Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri

Re: ex-landlord falsley reported to collection agency

I must expand a little on the two previous answers. When did you get the notice of damages? Specifically, how many days after your lease expired? Did you give the landlord a forwarding address when you vacated? If you did, then the Notice of damages, and consequential reduction of deposit refund may have been sent to the most recent or reasonably accurate address they had for you. If you gave no forwarding address, and had listed relatives as references in your original application, they may have sent the notice to your relatives. You may want to check with them. Hopefully the landlord had an accurate address for you.

Unless there is somethng you are leaving out, it seems that you may have claims against the landlord and collection agency under several theories.

Good Luck,

Tony Smith

Re: ex-landlord falsley reported to collection agency

If you had a security deposit and any portion of that security deposit was retained, your landlord's claim may be waived under section 535.500, RSMo. See http://www.moga.state.mo.us/statutes/c500-599/5350300.htm for more information on that subject.

If your landlord did not sue you for this debt, and it is apparent he did not, then you can send the collection agency a letter under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act disputing the debt. Send a similar letter to Equifax demanding that it be removed from your credit report. The credit reporting agency must remove it unless the debt can be verified.

Re: ex-landlord falsley reported to collection agency

Actually, I have to expand on the answer by Mr. DeWitt. Inder the FDCPA, the collection agency should have noticed you that you have the right to dispute the claim. To do so you must write them within 30 days and let them know. A telephone call will not preserve your rights. You also may have a claim under the Fair Debt Reporting Act. The problem with landloard's claim is that his is not a supportable claim without a judgement issued by a court.

You have stated two states, and laws differ between states, so MO may be different from AR. This claim will be ruled by the state where the house was. In AR, in a situation like this, the LL should sue you for the damages and then can try to collect on the judgement if he wins. He cannot report it to a collection agency till he has a judgement, because prior to that point, it is just an allegation. If we were to allow every allegation to stand on folks credit reports, no one would have good credit. That is why we have courts to determine the facts of cases and to grant relief to the wronged party.

That having been said, I suggest that you contact a good lawyer in the state where the house is and go-get-em!