Has anyone here sued for FDCPA violations? If so, can I talk to you? Did you have to show actual damages, and how would I go about doing that? I have a situation of a landlady who is giving me a hard time for no real reason. She had a lawyer send me a collection notice when the rent was ten days past due. (We have never really ever been late.) I sent a validation request, and all he sent back was the original lease. The thing is, his original demand for payment was $600 for the rent and $250 for attorney fees. The lease has $575/month and no mention of collection fees. Would I have to pay the bogus $250 before I have actual damages? Should I just blow him off and go about my business? (The rent has since been paid.) This just really pissed me off, because we have always been honest with her and have always paid our rent. To get a lawyer involved seems in bad faith to me, and I would love to make him regret the day he took her case )
Jambe, check your state laws and see about any kind of Landlord/Tenant protection laws, those can help out alot.
Thanks Kiyi. I am completely aware of my tenency rights, but was specifically looking for answers to the questions posed in my post.
did the letter state the mini miranda that is required of all collection agencies. IF not, he has violated the FDCPA.
Yes, he wasn't quite that stupid. However, the mere attempt to collect $250 in fees is a violation, as is the demand for $600 without substantiating it. In addition, in his reply he used wording that suggested legal action was being taken when none had been initiated. My wife seems to think it's a secretary or someone else at the office using the lawyer's stamp on the letters. That would DEFINATELY be a violation, if I could prove it. I haven't heard back from him since I sent the letter rejecting his verification. That was fun to write )
jambe, The fees are determined by the contract or as otherwise permitted by law (state). If your lease says $575.00 per month, plus a late charge, sometimes states put a cap on the late charge -- that is the $600.00, yes? Though the lawyer isn't itemizing it for you as he should have. If your lease doesn't address attorney fees, here anyway, they wouldn't be allowed to charge them -- only a judge could order them paid as part of a court action. BTW, if you are only 10 days late, why is the landlady paying an attorney to send you a collection notice? Doesn't your state require a notice to pay or quit? Sassy
Absolutely. No, she raised the rent in February, outside of the lease, and we have been paying the extra out of good faith. I don't have the lease in front of me to quote any allowable late fees, but he wasn't including them anyway. It addresses them, but state law supercedes most of this EZ-LEGAL form lease. The only way they can collect attorney fees is for a successful action against the lesee. Hey, quit adding to your post after I start quoting it! ;o) Part of why my wife thinks it's a friend in the office. Yeah, minimum 30 day notice is required. There is some question as to whether it can be a flat 30 days, or if it must fall on 30 days from the monthly due date. This is the only part where I don't feel a strong legal foundation, but the notices that were 'served' were deficient in that they were not dated. In addition, I think that by accepting the payment for rent after demanding we leave she is allowing the lease to continue. This is where I feel the most unsure, as I just made that up because it sounds logical. I have no foundation in law for the notion whatsoever. Oh, why? Because we had begun improvements on the property, most of which we have her approval to do in writing, that are not finished and have not been finished in a timely manner. Bah, we are probably in the wrong at this point, but since she has no plans to re-rent soon (and woudn't find a renter anyway, most likely) and we have always paid on time until this point, we feel we are not harming anything but her ego in staying. Since she is insistent on selling the house in the future (and wanted us to buy it) she was going to face zero income from the property when we moved out. There is very little damage, if any, that she is suffering by us not moving. On the other hand, if she attempts to throw a family of six with four children, ages 10, 6, 3, and 1, onto the street, even when they have paid their rent regularly, and where there is no harm to her, I think a judge will tell her to have a heart. He certainly would be very lenient on us. Then again I could just be smoking a big fat reefer...
I've sued for FDCPA violations...but not sure how that pertains to what you posted. Your case may not fall under FDCPA. One of the lawyers at my office does some collections along the lines of the above, and he is not considered a debt collector. He does use the mini miranda, but collections is such a small portion of his practice, the court does not recognize him as a debt collector. L
It's a month-to-month. It's what I was planning to do anyway. Just a little peeved at the lawyer. Interesting. Even the wording that "This communication is an attempt to collect a debt." etc? I see that they didn't say "debt collector" anywhere. Seems odd to even bother with the "mini-miranda" if it doesn't apply to you. You would give the presumption that it does indeed apply, especially if you send verification when requested. I'm certainly not a judge though, not even a lawyer, so what do I know ) It really makes no sense at all to even worry about this anyway. I have much more important things to spend my time on. Thanks for all the replies.
