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I guess I would take a different direction than the courts. In a previous life I was a mediator and I honestly believe that even small claims court will not help much.
However, if you go to the local TV station and ask them to do a piece on landlords and what may or may not happen to your deposit (legally and otherwise), the bad press MAY shame the landlord into doing something. Especially if yo allow them to film you and your work party on camera to tell "your" side.
Additionally some stations have a consumer advocate, that goes after situations just for publicity (In the name of doing great good for the public).

You can file in small claims court first and then request a trial date a long ways out with the idea if the TV stations do nothing then go ahead and see what you can get back.
You might want to find you own "expert" to determine what it might take to fix the garage door. Any decent body shop person can tell you what it would cost to pop that dent using on site tools. My guess is less than $100.
I might also check to see if I could find previous tenants to see if they paid for a screen and garage door, too.

If by the time you get to court, the landlord has not replaced the door you might ask the judge to have them replace it or give you your money back. At least the landlord won't keep the money in their pocket.

None, I repeat none of my remarks can or should be construed as legal advise. My ex wife is the attorney. I just worked in the court systems as a computer nerd (though until I got cancer I had planned to make law school a late in life career change - with the idea of becoming a judge).

Anyway, I think that broadcasting the landlord's shady dealings on TV will do more than being another case number on the docket.

Just my 2 cents

Ben

trainguytom wrote:That's what I meant...forking out my damage deposit (I know, it's already forked) but not letting him keep it if it's not deserved. (otherwise, I suppose, I'd be forked)

I think so!:rolleyes:

dusty wrote:I got an eye opener today that shows me what the real world is becoming. It seems that fair play is a thing of the past.

Chiselers have been around for as long as people have. Nothing new about it.

Rose colored glasses for nostalgia are nice, but not accurate.

I typically do not use rose colored glasses. That said I do agree with Dusty in that things have changed. Yes being a charlatan is not original, but their occurrences are more prevalent these days.

We have three rentals and I have been on the other side of this, but 1K for those things is just about criminal. If we get a clean house back, we do not keep the deposit. Normal wear and tear is pretty clearly defined at least in colorado. Broken windows, damaged doors ect qualify, weeds in the side yard don't. The deposit amount is not totally out of line IMHO but the keeping it all is! I just had a renter leave after 7 years in the house, and had they done what you guys did, we would have had no problem.
My wife always does a pre- rental walk thru and we record anything that they point out, we give them a week to add to the list and we take pictures. As a renter, I would do the same thing. You have all of the options listed above, I doubt it makes little $ sense, but it might be worth it in satisfaction!

Time is money, but you need to be pulling down quite an hourly rate to ignore $1,000. And, that landlord is a thief and I'd simply have to pursue him for that reason alone. Besides, a new garage door from Home Depot is about $300.

As to a walk through, in WI if you keep any or all of the deposit you must itemize in writing & there is a time deadline for providing it to the renters. If you miss the deadline the renter has a lot more leverage.

It's at least a good idea to research & make sure the landlord has all his t's crossed & i's dotted.

pennview wrote:Time is money, but you need to be pulling down quite an hourly rate to ignore $1,000. And, that landlord is a thief and I'd simply have to pursue him for that reason alone. Besides, a new garage door from Home Depot is about $300.

Yes, but that big spring that has to be unloaded/rewound scares the heck out of me. Replacing just one panel requires a lot of labor and knowledge or someone could get hurt. The labor and correct tools for the job is what is expensive.

I guess it depends on your point of view about how difficult or dangerous some things are, but here are very detailed instructions on how to replace the spring on a garage door -- http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructi ... prings.php -- so it's easy to judge whether you'd want to do it yourself or hire it done.

On the other hand, if the spring is already broken (and I don't know why you'd want to replace one if it wasn't broken), you don't have to worry about removing tension from the spring. But in any event, it's not all that complicated and doesn't take a lot of equipment to do the job. As far as replacing panels, I've replaced a few on my wooden garage doors and it really is quite simple -- cut the plywood panel to size, make some 1/4" quarter round molding, install from the inside with a pneumatic brad nailer, and paint. I did have to replace the cable on one of the doors a few years back and that meant the spring had unwound, but since it wasn't one of those memorable moments, I don't recall exactly what it entailed.

pennview wrote:I guess it depends on your point of view about how difficult or dangerous some things are, but here are very detailed instructions on how to replace the spring on a garage door -- http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/replace-garage-door-torsion-springs.php -- so it's easy to judge whether you'd want to do it yourself or hire it done.

On the other hand, if the spring is already broken (and I don't know why you'd want to replace one if it wasn't broken), you don't have to worry about removing tension from the spring. But in any event, it's not all that complicated and doesn't take a lot of equipment to do the job. As far as replacing panels, I've replaced a few on my wooden garage doors and it really is quite simple -- cut the plywood panel to size, make some 1/4" quarter round molding, install from the inside with a pneumatic brad nailer, and paint. I did have to replace the cable on one of the doors a few years back and that meant the spring had unwound, but since it wasn't one of those memorable moments, I don't recall exactly what it entailed.

I believe (know) that it is a relatively simple job to do, if you know what to do and more importantly what not to do. I was fortunate in that I learned what not to do without getting hurt.

You need the right tools to deal with that spring. Makeshift solutions are ill advised.