Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia
Small Claims-Personal Time Lost
I am attempting to gain money for personal time spent prior to a move out walkthrough with a landlord on our rental. My brother and I signed a lease back in November of last year and he basically destroyed the place and they took a huge hunk of the security deposit out. I received my part of the deposit back, but I would like to be compensated for the DAYS I spent undoing his destruction to this townhouse so we could move out. I plan on getting quotes from Maid services prior to the trial and would have hired a maid(the going rate is $52 an hour) but it was Thanksgiving weekend and they were all booked. He left town, as did his live in girlfriend. I want to know if I have any chance at recovering my time as I could have worked on those days at my full time job or studied for my finals. Please advise!!!!! I need some answers.... As you have probably heard before, there is a lot more to the story.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Compensation for lost time
You may be able to get compensation for lost wages. It is unlikely that you could receive compensation for the reasonable value of your services. If you try, it is your burden to prove what they are worth. Most Virginia judges would not be too receptive to such a claim. But let meinterject here. Do you really want to sue your brother? As you say, there may be moreto this, but I would suggest that you thinklong and hard before you take that step.