Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington
left before lease up
my friends left before lease was up.
they where five week into one year
lease. he got job at another
apartment and part of his pay was
lower rent. he left with no or little
notice. the people next door have
said that the apartment was rented
out by the end of the same month
they moved out. the landlord has
now put some type of report in
there credit reports that have gave
them bad credit. they did not know
of this untill they tryed to use there
credit. can a landlord do this without
any contact ether with them or by
the courts. what can they do about
this. the landlord said they owe him
8.000 dollars for the broke lease. as
of today 8/16/2007 the landlord has
not tryed to take them to court or
collect his money. he just lets there
credit stay bad. they do not have
the money to take cars of this. this
has been ongoing for almost two
years.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: left before lease up
No, it doesn't work that way. You need to use Google to look up the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Practices Act.
When you are denied credit you have a right know on the basis of what information. When it is something like this you have the right to add a statement explaining your side of the story of what happened.
The landlord can sue him and get a judgment for unpaid rent - generally in WA the court will allow a month, unless, as you say here, the place was rented out again immediately.
The landlord doesn't get to recover his money twice.
So, your friend should write, certified to the credit reporting agency and dispute the information. If there is no judgment, then the reporter is just using the landlord's word and that isn't good enough.
You also want to read RCW 59 18 260, 270 and 280.
Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell
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