but most likely ok. Landlord does have a responsibility to limit exposure. Always get signed release at walk-thru and take pictures.
Originally Posted By brickeyee:
If all of you are named in the lease you likely are jointly and severally liable for the costs.
They can go after any one of you, or all of you.
It sounds like they may have served one person, and while the service for the others may then not be correct, they can just go after her for all the damages.
She could then go after all the rest of you for your shares.
Or you can man up and pay what you owe.
Doing small repairs can be stupidly expensive.
The landlord has to hire someone to perform the work, and they do not come cheap.
The landlord is not trying to save you money, they just want the repairs done NOW.
New landlords/former owners who just moved out are usually more critical than if your group was the 5th set of tenants. Dig up the list of items and approximate "damages" Did you get your deposit back and a list of items above the deposit? On the list, see who they had do the labor, the owner cannot charge "labor" in VA.
Dig up a copy of the lease and any transactions, ask the one who got served, see if there wasn't any other correspondance, like previous bills, etc.
Originally Posted By RockoZ:
eta: I realize some here may own rental properties, please understand we were not the scum who build meth labs in the home, left piss and soda stained on the floor, holes in the walls, etc..The home was kept in excellent condition. We only lived there a year. It was brand new and we were the first tenants.
